September 5, 1997 - Here's today's news quiz. What costs nearly as much as a new baseball stadium and goes ding-ding? Times up. It's LRT, of course - light rail transit. Just when you thought it's safe to consign LRT to the attic of public policy debate, out it comes. On the drawing board is a Hiawatha Avenue 'transit way'. LRT boosters want to build a line from the University of Minnesota, run it by a new ball park, past the existing Metrodome, through downtown Minneapolis, then out to the airport and the Mall of America along Hiawatha AVenue. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. tape . . . bus Buses - you remember buses - those big vehicles seldom seen anymore because of all the route cutbacks - buses, at the ver
September 5, 1997 - Cowles Media Company, the parent company of the Star Tribune, is considering selling Minnesota's largest newspaper. The decision came at the request of members of the Cowles family, who control more than 56-percent of the company's voting stock. While analysts agree it's a seller's market for family-owned newspapers, others are concerned by huge corporate interests gobbling up the nation's remaining independent newspapers. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts reports.
September 6, 1997 - Midday presents two segments about helping the homeless. In the first half hour, a rebroadcast of reporter Dan Olson's Voices of Minnesota interview with the head of Catholic Charities of Minnesota, Rev. Jerome Boxleitner. In the second half hour a rebroadcast of the MPR documentary Loaves and Fishes, about a Duluth Catholic facility for helping the homeless.
September 7, 1997 - Since the T-V networks are touting their new fall line-ups--we thought it would be a good time to talk about Fall Films. Weekend Edition Film Critic Rob Nelson says film fans will be pleased with this seasons crop of local screenings.
September 7, 1997 - Today is your opportunity to peek inside the beautifully restored homes in the Ramsey Hill section of St. Paul... through The GABLES, GARDENS AND GHOSTS tour. The Ramsey Hill neighborhood is the second largest contiguous Victorian District in North America. I had the opportunity to preview two of the homes with the Ramsey Hill Association's--Maryanne O'Brien and Tom Zahn--the former preservation planner for the city of St. Paul. We began our tour near Summit and Arundel at the stately Victorian home of Sara Kinney...a long time Ramsey Hill Resident.
September 8, 1997 - Today in our Odd Jobs report, we meet 31-year-old Chris Laumb, who calls himself an ambassador of beer in central Minnesota. Laumb is head brewer at O'Hara's Brew Pub and Restaurant, St. Cloud's first brewery in more than fifty years. Laumb was an avid home-brewer before he took over at O'Hara's last year. He shows Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum how it's done.
September 8, 1997 - School administrators throughout Minnesota are deciding how to spend the money they've received to help poor students get better grades. The state will give schools $180-million this year to improve academic achievement, a $50-million increase from a year ago. For the first time, the money is going to individual schools, rather than school districts. Educators say the getting the money, and the responsibilities that go with it, is a giant step forward for local control and site-based decision-making. Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports.
September 8, 1997 - Fifth graders across the state this week are deciding which instruments they'll play in band and orchestra classes. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports professional musicians in Rochester are helping students make what can be a life-changing decision. (sound..clarinet) In a room filled with squeaks and whistles, clarinettist Richard Halleen zeroes in on Sasha Case's first few notes.
September 9, 1997 - Minnesota based Courage Center says unemployment among the disabled is way too high, and is costing the U.S. more than $200-billion every year. The center is out with a new report showing the unemployment rate for all people with disabilities stands at 48-percent. People with severe disabilities, defined as disabilities leaving the person unable to perform activities of daily living, face an unemployment rate of 74-percent. The Courage Center's Katie Knips says many of those people want to take a job and can take one.
September 9, 1997 - University of Minnesota researchers say they have found evidence that non-smokers absorb the carcinogen N-N-K if they live or work in smoke-filled rooms. The study found small amounts of the carcinogen in nine non-smoking hospital workers who cared for patients in a designated smoking area. Mayo Clinic Physician Tom Kottke says even though only eighteen people total were involved in the study -- nine exposed to second-hand smoke and nine who weren't -- it's of immense value.