May 11, 1998 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on a Minneapolis intersection once known for crime getting a big lift with the opening of a mercado, or marketplace. The city's burgeoning Spanish-speaking population is one of the factor's behind the creation of the business. Residents are welcoming the unusual development as the latest sign of economic revival on Lake Street.
April 27, 1998 - The transportation bill being finalized in Congress contains money for a light rail transit line in Minneapolis. State and Hennepin county taxpayers are also investing tens of millions in the project. The proposed $370 million LRT line from downtown Minneapolis to the airport would run ten miles along Hiawatha Avenue. It would open for service in 2003. What can people expect? Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson visited St. Louis, a metropolitan area about the same size as the Twin Cities, to find out. St. Louis' five year old light rail transit line is a big success. Riders flock to the gleaming, stainless steel, electric powered cars. They glide along seventeen miles of track from East St. Louis, Illinois on one end,across the Mississippi throught St. Louis to the airport - Lambert field - west of St. Louis, stopping at ninteen stations along the way.
April 20, 1998 - (CAUTION AND ALERT! BE PREPARED TO LEAD THIS STORY WITH COPY ABOUT SUSPECTS ARRESTED BY POLICE AND/OR BUILDING CONDEMNED AND CLOSED BY CITY.) Angry residents along Park Avenue in Minneapolis' Phillips want city officials to roust drug users from a neighborhood apartment building. Residents believe drug users took an elderly resident of the building hostage last week and killed her. The tragedy has demoralized many residents who see it as a continuation of the crime that has afflicted the city's poorest neighborhood for years. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. audio . . . sfx 3940 The entrance and hallway of the building where Ann Prazniak used to live is filthy. Dirt and food wrappers litter the stain
April 20, 1998 - U.S. Attorney David Lillehaug discusses his ideas to reduce crime in the highest-crime Minneapolis neighborhoods, including the Phillips neighborhood. Lillehaug also answers listener questions.
April 16, 1998 - Some of the biggest dollar amounts in the bonding bill approved by the legislature are for Minnesota's two public higher education systems. There's money for new libraries, classrooms and even some money for salaries of professors and staff. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. Walter Library, one of the University of Minnesota's best known buildings on the Minneapolis campus, will be revamped. Lawmakers approved spending more than $53 million to make Walter library into a digital science and technology center. University of Minnesota provost Bob Bruininks (Broo ninks) says the decision to keep Walter is based on part on its central location on the University Mall and it's historical significance. audio . . .there'll be obviously a significant
April 7, 1998 - Light rail transit advocates are closer to winning legislative approval for an LRT line in Minneapolis. Lawmakers trying to iron out Minnesota House and Senate spending differences are being told the operating cost of bus and rail service along Hiawatha Avenue are about the same. Advocates say answering the operating cost question is a big step toward convincing lawmakers and the governor that LRT from downtown Minneapolis to the airport is feasible. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. The agreement reached in a legislative conference committee gets at the long running controversy over what is cheaper to operate - bus or LRT. Minnesota Department of Transporation director of intergovernmental policy Bill Schrieber says his agency and the Metro
April 7, 1998 - St. Paul-based Green Tree Financial is being sold to an Indiana insurance company. Conseco (kahn SAY co) will buy Green Tree for about $7.6 billion if stockholders and federal regulators give their approval. The deal is seen as a way for Green Tree to expand its loan business for consumer products. Green Tree's founder Larry Coss, once America's highest paid corporate executive, will stay on as head of the company. Coss says he expects the deal means Green Tree will hire more employees. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports. The 23-year-old Green Tree Financial got its start selling mobile home mortages. It's one of the country's fastest growing and most profitable consumer loan businesses. Green Tree's profits have come down but business is growing, Coss says, because c
April 3, 1998 - The federal government this week released its first audit of itself, and the results are not good. You would expect that an operation the size of the U. S. government - $1.6 trillion a year - would lose track of a few transactions. But the General Accounting Office report finds the government doesn't know what it owns, or what it owes and doesn't have the record keeping system in place to find the answers. The good news is state government, at least in Minnesota, appears to have a much better handle on its affairs. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
April 1, 1998 - Olympic silver medal figure skater Michelle Kwan says she will not turn professional and instead has her sights on the 2002 Olympic competition in Salt Lake City when she will be 21-years old. Kwan told reporters at the World Figure Skating Championships in Minneapolis today (Wednesday) she is struck with the youthfulness of figure skaters getting high marks in competition. Kwan says she will get her high school diploma this summer and intends to start taking some college courses soon after. Sun 28-MAY 11:50:34 MPR NewsPro Archive - Wed 04/11/2001
March 31, 1998 - A huge piece of South Minneapolis real estate changed hands today. After a decade of negotiations the Sears property on Lake Street in south Minneapolis has been sold to developer Ray Harris and his partners. Harris has told city officials he will preserve the building and fill it with a mix of retail and commercial tenants. City officials say reuse of the Sears site is a big part of bringing economic health back to Lake Street. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more. The size of the seventeen acre Sears site and the business done in the eight story building and attached warehouse has dominated Lake Street economically and physically for decades. Minneap