May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Perry Finelli looks at Minnesota cropland. While not an endangered commodity, some contend it's being lost too quickly in places where farming has been a way of life. The United States Agriculture Department says even though urban areas are growing, Minnesota's cropland has not been reduced. That's because the urban landscape is still only a tiny fraction of the state's total amount of land.
May 14, 1998 - MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with St. Paul guitarist Dean Magraw about his album “Seventh One.”
May 15, 1998 - Arne Fogel, local radio personality and music historian, discusses the musical legacy of Frank Sinatra, who died May 14th, 1998. Fogel gives insight on Sinatra’s impact on popular singing. Program includes Sinatra song segments.
May 15, 1998 - The history center will be celebrating the life of one of Minnesota's most famous living artists this weekend--George Morrison. The Grand Portage native was born in a small Ojibwe community in 1919, and spent years living in New York, where he made a reputation for himself as an abstract expressionist and hung out with artists like Jackson Pollack and Willim DeKooning. Morrison moved back to Minnesota in the seventies and still lives and paints up on the North Shore of lake superior. His wood mosiacs and abstract totem poles are in galleries around the world and even in the White House sculpture garden. It was in Grand Marais that Morrison met St. Paul writer Margot Fortunato Galt. The two collaborated on a book just published by the Historical Society called "Turning the Feather Around: My Life in Art." Galt says other books have been written ABOUT Morrison, but this one is in his own words.
May 18, 1998 - MPR Political commentators Bob Meek and Tom Horner talk about the race for the governor's office, which is the first in decades where an incumbent is not running. Topics include upcoming Republican and Democratic primaries and conventions, tobacco settlement, sports stadium debate, and negative campaigning. Meek and Horner also answer listener questions.
May 19, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the small community of Comfrey, Minnesota. Following the destructive March tornadoes that struck the area, Mark Steil talks with residents and local officials about recovery, rebuilding, and remembering. The topic of small towns in general and their economic health is also discussed.
May 19, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the small community of Comfrey, Minnesota. Mark Steil takes a closer look at new laws governing the regulation of feedlots in Minnesota…laws which give more control over feedlots to local governments. Steil talks with State Legislators Steve Dille and Gary Kubly, as well as local officials.
May 19, 1998 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles Native American blues band, Indigenous.
May 19, 1998 - The reaction to news of a compromise on the BWCAW worked out between U.S. Representatives Jim Oberstar and Bruce Vento has been swift... and mixed. Oberstar's proposal to allow trucks on two wilderness portages has been entered into the transportation bill now under consideration by a Congressional Conference Committee. It has Vento's reluctant support after the addition of a provision removing some lakes from motor access.
May 20, 1998 - In observance of B-BOP Day, when commuters are encouraged to find a way to get to work without driving alone in a car, Gary Eichten talks with Bob McFarlin and John Lundell about highway congestion and what the future holds. McFarlin and Lundell also answer listener questions. Program begins with an interview with Trish Moga, Manager of Metro Commuter Services, about B-Bop Day.