November 15, 2004 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports that St. Paul School District officials say 600 Hmong refugee students have enrolled since the beginning of the school year, and hundreds more could still arrive in the coming weeks.
November 23, 2004 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Bob Kelleher about hunter shootings in Wisconsin. A probable cause hearing is expected in Hayward Wisconsin for 36-year-old Chai Vang, the St. Paul resident accused of opening fire on a party of hunters from Rice Lake, Wisconsin on November 21st, 2004. Six people are now dead and two are recovering from their wounds.
November 23, 2004 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports that Chai Vang remains a bit of a mystery to many in the Hmong community…and even to his neighbors. They say they've never met Vang, and rarely even spoke to him or saw him. Some wonder if the shootings could have been prevented if they had reached out more to Vang and his family.
November 23, 2004 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports that court documents filed show the suspect in the six killings in Wisconsin, a 36-year-old Hmong immigrant, told authorities he was called racial slurs and fired upon before he says shot back. Hmong leaders in the Twin Cities gathered today to condemn the shootings and express sympathy for the victims. But some say racial tension between white and Hmong hunters is common.
November 23, 2004 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports on the concerns of some in Wisconsin after the killing of six hunters by Chai Vang. There is a fear that in the aftermath of the shooting, Hmong hunters may face racism in the state.
November 25, 2004 - The shooting deaths of six hunters in northwestern Wisconsin has prompted a complex set of reactions - perhaps nowhere more than in the Twin Cities Hmong community. The alleged shooter, Chai Vang, is a Hmong immigrant who lives in St. Paul. When the first reports of the incident came out, local Hmong leaders cautioned against making Vang's ethnicity an issue.
November 29, 2004 - Chuck Quirmbach of Wisconsin Public Radio reports that formal charges may come for the St. Paul man accused of killing six hunters and wounding two others in Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, Chai Vang's defense lawyers talked about their hope for a fair trial in Wisconsin's Northwoods. They also brought forward Vang's eldest daughter to talk about her father.
November 29, 2004 - On November 21, 2004 in the Wisconsin woods, eight hunter were shot; six died. Chai Vang has told police he shot the hunters after one of them first shot at him. Vang, a Hmong immigrant, also reportedly claims the hunters surrounded him and hurled slurs at him.
December 6, 2004 - MPR’s Perry Finelli interviews Dr. Pat Walker, medical director at the Center for International Health at Regions Hospital, about mass health screening clinics for new refugees.
December 10, 2004 - MPR’s David Molpus interviews Cheryl Thomas, who runs Women's Human Rights Program at the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. Thomas discusses the domestic violence facing women in immigrant communities here in Minnesota.