May 8, 2019 - MPR’s Tiffany Hanssen interviews Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan about missing Native American women and girls. Flanagan states it reflects one of the many ways devaluation of native people takes place.
May 29, 2019 - MPR’s Brian Bierschbach interviews Governor Tim Walz as he prepares to sign an education bill that tops 20 billion dollars, with more budget bill signatures coming. Walz says he believes the state budget moves Minnesota forward even though he had to leave some priorities behind.
June 24, 2019 - On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn raid in New York, which ignited multiple days of protests and garnered the attention of the media across the country, Michael McConnell reflects on the fight for gay rights that was happening in Minnesota at that time. F.R.E.E. — "Fight Repression of Erotic Expression" — was formed in Minneapolis weeks before the now-famous riots.
July 11, 2019 - MPR’s Brian Bakst reports on how taxpayers helped fund 'Tonight Show' Super Bowl broadcast from Minnesota via Snowbate program, which aims at luring productions and fostering local industry talent. Segment includes various interviews.
July 25, 2019 - The Subversive Sirens, a gold-medal winning Minnesota-based synchronized swimming team is working to promote LGBTQ-inclusiveness and equity in swimming, body positivity and queer visibility. Team member Jae Hyun Shim, who identifies as queer and nonbinary, discusses group’s efforts.
July 31, 2019 - MPR’s Elizabeth Shockman reports on racist incidents at Metcalf Middle School in Burnsville. Students and staff recount multiple experiences of racial slurs at school, including offensive words spoken by principal Shannon McParland.
August 16, 2019 - MPR’s Tarkor Zehn reports on Because Black Life Conference, which entails about a dozen workshops that explore an array of issues impacting black life. Examples of topics include being black and Muslim in the current political climate and reparations. The underlying common thread in most of the workshops is healing.
August 16, 2019 - In the early 2000s, Hmong Americans from Minneapolis and St. Paul flocked to Walnut Grove in southwestern Minnesota. The city is best known for its hero, Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote about life in the town. The Hmong immigrants were drawn to farmland, jobs at local factories, and the slower pace of life. That influx of newcomers helped keep Walnut Grove’s main drag alive. But a generation in, the Hmong Americans who came to the region are facing a challenge familiar to other rural Americans…How do you give young people a reason to stay?
August 26, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “Students on the Move - Keeping uprooted kids in school.” A frank portrayal of the educational challenges facing kids whose housing is unstable by introducing listeners to kids experiencing homelessness, kids in migrant farmworker families, and some of the people trying to help them stay in school.
August 28, 2019 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of the APM Reports education documentary “At a Loss for Words - What's wrong with how schools teach reading.” A look at how a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers.