January 31, 1997 - Many Minnesota school districts are wondering how to make up for missed "snow days." There's a lot of winter still to come, and while it's common for schools to build two or three extra days into the educational calendar, two or three extra WEEKs are another matter. Leif Enger of Mainstreet Radio reports. Any school superintendent will tell you, you can't win. Call off school on a stormy day, and parents will complain the weather's
January 31, 1997 - Lawmakers will be lobbied on the bus this morning by mayors from several Twin Cities communities who want more money for transit and cleaning up polluted ground. The bus tour grows out of discussions among central city and suburban mayors who want a united front in lobbying for some of their interests. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. Lawmakers will board the bus at the state capitol for a relatively short ride to one of the first sites - several acres of St. Paul land dominated by a huge mound of polluted soil. St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman says a priority among several cities is money to help clean up sites which can be used for development.
January 31, 1997 - Larger-than-life puppets and the magical realism of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez come together in the latest production of "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" tells the tale of a broken, elderly man with wings who mysteriously appears in a coastal village and causes an uproar. While the story sounds more like an ancient legend, the production's creators believe it resonates in modern times. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has a closer look.
January 31, 1997 - As part of the Voices from the Heartland series, Minnesota poet Diane Glancy reads her poem "The Back Porch of the Country."
February 1, 1997 - Minnesotans got their first look yesterday at the new baseball stadium the Twins want them to help build. The stadium design features a ten-acre sliding roof, 42-thousand seats on four decks, and left-field bleachers that hang over the field. It was was unveiled at the Mall of America on the site of the Twins' former home, Metropolitan Stadium. The stadium's price is estimated at 350 million dollars. The taxpayers would have to come up with about 200 million dollars. The saga of the Twins stadium captured headlines this weekend...Weekend Edition Sports Commentator Jay Weiner says he can sum up his reaction to the new stadium design in one word.
February 3, 1997 - Midday looks at the health care system, how it works, and how it can be improved. Studio guests are Michael Scandrett, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Health Plans; and Stuart Hanson, a representative of the Minnesota Medical Association. Scandrett and Hanson also answer call-in questions from listeners.
February 3, 1997 - Deborah Biede fights against time. Today on our Odd Jobs report we'll hear how she also battles dirt, loose seams and frayed edges. Biede conserves clothes and other textiles in the Minnesota Historical Societies Archive. She uses a variety of tools and techniques to preserve yesterday's heirlooms for tomorrow. Minnesota Public Radio intern Brian Bull talked with Biede in the textile laboratory at the History Center in St. Paul.
February 3, 1997 - Many children growing up in the sixties assumed that by the time they were adults they would all be travelling in spaceships and making regular trips to the stars. Of course it hasn't quite worked out that way..... but in central Minnesota, the children of some of those wanna-be intergalactic explorers ARE getting a practical lessons in outer space. One teacher in Sauk Rapids has teamed up with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration--NASA--to teach students about space and aeronautics, but also about how to learn. . . . Minnesota Public Radio's Gretchen Lehmann (lay-mun) reports:
February 3, 1997 - The 1997 legislative session will be relatively low-key when it comes to health care. There are no major health reforms in the works...at least not anything on a scale comparable to the 1992 MinnesotaCare legislation. But, there is at least one health care issue brewing this session that could significantly change the way MinnesotaCare is financed. Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson reports: MinnesotaCare is the state's subsized health care insurance plan for the uninsured. It's funded primarily through a 2-percent tax on providers including medical doctors, chiropractors and dentists.
February 4, 1997 - As some state lawmakers continue the task of drafting language for a state welfare reform bill....OTHERS are hearing from people bracing for the resulting effects. TODAY (THIS week) at the state capitol, parents of disabled children said they need to retain the help they now get from federal supplemental security income...or S-S-I. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports: The new federal welfare reform law changes the definition of disability...making it more difficult for certain children to qualify as disabled. The state estimates that up to 32-hundred low-income children in Minnesota with disabilities could lose S-S-I benefits come July first. More EXACT numbers will be known once the federal governm