November 12, 2013 - MPR’s Curtis Gilbert reports on St. Paul electing its first Hmong American city council member. Dai Thao is an information technology specialist who’s never run for office before. He won a special election against six other candidates after the ranked-choice vote count took place.
January 23, 2014 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on internal financial reports that show the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for years diverted millions of dollars away from its traditional work to deal with clergy misconduct.
February 21, 2014 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer checks with Elizabeth Baier in Rochester on the blizzard conditions in area. Much of the state was covered in snow, including southeastern Minnesota, which closed roads and schools.
June 23, 2014 - When construction crews bulldozed St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood to make way for Interstate 94 in the 1960s, they destroyed the center of the city's African American life, forcing many of the community's residents to move. But the spirit of Rondo lives on among its former residents and their descendants. Among them is Daina Stanley, a University of Tampa junior. When she spoke with members of her family about the Rondo they knew and loved, that helped her find home.
July 9, 2014 - As part of a series that explores health disparities among certain groups of Minnesotans and the growing importance of data to understand the causes, MPR’s Lorna Benson looks into the struggles of some in the LGBTQ community.
July 31, 2014 - On this episode of Minnesota Sounds and Voices, MPR’s Dan Olson talks with Chue Vang about his family’s experience fleeing Laos and coming to the U.S. as refugees. Today, he aims to honor the opportunities found in his adopted home and a late brother with a new scholarship for Hmong students.
August 14, 2014 - As part of the MPR News Young Reporter series, Mai Tong Yang reports on how vendors at Hmongtown Marketplace have been participating in Emergency and Community Health Outreach, a program to help them understand and follow state law. The nonprofit organization, also known as ECHO, works with refugee and immigrant communities in Minnesota to create a safe community environment.
August 22, 2014 - MPR’s Sasha Aslanian reports that a private hunting club in Little Falls, Minnesota, has agreed to pay for the wedding ceremony and reception of a same-sex couple it refused to accommodate.
September 18, 2014 - The Daily Circuit presents a transgender panel discussion moderated by MPR’s Marrianne Combs. The group discuss that for many whose gender doesn’t conform to the traditional image of male or female, the barriers to success…and sometimes even to basic survival, are everywhere.
September 30, 2014 - A months-long MPR News and KARE 11 reporting project on football head injuries found hundreds of high school players have been pulled from games and practices, game rules have changed, and parents have been involved more fully in what their teenage players are experiencing.