December 10, 2004 - MPR’s Gary Eichten talks with Carl Eller, former Viking and Pro Football Hall of Famer. Eller’s Hall of Fame speech focused on the future of young African American men.
February 1, 2005 - American RadioWorks presents the documentary “Say it Plain - A Century of African American Oratory.” Spanning the 20th century, this audio speech collection is a vivid account of how African Americans sounded the charge against racial injustice, exhorting the country to live up to its democratic principles.
February 17, 2005 - Author Mary Pipher is out with a new book that details what happened when her hometown of Lincoln, Neb. became an official refugee resettlement community. Pipher talks about writing "The Middle of Everywhere" in this live speech from the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis.
February 25, 2005 - By the time you finish this sentence, you may very well have decided whether or not to listen to Malcolm Gladwell's speech at the Commonwealth Club of California. Gladwell's book "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" is about these kinds of split-second decisions: how they are made, why they are often surprisingly good and why they are sometimes tragically bad. Part 1
February 25, 2005 - By the time you finish this sentence, you may very well have decided whether or not to listen to Malcolm Gladwell's speech at the Commonwealth Club of California. Gladwell's book "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" is about these kinds of split-second decisions: how they are made, why they are often surprisingly good and why they are sometimes tragically bad. Part 2
April 7, 2005 - MPR’s Michael Khoo reports that the Minnesota Senate upended an attempt to force a vote on a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. The legislation would allow voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
April 25, 2005 - MPR's Brandt Williams reports that the Minnesota Twins and Hennepin County have agreed to a funding plan for a new baseball stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The plan for the $360 million facility will include private funding from Twins owner Carl Pohlad and public money from the county in the form of a sales tax increase.
June 16, 2005 - Alex Kotlowitz is an author and journalist. He wrote the book "There are No Children Here :The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in The Other America." He recently spoke in the Twin Cities at the Family and Children's Services Annual Meeting. He spoke about children's lives in a Chicago housing project.
June 29, 2005 - Author Kevin Powell says that African Americans need to be empowered, not just economically and politically, but also in the areas of physical and mental health. Powell spoke recently at a forum in Minneapolis named for his book "Who's Gonna Take the Weight?"
August 18, 2005 - Six of the twelve candidates for Minneapolis mayor debated the causes and cures of homelessness today. An audience of about 200 people attended the forum held at Catholic Charities. The candidates did their best to address the concerns of the homeless community but many in the crowd left the forum disappointed.