July 1, 1999 - The Minnesota Vikings are launching a statewide campaign for a new stadium. The team rejected a proposal from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Commission to turn the Metrodome into a football only stadium for less than half the cost of building a new one. Instead, the Vikings want a 70,000-seat roofed football-only stadium that would cost at least 400- million dollars. Vikings owner Red McCombs says he thinks Minnesotans are behind him.
July 1, 1999 - The Minnesota Zoo has announced plans to build a four and a half million dollar exhibit honoring the family farm. Zoo officials say the farm will help city kids better understand the importance of agriculture. Critics say it looks like another money-losing venture for the state facility.
July 2, 1999 - Judy Dwarkin, director of public relations at the Humane Society, talks about the first annual "Dog Day at the Dome." 150 dogs will gather for the Twins game event that includes a parade around the field and a dog owner look-alike contest. Dwarkin says the dogs won't be disappointed.
July 2, 1999 - The Fourth of July is a mere four days away -- that means small-town parades, back-yard barbeques, and, yes, fireworks. Fireworks have been illegal in the state since 1941, but each year Minnesotans flock to Wisconsin and return with bottle rockets, sparklers, and firecrackers. Governor Jesse Ventura says they should be able to make those same purchases here at home. But others warn legalizing fireworks will only lead to more accidents and injuries.
July 2, 1999 - Even as cost estimates for a proposed light rail transit system rise, Minneapolis and St. Paul residents continue to show strong support for the idea. A new poll commissioned by Minnesota Public Radio, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and KARE-TV shows well over two thirds of those responding to the survey support light rail.
July 2, 1999 - MPR’s John Bischoff visits carillonneur David Johnson at House of Hope church along Summit Avenue in St. Paul, as he prepares for July 4th concert. Johnson discusses the instrument and how to play it.
July 8, 1999 - The July edition of our Voices of Minnesota Series featuring two Minnesota athletes - Greg Lemond, winner of the Tour de France bicycle race, and Nancy Mudge Cato, a woman who played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
July 8, 1999 - Last February Norwest Bank Minnesota made an announcement that stunned the local arts world; it was donating its world renowned collection of decorative, applied and graphic arts to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The collection features rare and significant metalwork, furniture, ceramics, glass, even posters, from one of the most explosive and diverse periods in art history....what scholars call the "modernist" period, between 1875 and 1945. Tomorrow the M.I.A. will unveil part of its prized gift to the public in a new exhibit called "Milestones of Modernism," and Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has a preview.
July 9, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger interviews Wayne Johnson, author of the crime novel "Don't Think Twice." The hero of book, Paul Two Persons, is a Ivy-League educated Chippewa, and owns a remote lodge on Lake of the Woods. Two Persons finds himself in serious trouble when he returns to the reservation he grew up on. The book relies heavily on the land and waters of northern Minnesota, and the traditions of the Indians who live there.
July 9, 1999 - 90 thousand fans are expected to pack the Rosebowl Stadium for the Women's world cup soccer final tomorrow. The U-S will play China in a match-up that is likely to be extremely close. China has two of the best offensive players in the tournament, but if past games are any indication, they will have trouble getting the ball past US goalkeeper Briana Scurry. Scurry is a Minnesota native, who honed her soccer skills on the Anoka High School team. Dave Tank was her coach at Anoka. He says he's not surprised Scurry has come this far.