July 9, 1999 - There was music and food to create a warm welcome in Minneapolis today for Gordon Linton, head of the Federal Transit Administration. He's the man who'll make the final decision later this year on federal funding for the proposed Hiawatha Avenue light rail transit line. Linton told the light rail supporters their planning and support for the line equals any of the dozens of other cities seeking funding from his agency.
July 8, 1999 - The July edition of our Voices of Minnesota Series featuring two Minnesota athletes - Greg Lemond, winner of the Tour de France bicycle race, and Nancy Mudge Cato, a woman who played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
July 6, 1999 - Hennepin county's two and a half year old experiment with a separate court for drug offenders gets a passing grade. The drug court uses a controversial sentencing mix of jail time, counseling and treatment. But the people who work with the drug court say the big problem still to overcome is even-handed enforcement of the drug laws.
July 6, 1999 - Residents of a Minneapolis neighborhood are waiting with cautious optimism for word that a buyer has sealed a deal to develop a polluted parcel of land -- a brownfield in environmental parlance. Cleaning up the Gopher Oil site has been on the Prospect Park neighborhood agenda for ninety years. The pace of cleaning brownfields has quickened in Minneapolis as people seek scarce land for development.
July 2, 1999 - Even as cost estimates for a proposed light rail transit system rise, Minneapolis and St. Paul residents continue to show strong support for the idea. A new poll commissioned by Minnesota Public Radio, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and KARE-TV shows well over two thirds of those responding to the survey support light rail.
June 22, 1999 - A lot of people in North Minneapolis are hoping the good times have finally begun to roll. The city is demolishing rundown public housing to make way for new market rate homes. There's a plan to clean up the riverfront. And a few months ago, the area won federal designation as an Empowerment Zone, allowing people interested in doing business there to apply for grants and credits.
June 17, 1999 - Today, June 17th, is the 90th birthday of former Minnesota governor Elmer L. Anderson. Few Minnesotan's who held public office are held in as high esteem as the 90-year-old Arden Hills resident.
June 14, 1999 - Affordable housing advocates have won a skirmish in Minneapolis where officials are temporarily delaying demolition of units in the Glenwood Lyndale public housing project. Earlier, advocates won a major battle when Minnesota lawmakers approved spending more money than ever before on affordable housing. But the victories don't add up to winning the war. In Minnesota and across the country, the supply of affordable housing is shrinking by the day.
June 7, 1999 - Honeywell's proposed merger and move to New Jersey worries many in Minneapolis , where the company's charitable giving and community activism is having a big effect on neighborhoods. Honeywell chairman and CEO Micheal Bonsignore tried to reassure civic leaders the company will remain a strong presence when headquarter operations move east. But Minneapolis leaders worry that once the city -- and especially the Phillips neighborhood -- is out of sight of key executives, it will also be out of mind when it comes to community-building activities.
May 31, 1999 - Tucked away in a small patch of southwestern Minnesota prairie is one of the state's enduring mysteries. Centuries ago people carved thousands of symbols into rocks near the small town of Jeffers. Who were they, and why did they painstakingly carve petroglyphs of animals and other figures? This summer archeologists will take another crack at answering the questions. But in the meantime, the site is becoming a hot spot for visitors interested in the carvings.