November 12, 2013 - MPR’s Curtis Gilbert reports on St. Paul electing its first Hmong American city council member. Dai Thao is an information technology specialist who’s never run for office before. He won a special election against six other candidates after the ranked-choice vote count took place.
November 15, 2013 - Daily Circuit host Tom Weber and MPR reporter Jennifer Vogel present an MPR Special “Rethinking a Company Town." The border town of International Falls lost 265 jobs at its mainstay paper mill on the Rainy River. It was an economic blow that is forcing the city to examine whether it can or should forge a future different from its past.
November 20, 2013 - MPR’s Dan Kraker reports that after more than a decade of falling water levels, Lake Superior is on the upswing. For 14 years, water levels in Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, remained below their long-term average, the longest stretch of below-average levels in recorded history. The big lake reached its all-time low in 2007.
November 20, 2013 - In this episode of Appetites, MPR’s Tom Crann talks with Minnesota poet and writer Heid Erdrich about the local food movement. Though seen as a relatively recent phenomenon, Erdrich argues in a book that the local food movement goes back to the indigenous populations of our region.
November 22, 2013 - MPR’s Tim Nelson reports on St. Louis Park car accident that tragically took the life of two children.
December 4, 2013 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Jack Barkla, who since the 1970s, has been responsible for creating the auditorium shows at Dayton’s in downtown Minneapolis. Barkla calls it "conjuring up magic."
December 26, 2013 - Richard Moe, Minnesota native and former chief of staff to Vice President Walter Mondale, brings readers into the world of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his latest book, "Roosevelt's Second Act."Moe explores the year 1940, what he deems a pivotal year of American history, through Roosevelt's complex character of actions and motivations as he considered pursuing a third term. Moe argues that Roosevelt's third term greatly changed d America's foreign policy and changed the way people perceived the presidency.Moe joins The Daily Circuit to discuss his book. Moe will also speak Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
January 6, 2014 - MPR’s Dan Kraker reports on wild rice, the iconic grain that grows across much of the northern half of the state, being at the center of a contentious debate over mining and the environment. Kraker conducts interviews with individuals from both sides of the debate.
January 23, 2014 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports on internal financial reports that show the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for years diverted millions of dollars away from its traditional work to deal with clergy misconduct.
January 30, 2014 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Leslie Li, producer of a documentary on the Kim Loo Sisters, a 1930’s Chinese singing group that orginated form Minneapolis. Li is the daughter of one of the Kim Loo Sisters.