February 14, 1997 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports on Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton State of the City address. Sayles Belton described Minneapolis as a strong, vibrant place, but also stated a need of stronger efforts to reduce gang violence. In addition to crime prevention, the mayor also highlighted education and economic development efforts.
February 17, 1997 - On this Midmorning, a Voices of Minnesota with the perseverance of two families in facing racial discrimination. Barbara Cyrus tells of her family's move to escape discrimination in the south only to encounter it in the north. Then, Archie Givens Jr. tells how his father's commitment to education led him to donate African American art and literature to the University of Minnesota.
February 17, 1997 - Midday presents a rebroadcast of a Fresh Air program of debate on racial politics between playwright August Wilson theater critic Robert Brustein. The event was entitled On Cultural Power.
March 10, 1997 - Midday presents two Minnesota Public Radio documentaries by producer Stephen Smith and Michael Montgomery. The first, Face of Mercy, Face of Hate, is about the life and mysterious death of a Bosnia Serb. The second, A Plague of Plastic Soldiers, is about efforts to clear land mines in Cambodia.
March 13, 1997 - Midday presents a live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum, featuring author Rabbi Michael Lerner. The title of his presentation is “Transcending Racism and Hate.”
March 18, 1997 - Midday examines the ethics of cloning with guests Susan Wolf, assistant professor of Law and Medicine at the University of Minnesota Law School and faculty associate at the University's Center for Bio-medical Ethics; and Thomas Bouchard, University of Minnesota psychology professor. Wolf and Bouchard also answer listener call-in questions.
March 19, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter looks at Challenge Incarceration Program, a Minnesota juvenile boot camp in Willow River. Supporters say strict discipline and hard work will knock some sense into criminals. But research seems to indicate that boot camps don’t work, don’t save money, and they don’t rehabilitate criminals.
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.