March 15, 2005 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles Minnesota music veteran Barry Thomas Goldberg. Roberts interviews Goldberg about his album “American Grotesque” and his anti-war stance on the Iraq conflict.
March 15, 2005 - Governor Tim Pawlenty wants the state to partner with three northern Minnesota Indian tribes on a $550 million dollar Twin Cities casino. Profits would be split between the state and the White Earth, Leech Lake and Red Lake Ojibwe bands. The plan has launched a high-profile debate in the Legislature. It's also sparked a growing debate among northern tribal members. Some don't trust the state; they worry the plan is a bad deal for the tribes. As Mainstreet Radio's Tom Robertson reports, members of the Red Lake band may get a chance to vote the deal up or down.
March 18, 2005 - MPR’s Steven John checks in with Mainstreet Radio’s Erin Galbally about heavy snow in southern Minnesota. Galbally describes closed roads and blowing snow.
March 18, 2005 - MPR’s Bob Reha stops at women’s basketball team practice at the University of Minnesota to talk to guard Kelly Roysland…and her grandmother, Bernice Carlin, who started this generational basketball family.
March 22, 2005 - Mainstreet Radio's Dan Gunderson reports from Bemidji, where ten people are dead after a shooting rampage on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. At least 14 people were reportedly wounded in the shooting which happened yesterday afternoon. Tribal police closed the reservation to reporters late yesterday. Red Lake police and the FBI are working together to investigate the shootings.
March 22, 2005 - A local coalition of human rights advocates are calling on Minnesota police departments to stop using stun guns.
March 22, 2005 - A coalition of Minnesota human rights activists say tasers are too dangerous. They're urging some Metro - area police departments to stop using the stun guns. The coalition includes the University of Minnesota human rights program, the Center for Victims of Torture, and AMinnesotaesty International. They say stun gun use should be suspended until more independent safety research can be done, and until there are strict, uniform guidelines governing use of stun guns. A coalition letter to police chiefs in Minneapolis , St. Paul, and Roseville, says more than 74 people in the U.S. have died after being stunned by tasers. St. Paul police spokesman Paul Schnell says the chief is aware of the concerns, but the department will continue using tasers.
March 25, 2005 - MPR’s Julie Siple interviews members of Minneapolis band Savage Aural Hotbed. The group discusses their “home’made” instruments, performance, and “The Rate of Mass Displacement is Momentum” show.
March 25, 2005 - An MPR Special Report, titled “What Happened in Red Lake?”, details the chronology of the shooting at Red Lake, what's known about the student who killed nine people and himself, and what makes this sovereign Indian community different from other communities. The special also examines the shooting within the context of other school shootings.
April 14, 2005 - MPR’s Karl Gehrke reports on the end of the Minneapolis chamber group Prospect Park Players. Gehrke interviews Prospect Park Artistic Director William Eddins and composer Randall Davidson about the seven year run of of the classical group.