May 14, 2021 - Kao Ly Ilean Her, a pioneering leader in Minnesota's Hmong community and the first Hmong person to serve on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, died Thursday at the age of 52. MPR’s Steven John interviews Dr. MayKao Hang, Her’s longtime friend. Hang says Her helped pave the way for young Hmong American women.
January 7, 2011 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about the death General Vang Pao. Hmong Americans across the country are mourning the loss of a leader.
November 14, 2006 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about a new census report that shows that while some minority groups are struggling economically, the Hmong community in Minnesota has made significant gains. Their per capita income jumped up fifty percent over the last five years.
March 20, 2006 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports on a bill making its way through the state Senate that would allow recognition of Hmong cultural marriages by the state of Minnesota. The measure would give the negotiators between families in Hmong cultural weddings the authority to perform legal marriages, but the bill is getting resistance from some Hmong leaders.
September 19, 2005 - Some members of the Hmong community in the Twin Cities say they don't expect racial tensions to escalate during this year's hunting season... despite publicity around the murder trial of Chai Vang. Vang was found guilty last week of killing six hunters in the woods of Northwest Wisconsin last November.
September 17, 2005 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports that while the jury's guilty verdict ends the legal aspect of the Chai Vang murder case, the emotional toll is still lingering -- for his family and the Hmong community.
September 16, 2005 - MPR’s Perry Finelli interviews Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about the Hmong community reaction to Chai Vang murder trial.
February 8, 2005 - MPR’s Brandt Williams report that St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly confirms that as far as he knows his aide Sia Lo is the target of a federal corruption investigation. The mayor made the announcement in response to a Star Tribune article that named Lo.
November 25, 2004 - The shooting deaths of six hunters in northwestern Wisconsin has prompted a complex set of reactions - perhaps nowhere more than in the Twin Cities Hmong community. The alleged shooter, Chai Vang, is a Hmong immigrant who lives in St. Paul. When the first reports of the incident came out, local Hmong leaders cautioned against making Vang's ethnicity an issue.
November 23, 2004 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports that court documents filed show the suspect in the six killings in Wisconsin, a 36-year-old Hmong immigrant, told authorities he was called racial slurs and fired upon before he says shot back. Hmong leaders in the Twin Cities gathered today to condemn the shootings and express sympathy for the victims. But some say racial tension between white and Hmong hunters is common.