January 5, 2000 - On his 72nd birthday, Walter Mondale, former vice-president, talks with MPR’s Gary Eichten about America's role in the world, the year in politics, and the century ahead. Mondale also answers listener questions.
January 5, 2000 - As Governor Ventura meets with legislative leaders about legislative priorities, MPR’s Gary Eichten asks for listener call-in commentary on what legislative priorities should be. Program includes an interview with Ventura from previous week, and a call from Steve Sviggum, Minnesota House majority leader. Program begins with news from MPR’s Greta Cunningham.
January 20, 2000 - Jeff Kahn, director of the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics; Dave Somers, professor in the department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota, discuss the question "What are GMO's?" (Genetically Modified Organisms).
January 21, 2000 - George Latimer, former St. Paul Mayor; Dick Goebel, of the Second Harvest St. Paul Food Bank and the Food First Coalition; and Bonnie Becker of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, discuss the topic of hunger in Minnesota.
January 27, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Verna Simpkins on the new Girl Scouts patch to honor Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen.
January 28, 2000 - Howard Orenstein, Board President of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota, and Joe Waldron, Executive Director of the national gun rights organization Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms based out of Bellvue, Washington discuss President Clinton's call for handgun licensing in his State of the Union address.
February 7, 2000 - Former NPR producer Gwen Macsai, takes on childhood, becoming an adult and the difficulties of marriage in her first book, "Lip-schtick". She turns these ordinary experiences into comic essays, examining the pain of the junior high crush, the romantic allure of carpenters, and how to train your husband. Macsai, formerly a Twin Cities resident, now lives in Chicago.
February 11, 2000 - Midday’s Gary Eichten spends the hour talking with Sharon Sayles Belton, mayor of Minneapolis, about what she sees as the state and health of the city. Topics include crime prevention and affordable housing, amongst others. Sayles Belton also answers listener questions.
February 21, 2000 - It's hard to believe with all the whizz-bang high-tech entertainments available to kids nowadays that something as simple as story telling could compete. But Judith Simundson not only competes, she wins by spinning Norwegian tales of enchantment.
February 22, 2000 - At the start of his new book, conservative onlooker David Frum assesses life in America in the year 2000. We are richer than ever before, he says, there are more jobs, and great social advancements. But it's a mistake, he says, to think the turbulent 1960s laid the entire foundation for the improvements we enjoy today. Frum is a regular contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Morning Edition, and his new book is called "How We Got Here: The Seventies the Decade that Brought You Modern Life, for Better or Worse".