December 3, 2003 - An assistant Hennepin County public defender today asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to strike down as unconstitutional a law that charges the poor from $50-to-$200 for public defender services. The legislature passed the law last year to raise an estimated $7 million to partially fund the state's public defender system. The system is struggling under state budget cuts and soaring caseloads.
December 4, 2003 - An often-contentious year of negotiations has produced an agreement between Minneapolis police and community members that participants say could reduce tensions that now exist. The federally mediated deal calls for police to be more aware of race and mental health issues, and would create a new panel to oversee compliance of the agreement.
December 5, 2003 - Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports on the concerns over charter schools outside of the metro. There are 88 charter schools in Minnesota. While about two-thirds of those are in the Twin Cities, a growing number of charter schools are popping up in greater Minnesota. Supporters say starting charter schools in rural Minnesota is tough and they face resistance from school districts afraid of losing students.
December 10, 2003 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s release of list containing six candidates to replace outgoing Police Chief Robert Olson. Rybak, a panel of community members and a Seattle-area search firm have narrowed the list from more than two-dozen applicants nationwide. The list includes three African American candidates; and two internal candidates, both women, who remain favorites among many city council members.
December 10, 2003 - MPR’s Chris Julin presents a Mainstreet Radio report on the Greenberg family, who bring holiday music to the Duluth area.
December 10, 2003 - There's a renaissance underway along one of south Minneapolis ' most rundown, crime infested thoroughfares. A new hardware store and dozens of units of new housing are going up on a blighted stretch of Bloomington Avenue. But signs of renewal haven't stopped drug sellers and prostitutes from doing business there. Neighbors say they are frustrated with a justice system that doesn't deal with the criminals on their sidewalks.
December 11, 2003 - For the most part folk music is happy wholesome stuff. But there is a dark edge to some of it, and that's where a new local band Folk Underground comes in. MPR’s Euan Kerr talks with the trio about their first album release "Buried Things." It features a mixture of traditional music and the band's own material which displays members describe as 'happily morbid.'
December 11, 2003 - The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis have released a report stating that they have credible evidence that 33 priests working in the diocese sexually abused a total of 69 children over the last 50 years. According to the diocese, the most recent incident happened in 1988. The numbers are part of a national survey which will be released in February. Gary SHOW-ner is an expert on clergy sex abuse and works with the Walk-IN Counseling Center in Minneapolis . He say the numbers are troubling, but lower than the diocese in other parts of the country
December 12, 2003 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports on thousands of Mexican Americans in Minnesota celebrating a Mexican national holiday, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
December 12, 2003 - Jan McElfish, member of the American Swedish Institute, gives MPR’s Great Cunningham a tour of the Turnblad Turn-blahd Mansion during the holiday season.