May 28, 1997 - More than a hundred outraged veterans came to the capital today to voice their opposition to the balanced budget agreement passed by Congress last week. As part of the budget, more than two BILLION dollars is being cut from the Veterans Administration...which is mostly for health care. As Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports, some veterans fear the cuts will do irrepairable damage to a medical system already struggling to compete in today's health care market. Initially, the V.A. thought Congress would freeze its spending for the next five years. But, in what some veterans describe as back room politics, Congress and the President decided at the last minute to cut more t
May 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe visits a correctional facility in Faribault. Secure behind high chain link fences topped with coiled razor wire, the oldest prisoners in the system live out their remaining years.
May 29, 1997 - Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone will tour several towns in the Mississippi Delta today ... in the first part of what he's billing as a nationwide poverty tour. Over the coming weeks, Wellstone plans to retrace the steps of Robert Kennedy... who visited some of the country's poorest regions in 1967 and '68. Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports on how poverty has... or has not... changed... in the past thirty years. When Senator Robert Kennedy traveled to the Mississippi Delta in 1967... he found children in tattered clothing... with no access to a doctor and, in some cases, not enough to eat. Their parents had lost their cotton-plantation jobs to mechanization. A few months later... Kennedy found similar conditions among displaced coal mining families in eastern Kentucky. Georgetown
June 2, 1997 - As part of the “Voices of Minnesota" series, this program features two health related interviews. MPR’s John Biewen speaks with Dr. Ron Cranford of the Hennepin County Medical Center. Cranford is an ethicist and end-of-life specialist. Infertility specialist. MPR’s Stephanie Curtis speaks with Dr. Robert Jansen, author of Overcoming Infertiity: A Compassionate Resource for Getting Pregnant.
June 6, 1997 - Midday presents the MPR/Soundprint documentary Working Nights. MPR’s Stephen Smith looks at health and science behind the experience of people who work nights.
June 26, 1997 - Midday host Gary Eichten discusses U.S. Supreme Court ruling on assisted suicide with guest Dr. Steven Miles, associate professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. Miles provides reaction on the court decision that individuals don’t have right to physician-assisted suicide and details various state laws. Listeners call in with questions.
July 2, 1997 - One of Minnesota's top health officials is threatening to quit, if lawmakers don't approve an executive pay increase by the end of August. State epidemiologist Michael Osterholm says the pay dispute has severely limited the health department's recruitment program AND is ruining morale. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports: Osterholm says he has nothing to gain from the executive pay bill. His 96-thousand dollar salary was approved two years ago through a special legislative exemption after lawmakers heard that Osterholm was being courted by other health departments and private employers. But Osterholm says few of his lesser-known colleagues have any hope for a special exemption...instead their salaries are tied to their department's executive pay.
July 3, 1997 - Aitkin Democratic U.S.Senator Paul Wellstone finished the two-day Minnesota leg of his nationwide poverty tour. Earlier this week, he toured poverty stricken neighborhoods of south Minneapolis and then it was off to Aitkin County, where Wellstone says poverty might be more HIDDEN but is no less severe. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe travelled with Wellstone, and has this report. In Minnesota, those who live their lives on the social and economic edge can sometimes escape the gaze of community leaders, elected officials...and even neighbors. The invisibility of rural poverty is perhaps partly due to the fact that when SOME think of poverty...the mind's eye is averted to the depression era imagery captured by photographer, dorthea lange. The gaunt faces that haunt her black and white stills are what we of
July 9, 1997 - Midday discusses the lawsuits against tobacco companies with Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey. Listeners call in with questions.
July 10, 1997 - Midday discusses issue over health care and public sector salaries with guests Michael Osterholm, member of the Minnesota Department of Health; and former State Senator Gene Merriam, who is now chief financial officer of ECM Publishers. The two share their views on topic and answer listener call-in questions.