April 14, 1999 - MPR’s Eric Jansen reports on Minneapolis’ Amazon Bookstore Collective taking internet giant Amazon.com to court, claiming trademark infringement and deceptive practices. Jansen interviews book shop owner and an Amazon.com spokesman.
April 16, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Rochester on senior citizens and Minnesota's long-term care system. In this hour, Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion about nursing home alternatives with Connie Bagley, director of the Southeastern Minnesota Area Agency on Aging; Hal Freshley, of the Minnesota Board of Aging; and Dr. Ken Hepburn, director of Geriatrics programs at Department of Family Practice at University of Minnesota.
April 16, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Rochester on senior citizens and Minnesota's long-term care system. In this hour, Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion about nursing home challenges in Rochester with Dr. Kevin Fleming, a geriatrician at the Mayo Clinic; Sheila Kiskaden, a state senator; and Mark Casperson, executive director of Samaritan Bethany Heights Nursing Home.
April 16, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Brent Wolfe visits a senior foster care family in southeast Minnesota. Nursing homes across Minnesota face a serious labor shortage that's forcing some to leave beds empty because they can't find nursing assistants to care for patients. Advocates for senior citizens are looking for ways to attract more workers and they're also looking for alternatives to nursing homes…one such alternative is senior foster care.
April 23, 1999 - You might know Lynda Barry from her NPR commentaries, from her comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, or her novella -- what she called a "novelini" - The Good Times Are Killing Me. Barry has just finished her first novel. Cruddy is an illustrated novel, Barry says based in form on illustrated novels from the turn of the century, with paintings instead of the quirky line drawings of her comic books. Cruddy is definitely an adult book, and is at the same time charming and disturbing. You're charmed by the heroine's spirit given her cruddy life, but then disturbed when you find out "cruddy" doesn't begin to describe it.
April 30, 1999 - The April edition of Voices of Minnesota celebrates the 100th birthday of jazz musician Duke Ellington. MPR's Dan Olson interviews Macalester College music professor Robert Leigh Morris and Terry Gross interviews Duke Ellington's son Mercer.
April 30, 1999 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews German poet Ursula Duba about her book "Tales From a Child of the Enemy." They also discuss the impact of war and atrocities on youth, and what’s happening to Serbian and Kosovar children.
April 30, 1999 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s comments that Minnesota's Supreme Court ruling on the Minnesota Twins means the team can now focus on getting a new stadium built in the Twin Cities.
May 1, 1999 - American RadioWorks presents the documentary “The Forgotten 14 Million,” which explores why both government and the free market are failing the most vulnerable young Americans.
May 3, 1999 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special report "Hidden Rainbow: The Changing Face of Minnesota." Program presents a series of reports on the state's growing minority population in outstate Minnesota.