September 27, 1996 - Midday discusses foreign policy issues the U.S. President will face in the next term. Guests are Martin Sampson, political science professor at the University of Minnesota; Roy Grow, international relations instructor at Carleton College; Norma Noonan, political science instructor at Augsburg College; Nick Hayes, history professor at Hamline University; and Barbara Frey, executive director of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights.
September 28, 1996 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Eleanor Lanahan, F. Scott Fitzgerald's granddaughter about her famous grandfather, as well as Zelda, her grandmother. Lanahan also discusses how her mother somewhat protected children from the family history.
September 30, 1996 - Roger Moe, Minnesota Senate majority leader, talks about survey over public funding for a new ballpark and the debate at State Capitol.
October 3, 1996 - Midday discusses changes in the law concerning welfare reform with guest John Petraborg, commissioner at Minnesota Human Services. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 and what the changes mean for recipients and taxpayers is the focus of conversation. Petraborg also answers listener questions.
October 4, 1996 - It's well-known and shameful, that the United States kept people of Japanese descent in prison camps during World War Two. A growing number of scholars say there were also internment camps for up to a few thousand Germans. Scholars, like Saint Olaf professor La Vern Rippley, say there were at least fifty camps across the United States -- the closest to Minnesota in Fort Lincoln, North Dakota and Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. As of June 30, 1945, there were supposedly 21-hundred Germans in them. Professor Rippley says the reason these facts are not well-known is wrapped-up in the Unites States' attitudes about its Germans, one of the biggest ethnic groups in the country and the most-populous in Minnesota.
October 9, 1996 - All Thing’s Considered presents the MPR documentary “Janet's Children,” which profiles a parent fighting to keep custody of her children. It’s a story of parents, drug use, and permanency.
October 9, 1996 - All Thing’s Considered presents the MPR documentary “Janet's Children,” which profiles a parent fighting to keep custody of her children. It’s a story of parents, drug use, and permanency.
October 9, 1996 - As part of a special week long focus on education issues, Midday examines Minnesota's largest institution of higher education…the University of Minnesota. Guests Marvin Marshak, senior vice president for Academic Affairs; and State Representative Becky Kelso, who chairs the University of Minnesota Finance Division in the state House, discuss aspects of the state universities and answer listener questions.
October 11, 1996 - The only woman ever elected to Congress from Minnesota has died. Coya Knutson was 84 when died of kidney failure at an Edina nursing home yesterday. Knutson was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1950 and to Congress in 1954. Knutson was perhaps better known for LEAVING office than winning it. In 1958, when she was campaigning for re-election, her husband, Andy Knutson, wrote a letter saying he wanted his wife to come back home. The letter was picked up by newspapers, and was blamed for her narrow defeat. Gretchen Beito, of Theif River Falls wrote a book about Knutson's political career, called "Coya Come Home".
October 13, 1996 - It's a mystery, a love story and just a plain eerie tale. Siri Hustvedt's new book "The Enchantment of Lily Dahl" is set in Webster, Minnesota, a town that appears to be ordinary. Siri Hustvedt and her title character Lily Dahl share many things in common, both spent time as waitresses and both have lived in small Minnesota towns. Siri Hustvedt says her hometown of Northfield, Minnesota served as a model for the fictional town of Webster.