May 12, 1997 - MPR’s John Biewen profiles local composer Randall Davidson and the work of connecting artist with communities. For Davidson, that includes projects involving Hmong community and life stories of St. Paul public housing residents.
May 9, 1997 - In the aftermath of spring's record flooding in the Red River Valley, Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports on one of the most visible and immediate legacy of disaster…trash.
May 5, 1997 - One of the most widely debated issues in the modern workplace is whether employers should offer domestic partner benefits. In Minnesota, local governments which have sought to include unmarried, same-sex partners in their health insurance plans have run into legal roadblocks. But in the private sector, where the competition is growing for talented workers, more companies and organizations are finding domestic partner benefit packages make good business sense.
April 30, 1997 - Midday focuses on the discussion at the state Legislature about the future of a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins. Host Gary Eichten speaks with MPR reporter Bill Wareham, who presents a summary of the various proposals and audio clips of committee debate. Ideas presented include gambling revenue options, cheaper alternatives to a stadium, buying a team, selling Metrodome to teams for $1.00, and buying season tickets.
April 29, 1997 - State lawmakers on the House and Senate tax committees will be discuss proposals for financing a new Twins stadium…and It's a critical day for stadium supporters, because with less than three weeks left in the legislative session, they still have no politically viable plan to pay for a new ballpark.
April 29, 1997 - Midday looks at the President's Summit on America's Future, which calls upon volunteers to help America’s young people. Host Gary Eichten talks with Jim Kielsmeier, president of the National Youth Leadership Council, who is in Philadelphia for the summit. Program includes listener call-in questions.
April 18, 1997 - MPR’s Laura McCallum reports on a stressful week for residents of Southwest Fargo, where homes in the 500-year floodplain are threatened by rising water. Most of these homes are far from the Red River, and residents never imagined they'd be scrambling to protect their homes from overland flooding.
April 11, 1997 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports on residents of the Phillips neighborhood in South Minneapolis packing City Council chambers morning to plead for more help combatting violence.
April 10, 1997 - MPR's Jon Gordon reports that there will be no spears or gillnets on Mille Lacs Lake, for now. A federal appeals court has refused to allow eight Ojibwe Bands, including six from Wisconsin, to spear and gillnet on Mille Lacs and other Minnesota lakes this spring. The move comes after landowners and some counties appealed a federal judge's order allowing the bands to begin fishing in the 12 county area of east-central Minnesota.
April 10, 1997 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on how Fargo-Moorhead learned they had as little as 36 hours to raise dikes by two feet because the Red River could go higher than earlier predicted. Hundreds of people worked through the night in an effort to beat the clock.