May 18, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports that The Weiner Memorial Hospital in Marshall is announcing it's merge with a regional health care system. For the last year the board has struggled between independence and the desire to grow. Officials have decided the benefits of joining with a larger system outweigh the loss of autonomy.
May 21, 2004 - MPR’s Laura McCallum profiles Cy Thao, a legislator and artist, who has an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "The Hmong Migration" is a series of fifty oil paintings by Thao, and represent the unfolding of 5,000 years of Hmong history. Thao said he feels an obligation to tell the Hmong story, and to preserve it for generations.
May 26, 2004 - On this Midday program, Minnesota Public Radio president Bill Kling is in the MPR studios to talk with host Gary Eichten about the station, the new MPR building, and topics on the minds of MPR listeners.
May 28, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Tim Post profiles Cody Rogahn and Jonathan Yarbrough, a couple from west-central Minnesota that became one of the first same-sex couples to take advantage of the new Massachusetts law allowing gay couples to wed.
May 31, 2004 - Emily Yellin, author of the new book "Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II".
June 2, 2004 - Chris Roberts profiles Venus, a transgender musician and visual artist from Duluth. Roberts interviews the artist, spouse, and Twin Cities filmmaker who follows the band All the Pretty Horses in documentary “Venus of Mars.”
June 2, 2004 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer catches up with La Velle E. Neal III, baseball writer for the Star Tribune, to get his thoughts on the Minnesota Twins season thus far, as the 2004 All-Star Break approaches.
June 3, 2004 - By the end of the 2004, the Twin Cities will have nearly 5000 new Hmong residents as they arrive from Thailand. They'll join the more than 20,000 Hmong who began arriving here in the 1970s. While this new wave of refugees will have some obstacles to overcome when they arrive, they'll have some advantages their predecessors never did.
June 7, 2004 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan has passed away, at the age of 93. He spent the end of his life in seclusion battling Alzheimer’s, but his legacy lives on. Midday takes a look at the lasting effects Reagan has had on America's economy, foreign policy, and domestic political landscape.
June 7, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Annie Baxter reports that for thirty years, St. Cloud has had an ordinance on its books that forbids immigrants from driving taxis. It wasn't enforced; in fact, most people had forgotten about it. City officials were embarrassed to learn of the ordinance recently, and promptly swore they'd get rid of it. The matter is under consideration in the city council, but even so, Somalis say they can't get jobs as taxi drivers...and they're wondering why.