July 6, 1999 - Residents of a Minneapolis neighborhood are waiting with cautious optimism for word that a buyer has sealed a deal to develop a polluted parcel of land -- a brownfield in environmental parlance. Cleaning up the Gopher Oil site has been on the Prospect Park neighborhood agenda for ninety years. The pace of cleaning brownfields has quickened in Minneapolis as people seek scarce land for development.
July 6, 1999 - Hennepin county's two and a half year old experiment with a separate court for drug offenders gets a passing grade. The drug court uses a controversial sentencing mix of jail time, counseling and treatment. But the people who work with the drug court say the big problem still to overcome is even-handed enforcement of the drug laws.
July 6, 1999 - Attorneys have long touted a code of ethics they say rises above other professions such as accounting or banking. That code includes a rule that bans them from entering into partnerships with other professions as a way to safeguard clients' interests. But now a commission of the American Bar Association wants to scrap that century-old rule; an action some critics say strikes at the very heart of the legal profession's independence.
July 7, 1999 - Northwest Airlines flight attendants will soon vote on a contract offer. Union leaders have been holding informational meetings around the country, explaining to the rank and file details of the agreement they reached with Northwest last month. Yesterday evening several hundred flight attendants gathered at a Bloomington hotel. Many were there to criticize the contract. Another session is planned for later this morning in the Twin Cities.
July 7, 1999 - MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews campers Jennifer Sly and Mary Marrow of Minneapolis about their experience during the blow down in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The two recall lightning while paddling across Lake Saganaga with two other friends, and heading for shore to set up a temporary campsite.
July 8, 1999 - Last February Norwest Bank Minnesota made an announcement that stunned the local arts world; it was donating its world renowned collection of decorative, applied and graphic arts to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The collection features rare and significant metalwork, furniture, ceramics, glass, even posters, from one of the most explosive and diverse periods in art history....what scholars call the "modernist" period, between 1875 and 1945. Tomorrow the M.I.A. will unveil part of its prized gift to the public in a new exhibit called "Milestones of Modernism," and Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts has a preview.
July 8, 1999 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on how Somali immigrants are adjusting and taking on the many challenges in creating a new home in the United States. Nyman speaks with local Somali residents about adapting while keeping culture and tradition intact.
July 8, 1999 - Fifty years ago the University of Minnesota began hosting foreign students in a special agriculture exchange program. This week in St. Paul, current students and aluMinnesotai from 68 countries met for a global summit on agriculture. We invited two of the participants to our studios. Damian Murphy is a sheep farmer in Australia. He's studying at the University this year, and farming in Eden Prairie this summer. Frederick Frederickson participated in the U program three decades ago, and now runs a dairy farm in Denmark. He says farmers worldwide are all in the same predicament.
July 8, 1999 - The St. Paul woman accused of being Symbionese Liberation Army bombing suspect Kathleen Soliah has agreed to waive extradition to California. The woman who has lived under the name Sara Jane Olson for more than 20 years will sign the extradition papers tomorrow that will send her to Los Angeles to face charges for crimes she's accused of committing in 1975.
July 9, 1999 - 90 thousand fans are expected to pack the Rosebowl Stadium for the Women's world cup soccer final tomorrow. The U-S will play China in a match-up that is likely to be extremely close. China has two of the best offensive players in the tournament, but if past games are any indication, they will have trouble getting the ball past US goalkeeper Briana Scurry. Scurry is a Minnesota native, who honed her soccer skills on the Anoka High School team. Dave Tank was her coach at Anoka. He says he's not surprised Scurry has come this far.