October 12, 2001 - On Word of Mouth, MPR’s Chris Roberts provides a radio guide to the local arts. This episode includes "Hush, Hush", John O'Donohue, Bakken Ensemble, “The Rink,” Jazz and Italian modern art, Lea Thomas, and an arts round-up..
October 29, 2001 - Somalia's legislators have voted Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galaydh (AH-lee kah-LEEF gah-LIED) and his Cabinet out of power. That news came as he left Minnesota after a family visit. Galaydh is in the U.S. to ask for help in the international fight against terrorism. Minnesota Public Radio's Laurel Druley spoke with Galaydh prior to the no-confidence vote on Sunday. { Galaydh and his wife Mariam Mahamed left Somalia 18 years ago. They wanted to raise their children in the United States to give them a safe home.
October 31, 2001 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports that 10 openly gay candidates are running for office in Minneapolis in 2001. All of them are DFLers. Half are running for City Council seats; the remaining five are spread among the Library Board, Park Board, School Board and the Board of Estimate and Taxation. Political observers say that being gay is apparently not an issue for most Minneapolis voters.
November 8, 2001 - As part of Mainstreet Radio’s “Harvest of Frustration” series, Dan Gunderson reports on how sugar beet farmers in Minnesota and North Dakota are hopeful the 2001 harvest marks a turn for the better. In the past couple of years, sugar prices fell to 20 year lows, turning what was once seen as guaranteed big money into just another break even crop.
November 13, 2001 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports that a new round of mandated state testing is underway in Minnesota public school classrooms. Over the next month, teachers will use the new Test of Emerging Academic English to measure the progress of the students who are not yet fluent English speakers. The results could also have a financial impact on schools.
November 16, 2001 - “The Color of Justice: The News Disparities” is part five of an MPR special series which investigates the racial disparity in Minnesota’s criminal justice system. Discussions of race and the criminal justice system tend to focus on the disproportionate rates at which African Americans are arrested and jailed. However, the growth of Latinos, Hmong, and Somali in Minnesota has broadened the scope of the disparities issue.
November 27, 2001 - Mainstreet Radio’s Tim Post spent the morning with his neighbors, shoveling more than a foot of heavy, wet snow. A powerful winter storm buried central and western Minnesota with as much as 30 inches of snow. The heaviest band of snow stretched from Willmar to St. Cloud.
November 28, 2001 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Les Heitke, the mayor in Willmar, about snowstorm that stalled over that city and buried it in snow.
December 6, 2001 - An analysis by the Associated Press shows that St. Paul has the highest level of segregation among cities with large Asian populations. While the AP's segregation index doesn't distinguish among the various Asian populations, experts agree the highly-concentrated living patterns of St. Paul's Hmong citizens boosts the city's segregation rating.
December 10, 2001 - As part of Mainstreet Radio’s “Our Town” project, Rob Schmitz reports on Viroqua, Wisconsin…a dying small town that revived itself by transforming its identity.