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 30, 1997 - The U.S. military has awarded a $5 billion communications contract to a corporate team led by AT&T. The team - including several "baby bell" telephone firms around the nation - will install equipment at domestic bases.
January 30, 1997 - A family of eight moved into a brand new home in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood. The home was built and sold at cost by the Builders Association of the Twin Cities with the help of the city of St. Paul. Many groups - private and public - are trying to address Minnesota's shortage of affordable housing. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports on the size of the gap they are trying to fill.
January 30, 1997 -
January 31, 1997 - Currently about 20-percent of the state's nearly 8,000 physicians are women. But those numbers are expected to more than double in the next few years. That's because women are now attending the U of M Medical School at almost the same rate as men. .And before long, this gender parity in the classroom will begin showing up in the doctor's office. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, some female patients can hardly wait.
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. Leif Enger of Mainstreet Radio reports. Any school superintendent will tell you, you can't win. Call off school on a stormy day, and parents will complain the weather's
January 31, 1997 - A federal commission is seeking the public's help in devising plans to protect vital services, such as telecommunications and energy, that rely on computers and other high-tech machines. The President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection has scheduled public hearings this spring and summer in Los Angeles, Houston, St. Louis, Atlanta and Boston.
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