October 26, 2000 - Artists at the Minnesota Institute of Arts in Minneapolis have removed two chickens from an exhibit after receiving threats from animal rights activists. The exhibit, An Acre of Art, aimed at exploring the relationship between people and land. A central feature was a long, narrow chicken coop mounted on the wall surrounded by a guilt frame-- with two live chickens inside. The coop also contained a web-cam which provided a contant live feed of the birds on the internet. Today, the coop is still there... as is the camera. But the chickens are gone. Mark Knierim is one of two artists who designed the exhibit. He's on the line now. BACK ANNOUNCE: The rest of the exhibit, An Acre of Art, is still open to the public. You can see it at the Minnesota Institute of Arts in Minneapolis, on their website at www dot artsMIA dot org, or on an acre of land outside Monticello, which will be open November 4th and November 18th.
October 20, 2000 - The Gopher football team will face Indiana on the road this weekend. The Gophers are 3 and 1 in the big ten. They've surprised fans with their performance this year, even upsetting six-ranked Ohio State in Colombus last weekend. Minnesota broadcast legend, Ray Christensen, called that game, as he has Gopher games for the past fifty years.
October 19, 2000 - From Bob Dylan, to Prince, to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota has a long and varied musical tradition. An exhibit opening this weekend at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul takes a look at that tradition.
October 19, 2000 - From Bob Dylan, to Prince, to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnnesota has a long and varied musical tradition. An exhibit opening this weekend at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul takes a look at that tradition. The exhibit is called "Sounds Good to Me." It's designed to tell stories about Minnesotans and their connections to music. Benjamin Filene (file-EEN) heads the exhibit team that spent nearly three years planning and designing the exhibit. He says there was an enormous amount of material to work with.
October 16, 2000 - Twin Cities commuters won't have to wait at ramp meters this morning. The Minnesota Department of Transportation has shut off the meters to study how well they control congestion. They'll remain off for four to six weeks. Massachusettes-based Cambridge Systematics is conducting the ramp meter study. They've done similar studies in other cities, but have never turned off all the meters. Mark Cutler is the Vice President of Cambridge Systematics. He says they've already gathered some information.
October 10, 2000 - The old Winona County courthouse is nearly dried out. The courthouse was damaged about a month ago, when four thousand gallons of water from broken water lines flooded the building. City and county leaders plan to repair it, but say it may cost about one million dollars. The building is 112 years old and is on the national register of historic places. Charlie Nelson is the state historical architect, and he was down in Winona recently to tour the mostly vacant building.
October 3, 2000 - Researchers at the University of Minnesota are launching a study that will follow over 3500 Minnesota teenagers to measure how their tobacco use patterns and attitudes change over time. The researchers will survey the teens every six months for three years. They have a 3.9 million dollar grant from the National Cancer Insitutute to conduct the study. Dr. Jean Forster is a professor in the University's School of Public Health and the lead researcher in the study. She says this study is unique in two ways. Forster says she hopes the survey will track the impact of the state's aggresive anti-smoking programs.
October 3, 2000 - Five people and a Minnesota company will receive the Twin Cities International Citizen Award tonight in St. Paul. The recipients were selected for their efforts to increase international understanding and cooperation. One of the recipients is only 15 years old. Kasia Paprocki has been working to end child labor since sixth grade, when she realized that the soccer balls at her school could have been made by children. She eventually convinced the St. Paul school board to ban soccer balls made by child laborers. She says she and her friends were surprised that the board didn't already have such a policy.
September 29, 2000 - The Minnesota Wild will face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks tonight in a preseason match up which will be the first hockey game ever played at the new Excel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Wild is gearing up for the start of the regular season next week. In addition to assembling players, coaches, and front-office personnel, the team has its own curator. He's been gathering hockey memorabilia from across the state which will be displayed throughout the new arena. Curator Roger Godin comes to the Wild from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota, where he was a director.
September 22, 2000 - If you've ever wondered what artwork hides in private collections in the Twin Cities, now's your chance to find out. Nearly 200 pieces of art from local collections will be on display in an exhibit opening at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis this weekend. The show is the result of months of searching by a team of Walker researchers, who asked collectors to temporarily share the contents of their living rooms. They found everything from Picassos and Lichtensteins to interesting works by lesser known artists. As the last pictures were going up, Curator Joan Rothfuss (ROTH fuss) told me about how a collection can tell us about its owner.