April 17, 2001 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports on the status of flooding along rivers in Minnesota as some begin to crest. As officials and residents finish flood preparations, they now monitor dikes and levees, waiting to see what happens next. The Minnesota River has already crested in the Granite Falls and Montevideo area. The Mississippi River Flood of 2001 brought the 2nd to 3rd highest crests on record to many Mississippi River locations, including Lake City, Wabash, and Winona. The Mississippi River impacted the metro as well. It crested at 23.8 feet in St. Paul, submerging riverfront parks, the airport, and closing roads.
April 17, 2001 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports on the new Roy Wilkins Auditorium which is being discussed in the Minnesota house and senate. The new auditorium would feature trade shows and musical acts, as well as a new civil rights museum. Mayor of St. Paul Norm Coleman speaks in support of the new center. A 12 person Tribute Committee comprised of local civil rights activists, business leaders, and citizens spearheads the development of the new civil rights museum.
May 10, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews David Gisch, the Emergency Preparedness coordinator for Dakota County, about damage assessment after several tornadoes and funnel clouds touched down along a path south of the Twin Cities. Gisch says the damage is most severe in a farming area just east of Northfield.
May 23, 2001 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on the results of Minnesota’s U.S. census figures. Highlights include the state’s population is older than it was ten years ago; Minnesotan's are much more likely to own their homes than residents in the rest of the nation; and the dramatic increase in the state's Hispanic population is made up largely of people of Mexican heritage.
June 5, 2001 - MPR’s Bill Catlin reports on the “Gay Index.” The vigorous debate over Minnesota's economic future in a high tech world has featured a variety of prescriptions for prosperity -- like using tax dollars to invest in Minnesota start-ups, and more state spending on high tech research. Now, some controversial new research from Carnegie-Mellon University suggests cities that want to promote high tech industry should make themselves attractive to gay men.
June 7, 2001 - Postcard from a Lynching, an MPR special report about an ugly chapter in Duluth's history. Then Michael Fedo, author of The Lynchings in Duluth, and Augsburg College History Professor Bill Green discuss the documentary and respond to listener comments and questions.
June 12, 2001 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on how residents of central Minnesota spent the day cleaning up and assessing damage from storms that moved across the area on June 11, 2001. Several communities suffered significant damage caused by tornadoes, straight-line winds and hail.
June 14, 2001 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on severe weather that hammered Central Minnesota for the second time in less than a week. Storm after storm dumped 2 to 5 inches of rain on the area, straight line winds knocked down power poles and damaged homes.
July 4, 2001 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with Marlin Bree, a boater who was among a few unlucky people caught on Lake Superior when hundred-mile-an-hour winds whipped up 30-foot waves.
July 6, 2001 - MPR’s Laurel Druley reports on how state farmers are now trying to predict their crop yields. Typically farmers like to see corn hip-high by the fourth of July. But 2001 was not a typical year, with massive flood waters in the spring. At the start of July, Minnesota corn height averaged 21 inches. That's a foot shorter than the year before.