April 23, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports on JOBZ (Job Opportunity Building Zones), a Minnesota jobs program. What Governor Tim Pawlenty calls the "mother of all economic incentives" has landed its first big out-of-state prize for rural Minnesota. A South Dakota company says Minnesota's JOBZ program played an important role in its decision to expand to Luverne…but despite Pawlenty's enthusiasm, officials with Total Card, Inc. say JOBZ was not the most important factor.
April 29, 2004 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports on Ramsey County and St. Paul city officials beginning an education campaign they hope will prepare residents to welcome the newest Minnesotans…1000 to 5000 Hmong refugees that will resettle in the county in the next few months.
May 14, 2004 - Midday continues to broadcast live from the State Capitol. Host Gary Eichten and MPR's political editor Mike Mulcahy talk with key lawmakers at the MPR broadcast table. Guests include Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar; Governor Pawlenty's chief of staff, Dan McElroy; Senator Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul; Representative Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud; Representative Doug Stang, R-Cold Spring; and Senator Stevey Kelley, DFL-Hopkins.
May 21, 2004 - Gail Sheehy and Pauline Boss speak as part of the University of Minnesota's Great Conversation series. They have both written about the victims of 9/11. Gail Sheehy is author of Middletown, America and Pauline Boss is author of Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief.
May 28, 2004 - Former Governor Elmer Andersen's remarks Wednesday night at the Barnes and Noble Galleria bookstore. He celebrates his 95th birthday next month and is out with a new book, "I Trust to be Believed".Plus, 14-year-old Grant Remmen of Detroit Lakes. The Minnesota spelling bee champion is heading out this weekend to the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC.
August 11, 2004 - Carl Eller, who played for the Minnesota Vikings from 1964 to 1979, has been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Midday takes a look at his acceptance speech, followed by an interview with Eller about football and race. He also takes questions from MPR listeners.
August 24, 2004 - In April of 1971, John Kerry gave a speech before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about war crimes that other soldiers serving in Vietnam allegedly committed. That testimony is the focus of a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad that claims Kerry "dishonored his country and more importantly the people he served with." On this Talk of Minnesota, Midday plays the ad alongside Kerry's testimony, and opens the phone lines to get listeners' reaction.
August 25, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports on Ralph Nader’s visit to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In a speech, Nader says the only way to change government is to get involved. He talked for more than two hours criticizing corporate greed, the Bush administration, and the war in Iraq. Nader says historically the nation's best laws have been a reaction to citizen outrage.
October 10, 2004 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on Game 4 of American League Division Series, where the New York Yankees ended the Minnesota Twins World Series hopes for the second straight year. The Yankees came from behind to defeat the Twins 6-5 in eleven innings at the Metrodome. With that victory, New York took the best-of-five playoff series three games to one.
October 21, 2004 - In his 1996 book, "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy," the journalist and commentator James Fallows wrote that the media had become "irresponsible with its power. The damage has spread to the public life Americans all share. The damage can be corrected, but not until journalism comes to terms with what it has lost." Eight years later, in the midst of another presidential election, the question is: has that happened? Fallows gives his answer live at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis.