All Things Considered is a comprehensive source for afternoon news and information provided by various MPR hosts in St. Paul and NPR hosts in Washington over the decades. The program contains interviews, reports, speeches and breaking coverage.
January 16, 2004 - MPR's Michael Khoo reports on vying proposals in the Twin Cities regarding a new ballpark. As policymakers and state officials pore over the details of 26 stadium ideas submitted, one thread emerges bright and clear…aside from the plans that call for new gambling revenues, all the major proposals rely heavily on increased tax dollars to build new homes for the Twins and Vikings.
January 21, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio’s Cara Hetland presents “That's Just Janklow," a documentary on Bill Janklow, one of the most powerful figures in South Dakota history. The one time juvenile delinquent went on to become a 4-term governor, and then a Congressman. It all ended in a car crash.
January 26, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports on folks in Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin digging out from a near-record snowfall. After five years of wimpy winters, Duluth had several days of frigid temperatures, and now - lots of snow.
February 9, 2004 - Minnesota residents talk a lot about the great quality of life they have. The state has enjoyed a national reputation for good schools and supportive children's programs…but that image has taken a hit lately. Funding for low income daycare has been chopped and lawmakers will struggle again in 2004 to make up a deficit that could total $500 million dollars. Mainstreet Radio's Bob Reha reports that it's a situation that may leave some families, scrambling to pay the daycare bill.
February 10, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill profiles Ryan Rapsys, a young composer who has turned Duluth-Superior harbor sounds into music. While most people who visit Duluth spend some time sight-seeing on the waterfront, for Rapsys, sounds of the harbor can be just as inspiring as the sights.
February 10, 2004 - There are only a few places in the country considered hotbeds for emerging biotechnology industries and Minnesota isn't one of them. Governor Pawlenty hopes to change that with an initiative to strengthen a biotech corridor in the Twin Cities and Rochester. But some say biotech businesses could also spur economic development in rural Minnesota. Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports that leaders in Bemidji are exploring ways to develop a mini biotech cluster of their own.
February 24, 2004 - Photographer Jim Brandenburg reflects on his friend, Paul Gruchow, who died on February 22nd, 2004 in Duluth. Gruchow was 56 years old. Brandenburg worked with Gruchow at the Worthington newspaper and later collaborated with him on several books. He says he was inspired by his friend and co-worker.
March 1, 2004 - 15 years after state officials signed gaming compacts with Minnesota's Indian tribes, 18 casinos have been built. They generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, far more than anyone imagined they would. The state of Minnesota gets only a small sliver of that money and it's used to regulate the casinos.
March 5, 2004 - St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly returned from Thailand where he visited Hmong refugees awaiting relocation to St. Paul and other U.S. cities. The State Department recently declared about 15,000 Hmong refugees eligible to apply for relocation to the U.S., with between 4,000-10,000 Hmong refugees arriving in Minnesota as early as June 2004. Fred de Sam Lazaro, correspondent for PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer based at Twin Cities Public Television, traveled with Kelly to Thailand and prepared this report.
March 8, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports on need for fundraisers for people who don't have insurance. Sometimes even those with insurance need help. It seems the higher medical costs rise the more fundraisers there are for people who can't pay all their bills. Dinners, raffles and auctions are a few of the ways people donate money.