December 24, 1998 - FADE IN CROWD SFX # 6122 (AUDIO IS HOT!) More than 2 thousand people waited for hours in long lines to pick up Christmas toys and clothes at Sharing and Caring Hands in Minneapolis. The doors opened at 8, but some had been waiting outside since the wee hours of the morning. There were as many as 100 thousand toys on hand, including dolls, basketballs, skateboards and street-hockey sticks. Volunteers picked out gifts, based on a child's age and gender, and handed them over in black plastic bags. Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Catlin prepared this snapshot of a charitable program that organizers say keeps getting bigger every year. --------------------------------------------------------- | D-CART ITEM: 6120 | TIME: 2:19 plus :05 sfx (fades) | OUTCUE: "... thank you." ---------------------------------------------------------
December 24, 1998 - While its members haven't been chaining themselves to trees, the largest grassroots environmental organization in the country hasn't been absent from the fight to stop the rerouting of highway 55. Local members of the Sierra Club have been using the courts to fight their battle. Jill Walker is a local Sierra Club volunteer. She says her organization can't condone the civil disobedience tactics protesters at the site have engaged in, but she does think their methods can be effective.
December 24, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Gretchen Lehmann reports on Wings of Mercy, a program based in St. Cloud that assists with the challenges of rural Minnesotans in finding medical care. A group of amateur pilots volunteer their time to fly rural low-income patients to hospitals in larger cities...and they do all their work for free.
December 24, 1998 - FOR THURSDAY MORNING Residents of Austin, Minnesota celebrated Christmas this week in their downtown Paramount Theatre. The old movie house is in the midst of a two million dollar renovation and city leaders hope just as it will provide a venue for performing arts it will also provide an economic boost for downtown. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe has this Mainstreet report. Kids singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town The Paramount theater was filled with beaming parents, grandparents and other assorted Austin residents as a group of chil
December 24, 1998 - Despite a court order barring them from the site... Earth First !and Mdewaketan-Sioux protesters chained themselves to trees today at the site of the proposed re-routing of highway 55. The group is asking for a restraining order to prevent authorities from clearing trees, the group says are sacred, from the site. So far, police have not arrested the protestors. On Sunday authorities arrested 33 people who had occuppied government-owned homes on the site. Protester Bob Greenberg says he does not know what the authorities plan to do about this latest occupation, but he says the group will continue its protest despite the cold weather.
December 24, 1998 - Foreign medical students in the U-S face a unique visa restriction requiring that they return to their home country for two years after their training. Immigration officials say the restriction helps improve health care around the world by returning highly-skilled physicians to their native countries. But one Rochester woman says the rigid rules will force her family---with two U-S citizens--to live abroad. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.
December 24, 1998 - Minnesota's older teenagers are supposed to be hitting the books, at least if they want to legally ride a snowmobile. A new law requires all teenagers to pass a safety course before operating a snowmobile on public land. But few of the older teens have signed up for training, and public safety officials fear many are unaware of the law, or intend to ignore it. Minnesota Public Radio's Bob Kelleher reports ..... The snowmobile season got off to a slow start this winter.... SFX: (vroom - ratta tat ratta tatta tatta - vroom) For two days in November at the annual Snowcross races just outside Duluth
December 24, 1998 - On this Midday program, a presentation stories of the holiday…including Bob Potter reading "How The Grinch Stole Christmas", Kate Smith reading "The Fir Tree", Dan Olson reading the letter in the Sun Newspaper--"Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus;" the late Dave Moore reading "James Thurber"; and Greta Cunningham reading "A Brooklyn Christmas."
December 28, 1998 - As Governor-elect Jesse Ventura’s administration prepares to begin, MPR's Mike Mulcahy has a look back at the Arne Carlson’s years as Minnesota governor. Carlson will be remembered for the record number of bills he vetoed, his love of the Gophers' basketball team, and for his flamboyant ex-wife…but the Carlson legacy will be also be marked by the record budget surpluses that piled up during his watch.
December 28, 1998 - On Sunday March 29th a huge storm tore across more than 60 miles of south/central Minnesota. The storm took out much of the small town of Comfry. Then, around 5:30 pm, an F3 tornado, carrying winds of up to 206 miles per hour, smashed through St. Peter. Two people died--one, a boy just six years old.