September 26, 2006 - MPR's Ambar Espinoza reports that for Spanish speakers, there are differences in accents, dialects and vocabulary, which can cause communication problems and confusion.
November 3, 2006 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on "Vestibular Sense," the Mixed Blood Theatre play that peaks into the life of a young man with autism in its latest production. The play raises questions about what autism is and whether it's a deficit or an attribute for someone who has it.
December 1, 2006 - On this World AIDS Day, Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Andy Ansell, a health education coordinator with the Minnesota AIDS Project. Andy's been living with HIV for 19 years and shares his experience.
January 17, 2007 - MPR’s William Wilcoxen reports on a Wisconsin man now facing a murder charge in connection with the killing of a Hmong hunter who was found shot and stabbed to death in a wildlife area near Green Bay earlier this month. The complaint against James Nichols also alleges that he made disparaging remarks about Hmong people to the investigators who questioned him.
February 5, 2007 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki reports on a Wisconsin hunter's death and the designation of a hate crime. An issue of the nation's Hmong newspaper "Hmong Today" asks in bold headline whether death was an accident or a hate crime. Prosecutors in northeastern Wisconsin have charged James Nichols, who is white, with killing Cha Vang, who's Hmong. Nichols has claimed self-defense.
March 9, 2007 - Noted poet Nikki Giovanni speaks at the University of Minnesota about the poet's inquiry into the life of a civil rights icon.
April 13, 2007 - On this Midday program, a broadcast of speech by U.S. Representative Tim Walz, who represents Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District in the southern part of the state. Walz says America's foreign policy has become so focused on the goal of security that it has given short shrift to other important goals like human rights. He argues for a broader view of foreign policy and a departure from the "dichotomies" of American politics.
May 3, 2007 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports on Graves Desecration Reconciliation Working Group, a St. Paul group that is working with U.S. diplomatic officials in Thailand to resolve an issue that has angered members of Minnesota's Hmong community. They're trying to figure out what to do with the disinterred remains of some of their relatives once buried near a Buddhist temple in Thailand.
May 7, 2007 - MPR’s Laura McCallum profiles the work coming out of the Black Box Theatre at St. Paul’s Central High School. Members of the Central Touring Theatre (CTT) are performing a play written earlier in the year, titled "I'll Take You There." The play addresses a number of controversial topics.
May 8, 2007 - Jim Koppel, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund Minnesota, discusses 2007 Kids Count Data Book, an annual report that measures the health and well-being of children and their families. Minnesota saw the steepest increase in child poverty rates in the nation this year, up 63% from the year past. What is behind that troubling statistic?