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.
April 16, 2003 - MPR’s Nikki Tundel interviews Chris Pesklo about his attempts to stop University of Minnesota rioting, and of losing a special hat. Hennepin County Attorney Amy Klobuchar says more felony charges are likely in connection with Sunday's Dinkytown riot. Prosecutors charged one 19-year-old yesterday with felony property damage. The rioters torched dumpsters and overturned cars after the Minnesota gophers won the NCAA men's hockey championship. Chris Pesklo was one of only a few onlookers who tried to stop the riots. He has lived in Dinkytown for almost 16 years. He says it wasn't hard for him to decide when it was time to step in.
May 1, 2003 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on the Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that police must suspect a motorist has committed a particular crime before asking for consent to search a vehicle following a routine traffic stop. Len Castro, Hennepin County's Chief Public Defender had argued such search requests were racial profiling tools. Justice Alan Page wrote for the court’s majority decision. Report also includes commentary from Pete Cahill, Assistant Hennepin County attorney; and Rev Albert Gallmon, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP.
May 27, 2003 - MPR’s Mary Losure reports that a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the federal government does have the authority to deport a local Somali immigrant to his homeland, even though Somalia has no functioning government. Attorneys for immigrant Keyse Jama say they will appeal, and the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.