September 14, 1999 - The Reform Party has been on the sidelines while Republican and Democratic candidates criss-cross the country campaigning for President. But, that could soon change. GOP Presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan who is dissatisfied with his party is considering switching to the Reform Party. Meanwhile, Governor Ventura is apparently wooing New York financier Donald Trump who is also considering a run under the Reform Party banner. Political Science Professor at Gustavus Adolphus College Chris Gilbert says while the attention is good for the party, it does highlight a problem within the organization.
September 13, 1999 - Former Twin Cities media mogul, Otto Silha died Saturday of a heart attack. He was 80 years old. Silha got his start at the Minnesota Daily newspaper. In 1940 he took a job as a copy editor at the former Minneapolis Star and eventually became chief executive officer and chairman of the board of Cowles Media, the former owner of the Star Tribune. Silha was involved in many things from city planning to the Republican party. But journalism was his first love. In his retirement, he helped found the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, his alma mater. Director, Bill Babcock, says Sihla started the Center because he wanted the media to be more accountable.
September 13, 1999 - Sports commentator Howard Sinker describes the experience of watching/listening to Minnesota Twins pitcher Eric Milton throw a no-hitter on September 11th, 1999 against the Anaheim Angels.
September 9, 1999 - Maps are constantly being re-written to reflect new political boundaries, and improved map making techniques. Blobby sketches jotted down by early explorers have given way to satellite photos that don't leave an inch of mystery. A new exhibit at the University of Minnesota celebrates the vast array of maps that serve as a timeline of sorts, charting human understanding of the world and universe. The Weisman exhibit also includes new maps, commissioned by artists. Curator Rob Silberman says he got the idea for a map show from current events.
September 6, 1999 - Minnesotans at work will be the subject of a new photography exhibit at the pARTS gallery in Minneapolis next week. Minneapolis photographer Stephen Dahl spent 13 years capturing black-and-white images of Minnesotans on the job. He got access to many of the area's largest corporations and shot the people behind the scenes--hotel maids, baggage handlers and stockboys. Dahl, who's a social worker in the Hopkins school district, also captured dislocated auto workers in Wisconsin, and the dwindling number of commerical fishermen on Lake Superior. The project started in the mid-eighties, when Dahl began photographing farm families in Goodhue County.
September 6, 1999 - Labor Day always marks the end of the State Fair in Minnesota...and time to start tallying attendance which seems to grow every year. While the numbers are not in yet, because the fair is still underway through today, fair organizers say they're expecting to come close to last year's record-breaking attendance of one-million six-hundred and 89-thousand people. Jerry Hammer is the executive vice president of the fair. I asked him what this fair will be remembered for.
September 1, 1999 - Many farmers are facing tough times due to low prices, and it's frequently referred to as a "crisis" but is it a DISASTER? Today in Mankato, the State Emergency Board of the US Department of Agriculture met to determine if the troubled farm economy qualifies as a disaster, making farmers eligible for the same kind of assistance they might get after a natural disaster. It's an approach that hasn't been tried before.
August 31, 1999 - If the results of a new genetic study underway at the University of Minnesota can be duplicated in humans, diseases such as sickle cell anemia and hemophilia may soon be a thing of the past. For the first time, U-of-M scientists say they have successfully repaired a gene that causes a deadly liver disease. Dr. Clifford Steer is leading the study. He says researchers developed a technique that allows them to go into a cell with a single defect and essentially re-write its genetic code.
August 30, 1999 - To close out the millennium, Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered presents a look back at Minnesota life in 1900 via a 12-part series, entitled “A Minnesota Century.” This segment is the the story of Rhoda Emery, a young woman who thought she would never make it as a schoolteacher, but ended up dedicating 50 years to the profession.
August 27, 1999 - Research on rape tells us that survivors suffer long after their physical wounds are healed. In her new book "Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery" Minneapolis author Patricia Weaver Francisco shares her struggle to regain her life.