November 7, 1978 - Highlights from American Lutheran Church Convention held recently in Moorhead. Program includes conversations with Dr. Paul Wee, General Secretary for Lutheran World Ministries; Bishop Josiah Kibira of Tanzania, president of the Lutheran World Federation; and Dr. Keith Bridston about conflict in Rhodesia, South Africa and Namibia. At convention, church delegates considered whether the church should divest itself of holdings it has in companies which do business in South Africa. Program begins with a report on current situation in Africa.
November 8, 1978 - Rudy Boschwitz speaking at press conference following his election to the U.S. Senate. Program begins with brief report from MPR’s Bob Potter on other election results.
November 21, 1978 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews William Johnson, political science professor at Bethel College; and Lloyd Brandt, public affairs office of the First Banks System. Johnson and Brandt discuss the state-local fiscal relationship and tax limitation proposals, based on a Citizens League report on the fiscal and tax situation in Minnesota.
November 28, 1978 - Boston Municipal Judge Margaret Ann Burnham speaking at Women in Law Conference at Boston University.
December 9, 1978 - Excerpts from a National News Council hearing dealing with subjects, ranging from corporate ownership of newspapers to a charge of biased reporting against the New York Times. One case in particular attracted a good deal of attention - a complaint against NBC News that a recent NBC documentary was inaccurate and unfair. The program in question, called, "I Want it All Now!", portrayed the lifestyle of the residents of Marin County, California, as self-indulgent, narcissistic and hedonistic. After hearing six hours of testimony, the council ruled the program was "journalistically flawed".
December 9, 1978 - Norman Isaacs, editor-in-residence at the Graduate School of Journalism and chairman of the National News Council, speaks on freedom of the press and newspapers in modern society. Isaac’s address was at the Minnesota Press Club. This program is a summary of those remarks.
December 11, 1978 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Jose Trejo, director of the governor's Spanish Speaking Affairs Council; and Manuel Guerrero, St. Paul attorney and former chair of the Chicano Studies Department at the University of Minnesota, who discuss the plight of illegal aliens in the region.
December 14, 1978 - MPR's John Ydstie, of KCCM in Moorhead, and Dan Olson talk with representatives from American Agriculture Movement. Interviews are with Elmo Olson, North Dakota State coordinator; Tom Benson from Appleton, Minnesota; and Minnesota farmer Duane Carlstrom. In 1977, the American Agriculture Movement, a new organization that had originated in the wheat growing areas of Colorado, was spreading across the country organizing tractorcades, cattle blockades at the Canadian and Mexican borders, and other farmer demonstrations to protest the low price for farm products. The American Agriculture members finally took their demonstrations to Washington to make their point to the President, the Congress, and the Secretary of Agriculture.
December 27, 1978 - Donald Fraser, Minnesota's 5th district congressman, speaking to an audience at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. Fraser’s address was on the topic of human rights. Fraser has been called one of the nation's strongest champions of human rights. Fraser has served on the House International Relations committee and was instrumental in the house investigation of the so-called 'Koreagate' scandal in congress.
December 30, 1978 - On this regional public affairs program, MPR’s Rich Dietman interviews Andrew Lindberg, who led a Citizens League study of public pension fund financing. Lindberg discusses controversy surrounding the financial health of some of the largest pension and retirement funds in the country.