January 14, 1997 - As part of a series on poverty, MPR’s John Biewen looks at the "rent-to-own" industry and issues regarding interest rates.
January 15, 1997 - Saint Paul loses another small community hospital today (WEDNESDAY). After 70 years, Midway Hospital is shutting down. HealthEast, which owns Midway, decided to close it and open a new facility in a more populated suburban area. The decision came as no surprise to many employees who knew Midway Hospital was financially vulnerable. But as they told Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson, the Midway closing could signal the end of a unique era in hospital care.
January 16, 1997 - ((NO INTRO -- USE KLB's pkg as intro)) This is Martin Kaste. State legislators' reaction to the Governor's State of the State address was, on the whole, polite. There were a few instances of crude jokes and notes being passed among the DFL's backbenchers during the speech itself, but their leaders were more diplomatic. House Speaker Phil Carruthers praised what he called the Governor's "bipartisan spirit": ((In many ways his agenda is the same as ours.... similar agenda... welfare reform ... I think there's a termendous numbe of areas where there's going to be a lot of bipartisan cooperation. 0:22)) But the DFL leadership's conciliatory
January 20, 1997 - Ambassador Andrew Young says his friend Martin Luther King, Jr. "did everything he could to be an ordinary person but became a man of destiny." Young worked with King in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was on the motel balcony next to him when a sniper killed King. Young spoke today in Minneapolis at the 7th annual Martin Luther King,Jr. day breakfast sponsored by the General Mills Foundation. We have a couple of excerpts of Ambassador Young's remarks. Ambassador Young said the civil rights work to be done in this country is what he calls integrating the nation's money. Young says people whose neighborhoods are redlined by lenders are like residents of an underdeveloped nation living inside the United States.
January 22, 1997 - Bill Kling, president of Minnesota Public Radio, appears on Midday to talk about MPR's 30th anniversary, the future of public radio, and answers listener questions. Host Gary Eichten begins conversation by asking Kling about the first day on air.
January 22, 1997 -
January 22, 1997 - A welfare program geared at putting people to work has received early high marks. A state audit of the Minnesota Family Investment Program indicates that families in the program are escaping poverty faster than those who rely on A-F-D-C. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports from the capitol.
January 23, 1997 - A COALITION OF COMPUTER AND INTERNET COMPANIES SAY INTERNET USERS HAVE PAID THEIR FAIR SHARE TO LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANIES AND POSE LITTLE THREAT TO THE PHONE SYSTEM. THE COALITION PRESENTED THEIR STUDY TO COUNTER STUDIES BY LOCAL PHONE COMPANIES RELEASED LAST YEAR SEEKING TO JUSTIFY NEW ACCESS FEES ON INTERNET USAGE. PHONE COMPANIES CLAIM INTERNE
January 27, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter reports from Embarrass, where several dozen people spend time in sleeping in snow shelters to test everything from sleeping bags to cell phones. Temperatures in northern Minnesota provide perfect weather for camping…if you want to find out how your camping gear performs in the bitter cold.
January 28, 1997 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports that the battle lines that marked the fight over passage of Minnesota’s Human Rights Bill have not gone away. Roberts interviews numerous individuals on the law’s effect.