September 28, 1999 - The Minnesota Orchestra has won a critical state variance for its proposed 23-million dollar amphitheater in Brooklyn Park. The citizen's board of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency voted today to exempt a handful of neighboring properties from state noise laws. The variance was one of the last major hurdles for the project, which has been contentiously debated for a year and a half. Opponents are now promising to take their fight to court.
September 29, 1999 - In this audio segment, Garrison Keillor gives an acceptance speech after receiving a National Humanities Medal. At an event sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Keillor talks about the difference between being a writer and hosting A Prairie Home Companion.
September 30, 1999 - Tomorrow is the deadline for identifying new owners for the Minnesota Twins. Finding new investors is part of an agremeent negotiated between the team and St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman to bring the Twins across the river. It appears a deal could be close which would bring three Twin Cities sports teams under one ownership group.
October 1, 1999 - Today is the self-imposed deadline for identifying new owners for the Minnesota Twins. Finding new investors is part of an agreement between the team and Mayor Norm Coleman to bring the Twins to downtown St. Paul. It appears a deal could be close that would bring three Twin Cities sports teams under one ownership group. But with time running down, much remains uncertain.
October 5, 1999 - Mayor Norm Coleman's campaign to build a new Minnesota Twins ballpark in downtown St. Paul has entered the final month before a city-wide referendum on the issue. If voters approve a sales tax hike to help fund the project, the debate will advance to the state legislature -- where just two years ago, efforts to build a new ballpark ran afoul of public sentiment. In part two of our series on the stadium controversy, Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo examines the political landscape surrounding the stadium debate.
October 7, 1999 - In less than a month, Mayor Norm Coleman's plan to build a new Twins ballpark in downtown St. Paul will face a crucial test at the polls. If St. Paul voters approve a new sales tax to fund the stadium, the debate will move to a leery state legislature. Even if the referendum fails, the discussion isn't necessarily over. In the fourth and final part of our stadium series, Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo examines what happens after the vote.
October 8, 1999 - Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad has signed a letter of intent to sell the team pending approval of a new ballpark in downtown St. Paul. If the deal goes through, sports moguls Glen Taylor and Robert Naegele will head up the new ownership group. Taylor and Naegele are, respectively, the principal owners of the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Minnesota Wild. A sale would give them control of three of the Twin Cities' four major professional sports teams.
October 8, 1999 - The men heading up the partnership to buy the twins are no strangers to professional sports. Glen Taylor owns the Minnesota Timberwolves, while Robert Naegele is managing partner of the Minnesota Wild hockey team.
October 8, 1999 - Tomorrow is Leif Erikson day in the United States. This year, the date serves as a kick-off for year long celebration marking the millenium of the famous Viking voyage to North America. Norway, Iceland, the United States and Canada are planning events to honor the European who reached the New World almost five hundred years before Columbus. Urn Ardnar is a Counsul for Iceland and is a memeber of the Minnesota Leif Eriksson Millennium Commission of Iceland. He says the biggest event will be next year's re-enactment of the voyage using reproductions of Viking ships.
October 15, 1999 - Earlier this year, Saint John's University in Collegeville commissioned the a hand-illuminated bible. The man in charge of this six year project was on The Saint's Johns' campus today to talk about how his work is coming along.