AMPERS
Minnesota's Community Radio Stations
St. Paul musician Michael Sawyer, known as “Clawhammer Mike,” spent a year and a half traveling the state to research and collect old Minnesota fiddle tunes—a project funded by the Legacy Amendment. Reporter Don Lee asked Sawyer to compare what he found with more familiar Appalachian fiddle music. [Read Transcript...]
For decades, the water in the world’s largest freshwater estuary has not been truly fresh at all. Decades of industrial waste have polluted the St. Louis River, which empties into Lake Superior at Duluth. Local government officials and outdoor enthusiasts say the area has huge potential for boating, hiking, biking and other activities. As Don Lee reports, University of Minnesota researchers, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and others are using Legacy Amendment funds to collaborate with federal agencies in a multimillion-dollar campaign to assess pollution levels and strengthen clean-up efforts. [Read Transcript...]
Responding to studies showing that programs for children are likely to boost use of state parks and trails, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources introduced the Minnesota Naturalist Corps in 2010. According to the DNR, the initiative helped to increase public participation in programs and events from about 220-thousand in 2009 to more than 285-thousand in 2013. As Don Lee reports, the Corps is made up of entry-level naturalists who offer new interpretive programs. [Read Transcript...]
When Minnesota playwright Jeffrey Hatcher was eleven years old, he created his own production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet for his fifth grade class in Steubenville, Ohio. Hatcher does not claim the staging was good, but he does say the experience was transformative. Now he’s recalling it all in a one-man show, Jeffrey Hatcher’s Hamlet, which he performed in Blue Earth, Staples, Brainerd, Duluth, Moorhead, Cambridge and Dawson in March 2014, with Legacy Amendment funding. Don Lee reports on the motives that led Hatcher to create the new show and take it on the road. [Read Transcript...]
