January 10, 2005 - A federal court ruled today that St. Paul officer Michael Lee will go to trial for alleged civil rights violations related to a 2001 shooting. Lee made news last week in a separate incident when he got into a scuffle with an 85-year-old man.
January 11, 2005 - Mainstreet Radio's Annie Baxter reports that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is holding firm on its stand not to share casino revenues with the state. Mille Lacs' tribal chair Melanie Benjamin gave her "State of the Band" address and praised the band for protecting its 'economic livelihood' from Governor Pawlenty and the Legislature…but Benjamin made another announcement that still keeps the Band involved in the casino profit sharing debate.
January 11, 2005 - The St. Paul officer at the center of a police brutality complaint against an 85-year-old man will face a federal civil rights trail in an earlier case. The U-S Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled officer Michael Lee and the St. Paul Police Department are not immune from a civil rights complaint in the 2001 shooting of Charles Craighead. Lee mistook Craighead for a car jacker and fatally shot him. Craighead was wrestling over a gun with the suspected carjacker. Frederick Goetz is the attorney for Craighead's family. He says the ruling provides an opportunity to air the facts of the case.
January 11, 2005 - A federal court ruled today that St. Paul officer Michael Lee will go to trial for alleged civil rights violations related to a 2001 shooting. Lee made news last week in a separate incident when he got into a scuffle with an 85-year-old man.
January 14, 2005 - It is the stuff of legend among Bob Dylan devotees - an early recording of Dylan singing folk songs with friends in a Dinkytown apartment. But apparently only a few diehards have ever heard the so-called "Minnesota Party Tape." Until now. The tape has surfaced and is available for public listening. The Minnesota Historical Society has acquired the tape from Minnesotan Cleve Pettersen, who in 1960, thought it would be a good idea to record some local music acts in the Dinkytown area of Minneapolis on his new tape recorder.
January 17, 2005 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Minneapolis gospel singers Tonia and Cameron Hughes. After the death of husband/father David Hughes, Tonia and Cameron use singing together as a way to rebuild and provide renewed hope in life.
January 21, 2005 - Bill Catlin reports on Minnesota Public Radio’s announcement of its third service in the Twin Cities, with launch of 89.3 The Current on Monday, January 24th, 2005.
January 24, 2005 - Minnesota Public Radio's new radio service KCMP launched this morning January 24, 2005. Nicknamed "The Current," the station's format features an eclectic array of music, including local bands that may have received limited airplay on commercial and other Twin Cities public radio stations.
January 26, 2005 - Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports that Governor Tim Pawlenty is banking on casino money as a way to balance the state's finances. His plan includes a proposed Twin Cities casino that would be run jointly by the state and interested northern Indian tribes.
January 28, 2005 - MPR’s Jeff Horwich interviews Dr. Harry Hull, a state epidemiologist, about the State Department temporarily Hmong resettlement after a case of Tuberculosis was identified in one refugee already in Minnesota. Four more refugees are suspected of having TB and are undergoing more testing.