August 4, 1979 - In this documentary, Craig Oliver, of public station WAMU in Washington, traveled to Minnesota as part of a national examination of the D.C. congressional representation question, with three-quarters of a million residents of the district having no voting representatives in the U.S. House or Senate. The Minnesota legislature is one of six state legislatures in the country which have voiced approval of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, designed to give the District of Columbia full congressional representation. 38 states must agree to ratify, within seven years, if the proposed amendment is to take effect. Program presents various reports and interviews from opponents and supporters of amendment.
August 11, 1979 - On this regional public affairs program, C. Donald Peterson, Minnesota State Supreme Court justice; John Finnegan, executive editor at St. Paul Pioneer Press-Dispatch; and Marshall Tannick, Minneapolis attorney and former journalist, discuss a number of 1979 court decisions affecting first amendment press rights including freedom of the press, the right to privacy, and the people's right to know.
August 17, 1979 - MPR’s Bob Potter reports on Jimmy Carter’s visit to St. Paul, which included meeting with Minnesota and North Dakota governors and a speech on energy crisis at the Landmark Center.
August 18, 1979 - Highlights of President Jimmy Carter's Citizens Energy briefing held at the Landmark Center in Saint Paul prior to his departure on a week-long trip down the Mississippi River to St. Louis on the sternwheeler riverboat the Delta Queen.
August 18, 1979 - MPR’s John Gaddo reports on President Jimmy Carter’s visit to Wabasha, Minnesota. Segment includes clip of an energy speech by President Carter, followed by a group birthday celebration for Rosalynn Carter and comments from people in the crowd about the visit.
August 29, 1979 - Michael Novak, author and scholar at the American Enterprise Institute gives speech, titled “Ethnicity and The Democratic Process.”
September 8, 1979 - On this regional public affairs program, a preview of the Minneapolis mayoral primary election to succeed retiring Mayor Al Hofstede. Candidates in the DFL primary include Don Fraser, former U.S. Congressman (the DFL endorsed candidate); James Rice, Minnesota state representative; Tim Campbell, gay activist, and others. Candidates in the Independent Republican primary include Mike Barros (Independent-Republican endorsed), and others. Charles Stenvig, former mayor, is the Independent candidate for general election.
September 28, 1979 - MPR's Alan Searle interviews Michael Sherbourne, who has worked as a full-time volunteer since 1969 and is considered the main conduit of information between Soviet dissidents and the western world. Sherbourne discusses his over five thousand telephone calls to friends and relatives of Soviet dissidents and other denied exit visas from the Soviet Union. Sherbourne was interviewed in the Twin Cities before travelling to Washington to speak at a conference on the fate of the dissidents.
October 9, 1979 - Documentary that explores the attempts by South Dakota Native Americans to win more complete sovereignty from state and federal governments. A collection of various interviews. Topics include Sun Dance ritual, treaties, and courts.
October 30, 1979 - John M. Bach, a coworker with Reverend Philip Berrigan, speaking as part of the Prisons and Prisoners lecture series at Moorhead State College, held in the fall of 1973. Bach shared views from a prisoner perspective. Bach spent 35 months in seven federal prisons for refusing induction into military service. PLEASE NOTE: Audio contains disturbing language