April 3, 1997 - MPR’s Bob Collins reports that despite latest stadium bill being roundly disliked, it has been stalled…but not dead. By a single vote, the House Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee refused to refer bill to Taxes Committee.
April 3, 1997 - In a case with parallels to the recent Food Lion Supermarket suit against ABC's "Prime Time Live" program, a Twin Cities television station is being sued for using a hidden camera. WCCO sent one of its producers undercover with a hidden camera for a report on alledged abuses in a home for disabled adults. Like the Food Lion case, the suit centers on how reporters gathered the information--not the accuracy of the report. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
April 8, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on Governor Arne Carlson address to appeal for cool heads at Lake Mille Lacs. Rising tensions over imminent Ojibwe spearfishing and netting prompted the governor to make a statewide three-minute address asking for forbearance. Around Mille Lacs, lakeside residents responded to Carlson with a mixture of relief and doubt.
April 10, 1997 - MPR's Jon Gordon reports that there will be no spears or gillnets on Mille Lacs Lake, for now. A federal appeals court has refused to allow eight Ojibwe Bands, including six from Wisconsin, to spear and gillnet on Mille Lacs and other Minnesota lakes this spring. The move comes after landowners and some counties appealed a federal judge's order allowing the bands to begin fishing in the 12 county area of east-central Minnesota.
April 11, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter visits “Patzoldts' Lost Frontier" in Grand Rapids, the farthest north commercial maple syrup producer in the United States. A cold snap has halted maple syrup production around the state. Sap had started running in the maple trees, but when temperatures plunged, it stopped abruptly. In some cases, the sudden freeze may have damaged the equipment maple syrup producers use.
April 14, 1997 - It's all buttons and beeps on most elevators these days. Automation has replaced humans, but not everywhere. In St. Cloud, 70 year-old Ed Pick takes people to work in one of the last of its kind in Minnesota: a manually operated elevator. Pick talks with Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann about working a job where you can bring everyone along for the ride.
April 22, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that the Minnesota legislature is considering a measure which changes how rights of way are managed. Utilities can run their cables and pipes under our roads because they're part of the right of way. Some city officials say the companies leave a mess when they're through. A compromise before the legislature gives cities more control over rights of way but leaves a major issue unsettled…rent.
April 23, 1997 - Pronouncer = STAUSS = rhymes with house The mayor of East Grand Forks now says it could be a month before city residents can go back hom. He says sewage in the flood waters has contaminated their homes. That was tough news to more than two thousand flood victims who have come to stay temporarily in Bemidji. East Grand Forks Mayor Lynn Stauss (stouse) travelled to several northwestern Minnesota towns where flood victims have congregated, as Minnesota Public Radio's Christina Koenig (KAY-nig) reports. Several hundred of the flood victims gathered Bemidji State University's Hockey arena to hear the mayor. Lynn Stauss told his fellow flood victims
April 24, 1997 - State lawmakers have yet to approve a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins...but Minneapolis business leaders have already begun the push for ballpark-related development. The Minneapolis Downtown Council announced today it will form a task force to come up with ideas for stimulating development around a stadium. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham reports: When the Metrodome was on the drawing boards in the 70's...many assumed it would act as something of a development magnet...attracting entrepreneurs eager to capitalize on the millions of people who would visit the facility each year. But 15 years after opening...there's little to distract a fan on his
April 28, 1997 - A NORTHWEST AIRLINES 747 CARGO PLANE DELIVERED 120-THOUSAND-POUNDS OF SUPPLIES FROM THE TWIN CITIES TO THE GRAND FORKS AREA YESTERDAY. TARGET STORES COLLECTED THE GOODS ON SATURDAY. RESIDENTS DONTATED MORE THAN THE AIRPLANE COULD CARRY, SO FIVE SEMI-TRUCKS WILL BRING THE REST IN THE DAYS TO COME. MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO'S JON GORDON REPORTS. ........................................................................... DCART ITEM:9150 TIME:2:58 OUTCUE:soc ........................................................................ TWELVE TRUCKLOADS OF BOTTLED WATER, CLEANING SUPPLIES, TOILETRIES AND MORE WERE TAKEN FROM THE TARGET STOREES TO THE TWIN CITIES AIRPORT SATURDAY. NORTHWEST AIRLINES EMPLOYEES VOLUNTEERED THEIR TIME TO STUFF THE GOOD INTO SILVER CRATES, THEN INTO THE BELLY OF THE BOEING 747,