May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on the testing challenges of public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul see more immigrants and refugees each year…with few speaking English. That makes passing exams, including the 8th grade basic skills tests in reading and math, extremely difficult. The state provides money to educate these students, but in many cases the immigration is outpacing the funding.
May 20, 1998 - Young people are frequent victims, and the most likely perpetrators, of hate crimes. Many Minnesota teens were among hundreds who gathered yesterday at a hate crimes summit in Minneapolis, hoping their stories will encourage more people to pay attention to the problem. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports: The most energetic session of the day-long summit on hate crimes was the taping of a national television show about how prejudice affects teens. The June 20 show is hosted by Court TV's Carol Randolph:
May 21, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Catherine Winter reports on Cass Lake-Bena school district, a small district on the Leech Lake Reservation that has struggled with racial tension for years. The district is trying to serve its Native students better, but the case is still not settled.
May 26, 1998 - Four tenth graders at a St. Cloud High school were suspended today for allegedly making death threats against students, staff, and teachers. Ed Johnson, Principal at Technical Senior High School, says three of the boys posted a so-called "kill list" of potential targets on the internet. A fourth student allegedy made threats against students and teachers while in a school cafeteria. There have been similar incidents at other Minnesota schools recently, and after last week's shooting in Springfield Oregon, schools aren't taking any chances with threats like these. Worried principals have been calling Robert Schmidt all day today. Schmidt heads the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals:
May 27, 1998 - School administrators throughout Minnesota are telling students they'll no longer tolerate threats of violence. There's been a rash of suspensions throughout the state this month of students suspected of threatening teachers or other students. School officials admit some of these these incidents might have been ignored in the past...but the recent school shootings in Oregon, Arkansas and Kentucky have hightened safety concerns in classrooms. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports... The reports are disturbing. Two students at Woodbury Junior High accused of threatening to kill a teacher. Four tenth-graders in Saint Cloud suspended for allegedly making death threats. Three of the boys posted a list of the people they wanted to see killed on the Internet. Students in at least
May 28, 1998 - "Boreal" means northern, as in "aurora borealis." The terms is also used to describe the forests of northern Minnesota, full of pine and spruce, and the birds that live there. Today (Thursday) the Gunflint Trail in Cook County kicks off its first annual boreal birding festival, celebrating the variety of birds to be found in the northwoods. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports. Driving up the Gunflint Trail, a paved road that begins in the town of Grand Marais on Lake Superior, Sue McDonnell points excitedly out the windows at an ever-changing forest. McDonnell: We have the north shore hardwoods area, maples, poplar, then get into the decisuous/conifer mix, and then the conifers
May 29, 1998 - On this segment of MPR’s Voices of Minnesota, Midday’s Gary Eichten profiles and talks with University of Minnesota historian Hy Berman.
May 29, 1998 - The Steele County city of Owatonna is bustling today (Friday) with the grand opening of Cabela's, a massive retail hunting and fishing extravaganza. The grand opening is shared with a privately-funded museum that is a local man's vision-become-reality. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports. Owatonna is not a sleepy town, but it is still small enough to have its name on a water tower. After today, Minnesota residents from more than 200 miles around will be driving here. Outdoors enthusaists who used to order duck decoys and bait-casting reels from a catalog in the privacy of their own home, may just decide to get in the car and go to the Cabela's store
May 29, 1998 - Today was the last day of school for kids on the Red Lake Reservation, and it could be the start of one of their last long summer vacations. As Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Robertson explains from Bemidji, the Red Lake School District is proposing a year-round school schedule... Less than 20 percent of eighth graders in the Red Lake School District passed this year's statewide tests in math and reading -- well below the statewide average of around 70 percent. Superintendent Roger Schmidt says switching to a year-round school schedule would raise those figures, and he's hoping to convince the rest of the community to back the change. Like a growing number
May 29, 1998 - As part of the “Voices of Minnesota" series, this program features MPR’s Gary Eicthen interviewing Hy Berman, University of Minnesota historian. Topics include his personal life, the tobacco trial, politics, and University of Minnesota.