When Minnesota was a new state, thousands of settlers arrived, many of them from Europe. But in recent decades, the state has attracted large numbers of Hmong and Somali refugees. There are also thousands of people from India, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China living in Minnesota.
The state has become more racially diverse in the last 10 years, and demographers said that's especially true among children. About 83 percent of Minnesotans were white, non-Hispanic for the 2010 census, compared to 88 percent in 2000.
September 10, 2002 - People around the state will commemorate the anniversary of the September 11th attacks tomorrow Helms reports.
September 17, 2002 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on data from the U.S. Census that show the state's Asian population is economically well-off compared to other minority populations in the state. While the 90's were a prosperous time for Minnesota as a whole, the numbers show many minority groups did not prosper as much as their white neighbors.
September 18, 2002 - A new opera, Loss of Eden, portrays one of life's greatest tragedy's, the loss of a child. However, not just any child. In l932 two year old Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was kidnapped and apparently murdered. It was called the crime of the century. Loss of Eden compares the emotions of Anne and Charles Lindbergh with those of convicted kidnapper and murderer Bruno Hauptman and his wife Anna. Vocalessence, formerly the Plymouth Music Series, is co-producing the work with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. The Minneapolis debut is Thursday and Saturday. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
September 25, 2002 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports that rankings by the U.S. Census Bureau show members of some immigrant groups in Minnesota remain mired in poverty. While all minorities improved economically during the 1990s, Minnesota has one of the highest percentages of Asians in poverty when compared to other states. The ranking also confirms the widely held belief that there are more Somalis in Minnesota than anywhere else in the US.
November 25, 2002 -
December 2, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson talks with Met Council’s Frank Hornstein about which languages will appear on ticket vending machines for the Hiawatha light rail line. Under the current proposal, the machines will operate in English, Spanish and Hmong…the three most widely used languages in the Twin Cities. But Somali advocates are protesting the plan because so many Somali citizens live along the Hiawatha route. It would cost more than $100,000 to add a fourth language to the vending machines.
December 2, 2002 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Met Council Frank Hornstein about meeting to reconsider which languages will appear on ticket vending machines for the Hiawatha light rail line. Under the current proposal, the machines will operate in English, Spanish and Hmong- the three most widely used languages in the Twin Cities. But Somali advocates are protesting the plan because so many Somali citizens live along the Hiawatha route. It would cost more than $100,000 to add a fourth language to the vending machines.
December 3, 2002 -
December 6, 2002 - The U.S. Census Bureau today (FRIDAY) released controversial new figures for the 2000 Census. The numbers were mathematically adjusted to rectify counting errors. The numbers indicate Minnesota had the most accurate count compared to other states. Still, the numbers suggest some 14-thousand people---all minorities---weren't counted, confirming a complaint by many critics of the process. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.
December 9, 2002 - On the prairies of southwest Minnesota, hundreds of wind turbines generate so much electricity that the state's largest utility, Xcel Energy, plans to build over a hundred miles of new transmission lines to bring power east to the Twin Cities. If the project is approved, it will be the biggest one built in Minnesota since a nationwide boom in transmission line construction ended twenty years ago. Some in the industry say now we need to build the next wave of transmission lines. But in Minnesota, many people remember a time when a powerline project went wrong. In the late 1970's, a mass protest swept through the normally conservative farm country of west central Minnesota. Farmers tried to stop construction of a 400 mile long transmission line that would cross their land on the way from North Dakota to the Twin Cities. In this special report, "Powerline Blues," MPR reporter Mary Losure looks back the conflict through the eyes of people who lived it. It's a story of how a system they didn't think was fair turned ordinary people into radicals.