March 24, 1997 - MPR’s Karen Louise Boothe reports that hundreds of people rallied at the State Capitol on behalf of a bill that would restore the cuts in benefits to legal immigrants in the new federal welfare reform law.
April 11, 1997 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports on residents of the Phillips neighborhood in South Minneapolis packing City Council chambers morning to plead for more help combatting violence.
April 23, 1997 - Author and columnist Molly Ivins is guest speaker for this Frank Premack Memorial Lecture at University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute. Ivins talks the meanness of contemporary politics.
April 29, 1997 - Midday looks at the President's Summit on America's Future, which calls upon volunteers to help America’s young people. Host Gary Eichten talks with Jim Kielsmeier, president of the National Youth Leadership Council, who is in Philadelphia for the summit. Program includes listener call-in questions.
April 29, 1997 - MPR’s Karen-Louise Boothe reports on members of the Minnesota House debating for more than two hours the merits DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), a measure banning same-sex marriage. The roll call vote was preceeded by more than two hours of sometimes very personal and emotional testimony. In the end, representatives voted overwhelmingly to keep it as amended to the omnibus health and human services bill.
May 6, 1997 - Midday presents a broadcast of columnist and author Ellen Goodman speaking on the changing role of women at the second annual Women Ventures Conference held in downtown Minneapolis.
May 14, 1997 - MPR’s Karen-Louise Boothe reports that a bill banning same-sex marriage in Minnesota appears likely to pass this legislative session. A ban successfully passed out of a joint House-Senate conference committee, which included it in the omnibus health-finance bill.
May 20, 1997 - Public and private landholders are challenging Chippewa Indian's plans to take fish and other game in eastern Minnesota, under terms of an 1837 treaty. But miles north of the region under contention, Chippewa Indians have been harvesting fish and wild rice and hunting moose and deer on public lands with little fanfare, and no public protests.
May 22, 1997 - Midday discusses saving for retirement with guests Jean Johnson, senior vice president for Programs at Public Agenda, a research group in New York; and Chris Farrell, Minnesota Public Radio's senior business and economics editor. Listeners call in with questions for the guests.
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.