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 31, 1997 - When Freeman Wicklund was a student at the University of Minnesota , he was the charismatic leader of the campus animal rights movement, leading protests against everything from fur farming and horse racing to the Shriner Circus. At the U, he majored in nutrition, but he says he was preparing for a full time career as an animal rights activist. Now he's graduated and living with his parents in their suburban home where he answers the phone "animal liberation". Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure produced this portrait of a idealist totally devoted to a cause outside the mainstream.
January 31, 1997 - Lawmakers will be lobbied on the bus this morning by mayors from several Twin Cities communities who want more money for transit and cleaning up polluted ground. The bus tour grows out of discussions among central city and suburban mayors who want a united front in lobbying for some of their interests. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. Lawmakers will board the bus at the state capitol for a relatively short ride to one of the first sites - several acres of St. Paul land dominated by a huge mound of polluted soil. St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman says a priority among several cities is money to help clean up sites which can be used for development.
January 31, 1997 - Larger-than-life puppets and the magical realism of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez come together in the latest production of "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" tells the tale of a broken, elderly man with wings who mysteriously appears in a coastal village and causes an uproar. While the story sounds more like an ancient legend, the production's creators believe it resonates in modern times. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has a closer look.
January 31, 1997 - Minneapolis state Representative Myron Orfield has introduced legislation to have voters in the 7 County Metro elect the members of the Met Council. As it stands now, the Governor appoints the Met Council, and Orfield says that's no way to select the people who have authority over suburban development, the metro bus system and even the International Airport. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin ("Olaf") Kaste reports: Myron Orfield has been campaigning for years to correct what he sees as the Met Council's original sin. When the Council was created in 1967, it was intended as a model of modern urban planning, the first of its kind in the nation. But the Legislature balked at making it an elected governmental body, and ever since, the Governor has appointed the Council. Orfield says it's time to make the Council more directly accountable to the vote
January 31, 1997 - As part of the Voices from the Heartland series, Minnesota poet Diane Glancy reads her poem "The Back Porch of the Country."
January 31, 1997 - Many Minnesota school districts are wondering how to make up for missed "snow days". There's a lot of winter still to come, and while it's common for schools to build two or three extra days into the educational calendar, two or three extra weeks are another matter.
January 31, 1997 - Larger-than-life puppets and the magical realism of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez come together in the latest production of "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis. "A very old man with enormous wings" tells the tale of a broken, elderly man with wings who mysteriously appears in a coastal village and causes an uproar. While the story sounds more like an ancient legend, the production's creators believe it resonates in modern times.
January 31, 1997 - Pioneer Press architecture critic Larry Millett gives us a critique of the Twins' proposed new ballpark.
January 31, 1997 - "The Loon Resort and Bait Shop" opens in Bemidji tonight. Playwright Phil Holt, a Bemidji native who now lives in Minneapolis, says the play is about returning to one's hometown after many years away.
February 1, 1997 - Minnesotans got their first look yesterday at the new baseball stadium the Twins want them to help build. The stadium design features a ten-acre sliding roof, 42-thousand seats on four decks, and left-field bleachers that hang over the field. It was was unveiled at the Mall of America on the site of the Twins' former home, Metropolitan Stadium. The stadium's price is estimated at 350 million dollars. The taxpayers would have to come up with about 200 million dollars. The saga of the Twins stadium captured headlines this weekend...Weekend Edition Sports Commentator Jay Weiner says he can sum up his reaction to the new stadium design in one word.