May 2, 2014 - MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports that battle for Minnesota’s 1st District is brewing as Republican Aaron Miller looks to challenge incumbent DFL Congressman Tim Walz. Republicans hope to press mid-term dissatisfaction by leveraging President Barack Obama's low approval ratings and skepticism over his Affordable Care Act against Democrats. Walz is leaning into accomplishments he’s made in the House, despite the gridlock.
May 2, 2014 - MPR’s Nikki Tundel profiles soul singer Sonny Knight, who finds himself back in the music scene after decades long absence.
May 9, 2014 - MPR’s David Cazares talks with Nelson Devereaux, member of the Twin Cities jazz group Courageous Endeavors. Devereaux discusses group’s focus on the tradition of improvisation.
May 30, 2014 - All Things Considered’s Tom Cramm talks with DFL Congressman Tim Walz about his perspective on the resignation of Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs and on the larger VA investigations. Walz had called for Shinseki’s resignation after a VA scandal in Phoenix, Arizona.
June 3, 2014 - For more than 20 years Bemidji writer Kent Nerburn has walked a fine line. He's tried to respectfully explore Native American culture as a white author.His books "Neither Wolf nor Dog" and "Wolf at Twilight," tell of his complex relationship with a Lakota elder named Dan. He's now completed the trilogy with "The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo" which delves into Native spirituality. Nerburn says it was also the most difficult of the trilogy to write. "In my own way, with such talents or such spiritual capabilities as I had, I prayed for guidance on this."As in the others in the series the new book tells of a road trip Nerburn takes with his friend Dan. Dan is a real person, a Lakota elder approaching the end of his life. Like all the characters in Nerburn's trilogy, though, Dan is not his real name. Nerburn has renamed everyone except himself.Dan is surrounded by a group of very protective friends and relatives. They regularly warn off Nerburn if they think he is getting too close, telling him he has no place in the native community. "The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo" Courtesy New World LibraryHowever, for reasons Nerburn doesn't understand, Dan keeps pulling him back. The man needs to resolve some questions before he dies -- most importantly, what happened to his sister. She was taken to a boarding school and never returned. Dan wants Nerburn's help to find out what happened.In the first half of the 20th century the U.S. government placed thousands of native children in such schools. They were often far from their homes and families, and the experience scarred entire generations. In the new book, Nerburn writes about a place that may have been worse.
June 6, 2014 - In a small park near the Cathedral in St. Paul, a crowd of children and adults sit in front of a puppet theater.They plopped down on the grass to see "Tucker's Robot," a high-energy slapstick tale of two pals who decide to build a robot. The show is part of the Driveway Tour by Open Eye Figure Theatre, which began 11 years ago as a practical solution to a sticky problem.
June 20, 2014 - MPR’s Euan Kerr profiles Pooja Goswami Pavan, a Minneapolis-based, north Indian classical singer. A collection of ancient Sufi love songs re-imagined for a modern audience are highlighted.
June 23, 2014 - When construction crews bulldozed St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood to make way for Interstate 94 in the 1960s, they destroyed the center of the city's African American life, forcing many of the community's residents to move. But the spirit of Rondo lives on among its former residents and their descendants. Among them is Daina Stanley, a University of Tampa junior. When she spoke with members of her family about the Rondo they knew and loved, that helped her find home.
July 9, 2014 - As part of a series that explores health disparities among certain groups of Minnesotans and the growing importance of data to understand the causes, MPR’s Lorna Benson looks into the struggles of some in the LGBTQ community.
July 10, 2014 - An MPR News Presents program held at Westminster Townhall Forum with former Vice President Walter Mondale.