February 25, 2004 - What would you do if you found a pack of cigarettes in your thirteen year old daughter's school bag? Would you ever read your spouse's diary? Is either situation a big deal? A new production at Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis examines America's civil rights, and how they play out in our everyday lives. Bill of (W)rights is made up of ten 8 minute plays, staged throughout the theater building.
February 26, 2004 - MPR’s Lorna Benson profiles Liz Mc Elhinney and Siddiqi Ray, a lesbian couple in Minnesota who recently married in San Francisco, which began to grant marriage licenses to gay couples.
February 26, 2004 - Hour 2 of Midday: Robert Janssen is one of Minnesota's best known birders. The 71-year-old Chanhassen resident is an author and co-author of several books about birds, including Birds In Minnesota. Janssen is the former president of the Minnesota Ornithologists Union. He talked recently with Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson.
February 27, 2004 - A Great Conversations event focusing on the loss of life, loss of innocence, and the jarring blow to Americans' sense of security following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Pauline Boss, University of Minnesota Family Social Science professor and author of "Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief," talks with Gail Sheehy, a cultural observer and best-selling journalist, and author of "Middletown, America: One Town's Passage from Trauma To Hope." The event was sponsored by the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education.
March 1, 2004 - 15 years after state officials signed gaming compacts with Minnesota's Indian tribes, 18 casinos have been built. They generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, far more than anyone imagined they would. The state of Minnesota gets only a small sliver of that money and it's used to regulate the casinos.
March 2, 2004 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Fred de Sam Lazaro, of Twin Cities Public Television, about his experience with a Minnesota delegation in Thailand. The group is visiting a resettlement camp where 15,000 Hmong refugees are currently living. Because of the large Hmong population here, the Twin Ciites is expected to attract many of the refugees.
March 3, 2004 - The Minnesota State Board of Investment adopted a resolution today that would encourage the drug company, Pfizer, and other drug companies, to change their business practices. Minnesota's pension funds own about 476 million dollars in Pfizer stock. Governor Pawlenty, who sits on the investment board, proposed the resolution after the company cut off supplies to Canadian drug wholesalers that sell to Americans. Some worry that the proposed action could decrease Pfizer's stock price and hurt retirees who depend on the state's pension fund. Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck reports...
March 4, 2004 -
March 5, 2004 - St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly returned from Thailand where he visited Hmong refugees awaiting relocation to St. Paul and other U.S. cities. The State Department recently declared about 15,000 Hmong refugees eligible to apply for relocation to the U.S., with between 4,000-10,000 Hmong refugees arriving in Minnesota as early as June 2004. Fred de Sam Lazaro, correspondent for PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer based at Twin Cities Public Television, traveled with Kelly to Thailand and prepared this report.
March 8, 2004 - Workers continue to walk picket lines and no talks are in sight as the Twin Cities Metro Transit bus strike enters its first full work week. Many commuters are settling into alternate travel routines with no promise buses will return to their routes any time soon. While many commuters simply drive their own cars to work, Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes found others who are taking the high road.