December 12, 2003 - Jan McElfish, member of the American Swedish Institute, gives MPR’s Great Cunningham a tour of the Turnblad Turn-blahd Mansion during the holiday season.
December 5, 2003 - The head of the Minnesota State Arts Board has been elected to a national post. Robert Booker will serve as president of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies for the next two years. The organization serves 56 state and regional arts agencies. Booker takes the helm as many state arts organizations are adjusting to substantial funding cuts brought on by state budget crises. Minnesota's arts board budget was cut by sixty percent and overall state arts funding cut by one-third during the last legislative session. Booker will preside over a 21-member board of directors for the Washington, D.C.,-based organization. He says he didn't seek out the appointment -- he was asked to serve.
December 4, 2003 - Searchers went back out today looking for Dru Sjodin. Law enforcement officers went out alone after a massive effort by 17-hundred volunteers in recent days came up empty. Michael Campion is the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul, and a former street police officer. He says investigators never know just what exactly constitutes a clue.
December 1, 2003 - Minnesota children's author Mary Casanova is out with a new picture book that takes readers on a journey with a girl and her dog. "One-Dog Canoe" features animals that live near Casanova's home in Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota. "One Dog Canoe" is featured on the Minnesota Humanities Council's list of 17 books parents and children should read together. Casanova says her latest book was inspired by growing up as one of ten children. She says like the young girl in her story--she was always searching for some "alone time."
December 1, 2003 - Minnesota children's author Mary Casanova is out with a new picture book that takes readers on a journey with a girl and her dog. "One-Dog Canoe" features animals that live near Casanova's home in Rainy Lake in northern Minnesota. "One Dog Canoe" is featured on the Minnesota Humanities Council's list of 17 books parents and children should read together. Casanova says her latest book was inspired by growing up as one of ten children. She says like the young girl in her story--she was always searching for some "alone time."
October 22, 2003 - One person was killed today after an explosion and fire at the Chippewa Valley Ethanol Plant in Benson. Eleven fire departments from the west central Minnesota area were called in to fight the fire. The plant produces both ethanol and Shaker's brand vodka. Reed Anfinson is the editor of the Swift County Monitor-News newspaper. He says today's accident started with an explosion in a fermenting tank.
August 19, 2003 - Richfield-based Best Buy, which has seen CD sales slip in recent years, has entered the world of online music. Through a new partnership with RealNetworks, Best Buy is the first major retailer to offer a music download service to its customers. Best Buy will resell RealNetworks Rhapsody service, which requires users to pay a $9.95 monthly subscription fee plus 79 cents for any songs they download and burn to CD. The service has the backing of the music industry, which is trying to wipe out illegal downloads. Scott Young is Best Buy's vice president of digital entertainment. He says the service will appeal to customers new to the online music environment.
August 18, 2003 - The Minnesota State Fair opens Thursday. Fairgoers will notice some changes to the grandstand this year. The facility is undergoing a 35 million dollar remodeling project. The fair's first grandstand was built in 1885, a double-decked wooden strucutre. The current grandstand, made of concrete and steel, was built in 1909.
August 14, 2003 - A power outage has struck New York and other cities in the northeastern U-S and Canada. Other cities in the dark include Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo. And power is out in parts of Canada, including Toronto and throughout Ontario.
August 12, 2003 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Wendell Anderson, former governor of Minnesota; and Chuck Ruhr, a Minneapolis advertising executive, as they look back at the 1973 Time magazine issue that highlighted the state of Minnesota. Anderson and Ruhr discuss the Minnesota reflected in those pages and how things have changed.