June 11, 1999 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports on Minnesota Lynx as they begin their first season in the Women's National Basketball Association, hosting the Detroit Shock at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Khoo highlights the excitement for a hometown women's basketball team.
June 11, 1999 - "Bridget Jones' Diary," the fictional daily musings of a 30-something British single woman has created a literary sensation. Millions of readers on both sides of the Atlantic have shared Bridget's despair over dieting, family and in particular her love life. Author Helen Fielding, now touring the U.S. to promote the paperback edition, says she didn't expect Bridget's story to strike such a chord with women everywhere. Many can relate to the kind of "doomed-to-fail" new year's resolutions Bridget lists on the first page of her diary.
June 16, 1999 - J.F. Powers, one of Minnesota's most celebrated authors, died of natural causes at his home in Collegeville on Saturday. He was 81. Powers won national acclaim for his novels which explore the tensions of Midwestern Catholicism by following the story of a small-parish priest. He was considered a quiet literary giant, who worked various jobs in Chicago during the Great Depression and became a conscientious objector during World War II. Powers was a Professor and Writer-in-Residence at St. John's University in Collegeville until 1993.
June 17, 1999 - With the former "Minnesota North Stars" in the Stanley Cup finals, Midday will take a look at the prospects for professional and big-time college hockey in Minnesota. Guests are Jac Sperling of the Minnesota Wild and Don Lucia the new coach of the Minnesota Gophers.
June 17, 1999 - Honeywell CEO Michael Bonsignore says he does not think it would have been possible to keep the company headquarters in Minnesota in the pending merger with AlliedSignal. In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio Bonsignore also says it would be out of the question to sell the company's largest division, which will remain headquartered in the twin cities.
June 21, 1999 - To close out the millennium, Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered presents a look back at Minnesota life in 1900 via a 12-part series, entitled “A Minnesota Century.” This segment is the story of journalist Eva McDonald. Her work exposing the harsh conditions endured by women in the new factories propelled her into the forefront of the very male world of labor politics.
June 22, 1999 - Prosecutors have until 2:30 tomorrow afternoon to charge a 50-year-old man in the abduction of Katie Poirier. The Moose Lake convenience store clerk was kidnapped in late may and hasn't been found. Authorities are also investigating whether the suspect may be linked with the death of a twelve-year old Waseca girl. Cally Jo Larson was raped and killed in April. Dr. Michael Farnsworth is the medical director of the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center and the Minnesota Security Hospital. He works with sex offenders, and sometimes helps law enforcement develop profiles of suspects.
June 22, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe are looking ahead at a future without gaming. Like many Indian tribes, the Mille Lacs Ojibwe got an enormous boost from gaming in the 1990s. Its two casinos brought in millions of dollars annually, and hundreds of new jobs. Now the Band is trying to broaden its economy.
June 28, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports on a product using processed cow blood as a blood substitute. It is in final trial stages and already in use in veterinarian clinics.
June 29, 1999 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman visits Camp Ajawah to profile a new Girl Scout troop in Minnesota. It's not like most other Girl Scout troops in the state because Troop 2675 is for Southeast Asian girls. Born in the United States and growing up in the Twin Cities, these new girl scouts, who are mostly Hmong, are experiencing and learning in ways often unavailable in traditional Hmong homes.