December 3, 1996 - The Harlem Nutcracker opens tomorrow night at the Northrop Auditorium on the U-of-M campus in Minneapolis , with more shows Friday and Saturday. David Berger adapted and augmented the show's music from the Tchaikovsky, Ellington, and Strayhorn. Donald Byrd is choreographer.
December 4, 1996 - The Minnesota Twins say their financial losses continued to mount in 1996, reinforcing the need for a new ballpark. Team officials revealed their latest figures while renewing their pitch for a stadium before the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.
December 4, 1996 - Sandra Peterson is the president of the Minnesota Federation of Teachers, one of the state's two major teachers' unions. Her reaction to the plan was not favorable.
December 4, 1996 - A mediation committee has failed to reach agreement on a plan to revise management of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. The committee negotiating the best uses for the Boundary Waters Canoe Area struggled to find any consensus after a proposal once considered a possible compromise was rejected by some Ely area residents and those who want to expand the wilderness.
December 4, 1996 - Governor Carlson describes his education plan for the 1997 legislative session as a bold proposal and is asking lawmakers to give it a chance. Carlson outlined his education reform agenda today in Golden Valley. The plan includes a controversial program of tax incentives to families with children in private or public schools. DFL critics say the Republican Governor is simply repackaging his failed voucher plan from last year. Carlson is challenging those critics to produce their own ideas for improving education in the state.
December 4, 1996 -
December 4, 1996 - Teachers, school administrators, legislators and public policy watchers throughout Minnesota are waiting today to hear Governor Carlson's education proposals for the 1997 session. Carlson has vowed to make education his top priority during his remaining two years in office. The Governor is scheduled to unveil his plan this morning at an elementary school in Golden Valley.
December 4, 1996 - Hunrdeds of people came out in the cold today to pay their respects to Tiny Tim, who died Saturday night after performing at a benefit concert. Visitation began at one this afternoon at the bascilica in downtown Minneapolis , and the funeral mass began at three. Tiny Tim was laid out in an open casket, with his ukulele across his chest. His widow, Miss Sue, patiently spoke with friends and fans amid pictures of the man who thirty years ago captured the nation's fancy with the song Tiptoe Through the Tulips and his wedding on The Tonite Show. Outside, on the steps of the church, I asked some of those who attended the visitation WHY they came today.
December 4, 1996 - MPR’s Chris Roberts interviews Jane Anfinson, electric violinist and vocalist of Own, a Minneapolis art rock band that combines classical and jazz influences with traditional pop song structures. Anfinson discusses redefining instrumentation and abstract lyrics.
December 5, 1996 - In Scadinavia, Knut Hamsun is a conflicted figure. He is one of the most revered Norwegian novelists, yet he supported the Nazi's. Hamsun was born in Norway in 1859, and died there in 1952 at the age of 93. In between, he travelled twice to the United States, lectured in Minneapolis , wrote plays, short stories, essays, and 21 novels, won the Nobel prize, and eulogized Hitler. More of his novels have been made into movies than any other Norwegian's, from Growth of the Soil in 1921 to last year's Pan. And this year saw the premiere of a biographical film, starring Max Von Sydow as the author. The U Film Society in Minneapolis is showing a bunch of the movies this month and next, so we asked Bill Mishler, professsor in the U of M Scandinavian Studies department, for a primer on Hamsun, starting with 1890's Hunger.