April 22, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that the Minnesota legislature is considering a measure which changes how rights of way are managed. Utilities can run their cables and pipes under our roads because they're part of the right of way. Some city officials say the companies leave a mess when they're through. A compromise before the legislature gives cities more control over rights of way but leaves a major issue unsettled…rent.
April 24, 1997 - Midday looks at health care with guests David Thorson, a family medical physician; and Jan Malcolm, vice president of Public Affairs and Philanthropy at Allina Health. Topics include family practice, managed care, and insurance companies. Thorson and Malcolm also answer listener call-in questions.
April 25, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter talks with northern Minnesota painter Liz Sivertson about her work and what forms her creative inspiration. They preview and exhibition of paintings by Sivertson: colorful, whimsical pictures she did for the children's book “North Country Spring.”
April 29, 1997 - Midday looks at the President's Summit on America's Future, which calls upon volunteers to help America’s young people. Host Gary Eichten talks with Jim Kielsmeier, president of the National Youth Leadership Council, who is in Philadelphia for the summit. Program includes listener call-in questions.
April 29, 1997 - State lawmakers on the House and Senate tax committees will be discuss proposals for financing a new Twins stadium…and It's a critical day for stadium supporters, because with less than three weeks left in the legislative session, they still have no politically viable plan to pay for a new ballpark.
April 30, 1997 - Midday focuses on the discussion at the state Legislature about the future of a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Host Gary Eichten speaks with MPR reporter Bill Wareham, who presents a summary of the various proposals and audio clips of committee debate. Ideas presented include gambling revenue options, cheaper alternatives to a stadium, buying a team, selling Metrodome to teams for $1.00, and buying season tickets.
April 30, 1997 - Ojibwe Band members had hoped to be spearing and netting fish on dozens of central Minnesota lakes by now. For seven years a group of tribes, led by the Mille Lacs Ojibwe, worked through the courts to restore fishing and hunting rights given them by treaty in the 19th century. It appeared the tribes would finally exercise those rights this spring. But a group of local landowners won an injunction earlier this month, halting the Indians plans, at least for now.
May 5, 1997 - One of the most widely debated issues in the modern workplace is whether employers should offer domestic partner benefits. In Minnesota, local governments which have sought to include unmarried, same-sex partners in their health insurance plans have run into legal roadblocks. But in the private sector, where the competition is growing for talented workers, more companies and organizations are finding domestic partner benefit packages make good business sense.
May 5, 1997 - As part of the “Voices of Minnesota" series, this program features two interviews on personal stories of overcoming life struggles. MPR’s Laura McCallum speaks with Stanley Sahlstrom, retired educator. Sahlstrom focused his adult life in support of agriculture. MPR’s Dan Olson speaks with Giovanna "Mama D" D'Agostino, a philanthropist and restaurateur. Program ends with a call-in segment with Kathleen Maloney, the new executive director of the Minnesota Alliance for Arts in Education.
May 7, 1997 - Midday presents a special "Voices of Minnesota" program featuring the accounts of three Minnesotans during the Holocaust of World War Two. MPR reporter Dan Olson's conversations include the experience of Lucy Smith of St. Paul, who spent her childhood hiding from Nazis in Poland; the recollections of Reider Dittman, who was sent to a concentration camp; and a description of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp by Twin Cities architect Leonard Parker.