February 24, 1998 - Threats against a black Minneapolis officer, Sergeant Alisa Clemons, are being investigated by the Hennepin County Sheriff's office. Clemons won reinstatement to her police job and back pay last year after an arbitrator ruled the city wrongly accused her of sending racist hate mail. Clemons' supporters see the threats made against her last week as a continuation by officers in the police department of a campaign to force her out. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson has more.
February 20, 1998 - El Nino has been brutal to the California coast line, but gentle to Minnesota, bringing us one of our mildest winters on record. Some Minnesotans love it, others hate it. The ice fishing season has been extended through March first, but the DNR is now recommending ice fishing shelters should be removed from lake this weekend, especially in the southern two-thirds of Minnesota. The warmer weather means lake ice will soon be too weak to support the vehicles needed to pull the shacks off the ice. On the plus side, the unseasonably warm weather has been a boon to construction. Adolpson and Peterson Construction spokesman Harlan Hallquist says his company's job sites are about 10-percent ahead of schedule.
February 18, 1998 - Sponsors of the latest Twins stadium plan conceded defeat today at the State Capitol. State representative Loren Jennings withdrew his stadium bill from consideration, saying he had "nowhere near" the votes to pass it in committee or in the full House of Representatives. Minnesota Public Radio's Martin Kaste joins us from the capitol.
February 16, 1998 - Minnesota short track speed skater, Amy Peterson, will compete in her fourth Olympics tomorrow in Nagano. Peterson is not considered a favorite for gold even though she has 3 Olympic medals from past games, including a silver and two bronze. Part of the reason Peterson is not a favorite could be due to her long bout with illness that began 18 months ago with mononucleosis. Since then, her doctors say she has been battling chronic fatigue syndrome. But Peterson says she has recovered and her skating is now better than ever. She says she expects great things in Nagano this week.
February 3, 1998 - Novelist Tom Clancy is the new lead owner of the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings owners announced today Clancy and a group of investors will pay more than $200 million for the team. Clancy isn't new to pro-sports ownership. He's already part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. He also tried to buy the New England Patriots four years ago but he lost that bid. "Baltimore Sun" Sports Columnist Ken Rosenthal says it's clear Clancy has a real interest in major league sports, but he has not had much impact as a minority owner.
February 2, 1998 - Ten years ago a hastily organized candlelight vigil protesting homelessness in New York turned into a social lightning rod aimed directly at Mayor Ed Koch. It all began the day after the protest, when the homeless people recruited for the vigil decided to hang around the City Hall Park, since they had nowhere else to go. Writer John Jiler noticed the odd assembly of people while visiting the park that morning. Jiler, who later wrote a book about the event, figured it wouldn't take long before the homeless would be kicked out of the park.
January 30, 1998 - MPR’s Lorna Benson walks around Rice Park with historian Paul Larson, who speaks about how the Winter Carnival is all about fortitude and making the best of what mother nature hurls our way.
January 30, 1998 - This weekend, the St. Paul Winter Carnival will celebrate the best of what winter has to offer: hockey, hayrides, softball on ice and of course, ice carving. Historian Paul Larson says the Carnival is all about fortitude and making the best of what mother nature hurls our way.
January 29, 1998 - Artists looking for public spaces to create larger-than-life drawings often run into a maze of bureaucratic red tape. But artists Erica Duthie and Michael Townsend of Rhode Island have found a way to get around that problem by literally using tape to sketch out their landscapes and murals on concrete walls, buildings and other surfaces. This week, Duthie and Townsend have been sharing their tape technique with students at Marcy Open School in Minneapolis. Duthie says tape art is an ideal medium for kids who want to express their artistic interests in an environmentally friendly way.
January 23, 1998 - Roger Moe wasn't the only one who didn't give the WILD an exuberant welcome to St. Paul. Jay Erckenbrack is the president and owner of Minnesota Wild, not the hockey team, but a natural foods company in Northern Minnesota.