June 22, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe are looking ahead at a future without gaming. Like many Indian tribes, the Mille Lacs Ojibwe got an enormous boost from gaming in the 1990s. Its two casinos brought in millions of dollars annually, and hundreds of new jobs. Now the Band is trying to broaden its economy.
June 11, 1999 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports on Minnesota Lynx as they begin their first season in the Women's National Basketball Association, hosting the Detroit Shock at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Khoo highlights the excitement for a hometown women's basketball team.
June 2, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Marisa Helms reports on the Brainerd High School Choir and their year-end performance of Sarah Hopkin’s “Past Life Melodies.” All year long, the choir's been working on the unique piece featuring aboriginal sounds from Australia. The decidedly NOT-WESTERN music has been educational in all sorts of ways.
June 2, 1999 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews a local Hmong artist about his desire to protect and foster Hmong cultural arts as an avenue for next generation in the Hmong community, both abroad and in the United States.
June 1, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports that creating a performance hall is not just design and construction...acoustical engineering has become a science all its own. With the opening of the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science in Sioux Falls, the city's oldest high school is the shell of the country's newest and only multi-use center. It houses a children's science and discovery center, a visual arts center, and a performing arts center.
May 31, 1999 - A PRI presentation of "The Mississippi River: A River of Song" by Smithsonian Productions. This program in series is titled “Land of Lakes and Immigrant Songs.”
May 26, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from Lake Benton. Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion about Minnesota's wind farm on Buffalo Ridge and the greater wind-power industry with guests Marlin Thompson, Lake Benton mayor; Jim Nichols, a former agriculture commissioner who now heads economic development efforts for the area; and Audrey Zibelman, director of Energy Marketing for Northern States Power.
May 25, 1999 - St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman is floating an idea for a new outdoor ballpark for the Minnesota Twins. The mayor argues a stadium in St. Paul would help revitalize the city's downtown core. He hasn't offered any specifics yet, but already the proposal is drawing some criticism.
May 5, 1999 - MPR’s Bob Kelleher reports on the diminishing population of rainbow smelt in Lake Superior. Years ago, the smelt run drew huge crowds to Lake Superior beaches, where fish were netted by hand and cooked over open fires. Raucous all-night beach parties fueled by generous doses of alcohol achieved mythical status around the big lake. But now, the big smelt runs are history.
May 5, 1999 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from St. Cloud State University as part of MPR's week-long project called "Hidden Rainbow: The Changing Face of Minnesota." In this first hour of program, Rachel Reabe hosts a discussion on racism in St. Cloud with Ralonda Mason, a local lawyer handling racism cases for St. Cloud Area Legal Services; Taye Reta, former St. Cloud business owner and member of the State Council on Black Minnesotans; Susan Ihne, executive editor at The St. Cloud Times; and Vusi Khamalo, director for the Multicultural Services at St. Cloud Technical College.