June 13, 2003 - MPR’s Lorna Benson interviews David King, drummer of the jazz trio The Bad Plus. While the band is based in New York, King resides in St. Paul. King says his music is influenced by dance, pop, and rock. But, he says even as a child, he was most captivated by jazz.
June 17, 2003 - Hume Cronyn, the versatile stage and screen actor who charmed audiences with his portrayals of irascible old men and frequently paired up with his wife, Jessica Tandy, died of cancer Sunday. He was 91. His last public appearance was at the Guthrie Theater last month, when he talked with the theater's Artistic Director, Joe Dowling.
June 23, 2003 - A full schedule of summer school classes got underway today in Minneapolis , just two months after district leaders debated whether they could afford a summer term. Officials in the state's largest school district had briefly considered cutting summer school down to a bare minimum due to tight finances. They later abandoned those plans due to concerns over the potential impact on test scores.
June 25, 2003 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports from Buffalo Lake, a small town about 75 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, where an F2 tornado struck on June 24th. Helms speaks with residents as they start picking up the pieces from extensive damage left behind.
June 30, 2003 - Mental health advocates, medical providers and law enforcement say they need to create a better system for caring for the mentally ill. Federal estimates say 15 percent of those incarcerated in the nation's prisons have a severe mental illness. Police departments nationwide say they don't have the proper training to deal with people who have severe mental health problems, even though they're usually the ones who have to deal with a mentally ill person who's causing a disturbance. Criminalization and the mental health system was a topic at a national conference in Minneapolis this morning. The featured speakers say the medical community, law enforcement and mental health advocates need to focus on the issue or it will cause a greater strain on the criminal justice system.
June 30, 2003 - A Minnesota pastor and two European journalists were sentenced today in Laos to 15 years in prison. The three men were charged in connection with the killing of a village security official in the Southeast Asian country. Naw-Karl Mua is the pastor of the Light of Life Lutheran Church in St. Paul. He was arrested in Laos on June fourth. Press freedom groups argue that he and the journalists were not involved in the guard's murder and say the men are being punished for reporting on Hmong rebels. Reverend Peter Rogness is bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He says he's appalled by the treatment of Mua. But he says, given the history of the Laotian government, he's not surprised by today's verdict.
July 1, 2003 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports that people in Two Harbors are debating a painful choice. A developer wants to build a motel, shops, and condos on a key piece of real estate. Many local residents want to preserve their a favorite place for a quiet walk along Lake Superior, while others are questioning whether the city can afford what it'll take to keep the land, known as Lighthouse Point, as a park.
July 2, 2003 - In the wake of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church, diocese across the country have set up policy review boards. Two boards in central Minnesota are beginning their work, one at St. John's Abbey and the other at the St. Cloud Diocese. Their purpose is to monitor the church's policies and response to sexual abuse. Church officials say the boards have been thoughtfully developed. They say many have a mix of non-Catholic as well as Catholic members, abuse victims and law enforcement officials. But victims' rights groups are less optimistic. They doubt the review boards will have the power to make any real change in church policy.
July 8, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio’s Erin Galbally looks into divorce in the Hmong communtity. Some Hmong say it's allowing women in particular to escape difficult marriages. But traditionalists worry about the long-term impact of the new trend on Hmong culture.
July 9, 2003 - St. Paul-based Reverend Naw Karl Mua has been released by the Laotian government along with the two journalists he was intepreting for. The three men flew today from Laos to Bangkok, Thailand. They had been convicted to 15 years in prison by a Laotian court for the murder of a village security guard. Press advocacy groups had condeMinnesotaed the sentences, saying the three men were being unjustly punished for reporting on an insurgency in Laos. Minnesota Representative Betty McCollum has been working to get the men released and she joins us now.