November 9, 2005 - MPR's Stephanie Hemphill reports that a Wisconsin judge sentenced Chai Vang to six consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of six hunters last fall.
November 17, 2005 - MPR’s Mark Steil looks back at the origin story of the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, which goes each November to the winner of the Minnesota-Iowa game. On one level, the bronze pig is just another collegiate prize. But few people know it had its origins in a 1934 game with racial overtones.
November 23, 2005 - MPR’s Toni Randolph looks at Newgate Education and Training Center, a Minneapolis technical school that teaches people how to fix cars. The program pays for itself by selling the cars the students repair. For some students, the Newgate Center is a free education…for others, it's a route out of poverty.
December 2, 2005 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports on human rights advocates in Minnesota getting involved in the fight to stop graves from being dug up near a Buddhist temple in Thailand.
February 15, 2006 - MPR’s Marriane Combs looks at St. Paul’s Teatro Del Pueblo, a Minnesota theater company providing a forum for political activism and an agent for change. Combs interviews Alberto Justiniano, artistic director, about the Teatro Del Pueblo’s focus on Latin America political theater with a local festival.
February 27, 2006 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on Teacher Quality Enrichment, a scholarship program that is helping diversify the ranks of the district's ESL teachers. St. Paul's public school district is trying to boost the number of immigrants teaching English as a second language.
March 3, 2006 - MPR’s Toni Randolph report that about 400 members of the Hmong community turned out for a town hall meeting in St. Paul to get an update on what's happened since hundreds of Hmong graves were desecrated in Thailand last fall. Many people attending the meeting also sent letters to the United Nations to protest the unearthing and dismemberment of their deceased loved ones.
March 20, 2006 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports on a bill making its way through the state Senate that would allow recognition of Hmong cultural marriages by the state of Minnesota. The measure would give the negotiators between families in Hmong cultural weddings the authority to perform legal marriages, but the bill is getting resistance from some Hmong leaders.
March 23, 2006 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on a "People of Faith” rally at the Minnesota State Capital, where opponents of a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman gathered at the state Capitol.
March 24, 2006 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann interviews Scott Coooper, a lobbyist for OutFront Minnesota -- an advocacy organization for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community. Cooper says amendment would cut off discussion on gay marriage issue.