September 15, 1999 - 1937 was a year of turmoil across the world, as the seeds of World War II began germinating. Yet the rampant nationalism which pushed Hitler, Franco and Mussolini atop the political forefront in Europe, was in evidence in other parts of the world. In the Caribbean, on the island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the Dominican leader General Trujillo ordered the massacre of Haitian immigrants. Thousands of Haitians fled across the border back to Haiti, but many died under the hail of bullets, stones and machete blows. Novelist Edwidge Danticat, who was born in Haiti, says she has been haunted by the story of the massacre. She set her latest book "The Farming of Bones" in the midst of the turmoil in part because so few people, including many Haitians, know about what happened.
September 9, 1999 - One of the more spectacular moves in soccer is the "header" where a player soars in the air to smack the ball into the net with well-placed nod of the head. In recent months there has been rising concern among soccer parents caused by reports heading may damage young brains. A study reported in this weeks Journal of the American Medical association found possible risk of chronic traumatic brain injury for amateur soccer players. The report concludes that due to the worldwide popularity of soccer the observbations could have important public health implications. Now a pair of Twin Cities soccer dads have come up with what they hope is an answer... a protective headband. But as Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports there's disagreement over whether this kind of protection is really needed.
August 30, 1999 - American Indians were the most undercounted ethnic group in the 1990 census. US Census officials say they missed more than 12 percent of Indians who live on reservations, compared with about one percent of the white population. With the 2000 census imminent, census officials travelled to Minnesota as part of the effort to make sure that doesn't happen again.
August 3, 1999 - The Senate today tentatively approved a Republican sponsored emergency farm aid package as an amendment to a $61 billion dollar agriculture appropriations bill. The GOP amendment would add nearly 7 billion dollars of emergency aid. A final vote on that is expected tomorrow. The Democrats' 11 billion dollar version was essentially killed. But any emergency agriculture assistance won't likely be available until September at the earliest -- when a review of national farm policy could take place on Capitol Hill.
August 3, 1999 - The national conversation on urban sprawl has reached rural Minnesota. Specifically the Brainerd lakes area, where the city of Baxter has seen such commercial growth it's now trying to expand its boundaries, and its tax base.
July 29, 1999 - Tomorrow night, the Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis begins a three week retrospective of the work of French director Francois Truffaut. The Oak Street is the only threater outside New York showing all of the new prints of Truffaut's 23 feature films. Truffaut was among a group of brash young film-makers who challenged the accepted cinematic norms of the 1950's and launched what became known as the French New Wave. But unlike other New Wave directors Truffaut, went on to enjoy wide success. He is perhaps best known in America for his role in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". The Oak Street's Bob Cowgill told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that role was chosen very deliberately.
July 26, 1999 - Soccer is the fastest growing sport in Minnesota, spurred especially by its popularity among immigrants and baby boomers. In St Paul alone an estimated 12 thousand young people are playing organized soccer this season. There are thousands more who are just playing, scrounging for any available patch of ground to kick a ball around. Minnesota Public Radio's Mary Stucky reports this demand for soccer space in St Paul is intensifying --creating alliances between diverse communitities.
July 13, 1999 - One of the nation's most expensive -and dramatic - storage facilities for rare books is now under construction at the University of Minnesota. One collection making the move to the new facilitiy is the Kerlan Collection of children's literature, which must leave the beautiful room it's occupied for years.
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 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.