June 12, 1998 - THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING A BRONZE PLAQUE HANGING IN THE STATE CAPITAL ROTUNDA MAY BE ONE STEP CLOSER TO RESOLUTION. THE PLAQUE HONORS MINNESOTANS WHO FOUGHT IN THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES.....BUT IT CONTAINS INACCURACIES AND LANGUAGE OFFENSIVE TO MINNESOTANS OF FILIPINO DESCENT.. THIS AFTERNOON A NEW EXHIBIT WILL GO UP NEXT TO THE PLAQUE -- AN EFFORT TO CORRECT THE MISTAKES....BUT AS Minnesota Public Radio's MARY STUCKY REPORTS, FOR SOME, IT STILL DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH.
August 25, 1998 - MPR’s John Rabe reports on local African American leaders from the Twin Cities talking with local black leaders in South Africa.
September 7, 1998 - MPR's Tom Robertson reports from Bemidji, where It's harvest time for wild rice in Minnesota, and nowhere is the season more important than on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. The reservation has more than 6,000 acres of wild rice beds within its boundaries.
September 24, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Kathryn Herzog reports on what one town is doing to address its own racism. During the Farm Crisis of the 1980's, many people moved away from rural Minnesota to find work in the city, leaving rural companies struggling with a small labor pool. As long time residents moved out, a few people of color, Hispanic and Hmong families moved in, looking for the rural lifestyle.
November 6, 1998 - Here's an American culture quiz. Everyone knows Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the national anthem. But do you know who wrote the words to 'Lift Every Voice and Sing,' often called the African American national anthem? The answer is James Weldon Johnson. You get extra credit if you can name another famous work by Johnson. Time's up. The answer is the poem 'Creation.' The poem is part of a choral piece called 'God's Trombones.' The works will be performed Friday night at First Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. audio . . . (creation 1) and God stepped out on space and looked around and said I'm lonely. I'll make me a world.
November 25, 1998 - The most recent Surgeon General's report find Native Americans have the highest adult smoking rates of any ethnic or minority group in the country. The report finds tobacco use among Native Americans has soared more than 40-percent at a time when it has levelled off among other racial groups. As a result, more Native Americans are dying of respiratory cancers than ever before. Health officials are alarmed but as Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports, anti-tobacco programs take on new complexities for many Native Americans who've long viewed tobacco as a sacred gift: To get a sense of tobacco's place in indian culture one needs to look no further than a traditional pow wow. (sound of leader talking about of tobacco/creation)
November 30, 1998 - A field cloaked in rusty brown grass and scrub trees near the Minnesota River was once the scene of rifle shots, battle yells and death. Now one of the best preserved battle fields from the 1862 Dakota Conflict is being restored to better tell the events of that fateful day. The Minnesota Historical Society plans to install trails and interpretive signs explaining the many perspectives of the war. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Steil reports: Unless you're a real student of the events of 1862 its difficult to make much sense of what happened at the Birch Coulee battlefield just north of Morton in southwest Minnesota. A granite marker indicates two of
December 31, 1998 - After a decade of litigation, the country's first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit has been settled. The settlement, for an undisclosed amount, comes just days before a jury was to consider damages in the case. In 1988 a group of women sued their employer, Eveleth Mines in northeast Minnesota, for sexual harassment and sex discrimination. The Eveleth Mines lawsuit is little-known, but it set a precedent for class-action lawsuits based on a hostile work environment, including the Mitsubishi Motors settlement earlier this year. Minnesota Public Radio's Amy Radil reports. The women who sued Eveleth Mines in 1988 -- and its owner Ogleby Norton -- were some of the first to integrate northeast Minnesota's all-male min
March 25, 1999 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports that Mille Lacs Ojibwe leaders called for cooperation and friendship after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of treaty rights. The decision affirmed an 1837 agreement allowing eight tribes to fish and hunt without state regulation in east-central Minnesota.
April 13, 1999 - MPR’s Eric Jansen reports on community complaints regarding Minneapolis Police Department’s CODEFOR program. Minneapolis’ mayor and police chief say CODEFOR has dramatically reduced crime in the city. Critics and civil rights groups claim the computer-assisted program that targets neighborhoods based on crime patterns encourages police harassment and makes some residents feel like prisoners in their own homes.