September 14, 2023 - MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Hmong immigrants who have put down roots on Dakota County farmland. The Hmong American Farmers Association closed on farmland just south of the Twin Cities in Dakota County in 2022. The more than 150 acres are home base for the organization and 20 families of Hmong farmers.
August 16, 2019 - In the early 2000s, Hmong Americans from Minneapolis and St. Paul flocked to Walnut Grove in southwestern Minnesota. The city is best known for its hero, Laura Ingalls Wilder, who wrote about life in the town. The Hmong immigrants were drawn to farmland, jobs at local factories, and the slower pace of life. That influx of newcomers helped keep Walnut Grove’s main drag alive. But a generation in, the Hmong Americans who came to the region are facing a challenge familiar to other rural Americans…How do you give young people a reason to stay?
May 25, 2017 - MPR presents “74 Seconds: The Traffic Stop,” a step by step through a fatal traffic stop, which went from flashing lights to firing shots in just 74 seconds.
April 21, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Liz Casper, a recovering heroin addict, about her struggles and hopes for the future.
April 21, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins profiles James Cross, a former drug dealer who is now helping addicts in the Native American community he once sold drugs to.
April 20, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins talks with Nick Leclair, a young man from Elk River who discuss the struggle of drug addiction and the loss of his best friend, Dylan Pearson, to a heroin overdose.
April 20, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Lee Hertel, a Minneapolis activist who hands out clean needles and medicine that can reverse overdoses. Hertel says he's trying to save the lives of people he believes society has forgot.
April 19, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Lexi Reed Holtum and her legislative efforts against opioid epidemic after the death of her fiance, Steve Rummler. The two were engaged when Rummler died from a heroin overdose of in 2011.
April 19, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins profiles Rita Rogers, a mother from White Earth who lost her pregnant daughter Tiffany to heroin overdose.
April 18, 2016 - As part of MPR News series “Minnesota's Opioid Epidemic,” MPR’s Jon Collins talks with Dave Baker, Minnesota state representative (R-Willmar), about the addiction and overdose death of his son, Dan Baker.