July 15, 1997 - On this Midday program, "Voices of Minnesota" series continues with an interview with former Minnesota Vikings football coach Bud Grant, who shares memories of his life on and off the gridiron.
July 17, 1997 - The new superintendent of Minneapolis public schools says she has a special relationship with the state's largest school district and feels she can make a contribution. Carol Johnson will step down as superintendent of the suburban St. Louis Park district next month. She'll begin her new duties in Minnapolis with widespread support and high expectations for success. Minnesota Public radio's Tim Pugmire reports.
July 17, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe intreviews David Reville, the McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum, about his film score for “The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty." The film is screening at the Red Eye Cinema in Minneapolis.
July 17, 1997 - There's a yo-yo craze going on up on the Iron Range. Today kids from all over the range competed in the Iron Range Yo Yo Tournament, braving adverse weather conditions to do their Loop-De-Loops and Around-the-Worlds. It's fun now, but it started as a science project in Hibbing. Washington Elementary science teacher Mike Misbauer began using the yo-yo to teach. He helped the kids start a yo-yo club.
July 17, 1997 - capitol Members of a Senate K-12 Budget commitee heard testimony today from school officials representing flood-stricken communities who said their school must be re-built soon if students are to succeed. Minnesota Public Radio's Karen-Louise Boothe reports: In small and medium sized communities...civic life revolves around the schools. And for communities like, ADA, the loss of a school building because of the Spring flooding and subsequent storms...the loss is about MUCh more than simply a BUILDING. School Superintendent Don Vallenga told committee members, the estimated cost of a new school is about 11-million dollars. The FEDS will pay about nin-million of it, but he's asking the state for the rest Vallenga says loca
July 17, 1997 - Writer William Ayers begins his latest book in a Chicago courtroom, where a juvenile is being prosecuted for murder. He ends it by quoting Artistotle's reminder that no rule is absolute. In "A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court", Ayers charts the lives of kids in Chicago's juvenile justice system, which he says for the most part treats crime and punishments as absolute, with no allowances for circumstances when it comes to poor black and Latino kids. In the end, Ayers' point is that it doesn't make sense to treat kids as adults, and we certainly shouldn't be prosecuting children as adults, even so-called super predators.
July 18, 1997 - Midday discussion about Minnesota’s other state bird…mosquitos. Studio guests are Dave Noetzel, professor emeritus and extension entomologist at the University of Minnesota; and Jim Stark, public affair coordinator for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. Listeners call in with questions about the pest.
July 18, 1997 - Midday features a special report on teen curfews, with a follow up discussion with guests Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman in the St. Paul studios; and in MPR's Collegeville bureau, Sherry Smolik, coordinator of the St. Cloud Area Violence Prevention Council. The guests also answer listener call-in questions.
July 18, 1997 - When Hamlet gave his famous acting class to the players, telling them to speak the speech and to not saw the air, the actors didn't have to deal with planes overhead. But they might have had to fend off bugs and noisy kids and candy wrapper crinkling. Food for thought as the Twin Cities welcomes a new incarnation of Shakespeare in the Park, which is currently producing "Much Ado About Nothing" at Minnehaha Park. Intern Joe Fryer put on the DEET and talked with actors and the audience.
July 18, 1997 - Art crawlers hungry for some new work may consider stopping by an abandoned soap factory in Minneapolis this weekend. The Teen Art Council at the Walker Art Center has put together what it calls "a teen curated teen art show" containing the work of more than than 70 young artists from around the metro area. The show's curators say visitors who tend to dismiss teen artists might be in for a surprise. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has more.