August 18, 1997 - Meeting in Philadelphia today, the nation's largest Lutheran church, the ELCA, moved toward healing ancient divisions with three major Reformed Churches, but possibly opened new wounds with Episcopalians. The measure that failed to get the needed two-thirds majority would have had the Lutherans adopt the Episcopal leadership structure. Concerns that the Episcopalians place too much power in the hands of the hierarchy led to the plan's defeat. But, by a wide margin, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America delegates voted to enter into full communion with the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Church of Christ, and the Reformed Church in America. Minnesota Public Radio speaks with ELCA presiding bishop H. George Anderson.
August 18, 1997 - At his news conference this afternoon in Philadelphia, ELCA bishop H. George Anderson took questions on today's split vote, and looked to the future.
July 25, 1997 - Police say six years ago, there were eight so-called saunas and health clubs operating illegally in St. Paul. Lee Lenore's was the last one. But in Minneapolis, some neighborhood saunas are still up and running, in addition to legal strip joints and dirty book and video stores. Such businesses are intentionally confined to the Warehouse district downtown. The city council is considering new laws designed to address both the illegal and the legal sex industry. Minneapolis City Councilmember Joe Biernat and the commander of Saint Paul's vice unit, Lieutenant Richard Iffert, explain exactly what goes on in these places.
July 21, 1997 - Hume Cronyn is an acting renaissance man. He's been a famous stage actor since the 1930s. He's a playwright and a screenwriter. He acted on television in 1939, and he's been in movies since 1943's Shadow of a Doubt, when he played a rabid murder mystery fan.
July 17, 1997 - Writer William Ayers begins his latest book in a Chicago courtroom, where a juvenile is being prosecuted for murder. He ends it by quoting Artistotle's reminder that no rule is absolute. In "A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court", Ayers charts the lives of kids in Chicago's juvenile justice system, which he says for the most part treats crime and punishments as absolute, with no allowances for circumstances when it comes to poor black and Latino kids. In the end, Ayers' point is that it doesn't make sense to treat kids as adults, and we certainly shouldn't be prosecuting children as adults, even so-called super predators.
July 17, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe intreviews David Reville, the McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum, about his film score for “The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty." The film is screening at the Red Eye Cinema in Minneapolis.
July 9, 1997 - self-contained In the early 1800's, folk historians swept through the Finnish hinterland. What they collected ended up in the epic Kalevala (KAH-lay-vah-luh). It includes the story of a young girl who evades marriage to a 9-hundred year old magician by turning herself into a salmon. MUSIC UP
July 8, 1997 - Major League All-Stars are waiting out the weather in Cleveland. Tonight's 68th All-Star Game is scheduled for Jacobs Field with the threat of thunderstorms in the area. Seattle ace Randy Johnson is the starter for the American League in tonight's All-Star Game. Atlanta's Greg Maddux will start for the National League. The All Star Game itself is an old tradition, but so is using the All-Star break as a milestone for a set of predictions: which player could hit 400 this year, and who could break Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs? All Things Considered's baseball analyst Kevin Hennessy discusses if there's a chance someone will break either record.
July 4, 1997 - With the transfer of Hong Kong from British colony back to China, and all the talk about how the transition will go; what was it like when the 13 original colonies made the transition more than 200 years ago? University of Minnesota American History professor John Howe underlines how difficult the break was.
July 4, 1997 - The Fourth of July is Independence Day in more than one way. For most of us, it means the independence of eating outside. Lynn Rosetto Kaspar, host of The Splendid Table, cooks up some houghts about al fresco eating.