February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports that Governor Carlson has asked Major League Baseball to give Minnesota one more chance…and one more year, to try to save the Twins. Debate continues at the Capitol on how that could happen.
February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports on end of another stadium bill at State Capitol. The sponsors of the latest Twins stadium plan threw in the towel, as the bill's author, Harris DFLer Loren Jennings, announced he was withdrawing the plan from consideration, just hours before a crucial committee hearing.
February 19, 1998 - One of the most innovative performers in contemporary jazz will play at the Walker Art Center tonight. Clarinetist Don Byron has been described as a genre hopping, highly eclectic composer and musician, who's absorption in jazz history is as strong as his desire to forge new musical paths. Byron's forays into classical, latin, carribean, and klezmer music make him hard to label as an artist. His latest cd, Bug Music, fastidiously transcribes the work of two forgotten swing-era band leaders, Raymond Scott and John Kirby. Tonight at the Walker, Byron will perform his own score of a 1920s-era African American silent film called "Scar of Shame." Byron talked with Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts about his adventurous musical tastes and why some jazz musicians and critics have a problem with them. | D-CART ITEM: 3499 | TIME: 5:49 (music to 6:56)
February 19, 1998 - Jurors in Minnesota's tobacco trial today heard starkly differing views on whether smoking causes disease. A former tobacco company president testified the Surgeon General was "dead wrong" when he said smoking causes lung cancer, then the head of an industry-funded research group reluctantly agreed with the Surgeon General. The link between cigarettes and disease is key to the state's case that smoking leads to higher health care costs. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
February 19, 1998 - U-S athletes Michelle Kwan and Tara Lipinski are leading the field in the competition for the Olympic gold medal in women's figure skating after yesterday's short program. But it was a tough day for a couple of Minnesota athletes. Star Tribune writer and MPR commentator Jay Weiner is in Nagano covering the Games.
February 20, 1998 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on Canned Goods play and interviews playwright Silas Jones.
February 20, 1998 - Tomorrow, about 30 volunteer spelunkers will descend into Mystery Cave in southeast Minnesota's Forrestville State Park... to count bats. The Department of Natural Resources has been counting bats at Mystery Cave every third year since 1989... making this the fourth count. In that time, the population of bats hibernating in the cave has grown. Warren Netherton is the park's cave specialist.
February 23, 1998 - MPR's Amy Radil reports that Minnesota mushers are bringing dogsledding to a whole new audience…women seeking winter adventure. The Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon race in Duluth and Alaska's Iditarod have increased the sport's visibility. Now, mushing trips for novices are one way sled dog owners can educate people about the sport and pay their bills.
February 23, 1998 - As part of the continuing MPR series Voices of Minnesota, a presentation of conversations with James Griffin, one of Minnesota's first Black police officers and first deputy police chief for St. Paul; and Hennepin County Judge Pamela Alexander, Minnesota's first Black female judge.
February 24, 1998 - Next Tuesday night, Republicans and Democrats hold precinct caucuses to elect delegates to this summer's party conventions. This week, Minnesota Public Radio is profiling the candidates vying for their endorsement for Governor. This year's race for Governor is already shaping up as the most wide-open in years. It's a race without any clear favorites -- a fact Joanne Benson is well aware of. Benson may be Arne Carlson's Lieutenant Governor, but she's hardly his heir apparent. Minnesota Public Radio's Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste has this profile of the candidates.