November 19, 2002 - INTRO-- The next governor of Minnesota is hard at work these days preparing for his time in office. Tim Pawlenty named his first commissioner last week, appointing Dan McElroy to the post of Finance Commissioner. Pawlenty is making the transition to the governor's seat on a shoe-string budget, after the Legislature last session stripped funding for transition. The state has since come up with ten thousand dollars for him to use. Gov.-elect Tim Pawlenty joins us now.
November 20, 2002 - Minnesota interim Senator Dean Barkley says he accomplished all he wanted to during his short time in Congress. Barkley won funding for a 10-million dollar community center expansion that will serve as a living memorial to the late Senator Paul Wellstone. He also negotiated for the state to receive a continuation of its welfare waiver, and helped pass the Homeland Security Bill. The Senate will officially adjourn on Friday, but the work of the 107th Congress is complete. Political analyst Steven Smith says he thinks overall Barkley's done a pretty good job. Steven Smith is director of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.
November 25, 2002 - Westminster Town Hall Forum speech by Parker Palmer, best-selling author of "Let Your Life Speak," "The Courage to Teach," and "The Company of Strangers." He speaks on the country's increasing diversity, and how to welcome the new without losing the old.
November 27, 2002 - Mainstreet Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports on The Peshtigo Fire, which wiped out the booming mill town of Peshtigo Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay. About two thousand people died.
November 27, 2002 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak about Tyesha Edwards shooting. Two men, ages 21 and 23, are in custody in connection with the shooting.
November 28, 2002 - Matthew Fox plays guitar, and mandolin. But until now he has been playing in bands, either in ensembles, or backing someone else. Now, this relatively recent Twin Cities transplant is stepping into the limelight with his own album "Pilgrim." MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with the artist about album.
November 29, 2002 - An excerpt from an August 2002 interview with Minneapolis folk-blues legend Dave Ray, who died on 11/28/2002. Ray talks with MPR’s Dale Connelly about how hearing classical guitarist Andre Segovia perform changed his life.
December 3, 2002 -
December 3, 2002 - Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Elie Wiesel, speaking recently at the Mayo Clinic about terrorism and how 9/11 changed America. He now teaches at Boston University and is the President and Founder of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
December 3, 2002 - For the first time in its 24 year history, the Sundance Film Festival will screen a Minnesota-made movie.