February 11, 2005 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on a VocalEssence tribute to artist Gordon Parks. Report includes numerous commentaries.
February 1, 2005 - Voices of Minnesota: Robert Pepin. University of Minnesota Physicist Robert Pepin, who served as science adviser for Apollo lunar missions 14 through 17, is confident that there is another earth-like planet somewhere that may be capable of supporting life. Voices of Minnesota pays a visit to Pepin as he recounts his remarkable career, exploring the cosmos without ever leaving the planet earth.
January 17, 2005 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Minneapolis gospel singers Tonia and Cameron Hughes. After the death of husband/father David Hughes, Tonia and Cameron use singing together as a way to rebuild and provide renewed hope in life.
December 23, 2004 - Earlier in the program we talked with a Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesperson about the Christmas travel weekend. We'll end the program tonight with a holiday travel story of a different sort. Earlier this month, Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson and Tom Keith teamed up for a dramatic reading of the classic christmas story "The Polar Express". Tom Keith provided sound effects and Dan Olson read the book in front of a live audience at the Fitzgerald Theater.
December 16, 2004 - MPR’s presents a report from a Wellstone Elementary School classrom, where there is kind of a music hatchery where singers of the future are being trained.
November 25, 2004 - Census numbers show the number of immigrants to Minnesota has declined since September 11th, 2001. However a very small component, the number of people seeking political asylum, has rebounded. People who win political asylum in the United States are seeking sanctuary from violent regimes in their homeland. The asylum granted a man now living in Minnesota saved his life. Now he's waiting for word that his wife and son can join him. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson reports.
November 13, 2004 - MPR’s Dan Olson reports on the paths of two gifted musicians, who crossed when they moved to the Twin Cities. Both Shulamit Irina Maneev and Yuri Merzhevsky are from the former Soviet Union. They studied separately at the same music school in Russia…and now they play together the classical music they both love.
November 2, 2004 - On the eve of election, MPR’s Dan Olson reports on how challenges to voters will work in the state. While most Minnesotan's will vote without a hitch, it's almost certain that hundreds will be challenged on their right to cast a ballot.
October 28, 2004 - A former Minneapolis police officer says a code of silence encourages unethical even criminal behavior among some cops. And, Michael Quinn says, the code of silence encourages good cops to say nothing to prevent the bad behavior of other police officers. Quinn has written a book titled, "Walking With the Devil, The Police Code of Silence." He says it has angered some former colleagues. But he and others say the problem is pervasive and tempts some police to take the law into their own hands. Quinn remembers he was two months into his job as a Minneapolis police rookie when he had his first encounter with the code of silence. It was 23 years ago. He and his training officer were walking the beat on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis when the older officer said he had a job on the side while he was on duty. He told Quinn to come along and offered some of the cash. Quinn says he declined the money, and when he asked fellow officers what to do they told him to ignore it.
May 27, 2004 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles The Dale Warland Singers as the choral group is ends 32 years of performance. Founder and conductor Dale Warland announced a year ago this was the group's final season. He says he'll devote more time to arranging and composing.