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 yesterday before the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.
November 6, 1996 - DFLers will retain majorities in both the state House and Senate. Republicans thought they had a good chance to wrest control from the Democrats -- in part because no fewer than seven DFLers faced legal or ethical investigations during the past year. Their chances seemed especially good in the House, where Democrats held a slim one-vote majority. But DFLers headed into the election with a stronger national ticket, and a focus on education spending that seemed to play well in certain parts of the Twin Cities.
November 5, 1996 - St. Paul native Toni Stone, the first woman to play on a men's professional baseball team died on November 2nd, 1996 at a nursing home near Oakland, California. She was 75 years old. In 1990, Stone came back to St. Paul to talk to a group of students during Women's History Month. MPR’s Bill Wareham was there and presents audio from a story that was originally broadcast in 1990.
October 18, 1996 - MPR’s Bill Wareham profiles Paul Wellstone’s arrival and subsequent education on being a U.S. Senator in Washington D.C. Wareham looks at Wellstone’s personal and political history. Interviews include fellow senator David Durenberger and numerous political supporters and activists.
September 19, 1996 - This election season Minnesota Public Radio is analyzing some of the television spots the U-S Senate candidates and their surrogates are using to influence voters. More than a dozen have aired since May...but only a few of those have come from the candidates themselves. Today Minnesota Public Radio's Bill Wareham looks at ads produced by the Boschwitz and Wellstone campaigns: Astute television viewers who read the "paid for" announcements at the end of political ads will notice ads produced by a candidate's own campaign have a softer tone than those coming from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Minnesota DFL. Unlike the NRSC ads that call Paul Wellstone an 'ult
August 6, 1996 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports on Mayor Sayles Belton's budget outline. It has no new taxes, and more crime prevention. A new unit is being proposed to investigate misdemeanors, seeing them as “gateway” crimes.
May 2, 1996 - State Republicans say correspondance obtained from inside the Wellstone re-election campaign suggests the U-S Senator has violated the spirit of campaign finance laws. They say Wellstone appears to be depositing contributions that would exceed federal limits on his campaign with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. A campaign finance watchdog group says the Republican charges don't appear to hold much water.
April 24, 1996 - State senator Skip Finn will resign. The Cass Lake DFLer awaits sentencing on charges related to taking money from a tribal insurance fund he set up for the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa. But no sooner did legislative leaders close the book on one legislative ethics case, they re-opened another.
April 23, 1996 - Fired public safety commissioner Michael Jordan says he's considering legal action in response to what he calls "hostile" treatment from governor Carlson. Carlson dismissed Jordan Friday...saying the commissioner had repeatedly shown poor judgement...culminating with the mishandling of a death threat incident. Jordan says he believes he fell into disfavor because he challenged politically-motivated directives from the governor's office.
April 20, 1996 - Governor Carlson has fired Commissioner of Public Safety Michael Jordan. In a harshly-worded letter the governor complains of too many errors of judgement -- including the mishandling by a top Jordan aide of a death threat against Carlson. Jordan says his record shows he always acted in the best interests of Minnesotans...and that he's been dismissed unfairly.