July 5, 2000 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill catches up with a small band of environmental crusaders starting a planned walk around Lake Superior to bring attention to the need to protect the greatest of the Great Lakes. The walk is fulfillment of an the idea from Walter Bresette, a prominent Ojibwe activist.
July 6, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on how immigration officials and attorneys are trying to help untangle the confusion around the recently passed Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act. The act signed into law in late May 2000 eases citizenship requirements for those who served in Laos on behalf of the United States during the Vietnam War.
July 11, 2000 - MPR’s Erin Galbally reports on record breaking floods that have divided downtown Austin, Minnesota. Heavy rains caused the Cedar River, Dobbins Creek and Turtle Creek to overflow into basements and roadways. Some in community find themselves without a home or belongings.
July 11, 2000 - The College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph is collaborating with Graywolf Press to create the Upper Midwest's first ever Literary Arts Institute -- featuring programs for area writers, readers, actors and publishing enthusiasts. All week, the College and Graywolf are hosting a publishing workshop called "Inside Books" to inaugurate the new partnership.
July 13, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on a Minnesota visit of the The Lao Royal Family for several days hoping to garner support for democratic reform in Laos. Meetings are planned with local officials as well as the Lao and Hmong people.
July 26, 2000 - MPR’s Tim Post reports on how residents of Granite Falls spent the day cleaning up and assessing damage after a tornado ripped through town on Tuesday night. Hundreds of homes were pulverized on the westside of town. Post talked with homeowners as they were allowed back into damaged areas of town to collect personal items.
July 26, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports on tornado that struck Granite Falls, Minnesota. Steil gets firsthand accounts of the storm. The tornado is the latest disaster for a city which has seen floods and job losses in the last few years.
August 3, 2000 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports that farmers in Day County in northeastern South Dakota have spent the past eight years watching their farm fields become lakes. Day County is in an area known as the “prairie pot hole.” There's no drainage system for the sloughs now filled with water. Landowners who once grazed hundreds of head of cattle now see a new sight on their pastureland…fishing boats.
August 4, 2000 - Minneapolis Police Chief Robert Olson appeared before a Minneapolis City council committee today to defend his departments handling of last month's protests against a genetics conference. The Chief said the operation was successful in that there was no damage to private property and no formal charges of police misconduct. However, some city council members took issue with parts of Olson's report and are asking that members of the public get their say.
August 8, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on a unique new Minneapolis bookstore.