January 11, 1998 - Twenty mushers expect a good trail and cold temperatures today as the 15th annual John Beargrease Sled Dog Race gets underway at 1:00. A snowfall of 4 to 6 inches on Friday was too little too late for race officials. A lack of snow earlier forced race officials to move the start and finish of the race north to Grand Portage. Officials also shortened the course by about 200 miles. Vicki Trauba is the Executive Director of the Race.
January 13, 1998 - Jamie Nelson of Togo, Minnesota, won her fourth John Beargrease Sled Dog Race today. The defending champion crossed the finish line in Grand Portage at 10:25 this morning. This year's race was just a bit more than half the usual distance. Lack of snow forced organizers to move the race from Duluth to Grand Portage, and shorten the route. Nelson says mushers and dogs still fought hard to cross the two-hundred and sixty two miles to the finish line.
January 13, 1998 - At first blush, a plan to take a century-old theater in downtown Minneapolis ... put it on a giant truck and move it three blocks down Hennepin Avenue, sounds a little crazy. But the group that is pushing the plan has a knack for the gargantuan. Artspace Projects which already operates the Hennepin Center for the Arts wants to save the historic theater from demolition and provide the city with a new performance space. Whether that makes financial sense is still a question. But as Mary Stucky reports, Artspace has acheived the near impossible before.
January 13, 1998 - President Clinton has announced plans to spend nearly 30-million dollars on training more computer programmers. According to a study conducted by Virginia Tech, one out of every 10 technology jobs in the United States is left unfilled. The President's plan comes as welcome news to many Minnesota employers who have been scrambling to find enough computer-literate employees.
January 14, 1998 - MPR’s Leif Enger reports on cold weather tourism on the Gun Flint Trail, and the debates of what exactly that should be. Report includes various interviews and commentary.
January 16, 1998 - Music, English, Drama and Religion scholars will gather at Stanford University to deconstruct the work of one of Minnesota's most famous sons, Bob Dylan. The conference is billed as "The First U.S. Bob Dylan Conference" and will focus on Dylan's art and cultural legacy. MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Tino Markworth, organizer of conference.
January 20, 1998 - Life is pretty bleak in a small village on the western coast of Ireland until a fugitive named Christy Mahan arrives and promptly announces he has killed his father. So begins John Millington Synge's comic play about a town caught up in the excitement of a dramatic event and a young man who is transformed by his hero's welcome. "The Playboy of the Western World" opens tomorrow at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis . Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling says Synge's play is an Irish classic...that avoids pandering to the stereotypical notions of Ireland and the Irish.
January 22, 1998 - Look for larger boats and plenty of fishing and sailing gadgets at this year's Boat Show. The annual event, which showcase the latest in the boating industry, got underway last night in St. Paul. Most boatmakers and retailers say 1998 is shaping up into a great year for boat sales. But not everyone is optimistic.
January 23, 1998 - Hockey fans greeted the announcement of the Wild name with a little MORE enthusiasm. Here's what some folks in downtown St. Paul thought of the new team name.
January 23, 1998 - Roger Moe wasn't the only one who didn't give the WILD an exuberant welcome to St. Paul. Jay Erckenbrack is the president and owner of Minnesota Wild, not the hockey team, but a natural foods company in Northern Minnesota.