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.
January 16, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe calls various students (MPR employees' kids) at home to see if they are reading, per Governor Carlson’s guidance, who ordered kids to read books today and report back on their reading in school tomorrow.
January 16, 1997 - Twins stadium supporters propose paying for a new ballpark by raising the cigarette tax a dime-a-pack. Critics quickly denounced the plan...saying it's unfair to make smokers shoulder the financial burden for a new stadium. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham reports: The stadium plan announced by Twins and state officials last week calls for a public contribution of roughly $200-million dollars...and lawmakers said then it wouldn't come from general sales...income...or property taxes. That left taxes on items like liqour...lodging...and gambling on the table -- but smoking emerged as...if not the most popular...then the least objectionable option.
January 17, 1997 - This Sunday, in the wee hours of the morning, a small knot of people bundled in parkas and boots will gather outside the Saint Paul Pioneer Press office. They're seeking the first edition of the paper. Not for the classifieds, or the news. They want the clue. The first clue in the hunt for the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt Medallion. For those of you who have never hunted the medallion, it's perhaps impossible to understand this frenzy over a four-thousand dollar prize. It means twelve days of pouring over clues, figuring out riddles and rhymes, and digging through snow in city parks with hundreds of other medallion hunters. 17-year old Chad O'Leary is a devoted medallion hunter. We invited him into our studios to explain what all the fuss is about: --------------------------------------------------------- | D-CART ITEM: 1820 | TIME: 5:56 | OUTCUE: "...TRYING TO PARK." ---------------------------------------------------------
January 17, 1997 - Ordinary colorblindness is almost always partial. People who have it confuse colors, such as green and red, but don't see completely in black and white. Achromatopsia (AYE-CHROME-uh-TOHP-EE-AH) -- total genetic colorblindness -- is surpassingly rare. It occurs in only one person in thirty-thousand. The condition makes people painfully sensitive to light and and unable to see fine details; making it difficult for them to read. On a tiny island in the South Pacific called Pingelap (PING-guh-lap) one in TEN people are totally colorblind. Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", travelled to Pingelap to see how individuals and the community adapted to this genetic quirk. His new book, "The Island of the Colorblind", is part travel writing, part cultural anthropology. Sacks told Minnesota Public Radio's Stephen Smith that the islanders have invented myths to explain the prevalence of colorblindness. | D-CART ITEM: 1805 | TIME: 4:26 | OUTCUE: "...my island phase"
January 17, 1997 - On this Voices of the Heartland segment, Duluth poet Barton Sutter provides a commentary on the late Minneapolis poet John Engman in a reading of “Citizen of the Milky Way: Eulogy to John Engman.”
January 18, 1997 - Judith Guest is known for chronicling suburban family life in turmoil. Her book "Ordinary People" examined a family's reaction after the death of it's eldest son. Guest's story was turned into an Academy Award-winning film starring Mary Tyler Moore and directed by Robert Redford. Her new book "Errands" once again takes us into the life of a grieving family, this time the family is dealing with the death of the father. This story is based on the real-life marriage of Guest's grandparents. Judith Guest says she doesn't think she's fixated on death, she says her dark subject matter allows her to explore how families deal with their emotions.
January 18, 1997 - Cakes, wizards and stiltwalkers are appearing at the Science Museum of Minnesota today. The Museum marks it's 90th Birthday...and to celebrate the Museum is throwing a party and offering FREE admission today. Over 800-thousand people visit the museum annually---and it's also the number one destination for school field trips. The Museum's Director of Marketing and Communication--Jane Eastwood--says many things have changed over the past 90 years...but the focus has remained the same.
January 18, 1997 - The big sports story this week was the "kick felt 'round the NBA." The NBA suspended Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman for at least eleven games for kicking a courtside cameraman in this week's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The suspension will cost Rodman about one million dollars in salary and lost incentives. Weekend Edition Sports Commentator Jay Weiner says in Rodman's case the severe punishment may fit the crime.
January 20, 1997 - On this Odd Jobs feature, MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews Steve Sklar, a local throat singer. Sklar specializes in a style of music born on the windy steppes of Mongolia. He describes and performs various traditional styles of throat singing.
January 20, 1997 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire profiles Seed Academy and Harvest Preparatory School, an African American private school in North Minneapolis. The school began in 1985 as a pre-school program in its founders' house. Ten years later there are 300 students enrolled in pre-school through sixth grade.