May 19, 2006 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports on the opening of new Minneapolis Central Library. Visitors to the five story, 365,000 square foot building will likely first notice its eye-grabbing architecture - complete with a 90-ton structure that looks like an airplane wing resting on top. Inside patrons will have access to more than three million books and other reference materials as well as an art gallery, nearly 300 public computers and special sections for young library people and immigrants.
May 29, 2006 - MPR's Brandt Williams reports on Girls in Action, a new mentoring program at North High School in Minneapolis. Administrators say they've seen improvements in the grades and attendance in the young women. They also say fights and other behavior problems among girls at the school in general have decreased.
May 30, 2006 - A dramatic reflection of rural Minnesota's changing demographics lies in Pelican Rapids' recent inclusion in a state integration program that grew from efforts to desegregate schools in urban areas. Consider this statistic: nearly one-half of Pelican Rapids second graders come from homes where English is not spoken. That number along with other measures of diversity in Pelican Rapids schools forced the district into a program that now requires Pelican Rapids to work with neighboring school districts which are far less diverse. Minnesota Public Radio's Mark Zdechlik reports on the program and broader concerns about how so-called "integration revenue" money is spent.
June 15, 2006 - The recent opening of the Minneapolis Public Library drew a lot of attention to the new look of libraries, with state of the art technology, cafes and comfy chairs. But libraries aren't just changing physically. MPR's Marianne Combs reports on how libraries are becoming less about books, and more about people.
September 19, 2006 - MPR’s Perry Finneli interviews "Mr. Mark" Thompson, a teacher at Como Park Elementary School in St. Paul, about being named as Minnesota's 2006 "American Stars of Teaching" by the U.S. Department of Education for his work with Hmong English Language Learner students. Thompson also discusses the creation of a Hmong-English dictionary to help students.
September 19, 2006 - A St. Paul teacher has won a national award for his work teaching English to Hmong students. Mark Thompson of Como Park Elementary won the American Star of Teaching award from the U.S. Department of Education. Thompson created a picture dictionary to help Hmong students learn English which he says is now widely used.
October 20, 2006 - The two state-supported higher education systems are hoping to take advantage of a rosier financial outlook to boost budget appropriations from the coming legislative session. Both the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system aim to boost the state's share of the cost. But students and faculty say the effort isn't enough. Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes reports.
November 14, 2006 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about a new census report that shows that while some minority groups are struggling economically, the Hmong community in Minnesota has made significant gains. Their per capita income jumped up fifty percent over the last five years.
December 12, 2006 - After a quarter century overseeing Minneapolis Public Schools, longtime Minneapolis school board member Judy Farmer attends her last Minneapolis school board meeting. She visits the Midday studio to look back on her 26 years on the board and offers her thoughts on current issues in education.
December 27, 2006 - Although this year's tuition increase at the University of Minnesota was the smallest in a decade, house DFLers would still like to see it go down.