April 16, 1998 - Marge Anderson, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe Band, comments on treaty rights. She says her nation has waited a long time for the word "sovereign" to gain meaning.
April 16, 1998 - The little girl with the big voice and the ruby slippers is an American icon--but for Lorna Luft, Judy Garland is also "mama." In her new book "Me and My Shadows", Luft chronicles life as Judy Garland's daughter and Liza Minelli's sister. She says about 30 books have been written about her mother and her family--but her book is the only one written by an actual family member.
April 16, 1998 - Students have ended their eight day hunger strike at the University of Minnesota. The students were protesting what they say is a lack of support for the Chinese language and literature program at the university. Student Ben Ridgeway says they ended their hunger strike so they could carry on the cause in good health. Less than half of the original 25 strikers were still fasting when the protest was called off. The hunger strike was staged outside the office of University of Minnesota President Mark Yudof. President Yudof joins us now by phone.
April 17, 1998 - Midday presents Governor Arne Carlson's speaking to the Minnesota Business Partnership and higher education groups about his ideas to improve Minnesota's public schools. Carlson highlights the definition of the “American Dream.” Following broadcast of speech, MPR’s Gary Eichten gets reaction from Joe Nathan, director of the Center for School Change at the University of Minnesota.
April 17, 1998 - As part of Mainstreet Radio’s Treaty Rights and Tribal Sovereignty series, Catherine Winter presents report on the concept called tribal sovereignty, and a look at the where this complex set of rules comes from, and how it affects Indian people today. Report includes various interviews with tribe members.
April 17, 1998 - This is a big weekend for Minnesota writers and literature. Tonight the winners of the tenth annual Minnesota Book Awards will be announced. Then on Sunday, the Marshall festival 5 gets underway. It's a week of readings, roundtables and workshops packed with familiar names...Carol Bly, Robert Bly, Bill Holm and Will Weaver just to name a few. Rosalie Maggio is a writer who's a veteran of both events. She'll be giving a workshop on "Wordsmithing" in Marshall, and she's twice won Minnesota Book Awards. Maggio says the book awards have really grown in stature.
April 20, 1998 - U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug discusses his ideas to reduce crime in the highest-crime Minneapolis neighborhoods, including the Phillips neighborhood. Lillehaug also answers listener questions.
April 20, 1998 - Author Paul Gruchow is one the winners in this year's Minnesota Book Awards. Gruchow won the top honor, known as the Flanagan Prize, for his book of essays entitled "Boundary Waters: The Grace of the Wild." Twenty-one prizes were handed out Friday night. This is the second award that Gruchow has won. He joins us now by phone.
April 20, 1998 - Last week, a group of international journalists traveled across the United States visiting Indian Reservations. The trip was sponsored by the National Inter-tribal Network. It was arranged to show the Indian perspective on issues of tribal sovereignty. One of the stops was the Prairie Island Community near Red Wing, Minnesota. BBC reporter Richard Lister went on the tour. He talked to MPR's Bob Potter about why he wanted to go.
April 21, 1998 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Mille Lacs Indian Museum, highlighting Indian treaty rights and Native American sovereignty. Rachel Reabe interviews Don Wedll, Commissioner of Natural Resources for the Mill Lacs Band of Ojibwe; Doug Sam, tribal elder; and Henry Van Offelen, treaty biologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Group discussion includes spearfishing topic and answering audience/listener questions.