November 5, 1999 - Police are still searching for the killer of Matthew Nimine. The immigrant businessman from Liberia was shot Sunday in his West Broadway Avenue clothing store on Minneapolis ' near north side. His funeral is tomorrow at nearby Ascension Church. In the year Matthew Nimine was on the avenue he made a positive impression on his friends and neighbors.
December 6, 1999 - Its been five months since the first wave of Kosovar refugees arrived in the US Many ended up in the Red Valley spread arond the Fargo Moorhead area. Now with a somewhat rockey peace established in their homeland the refugees have the opportunity to return. However as Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson reports, most want to stay.
December 22, 1999 - Two families today sued the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The lawsuit filed in federal court claims the state is not fulfilling its federally mandated responsiblity to provide state assistance services to everyone.
April 26, 2000 - MPR’s Bob Potter talks with Lee Pao Xiong, member of the Metropolitan Council, about what has changed in the past 25 years for the Hmong community. Xiong is the first Hmong appointed by the governor to a state policy-making body.
June 23, 2000 - Teachers in Pelican Rapids in Northwestern Minnesota, are learning to use art to help immigrant children deal with emotional trauma. Nearly 40 percent of the towns population are immigrants who have arrived in the last 10 years, many fleeing from troubled homelands. This week children from Bosnia, Africa, Southeast Asia and other countries have been working with teachers and experts , using art to unlock painful emotions.
June 29, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman details the experience of Hmong veterans and widows of veterans as they start their path to citizenship. The veterans are using a new law which exempts them from the English language requirement for naturalization. Still, it's not a free pass to become an American; rather one with other obstacles.
July 6, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on how immigration officials and attorneys are trying to help untangle the confusion around the recently passed Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act. The act signed into law in late May 2000 eases citizenship requirements for those who served in Laos on behalf of the United States during the Vietnam War.
September 25, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on preserving the history and culture of the Hmong through the mission of an established archives in St. Paul, called Hmong Nationality Archives. Organizers hope to collect, catalog, and make available materials about or by Hmong in Minnesota, and eventually around the world.
October 31, 2000 - The strong economy has pretty much put to rest the anti-immigration talk some politicians were using just a few years ago. In the Minnesota U.S. Senate race, Republican Rod Grams supports more visas for in-demand workers while D-F-Ler Mark Dayton wants to address bureaucratic backlogs that hurt legal immigrants. But some of Minnesota's newest arrivals say they feel largely ignored in the current campaign and don't hear politicians addressing issues important to them. Some are getting involved as citizens and voters, in hopes of wielding some political clout and someday being courted more avidly by the candidates.
November 6, 2000 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Yer Moua, a Hmong woman about her concerns and views as a voter. Speaking through her daughter, Mai Ning Moua, Yer said that although this will be her first U.S. election, this wont be her first time in a voting booth.