April 27, 1999 - Minnesota's new welfare system has been in place for a year and a half now. The program has helped welfare recipients wade through obstacles to finding jobs, medical care, transportation and child care, but for many families, it still falls short. The Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches is trying to fill that gap. The council has already recruited more than 2000 volunteers to serve as mentors to families on welfare. Many of the volunteers have been involved in a 30-week pilot program that ran this past year. The council will officially launch the program at a town meeting tonight and try to recruit three-thousand more mentors. Reverend Gary Ry-er-son, the president of the council says the volunteers provide a unique form of support to families moving off welfare.
April 26, 1999 - To close out the millennium, Minnesota Public Radio's All Things Considered presents a look back at Minnesota life in 1900 via a 12-part series, entitled “A Minnesota Century.” In this segment, the story of Maude Baumann and her family's pioneer trek through the state in 1900.
April 22, 1999 - The Colorado school shooting has prompted local schools to re-evaluate their security. In Minneapolis and St. Paul, high schools already have armed police officers stationed in the schools. Sargeant Joel Sandberg is the school liaison officer for Roosevelt High school in Minneapolis . He says there's been one shooting in the three and a half years he's been at Roosevelt and it wasn't even on school property.
April 14, 1999 - Governor Jesse Ventura offered his own assessment of his first 100 days in office during Minnesota Public Radio's Midday program today. Ventura says he takes pride in his smooth transition, the quality of commissioners he's named, and his budget. When MPR host Gary Eichten asked him about mis-steps and comments that have riled people, the governor said he has no regrets.
April 7, 1999 - The folks in the Red River have learned to "never say never", but the risk of spring flooding in the Grand Forks area appears to be over. Today the national weather service said the Red River is dropping, and won't crest again. Kevin Dean of the Grand Forks Emergency Management Center says the revised forecast is a relief.
April 6, 1999 - If you step into a bookstore these days, chances are you'll encounter the Sunday morning talk shows in book form...former Clinton advisor George Stephanopolos is out with his tell-all about being a close Clinton aide. Newsweek's Michael Isikoff has written about his role as a reporter hot on the trail of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and of course, Monica Lewinsky's book made quite a splash when it came out earlier this year. Washington Post book critic and columnist Jonathan Yardley is in Minneapolis for some speaking engagements. I asked him what he thinks of the latest round of inside-the-beltway books.
March 26, 1999 - The Nicollet County Historical society had planned to organize a large exhibit on the tornado that ripped through St. Peter last march, but decided the town wasn't ready for it. Instead, they scaled back and have two small exhibits. Director Wayne Allen says many people in St. Peter are still rebuilding their lives and he says the Historical Society didn't think a big tornado exhibit would be tactful.
March 23, 1999 - The Brooklyn Park City Council is expected to vote tonight to approve an outdoor Amphitheatre project for the Minnesota Orchestra. The 19-thousand seat amphitheater would host about 50 summer concerts. Eighteen would be orchestra performances, the rest would be pop music. But whether it's Pachobel or Prince, neighbors are concerned it'll be just plain noisy. Brian Timerson handles noise problems for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He says any amphitheater will probably require special permission to exceed legal noise limits.
March 17, 1999 - Commentator Mary Hayes-Greico of St. Paul is a second generation Irish-American. She says she used to resent non-Irish people celebrating St. Patrick's day, but she's changed her mind.
March 12, 1999 - Later this month, the town of St. Peter will mark the one year anniversary of the tornado. Sunday, March 29th, 1998, a storm with winds over 200 miles an hour hit the towns of St. Peter, Comfrey and Le Center, killing 2 and damaging hundreds of homes and businesses. The day after the tornado, St. Peter residents held their first community meeting at 1st Lutheran Church. The modern brick chuch sits up on the hill above town, and wasn't damaged. It became the community center, where disaster officials and residents would meet to discuss each hurdle of disaster recovery. In the middle of it all was 1st Lutheran pastor Mark Solyst. When we talked with him last year, he had opened his church to Catholics who had lost their church at the center of town. They are still sharing quarters. I asked Solyst to reflect on the year since the tornado.