October 29, 2002 - On this Midday program, commentator Sarah Stoesz, attorney Sam Kaplan, and callers share stories about the late Senator Paul Wellstone, the family members, and campaign workers who died with him in plane crash in Eveleth, Minnesota on October 25th, 2002.
October 31, 2002 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on the high court decision on new ballots for election.
November 21, 2002 - In the two weeks after Halloween, three college men disappeared - Christopher Jenkins from Minneapolis; Josh Guimond from Collegeville; and Michael Noll of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Around the same time, Erika Dalquist, a 21-year-old woman in Brainerd, failed to show up for work, and has not been seen since. Despite constant media exposure and massive search efforts, all four are still missing, and authorities are still waiting for the one tip or stroke of luck that might yield some answers. If the cases are linked, a break in one might solve them all. But at this point it seems just as likely all four are only connected by a tragic coincidence.
November 25, 2002 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on NCS Pearson, a test scoring company that mishandled thousands of Minnesota high school exams, agreeing to pay seven million dollars in damages to affected students and their families. The settlement comes more than two years after state education officials uncovered the errors, and just days before a class action lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial.
December 2, 2002 - MPR's William Wilcoxen reports on how a trial can be affected by the fame of the defendant. Kirby Puckett faces a February 2003 trial on charges that he dragged a woman into a restaurant bathroom and groped her there. The trial will draw public scrutiny mostly because of Puckett's celebrity status as a Hall of Fame baseball player.
January 29, 2003 - MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki reports that three Twin Cities-based news organizations are asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to keep open the option for access to documents filed as part of the lawsuit to keep the Minnesota Twins in the Metrodome.
February 17, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio’s Dan Gunderson reports on pesticide misuse in Minnesota, and investigates how violations of the law are often not punished, and sometimes ignored.
March 11, 2003 - James Fallows, author and international correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly discusses the long-term repercussions of the United State's military and political involvement in Iraq.
March 27, 2003 - MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki reports on trial opening of a Minnesota baseball giant, just blocks from where fans in 1987 and 1991 crowned him a World Series hero. Kirby Puckett, whose talents propelled him from Twins star to Hall-of-Fame great faces sexual assault charges that have tarnished his once clean image. Puckett has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal sexual conduct, false imprisonment, and misdemeanor assault.
April 3, 2003 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on jury verdict finding baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett not guilty on all charges in assault case. It took the jury a little more than eight hours of deliberation to clear Puckett on three charges related to an alleged assault of a woman in a restaurant bathroom in September 2002.