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.
April 3, 1997 - Crews are sandbagging in Cold Spring, Minnesota, where some homes are threatened by the rising Sauk River. The river has risen three-and-a-half feet since Monday and is expected to crest eight to nine feet above flood stage. In Waite Park, rising water is starting to inundate a supper club. More flooding problems in eastern North Dakota -- this time in Milnor, in the southeastern part of the state. City auditor Kristen Looneborg (LOO'-nuh-berg) says water is surrounding several houses and a trailer park. had water on the main floor. Local officials are meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers to see whether an earthen dike is needed. The city engineer in Casselton says dikes started overnight have put the city in better shape to battle unexpected flooding. But engineer Roger Fenstad says the fight is not over -- and students are being excused from classes early today to help with sandbagging. Meanwhile, farmers near Amenia have asked Casselton for help in battling floodwaters. And around Fargo, the call is going out for thousands more volunteers to fill sandbags and build dikes. I talked with Mary Kenna at the Cass and Cl
April 3, 1997 - The Minnesota Attorney General's office is investigating last week's closure of a Saint Cloud organization serving people with disabilities. Central Minnesota Care Centers, which included one of the state's eight Centers for Independent Living, appears to have been at least half a million dollars in debt. As many question how the financial crisis could have happened, state and county officials and former center staff are moving quickly to provide emergency services to affected clients. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
April 3, 1997 - State Representative Todd Van Dellen wants to use slot machines to plug a loophole that would let the Twins break their Metrodome contract. The Plymouth Republican would allow slot machines at Canterbury Park, and would use about 21-million dollars of the money they bring in to buy around 800-thousand Twins tickets and cover some Twins operating losses. The Twins' contract says they can only leave the Metrodome before 2013 if they don't fill a certain number of seats or post losses for the '95 through '97 seasons. Van Dellen would also use some of the slot revenue to bring a hockey team to the Twin Cities and help cities change their property tax system. Twins officials say they're not interested in the proposal, to say the least. I asked Van Dellen what he makes of Twins President Jerry Bell's assertion that the Van Dellen plan would constitute inappropriate interference and would probably be illegal. | D-CART ITEM: 5057 | TIME: 3:21 | OUTCUE: "...THAT THEY SIGNED."
April 3, 1997 - A House Committee has withdrawn provisions of a bill that would tax monthly access fees to the Internet. The tax provision was deleted following a veto threat by the Governor. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports.
April 3, 1997 - A House Committee has withdrawn provisions of a bill that would tax monthly access fees to the Internet, following a veto threat by the Governor. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports.
April 3, 1997 - MPR’s Bob Collins reports that despite latest stadium bill being roundly disliked, it has been stalled…but not dead. By a single vote, the House Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee refused to refer bill to Taxes Committee.
April 3, 1997 - In a case with parallels to the recent Food Lion Supermarket suit against ABC's "Prime Time Live" program, a Twin Cities television station is being sued for using a hidden camera. WCCO sent one of its producers undercover with a hidden camera for a report on alledged abuses in a home for disabled adults. Like the Food Lion case, the suit centers on how reporters gathered the information--not the accuracy of the report. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
April 4, 1997 - This spring there's been a lot of attention about flooding in western Minneosta, but floodwaters are predicted to cause problems in parts of the Twin Cities as well, especially in the St. Croix River Valley. The St. Croix River is rising and the weather service is predicting it'll crest in less than two weeks almost two feet higher than it did in 1993. Businesses, local governments, and residents are all getting ready for the flood. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports... | D-CART ITEM:5095 | TIME: 5:08s
April 4, 1997 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports that sixteen exhausted negotiators gave up their efforts Thursday to settle the most contentious management issue in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. In twenty-two meetings over eight months, the panel managed to find consensus on minor disputes over the use of the federal wilderness area, but there was no agreement on the one issue that led to their convening.
April 4, 1997 - The chairman of the Senate K-12 education budget committee today dropped a small political bomb today (Friday) when he proposed a version of Governor Carlson's school vouchers plan. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste reports: DFL State Senator Larry Pogemiller says his plan isn't a vouchers plan -- it's a "CERTIFICATES" plan. But both plans seem to share the same basic philosophy: the idea that free-market-style competition would be good for Minnesota's schools: