January 7, 2000 - Minnesota House Republicans are proposing a Privacy Bill of Rights for Minnesotans. Republicans want to stop state government agencies from selling mailing lists, and force telemarketers to register with the state. The proposal drew criticism from DFL state attorney general Mike Hatch. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin reports. Republican house majority leader Tim Pawlenty says the electronic exchange of personal data can be frightening.
January 19, 2000 - As the population ages, short-term memory loss and dementia are becoming more common. Four million Americans now suffer from Alzheimers Disease. Most of those who can no longer live at home are in nursing homes; but many say there's a lack of facilities that understand how to care for dementia victims. In Meeker County, where 17 percent of the population is over 65, an entrepreneur has risked everything to start an innovative foster home for Alzheimer patients. The home, in rural Darwin, features aspects of farm life and could become a model for the future.
January 21, 2000 - George Latimer, former St. Paul Mayor; Dick Goebel, of the Second Harvest St. Paul Food Bank and the Food First Coalition; and Bonnie Becker of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, discuss the topic of hunger in Minnesota.
January 31, 2000 - A Chautauqua Lecture by the new host of NPR's Talk of the Nation-- longtime Washington Post journalist Juan Williams. The speech and his book are titled Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. The paperback goes on sale Tuesday. (Williams is also author of Eyes on the Prize.
February 4, 2000 - The running of the John Beargrease sled dog race has Commentator Nanci Olesen thinking north this weekend.
February 7, 2000 - Former NPR producer Gwen Macsai, takes on childhood, becoming an adult and the difficulties of marriage in her first book, "Lip-schtick". She turns these ordinary experiences into comic essays, examining the pain of the junior high crush, the romantic allure of carpenters, and how to train your husband. Macsai, formerly a Twin Cities resident, now lives in Chicago.
February 11, 2000 - Midday’s Gary Eichten spends the hour talking with Sharon Sayles Belton, mayor of Minneapolis, about what she sees as the state and health of the city. Topics include crime prevention and affordable housing, amongst others. Sayles Belton also answers listener questions.
February 18, 2000 - Hear Nobel Prize Laureate and Northern Ireland political leader David Trimble's speech at a Minnesota International Center World Affairs breakfast forum in downtown Minneapolis earlier today.
February 21, 2000 - It's hard to believe with all the whizz-bang high-tech entertainments available to kids nowadays that something as simple as story telling could compete. But Judith Simundson not only competes, she wins by spinning Norwegian tales of enchantment.
February 22, 2000 - At the start of his new book, conservative onlooker David Frum assesses life in America in the year 2000. We are richer than ever before, he says, there are more jobs, and great social advancements. But it's a mistake, he says, to think the turbulent 1960s laid the entire foundation for the improvements we enjoy today. Frum is a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Morning Edition, and his new book is called "How We Got Here: The Seventies the Decade that Brought You Modern Life, for Better or Worse".