December 6, 1996 - Negotiations in the federal mediation of the Boundary Waters issue are taking some time off after 14 non-consecutive days of negotiations. After months of discussion it seems there are still large disagreements over basic issues. In fact, one of the participants, Bill Hansen, a second generation canoe outfitter, has proposed just sticking with the status quo.
December 5, 1996 - In Scadinavia, Knut Hamsun is a conflicted figure. He is one of the most revered Norwegian novelists, yet he supported the Nazi's. Hamsun was born in Norway in 1859, and died there in 1952 at the age of 93. In between, he travelled twice to the United States, lectured in Minneapolis , wrote plays, short stories, essays, and 21 novels, won the Nobel prize, and eulogized Hitler. More of his novels have been made into movies than any other Norwegian's, from Growth of the Soil in 1921 to last year's Pan. And this year saw the premiere of a biographical film, starring Max Von Sydow as the author. The U Film Society in Minneapolis is showing a bunch of the movies this month and next, so we asked Bill Mishler, professsor in the U of M Scandinavian Studies department, for a primer on Hamsun, starting with 1890's Hunger.
December 4, 1996 - Hunrdeds of people came out in the cold today to pay their respects to Tiny Tim, who died Saturday night after performing at a benefit concert. Visitation began at one this afternoon at the bascilica in downtown Minneapolis , and the funeral mass began at three. Tiny Tim was laid out in an open casket, with his ukulele across his chest. His widow, Miss Sue, patiently spoke with friends and fans amid pictures of the man who thirty years ago captured the nation's fancy with the song Tiptoe Through the Tulips and his wedding on The Tonite Show. Outside, on the steps of the church, I asked some of those who attended the visitation WHY they came today.
December 3, 1996 - The Harlem Nutcracker opens tomorrow night at the Northrop Auditorium on the U-of-M campus in Minneapolis , with more shows Friday and Saturday. David Berger adapted and augmented the show's music from the Tchaikovsky, Ellington, and Strayhorn. Donald Byrd is choreographer.
November 15, 1996 - The words of longtime writer and political activist Meridel Le Sueur, who died yesterday at the age of 96. Le Seur objected to being called one of Minnesota's "treasures" -- that's a patriarchal term, she said -- but she was regarded that way. Meridel Le Sueur chronicled the suffering of women and families during the Great Depression. She was a blacklisted social activist, stuntwoman and - for a time - the voice of Betty Crocker.
November 8, 1996 - MPR’s John Rabe interviews Walter Mondale about his decision to set down as U.S. ambassador to Japan. Mondale reflects on his tenure, and what lies ahead for next ambassador.
November 6, 1996 - To paraphrase the President, the last dog has died in most campaigns across the country, and various media watchdogs and analysts are picking over the bones of the election season. As election pathologist, Larry Jacobs, a political scientist at the U-of-M, along with a counterpart at Columbia University, was watching polls and how they were used in 1996.
October 9, 1996 - All Thing’s Considered presents the MPR documentary “Janet's Children,” which profiles a parent fighting to keep custody of her children. It’s a story of parents, drug use, and permanency.
October 4, 1996 - It's well-known and shameful, that the United States kept people of Japanese descent in prison camps during World War Two. A growing number of scholars say there were also internment camps for up to a few thousand Germans. Scholars, like Saint Olaf professor La Vern Rippley, say there were at least fifty camps across the United States -- the closest to Minnesota in Fort Lincoln, North Dakota and Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. As of June 30, 1945, there were supposedly 21-hundred Germans in them. Professor Rippley says the reason these facts are not well-known is wrapped-up in the Unites States' attitudes about its Germans, one of the biggest ethnic groups in the country and the most-populous in Minnesota.
September 25, 1996 - As part of a series on immigrant voices regarding immigration and foreign policy, MPR’s John Rabe interviews Tou Ger Xiong, a Hmong comedian and entertainer.