May 31, 1999 - The May edition of our "Voices of Minnesota" series, featuring novelist Jon Hassler, Regents Professor at St. John's University and Ian Barbour, the Carleton College professor who recently won the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion.
May 7, 1999 - A focus on Downtown with Sam Grabarski, of the Downtown Council; Greg Ortale, of the Convention & Visitors Association; and Council President Jackie Cherryhomes. Featuring interviews about downtown with Barbara Flanagan, Neil Justin and "CJ" of the Star Tribune.
April 30, 1999 - The April edition of Voices of Minnesota celebrates the 100th birthday of jazz musician Duke Ellington. MPR's Dan Olson interviews Macalester College music professor Robert Leigh Morris and Terry Gross interviews Duke Ellington's son Mercer.
April 26, 1999 - There's a boomtown atmosphere in the communities at the edge of the Twin Cities seven county region. Developers are buying land and people are snapping up new houses even before they're built. The growth at the edges is revitalizing some small towns. It also poses questions for how services will be delivered.
April 26, 1999 - Czech president Vaclav Havel, a poet and playwright, says freedoms taken away by totalitarian leaders can be restored overnight on paper. But he warned today in a speech in St. Paul keeping a democracy alive requires a civil society - one where people are free to associate with others and where the power of government is limited and decentralized. The former Communist government in Czechoslavakia banned Havel's writing, and put him prison three times. Ten years ago he helped create the political movement which negotiated the "velvet revolution" - the Czech Republic's peaceful handover of power from Communists to a democracy.
April 22, 1999 - Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington wanted to be known as more than a jazz composer. Ellington is remembered by many for his hundreds of jazz hits. But he also composed longer works for the concert hall and sacred music as well. Saturday evening at Hamline University in St. Paul the Leigh Morris Chorale pays tribute to Duke Ellington who was born one hundred years ago this month. Leigh Morris Chorale founder and director Robert Leigh Morris talked with Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson about the time he met Duke Ellington. Morris has arranged Ellington's 'Come Sunday' and his Chorale will perform it Saturday evening at Hamline.
April 15, 1999 - Governor Ventura has named thirteen new people to the sixteen member Metropolitan Council, dramatically changing the makeup of the regional body. He chose people from business, inner city neighborhoods, agriculture and minority groups. One of the new council members, Matthew Ramadan, the director of the Minneapolis Northside Residents Council, is Ventura's first African American appointee.
April 13, 1999 - Diplomat Richard Holbrooke said in Minneapolis today he believes NATO ground troops, including U. S. forces, will be sent to Kosovo. Holbrooke is President Clinton's envoy to the region. He told the Minnesota International Center members at the Hyatt Regency hotel this afternoon failure to solve the Kosovo crisis threatens to engulf neighboring nations in war.
April 12, 1999 - It's nail biting time for Twin Cities rail boosters. Federal officials reviewing Minnesota's request for money for the Hiawatha Avenue light rail line assume the state will share the cost. But Last week, members of a key Minnesota House committee approved a transporation bill which does NOT include the $60 million the governor and other rail supporters seek. A version of the bill still alive in the Senate includes the money. Light rail supporters worry that failure to win state money will push Minnesota to the back of the funding line.
April 6, 1999 - One of Minnesota's most unusual tutoring programs requires college students to live in the neighborhood of the children they serve. Project for Pride in Living, the non-profit Minneapolis housing developer, operates College House, a renovated home in the city's Phillips neighborhood. Bethel College students live in the house and tutor neighborhood young people.