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 23, 1997 - Molly Ivins, author and columnist is guest speaker for Frank Premack Memorial Lecture at University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute. Ivins talks the meanness of contemporary politics.
April 29, 1997 - MPR’s Karen-Louise Boothe reports on members of the Minnesota House debating for more than two hours the merits DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), a measure banning same-sex marriage. The roll call vote was preceeded by more than two hours of sometimes very personal and emotional testimony. In the end, representatives voted overwhelmingly to keep it as amended to the omnibus health and human services bill.
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.
May 1, 1997 - Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's acting commissioner, told state lawmakers the league wouldn't prevent the Twins from leaving Minnesota. Selig says the team needs a new stadium to remain financially healthy. Selig failed to fully endorse two elements many stadium supporters hope to see in a ballpark bill: financing with gaming revenues, and partial state ownership of the team.
May 6, 1997 - Midday presents a broadcast of columnist and author Ellen Goodman speaking on the changing role of women at the second annual Women Ventures Conference held in downtown Minneapolis.
June 25, 1997 - MPR’s Bill Wareham reports that Mayor Sharon Sayles-Belton says Minneapolis will put its money where its mouth is when it comes to keeping the Twins. Throughout the Twins quest for a new ballpark, Sayles-Belton has often said she wants the baseball team to remain in the city…bur much to the consternation of stadium supporters. Sayles-Belton has never committed city resources to the project. That changed when she announced a plan for acquiring and preparing a riverfront site for a stadium.
June 28, 1997 - The American Rose Society's national convention has brought about 500 people to town this week for tours of local gardens, a competition and seminars. Jerry Olson has been a rose grower and lover for more than 60 years. He's being honored this year with a new, miniature rose that bears his name: the "Jerry-O". Olson speaks this morning on a panel with other expert rosarians at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis . He says they'll try to dispel some myths about rose-growing in Minnesota.
July 22, 1997 - A Midday broadcast of a speech by Terry Waite, hostage negotiator for the Anglican Church, and a Beirut, Lebanon hostage himself. Waite was guest at the Peace Prize Forum at Augustana College in Sioux Falls.
October 13, 1997 - Midday’s Gary Eichten talks with Neil Witikko, Minnesota's teacher of the year. Witikko teaches English, German, and television production at Hermantown High School. Listeners call in with questions.