November 30, 2012 - MPR’s David Cazares profiles all-Black jazz group Mother of Masks, a group that blends spoken word, poetry and improvised music in a blues-based fountain of black creative consciousness.
November 5, 2012 - MPR’s Tim Pugmire reports on the Minnesota Voter Identification Amendment that is on 2012 ballot. Report includes commentary from both proponents and opponents of amendment.
September 13, 2012 - MPR’s Brett Neely reports on U.S. House passage of bill to swap land inside BWCA. The bill allows Minnesota to give 86,000 acres of school trust lands inside the Boundary Waters Wilderness to the federal government. In exchange, the federal government would give Minnesota lands currently controlled by the Forest Service in the surrounding Superior National Forest.
September 6, 2012 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Lou Bellamy, artistic director of Penumbra Theatre, on the financial struggles affecting the organization. The nationally-acclaimed African-American Theater company will stage no shows this season and has laid off a third of its 16 full-time staff members.
August 24, 2012 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer sits down with Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali to discuss his album “Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color” and his rejuvenating pilgrimage to Mecca.
August 3, 2012 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on cowboy mounted shooting, an event that attracts competitors with a hankering for the Wild West. A growing number of Minnesotans are competing in the little-known sport that combines horses, guns and split-second timing.
June 19, 2012 - Minnesota's 1st Congressional District appears to be ripe territory for Republicans. Yet political observers say DFL Congressman Tim Walz stands a good chance of winning a fourth term despite voting much maligned Democratic priorities such as the health care overhaul and financial reform. MPR’s Brett Neely looks at how Walz has balanced a relatively liberal voting record in a somewhat conservative rural district.
June 19, 2012 - Veteran Minnesota rock musican Kevin Bowe has given himself a gift. It's an album of his own songs, titled "Natchez Trace." MPR’s Chris Roberts talks with Bowe about the experience.
June 5, 2012 - Howard Sinker, digital sports editor for Star-Tribune.com, gives an appraisal of the potential picks for the Minnesota Twins in the Major League Baseball Draft. In 2011, only one major league team finished with a worse record than Minnesota and because of that year's dismal performance, the Twins will have the second overall pick in the amateur player draft.
May 25, 2012 - Essayist Peter Smith shares a poem on mowing the lawn. It captures the essence of the eternal struggle of adults getting kids to actually do the task.