MPR News Features are news segments created for various long-form programming, including Morning Edition and All Things Considered, amongst others. Features run the gambit of interviews, reports, profiles, and coverage.
September 17, 1975 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews Marisha Chamberlain, St. Paul's Poet in Residence, about her experience teaching poetry to mentally handicapped communities.
September 19, 1975 - Includes Lieutenant Gary McGaughey and Representative Ray Faricy.
October 1, 1975 - The frequency of claims is the most alarming aspect of malpractice turmoil. Adverse drug reaction, patients' unrealistic expectations and loss of job rather than negligence are the reasons for many suits, as is the state's tort system, so says a Mr. Burnswag, testifying before a state subcommittee on malpractice.
October 2, 1975 - Organic farmer Earl Cunningham equates natural soil "with the Creator" and chemically treated soil as "prostituted." He takes John Gostivitch, an agricultural economist from the University of Minnesota; and Charles Reinert, a citizen member of the state's pesticide task force, on a tour of his crops.
October 2, 1975 - Private support isn't enough to support the arts any more says Judson Bemis, Twin Cities' representative for the Upper Midwest National Committee for Cultural Resources. State and federal money is needed. The arts improve neighborhoods and improve real estate values. Also, the arts need to be shared with outstate Minnesota, which takes money. Polly Brown of the Guthrie chimes in.
October 3, 1975 - Lawmakers heard from many camps--students, teachers and parents--about changing the Minnesota drinking age back to 21. DFLer Ray Faricy proposes school education to combat drinking problems and also raising the age to 19 rather than 18.
October 10, 1975 - Dr. Christian Barnard, famous heart transplant surgeon, talks briefly about his novel whose protagonist is a heart surgeon. He says one point of the book was to bring out racial discrimination and segregation in medicine, petty-apartheid (petit-apartheid?), in South Africa. He talks about having received threats due to his challenging the white ideology in South Africa, where the white minority fears they?ll lose everything they?ve built there without the apartheid government structure. They?ve seen what has happened in other African countries. South Africa represents western civilization in Africa, and competition is based on your ability to compete in that environment, where it?s natural the white man would do better.
October 13, 1975 - Senator John Milton says Michigan people, particularly key legislators, regard the nursing home industry as a public utility because the amount of money from public funds going into the industry is enormous, and the taxpaying public has an interest greater than with normal commercial ventures. Another reason is a lot of old people who need protection, a responsibility and concern of state in terms of public health and safety. In many cases the homes are being bought through use of public funds and federally guaranteed mortgage money, with fees put on the reimbursement system. Dues paid to associations who hire lobbyists for the industry are being passed on to the public.
October 13, 1975 - Reporter summarizes findings of Senate subcommittee on nursing homes trip to Michigan to look at how nursing homes are regulated there. Among their ideas were that state's variable reimbursement favoring smaller businesses over larger chains that are primarily real estate ventures. Sen. John Milton talks about what the committee discovered,
October 15, 1975 - MPR’s Dick Daly interviews U.S. Representative Jim Oberstar about his proposed idea to expand the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that would comprise both a wilderness and a national recreation area by act of Congress.