July 23, 2003 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports that new information released by the U.S. Census gives a more detailed look at the state's Hmong population. When the Census was taken in 2000, Hmong Minnesotan's held jobs, but a third of them lived below the federal poverty line. The majority of Hmong are foreign-born, but over 30 percent are born in the state.
July 29, 2003 - All Things Considered’s Greta Cunningham talks with Lee Pao Xiong, a local leader in the Hmong community, about housing issues in Twin Cities. Xiong states housing is the foundation for everything.
August 12, 2003 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Wendell Anderson, former governor of Minnesota; and Chuck Ruhr, a Minneapolis advertising executive, as they look back at the 1973 Time magazine issue that highlighted the state of Minnesota. Anderson and Ruhr discuss the Minnesota reflected in those pages and how things have changed.
August 27, 2003 - At the Creative Arts building, you'll spot some carousels of glass display cases. Every year, they house the winners of the State Fair postcard collection contest. MPR’s Stephanie Curtis interviews a Fair judge about the cards.
September 1, 2003 - MPR News was at the Minnesota State Fair asking people asking people about their jobs. Here's is a short montage of what they told us.
October 2, 2003 - MPR’s Dave Molpus interviews Betty McCollum, member of the U.S. House representing Minnesota's 4th Congressional District, about legislation in Congress to normalize trade with Laos. The U.S. suspended trade relations because of political and religious suppression by the Lao government dating to the mid-1970s.
October 21, 2003 - In the days after Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone's death in 2002’, politicians from across the political spectrum said they would help build a memorial to him at a St. Paul community center. Congress appropriated nearly nine-million dollars to build the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building on the site of Neighborhood House on St. Paul's West Side.
November 4, 2003 - Three of America's most compelling presidents - John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richrad M. Nixon bugged their White House offices and tapped their telephones. They left behind thousands of secretly recorded conversations, from momentous to mundane. In this documentary project, American RadioWorks eavesdrops on presidential telephone calls to hear how each man used one-on-one politics to shape history.
November 27, 2003 - It's Turkey Day -- a day for feasting on fowl. But what about people who don't eat turkey? MPR’s Chris Julin thought to find some alternatives at a co-op grocery store, so he paid a visit.
November 27, 2003 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports that Gen. Vang Pao, a former Vietnam-era military leader of CIA sponsored forces in Laos and head of the United Lao Liberation Front made a stark change in his position by saying he'd support normalizing trade relations if Laos improves its conduct on human rights.