March 12, 1996 - A Midday call-in program about the proposals to expand the Twin Cities International Airport, or build a new one. Studio guests are two members of the Metropolitan Airports Commission, John Himle from Bloomington; and Steve Cramer from Minneapolis.
March 26, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger profiles Wahkon, a small community at the south end of Lake Mille Lacs, where there is an authentic small-town renewal driven by a combination of optimism and fear.
April 1, 1996 - Midday’s Gary Eichten talks with John Labosky, the president of The Capital City Partnership, about the newly created organization’s plans for revitalizing downtown St. Paul.
April 3, 1996 - State Senator Ted Mondale comments on decision at State Capitol to expand existing Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, rather than building a new one at another site.
April 10, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter reports on the Bovey Police Department, which may cease to exist due to financial costs for the small city. Bovey is located on the northern edge of the Iron Range in Minnesota and there is an open debate in town on if that will be trouble for the town.
April 15, 1996 - Many people say small government is better because its more accessible and can act quickly to solve problems, but local government has its own problems. Mark Steil of Mainstreet Radio highlights an example of that in the southern Minnesota town of Kasota, where quarrels with the city council and mayor might be every bit as nasty as those found in Washington D.C., turning neighbor against neighbor and leaving scars which can last years.
April 30, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Catherine Winter reports on efforts of a restorative justice program in Bemidji. Winter talks with criminal justice officials about the approach to better connect criminals to understanding and addressing their unlawful acts beyond the sole consequence of incarceration.
May 28, 1996 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger reports of an emerging safety issue in rural Minnesota…a lack of firefighters. Even as demands for fire protection rise, the number of volunteers is shrinking; in many communities there are barely enough firefighters to answer a call for help.
May 30, 1996 - Midday presents a live broadcast of the Westminster Town Hall Forum, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough. He is the author of the prize-winning biography Truman and numerous other books and is well-known as the host of the PBS television series The American Experience. His Westminster Town Hall Forum lecture is titled, American Society: Civil and Uncivil. McCullough’s speech is the last in a Westminster series “Voices of Consensus.”
June 11, 1996 - About 400 North Minneapolis residents attended a raucous community meeting to discuss the recent slayings of 11-year-old Byron Phillips and 22-year-old Derrick Adams. Phillips and Adams were shot to death about a half block away from each other, in the space of a week. Police have no suspects as of report.