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.
May 22, 2007 - Federal officials say groundwork by slain St. Paul police officer Gerald Vick has led to 25 indictments on interstate prostitution charges. Minnesota's U.S. Attorney announced the indictments yesterday following weekend raids in south Minneapolis. Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports.
May 23, 2007 - The head baker at Turtle Bread Company in Minneapolis has won an national competition that compares the best bakers in the country.
May 28, 2007 - 24 Minnesota soldiers have been killed around the world since last Memorial Day. Tom Crann gives the names and a brief remembrance of all 24.
May 29, 2007 - One of the largest employers in southwest Minnesota is part of the sale today of the Swift & Company meatpacking business. A Brazilian company bought Swift in a $1.4 billion deal. The sale comes five months after a major immigration raid on a half dozen Swift plants across the U.S. Company officials say the raid was not a factor in the decision to sell the business. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Steil reports.
June 4, 2007 - Immigration continues to be the subject of fierce debate nationally as Congress works on a comprehensive reform bill. Recent raids by immigration enforcement agents around the state have brought that debate closer to home. Today, some fourth graders at a Saint Paul elementary school are taking a creative approach to the topic, performing a play they conceived and wrote about what it means to be an immigrant. Minnesota Public Radio's Jess Mador sat in on the students' final dress rehearsals and prepared this report.
June 4, 2007 - MPR's Laura McCallum profiles Bill Chorske, a retired Medtronic executive who has awarded scholarships to low-income students from Edison High School in northeast Minneapolis. Chorske graduated from Edison in 1954.
June 5, 2007 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports on viewpoints in Hmong community about General Vang Pao and the support for him after his U.S. arrest. While he has been in the United States for about 30 years, and no longer a military leader, he's still an important figure in Hmong history in America.
June 19, 2007 - MPR's Toni Randolph reports on a Hmong rally at the state Capitol to show their support for General Vang Pao. Vang is charged with masterminding a violent overthrow of the Laotian government.
June 20, 2007 - Minnesota has accepted thousands of refugees in the past few decades; between 1983 and 2006, Minnesota resettled over 63,000 refugees
June 22, 2007 - A new exhibition of paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts explores the importance of the landscape to Nordic cultural identity. A Mirror of Nature opens Sunday and runs through September Second. Minnesota Public Radio's Marianne Combs has this preview. (BACKANNOUNCE:) To see paintings from the Nordic Landscapes exhibition, visit our website, at minnesota-public-radio-dot-org.