November 29, 2002 - An excerpt from an August 2002 interview with Minneapolis folk-blues legend Dave Ray, who died on 11/28/2002. Ray talks with MPR’s Dale Connelly about how hearing classical guitarist Andre Segovia perform changed his life.
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.
December 2, 2002 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews Met Council Frank Hornstein about meeting to reconsider which languages will appear on ticket vending machines for the Hiawatha light rail line. Under the current proposal, the machines will operate in English, Spanish and Hmong- the three most widely used languages in the Twin Cities. But Somali advocates are protesting the plan because so many Somali citizens live along the Hiawatha route. It would cost more than $100,000 to add a fourth language to the vending machines.
December 3, 2002 - For the first time in its 24 year history, the Sundance Film Festival will screen a Minnesota-made movie.
December 6, 2002 - December is a busy month for Minneapolis humorist Kevin Kling. He just released a new compact disc of his National Public Radio commentaries called "Wonderlure" -- a few weeks from now he'll reprise his role of Joseph in what's now become an annual holiday pageant at the Southern Theater -- and this Monday, Kling returns to the Guthrie Theater to spin more wacky childhood yarns in "Tales From the Charred Underbelly of the Yulelog." Kling says the Guthrie show takes a somewhat jaded look at the holidays.
December 10, 2002 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews Jen Randolph Reise, co-director of Women Against Military Madness, on group’s efforts to find peace solutions as an Iraqi War possibility looms. Reise says WAMM's most visible activities has been its weekly protests on the Lake Street Bridge in Minneapolis.
December 10, 2002 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews W. Harry Davis, prominent local civil rights activist and educator, about his autobiography, entitled "Overcoming." In it, he describes growing up in poverty, helping found the Minneapolis Urban Coalition, running a local Golden Gloves Boxing organization and serving on the Minneapolis School Board for 20 years.
December 13, 2002 - Award-winning children's book author Mary Casanova takes young readers into the world of 18th century Versailles in her new book "Cecile: Gates of Gold". Casanova's previous books have mostly been set in Minnesota's north woods--a setting inspired by her own backyard near the Canadian border. Her latest book follows 12-year-old Cecile in the court of Versailles in the year 1711. Mary Casanova spoke to Minnesota Public Radio's Greta Cunningham and said it was a challenge to convey the grandeur of Versailles.
December 16, 2002 - Curt Johnson, former executive director of the Citizens League, former chief of staff to Gov. Arne Carlson, and former chair of the Metropolitan Council, answers questions surrounding the state budget. The early stages of the budget debate have put people into two camps: those who say the state has to raise taxes to solve the budget shortfall and those who say the state spends too much and it's time to cut back. Is it possible for the state to reform the way it delivers services? Can Minnesota preserve the quality of service government provides, but cut the cost of providing those services?
December 16, 2002 - On this Midday program, we delve into stories from Minnesota's past with three Minnesota Public Radio documentaries about medicine, 1862 Native conflict, and immigration.