October 1, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on an accordian “jam session” in front of Mahler Music Center on Randolph Avenue in St. Paul.
September 18, 1998 - Ten years ago Phillips residents defeated a plan to build a garbage plant in the Minneapolis neighborhood. This (Friday) afternoon, a group breaks ground for a new office building on the site where the garbage facility was to be built. Organizers say the fight ten years ago plant gave residents the skills to begin the rehabilitation of Phillips, one of Minneapolis' poorest neighborhoods. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. The Phillips garbage transfer station was part of the plan for a huge downtown Minneapolis garbage burning plant. Neighborhood resident Jennifer Naglack remembers the scope of the plan got peoples' attention when the bullzdozers showed up. The city had bought homes and businesses in an area of Phillips called Hungry Hollow, next to highway 55 or Hiawatha avenue and 28th street.
September 14, 1998 - A Northwest Airlines spokesman says the company will have all its daily flights back on schedule by early next week. But more labor negotiations are on the horizon. Northwest's operations could unravel again if there's no contract with the company's biggest union, the International Association of Machinists. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. The 27,000 member Machinists union won't put a number to the pay increase members want. But spokesman Don Mayer says earlier this summer the Machinists rejected a fourteen percent wage increase over four years. Mayer says the union would restart talks with the company immediately if they get a call from Northwest. audio . . .for lack of a better word, we'
September 9, 1998 - The first public meeting to tell people about plans for the proposed Hiawatha Avenue light rail transit line will be held tonight in Minneapolis. The meeting is at the Air National Guard base next to Twin Cities International Airport. It's one of the first opportunities for people to learn about plans for buildling light rail through several Minneapolis neighborhoods from downtown to the Mall of America. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. Tonight's open house is being billed as an information not a planning session, and Longfellow resident Duane Townsend has some questions. Plans call for three light rail stations in his Minneapolis neighborhood. Townsend is the Longfellow Community Council president and an LRT supporter. He says the station plans he has seen don't include parking spaces for cars. LRT planners want to use buses to bring lrt riders to stations. Townsend says many riders
September 7, 1998 - Production this tomato season in Minnesota has been off the charts. Warm days and timely rains have fueled the growth of the luscious red fruit. But you'd never know it's been a stellar season judging by the tomatos being served at most restaurants. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. For reasons not entirely clear, The French call them "love apples"... but restaurant reviewer Bebe Newell's recent visit to a pricey Minneapolis dining establishment with wonderful service, pleasant decor and great food included one unlovable exception. audio . . . and there on the plate next to this gorgeous food was this pale, pink, hard skinned, mushy thing.
September 4, 1998 - NORTHWEST AIRLINES STRIKE STORY - COMPETITION PROSPECTS DAN OLSON/MN PUBLIC RADIO. SUGGESTED INTRO: The seven day old Northwest Airlines strike has customers wondering if other airline companies see an opportunity to grab some of Northwest's business. The answer so far is competitors are adding some service but none is making long term plans to try break Northwest's near-monopoly control of its hubs including Minneapolis St. Paul passenger business. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. Restive Northwest customers have watched with envy as cut-rate airlines offering rock bottom rates have gained a toe hold at other airports.
August 24, 1998 - As part of the “Voices of Minnesota" series, this program features MPR’s Dan Olson interviewing Don Fraser, former Minneapolis mayor and former U.S. congressman; and Leonard Lindquist, a Minneapolis attorney.
August 4, 1998 - Susan Stamberg report on Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis for 25 months before they were discovered on August 4, 1944. Gies was the woman who preserved Anne Frank's diary. Report is followed by Dan Olson interviewing Lucy Smith, a Holocaust survivor.
July 24, 1998 - The July edition of MPR's "Voices of Minnesota" series, featuring Susan Hill Gross, Director of the Upper Midwest History Center, and Minnesota feminist Marilyn Bryant.
June 24, 1998 - Prohibition caused a crime wave which engulfed Minneapolis and St. Paul in the l920's and 30's. Profits from bootlegging financed gambling and prostitution. Minneapolis journalist Walter Liggett was killed after he reported public officials profitting from the crime. Press accounts said Liggett was killed because he tried to blackmail the bootleggers. One of the eyewitnesses to his murder in l935 was his ten year old daughter, Marda. She's written a book describing how powerful enemies conspired to stop her father's work.