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 15, 1997 - As part of a series on poverty, MPR’s Stephen Smith reports on low-income housing.
January 15, 1997 - The Minnesota Pollution Agency says its investigation of deformed frogs has become too big to handle. Deformed frogs have been reported across Minnesota, in neighboring states, and as far away as Vermont. The MPCA plans to turn much of the research over to federal agencies better equipped to handle the deepening mystery. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Losure reports. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency first began looking into the problem in the summer of 1995, when a group of schoolchildren on a fei
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 - Governor Arne Carlson delivered his annual "state of the state address" to a joint convention of the legislature. As Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports, the Governor made his first DIRECT pitch for funding a new baseball stadium and hammered familiar themes of his administration's policies: The annual State of the State Address is a Governor's time to take center stage and be his or her persuasive BEST. THIS year, the governor had reason to sound fairly upbeat. The state is enjoying a projected surplus of 1.4-BILLION dollars, unemployment is low and job creation is ahead of the national average. Another factor leading to the Governor's optimism is the promise by state lawmakers to work harder than ever to be bi-partisan and civil when it comes to doing the state's business.
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 installment of Voices from the Heartland, 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.