October 27, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports from the Minnesota State Capitol, where a huge rally took place to celebrate the Major League Baseball champion Minnesota Twins. In the 1987 MLB World Series, Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
October 26, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith looks back at the history of the Minnesota Twins, from the team’s move from Washington D.C. in 1960, to their first Major League Championship win in 1987.
September 28, 1987 - MPR Journal presents the documentary “A Visit to Atwater.” The farm crisis of the early 1980s has taken a toll on small towns. MPR reporters Dan Olson and Stephen Smith spent some time in the West Central Minnesota farm town of Atwater to see how one small community is faring, and what the future may hold.
July 24, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports on a tornado that touched down in Maple Grove during the July 23rd rainstorm that encompassed the Twin Cities. Smith interviews residents and the Maple Grove police chief.
July 22, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports on organ grinders, and interviews attendees at the International Music Box Society and Automated Music Collectors Convention, held in St Paul.
July 14, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith profiles street preachers outside Caboose bar in Minneapolis. Smith interviews street preacher Shirley Reed, and various bar patrons.
May 29, 1987 - MPR’s Stephen Smith reports on the upcoming arrival of a new round of Hmong refugees to the United States. Smith interviews numerous officials about the Hmong hardships and resettlement.
April 6, 1987 - Under current law in Minnesota, sodomy, adultery and sex out of wedlock are illegal. A bill by Senator Donna Peterson, a Minneapolis democrat, would erase those laws, but would also make it illegal to engage in sex in public. Peterson told a Senate judiciary committee that her measure would create a law that’s needed and do away with laws that are both unfair and unenforced.
March 16, 1987 - The controversial bill allowing for the release of $24 million from the 2002 Fund for economic development on the Iron Range was recalled from the House during Senate session. News of an FBI probe of Endotronics, Inc., that surfaced after the Senate had voted final passage on the measure, prompted Majority Leader Roger Moe to make the motion for recall. The recall motion prevailed on a 51-15 roll call vote.
January 2, 1987 - Midday presents the Public Policy Unit documentary "Dropouts: Falling off the Bottom Rung." MPR’s Stephen Smith, Bill Catlin, and Dan Olson create a collaborative report on Minnesota high school dropouts.