July 2, 1999 - Later today, Mayor Norm Coleman will submit more than 10-thousand signatures to place his proposal for a St. Paul ballpark on the ballot this fall. That strategy is likely to coincide with a public relations campaign to keep the Twins in Minneapolis . And if those two proposals aren't confusing enough, the Minnesota Vikings are voicing stadium ambitions of their own.
July 2, 1999 - While Mayor Coleman has gotten most of the attention for his petition drive to bring the Twins to St. Paul, there's another group trying to get a referendum on the November ballot: Scenic Minnesota. The group filed a petition today to ban billboards in the capitol city. Downtown businessman John Mannillo chairs Scenic Minnesota. He says St. Paul has more billboards than any other city in the state but getting politicians to pay attention to the issue has been difficult.
July 2, 1999 - MPR’s John Bischoff visits carillonneur David Johnson at House of Hope church along Summit Avenue in St. Paul, as he prepares for July 4th concert. Johnson discusses the instrument and how to play it.
July 5, 1999 - Pulitizer Prize-winning historian and author David McCullough relates some of the great stories that make up American history, focusing on three Americans who played a large role in shaping this nation: John Adams, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson.
July 5, 1999 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with Mark Van Every, spokesperson for the Superior National Forest Service in Duluth, about the BWCA storms. Van Every says it was the worst storm his office has seen the the past decade.
July 5, 1999 - In Winona writer Marjorie Dorner's new novel "Seasons of Sun and Rain", a group of women-friends annual vacation together on Lake Superior's North Shore is overshadowed by shattering news. One of their number is suffering from "Early on-set Alzheimers." The women have been friends since college, sharing each others joys and sorrows as they have had families, and watched their children become adults. Dorner told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the story is based on experiences she's had with her own friends. The central shocking secret in the novel...is fiction. Dorner says one of the women is about to get a huge test... she's been asked to promise she'll help her sick friend commit suicide at some time in the future.
July 5, 1999 - Searchers found two more bodies on the St. Croix River today, bringing the death total to five in one of the worst boating accidents in Minnesota history. Two powerboats collided over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, which historically has the most boating accidents of the year.
July 5, 1999 - In their annual battle against weeds, some Minnesota farmers are looking to the past. Organic farmers don't use chemical weed control, so they plow, plow and plow some more to hold back legions of unwanted plants. But there is another way, and it's spreading like wildfire.
July 5, 1999 -
July 6, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on impact of ferocious storms that hit the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The wind and rain downed trees and power lines across much of Northeastern Minnesota. Residents of Hibbing were assessing flood damage, while resorters on the Gunflint Trail were taking stock of damaged buildings.