December 4, 2014 - The Minnesota Twins rehired Torii Hunter on a one-year contract worth 10.5 million dollars. Hunter, who played in the outfield for the Twins for 11 seasons, says he's glad to be back. He says he's ready to help the struggling team win it all next season.
June 17, 2015 - Garrison Keillor, the host of A Prairie Home Companion, suggests 16 things that would improve the country while speaking at the National Press Club.
July 29, 2015 - Award-winning author Alexs Pate discusses how his experiences as a Black-American man influence his writing and move him to explore themes of guilt and innocence — along with hope and bitterness. Pate is the author of five novels, including the best-selling Amistad.
September 24, 2015 - Penumbra Theatre co-artistic director Sarah Bellamy moderated a discussion "On The Front Lines," featuring Nekima Levy-Pounds, University of St. Thomas professor and the president of the Minneapolis Chapter of the NAACP; John Harrington, Metro Transit Police chief and former State Senator; Signe Harriday, local artist and activist; and Dave Ellis, a consultant. The panelists talk about the racial tensions between police and community.
November 19, 2015 - Each year since 1938, the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania has commemorated the Gettysburg Address and rededicated Soldiers' National Cemetery where President Lincoln spoke. Garrison Keillor was picked to give the Gettysburg keynote address in 2015.
January 22, 2016 - MPR’s Brian Bakst details the appointment of Margaret Chutich to the Minnesota Supreme Court. Chutich is the first openly gay justice on court.
March 17, 2016 - An MPR News Presents broadcast of Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer Jon Meacham speaking at the Pen Pals Lecture Series. Meacham has written about Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and President George H.W. Bush. Author says he writes biography rather than history, because history is shaped by individuals who, despite their flaws, do the right thing in moments of crisis.
December 20, 2016 - MPR News with Tom Weber presents a program on The Dakota Access oil pipeline, which winds hundreds of miles from the oil fields of North Dakota to a pipeline hub in southern Illinois. In 2016, it was almost entirely built — except for a section under Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir just south of Bismarck, N.D. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a coalition of other groups camped out near the site of the river crossing in an effort to stop pipeline construction.
December 22, 2016 - Andrew Carnegie, the 19th century Pittsburgh industrialist, was one of the richest Americans ever, and also a benevolent civic patron. David Nasaw, a self-described "lunatic researcher," wrote a biography simply titled "Andrew Carnegie." Early in December he shared what he learned at the Minnesota Historical Society's History Forum in St. Paul.
January 19, 2017 - This MPR News with Tom Weber feature takes a look back to January 20th, 1977, when Minnesota’s Walter Mondale was sworn in as the Vice President of the United States. Segment includes interview excerpts, descriptions of Inauguration Day, and audio of the complete swearing in of Mondale.