February 2, 1999 - Pat Harrison, project director of the Minnesota Student Survey, discusses the findings of the latest survey about teen sex, drugs, smoking and alcohol. Harrison is with the Department of Human Services. Harrison also answers listener questions.
February 3, 1999 - Minnesota Republican Senator Rod Grams wants to rename the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in honor of a prominent Democrat. Today, Grams introduced a bill to rename the BWCA the Hubert H. Humphrey Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Grams says doing so would honor the late Vice President.
February 5, 1999 - MPR’s Leif Enger interviews American singer, songwriter, and musician Bobby Vee, who shares memories of his 40-year music career…and that of a music tragedy tied to his own history.
February 5, 1999 - MPR’s John Rabe interviews Garrison Keillor on his new satirical book, Me, that seems to parody Jesse Ventura.
February 11, 1999 - Norman Ornstein, congressional analyst, discusses the work of congress, the politics of congress, and impeachment process. Ornstein also answers listener questions.
February 11, 1999 - Christine Jax, comissioner of the Department of Children Families and Learning; and DFL Representative Gene Pelowski explain and discuss the "Profiles of Learning."
February 15, 1999 - Novelist T.C. Boyle, author of "The Road to Wellville" and "Riven Rock" amongst other books, had a strange experience recently. His high-school aged son, who he describes as a 'tech-head who doesn't read much and who came out of the womb connected to a modem', was assigned two of his books for English class. Boyle found out when he caught his son sneaking a copy of "Tortilla Flats" out of the house. Luckily for the younger Boyle, he doesn't have to read his dad's new volume simply called "Stories". It's a seven-hundred page doorstep of a book... which collects many of Boyle's short stories from the last quarter century. Boyle told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the wide range of subjects for his story shouldn't really come as a surprise.
February 15, 1999 - MPR’s Gretchen Lehmann reports that after years battling severe weather, scab and low crop prices, many farmers in western Minnesota and the Dakotas are looking for a new way to make money off the land. Farmers along Interstate-29 believe they've found the answer... join forces with your neighbors and invest in a dairy.
February 17, 1999 - The February edition of our Voices of Minnesota series, featuring three pioneering Minnesota doctors: Dr. John Wild, who developed ultrasound for detecting breast cancer; Dr. Arne Anderson, a founder of the Minneapolis Children's Medical Center; and Dr. Betty Jerome, the first director of Teenage Medical Service in Minneapolis.
February 17, 1999 - MPR's Kathryn Herzog has this Mainstreet report on concerns of nuclear power plants and Y2K. Of all the alarming scenarios related to possible computer failures in the year 2000, perhaps most critical to public health is the safety of America's 103 nuclear power plants. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Y2K computer bug poses little threat to safety systems at nuclear reactors, but some nuclear power opponents say the utilities back-up plans for Y2K are not good enough to ensure the public's safety.