November 17, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on how some Minnesota farmers are putting a few extra dollars in their pocket by selling what they usually plow under. A St. Peter company is making building materials as strong as wood from the straw left after farmers harvest soybeans and wheat.
November 17, 1998 - Though old-growth forests were long gone, Minnesota's timber industry revived in the 1980s when new technology made the ubiquitous aspen tree a desired commodity. For a decade Minnesota had the fastest-growing timber trade in the country.
November 18, 1998 - As part of the Our State, Our Forests series, a Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from MPR studios in Duluth, highlighting the Minnesota Northwoods. In this hour, MPR’s Rachel Reabe presents stories by reporters Leif Enger and Mary Losure which portray the timber industry past and present and describe its impact on the environment and economy of Northern Minnesota.
November 18, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports on the first meeting of Governor-elect Jesse Ventura and Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe, who met privately to discuss legislative priorities for 1999. Despite what Ventura calls "philosophical differences" between the two men, their respective "to-do" lists appear to have a lot in common.
November 19, 1998 - The Metropolitan Council is soliciting public comment on the design of light-rail transit stations planned for Minneapolis . Proponents of the rail line argue that the system can do more than just move people: it can spur development.
November 19, 1998 - Schools in the Red River Valley are trying to make the best of a bad business. After a year and a half of rebuilding and repairing the damage of 1997's spring flooding, teachers and students now have some of the newest, and best equipped schools in the upper midwest.
November 20, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports on how leaders of Minnesota's major political parties are mulling over the meaning of this year's election results…and the meaning of Jesse Ventura's surprise victory, in particular. In the DFL party, there seems to be a growing consensus that change would do the party good, but there's little agreement so far about what kind of change.
November 23, 1998 - The FBI reports serious crime has declined nationwide for the sixth consecutive year. The Bureau's figures, released over the weekend, aren't broken down by specific state or region, but as Minnesota Public Radio's Michael Khoo reports, Minnesota is in line with the national trend.
November 24, 1998 - MPR’s Kathryn Herzog presents a Mainstreet Radio report on the lack of crop diversity on many modern Minnesota farms. Some farmers and agronomists are looking for ways to bring the diversity back.
November 24, 1998 - St. Paul writer Patricia Hampl has received another big honor--She's won a Pushcart Prize for one of her short stories. Hampl is better known for her memoirs A Romantic Education and Virgin Time and her two volumes of poetry. In 1990 she received a McArthur Genius grant. The prize-winning story called "The Bill Collector's Vacation" originally appeared in the literary journal Ploughshares last fall. The Pushcart anthologies pull together the best stories, poems and essays published by small presses in a given year. Hampl says winning a Pushcart means a lot more people may actually read her story.