April 3, 1997 - Crews are sandbagging in Cold Spring, Minnesota, where some homes are threatened by the rising Sauk River. The river has risen three-and-a-half feet since Monday and is expected to crest eight to nine feet above flood stage. In Waite Park, rising water is starting to inundate a supper club. More flooding problems in eastern North Dakota -- this time in Milnor, in the southeastern part of the state. City auditor Kristen Looneborg (LOO'-nuh-berg) says water is surrounding several houses and a trailer park. had water on the main floor. Local officials are meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers to see whether an earthen dike is needed. The city engineer in Casselton says dikes started overnight have put the city in better shape to battle unexpected flooding. But engineer Roger Fenstad says the fight is not over -- and students are being excused from classes early today to help with sandbagging. Meanwhile, farmers near Amenia have asked Casselton for help in battling floodwaters. And around Fargo, the call is going out for thousands more volunteers to fill sandbags and build dikes. I talked with Mary Kenna at the Cass and Cl
March 31, 1997 - The San Diego County coroner's office has released the identity of the Minnesota man who died in the Heaven's Gate mass suicide. He is Alphonzo Ricardo Foster, and he reportedly lived in the Twin Cities for about twenty years before joining the group in 1994. Foster was 45 when he died, was born in Detroit, and had three sisters and a brother. Officials are still looking his Foster's next-of-kin. Since they couldn't find relatives, they notified a Minneapolis man who says he was friends with Foster for twenty years. James Hannon says he met Foster October 7, 1974, the day they began training to drive bus for the MTC. It took a while, Hannon says, to get to know Foster, but once he did they were fast friends.
March 21, 1997 - The independent Oak Street Cinema in Minneapolis begins the Northern Lights Film Festival tonight with a program that includes an independent documentary on independent candidates at the 1996 New Hampshire Presidential primary. "Subdue the Universe," by local filmmakers James Taylor, Brian Standing, and Matt Ehling, works on at least three levels. As independents themselves, they bring a certain attitude to their look at third party candidates. As citizens interested in the political process, they bring an edge to their examination of the voting public.
March 17, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe talks with Minnesota musician Peter Ostroushko about his CD release “Pilgrims on the Heart Road."
February 19, 1997 - Evergreen Media Corporation is buying Dallas-based Chancellor Broadcasting Company and Viacom's ten radio stations for a total of $1.76 billion dollars. Chancellor owns seven Twin Cities radio stations. They are KFAN-AM, WBOB-FM, KEEY-FM, KTCZ-FM, KTCJ-AM, KDWB-FM and KQQL-FM. Once the deals are completed, the new company will be known as Chancellor Media Corporation. It will own 103 radio stations in 21 major markets. Tom Taylor, who edits "Inside Radio", a radio industry newsletter, says listeners won't be likely to notice the difference right away and he says it's the next logical step in a recent pattern.
February 17, 1997 - If you're the type of person who enjoys the spotlight, then maybe you wouldn't mind being Lincoln or Washington or Jefferson, all of whom are being scrutinized this week. But if you're a shy person, it might be better to be Millard Fillmore. Safe to say you could walk down the street in any major city without being recognized. Millard Fillmore was President of the United States from 1850 to 1853, serving the remainder of Zachary Taylor's term after Taylor died in office. As President, he served without distinction, and without stain. But Fillmore is not forgotten. If memory serves, the Brady Bunch went to a school named after Fillmore, and his qualities are remembered in a punk song. The group Showdown Showcase, from the Boston area, has a minute-long song called "Last of the Whigs."
February 12, 1997 - David Foster Wallace is best known for the giant novel "Infinite Jest", which, despite its daunting length, was apparently popular enough to be released in paperback recently. Wallace has also been writing non-fiction essays, which are now collected in a much less-imposing book.
February 10, 1997 - Storyteller and playwright Kevin Kling talks with MPR'S John Rabe about life in Minnesota as material for his work.
February 10, 1997 - Today the jury decided that O-J Simpson must pay $25-million dollars in compensatory damages for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. In most basic terms, they decided what amount of money equals Simpson's crime. We've been making comparisons like this for thousands of years, according to Jack Weatherford, who sees bad and good in the process. Weatherford teaches anthropology at Macalester College in Saint Paul, and his latest book is "The History of Money." Minnesota Public Radio's John Rabe and senior economics editor Chris Farrell talked with Weatherford about his book, which starts in the kingdom of Lydia somewhere around 635-B.C.
February 6, 1997 - The films of Kenji Mizoguchi are known for their long takes, compassionate view of women, and uncompromising social realism. But the problem is that his films are not that well known. Mizoguchi, considered one of the most important directors of all time, was born at the turn of the century in Tokyo. He died in 1956, having made as many as 86 movies. On Friday, the Walker Art Center and the U-Film Society begin showing a selection of Mizoguchi. We asked Marlena Gonzales Tamrong, an associate film curator at the Walker, and Kinji Akagawa, a Japanese-born artist and teacher, into the studio to help us understand Mizoguchi's films and their impact. Marlena Gonzales Tamrong is an associate film curator at