February 11, 1999 - Christine Jax, comissioner of the Department of Children Families and Learning; and DFL Representative Gene Pelowski explain and discuss the "Profiles of Learning."
February 11, 1999 - University of Minnesota officials say they need state help to head off a funding crisis in medical education and to improve physician training. They say cuts in federal support and smaller profits from patient care are threatening the future of the Academic Health Center. The U asked for 37-million dollars to overhaul its curriculum and an annual 60-million dollar boost from a state endowment to fund medical education and research. Governor Ventura provided the money in his budget. But his plan hinges on putting the state's tobacco settlement money in the bank, a plan many legislators oppose.
February 15, 1999 - Novelist T.C. Boyle, author of "The Road to Wellville" and "Riven Rock" amongst other books, had a strange experience recently. His high-school aged son, who he describes as a 'tech-head who doesn't read much and who came out of the womb connected to a modem', was assigned two of his books for English class. Boyle found out when he caught his son sneaking a copy of "Tortilla Flats" out of the house. Luckily for the younger Boyle, he doesn't have to read his dad's new volume simply called "Stories". It's a seven-hundred page doorstep of a book... which collects many of Boyle's short stories from the last quarter century. Boyle told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the wide range of subjects for his story shouldn't really come as a surprise.
February 15, 1999 - MPR’s Gretchen Lehmann reports that after years battling severe weather, scab and low crop prices, many farmers in western Minnesota and the Dakotas are looking for a new way to make money off the land. Farmers along Interstate-29 believe they've found the answer... join forces with your neighbors and invest in a dairy.
February 16, 1999 - Instant reality is the theme of an exhibition of photographs on display in Northeast Minneapolis . It's called "The Moment Seized," and the only criteria for the hundreds of pictures adorning the walls of the Acme Visual Arts gallery is that they be shot with a polaroid camera.
February 17, 1999 - The February edition of our Voices of Minnesota series, featuring three pioneering Minnesota doctors: Dr. John Wild, who developed ultrasound for detecting breast cancer; Dr. Arne Anderson, a founder of the Minneapolis Children's Medical Center; and Dr. Betty Jerome, the first director of Teenage Medical Service in Minneapolis.
February 17, 1999 - MPR's Kathryn Herzog has this Mainstreet report on concerns of nuclear power plants and Y2K. Of all the alarming scenarios related to possible computer failures in the year 2000, perhaps most critical to public health is the safety of America's 103 nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Y2K computer bug poses little threat to safety systems at nuclear reactors, but some nuclear power opponents say the utilities back-up plans for Y2K are not good enough to ensure the public's safety.
February 18, 1999 - As Eric reported Artspace, the organization that's adopted the Shubert theater must raise twenty to thirty million dollars to re-open the theatre. If they can't do it, the theater will be torn down. Wendy Holmes-Nelson of Artspace says the heavy-duty fundraising will start this spring.
February 18, 1999 - Baseball analyst Kevin Hennessy says it doesn't bode well for a good season for the Minnesota Twins as pitchers and catchers reported to baseball spring training. The team has slashed its payroll by $10 million in the hopes of breaking even after several seasons of losing money. They're total team payroll is almost what New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, alone, makes in a year.
February 18, 1999 - The desire for artistic expression is inherent in every human being. That's the view at the Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts which is opening a new play this weekend. Interact is the only place of it's kind in the country, offering people with mental and physical disabilities a chance to become artists. A Mind in Flames" is about mental illness written and performed by artists who know first hand what it's like to live with schizophrenia, depression, and paranoia.