March 20, 1997 - On this first day of spring, Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil presents some stories from the winter of '97…and shares words from winter's past in the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder and O.E. Rolvaag.
March 19, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter looks at Challenge Incarceration Program, a Minnesota juvenile boot camp in Willow River. Supporters say strict discipline and hard work will knock some sense into criminals. But research seems to indicate that boot camps don’t work, don’t save money, and they don’t rehabilitate criminals.
March 10, 1997 - Midday presents two Minnesota Public Radio documentaries by producer Stephen Smith and Michael Montgomery. The first, Face of Mercy, Face of Hate, is about the life and mysterious death of a Bosnia Serb. The second, A Plague of Plastic Soldiers, is about efforts to clear land mines in Cambodia.
February 20, 1997 - MPR's Bill Wareham takes a look efforts by Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton to spend $35 million to help finance a Target store and other development on the south end of Nicollet Mall. The two-story Target would anchor a 14-story office and retail complex on the 900 block of Nicollet. Meanwhile, a block away the University of St. Thomas plans to expand its graduate school campus and link it to a K-12 magnet school also on the drawing boards.
February 17, 1997 - On this Midmorning, a Voices of Minnesota with the perseverance of two families in facing racial discrimination. Barbara Cyrus tells of her family's move to escape discrimination in the south only to encounter it in the north. Then, Archie Givens Jr. tells how his father's commitment to education led him to donate African American art and literature to the University of Minnesota.
February 14, 1997 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports on Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton State of the City address. Sayles Belton described Minneapolis as a strong, vibrant place, but also stated a need of stronger efforts to reduce gang violence. In addition to crime prevention, the mayor also highlighted education and economic development efforts.
February 13, 1997 - Midday rebroadcasts award-winning MPR documentary Song Catcher, Frances Densmore of Red Wing. Following documentary, MPR’s Gary Eichten holds a discussion with guests Marcia Anderson, chief curator and head of the Museum Collections Department at the Minnesota Historical Society; and Faith Bad Bear, assistant curator of Ethnology at the Science Museum of Minnesota.
February 12, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio's Mark Steil reports that there's a chance deep snows of the 96-97’ winter are only "part one" of a weather disaster. The spring flood potential may lie in a secret hidden within the snow…the water amount it contains.
February 5, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that county governments in Minnesota are in a financial squeeze as state and federal grants decline. They must either cut services or find new revenue sources. In southwest Minnesota, a bookmobile with a roadrunner painted on its side is directly in the path of the funding dilemma. People who use it say it's foolish to cut a service which enriches minds.
January 29, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil looks at turnover issues at meatpacking plants in Minnesota. The average worker in the meatpacking industry only stays on the job for a few months. The job is so difficult, dangerous and some might argue downright nasty that many plants hire the equivalent of a new work force each year. That creates problems for towns which host a meatpacking factory, with school enrollments changing constantly and short term housing stretched to the limit.