October 9, 2019 - MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman looks at Hmong for Native Speakers, a school elective taught in Hmong and grounded in Hmong history, culture, and language. It was created at Brooklyn Park’s Park Center High School to bridge a learning gap between culture and classroom academics.
October 25, 2019 - MPR’s Tiffany Bui profiles Yang See, who worked as principal assistant to the liaison between the CIA and the Lao Royal Army under the radio code name “Glass Man” at the height of the Secret War in Laos. As communists seized power in Laos in 1975, he helped Hmong refugees flee the war and find safe harbor.
April 14, 2020 - MPR News Presents airs “Under a Watchful Eye,” an APM Reports & The Hechinger Report documentary that looks at colleges using big data to track students in an effort to boost graduation rates, but it comes at a cost.
June 8, 2020 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Dai Thao, who remembers Marny Xiong, St. Paul school board chair, who died of COVID-19 at the age of 31. She was a champion for racial justice and equity.
July 13, 2021 - MPR’s Peter Cox reports that as St. Paul’s Sunisa Lee heads to the Tokyo Olympics in the coming days, the country’s Hmong community is expected to watch closely as the first Hmong American competes there on the gymnastics world stage.
January 11, 2022 - MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports that a longtime employee of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has filed a whistleblower lawsuit, claiming he faced retaliation for raising concerns about how the agency handles petroleum leak sites.
February 25, 2022 - MPR’s Dan Kraker reports on Lake Superior research known as the “Winter Grab.” Scientists have a pretty good understanding of what goes on in the Great Lakes during the summer. But they don't know nearly as much about Lake Superior and the other lakes during winter. That's significant because winter is when the lakes are experiencing their most dramatic impacts from climate change.
May 3, 2022 - On this segment of North Star Journey, MPR’s Peter Cox looks at how a growing class of young Hmong doctors, nurses, and public health leaders recognized COVID’s threat and worked to guide people toward science-based answers.
May 23, 2022 - On this segment of North Star Journey, MPR’s Catharine Richert looks into a reckoning the city of Rochester finds itself going through. New research into housing covenants provides evidence that the founders of Mayo Clinic — a giant in Minnesota and Rochester, viewed globally as a force for good — played a role perpetuating practices that favored all-white neighborhoods.
May 25, 2022 - MPR News with Angela Davis talks with two therapists about the waves of loss many people experienced over the past two years and how people can cope with prolonged grief and trauma. The murder of George Floyd, the pandemic, and mass shootings in Buffalo, New York and a Texas school are discussed.