May 28, 1996 - The eldest member of the Shakopee Mdwakanton Dakota tribe, Louise Bluestone Smith, died recently at the age of 85. In the last few years of her life, Smith received some half a million dollars a year in profits from the Mystic Lake casino -- along with the other 150 or so members of the Shakopee tribe. But until the end, Smith lived in the modest trailer in which she'd spent most of her life in poverty. She spent her last years in a tireless and unsuccessful legal effort to stop tribal chairman Stanley Crooks from enrolling new tribe members. Smith said many of the new members did not meet the tribe's requirement of one-quarter Shakopee Mdwakanton blood. Smith insisted that her fight with the tribal leadership was not about money, but about the integrity of the tribe. In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio in 1994, Louise Bluestone Smith said the casino business has brought her people dramatic wealth, but also introduced greed -- a concept that she says was foreign to the Dakota people when she was a child.
April 24, 1996 - With spring weather finally moving in, the air is filled with chirping birds... buzzing bees... and -- the chest-rattling thumps of car stereos. As Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen found out, young men with big woofers in their backseats spend the winter pining for spring, and the chance to share their 'bumps' with the rest of us.
April 17, 1996 - New statistics released this week are fueling concern that the Minnesota system for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities... does not serve minorities fairly. The report says minorities are admitted disproportionately to at least one state hospital... and are more likely than whites to be on waiting lists for more desirable home-care services. In part two of our series, Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen reports the findings are consistent with those in other states.
April 16, 1996 - A new state report says Twin Cities minorities with developmental disabilities are more likely to be sent to Cambridge state hospital than are whites, and are less likely to get the more sought-after home-based services. Minorities make up twenty percent of new admissions to the Cambridge state hospital since 1992, a proportion more than three times that of minorities in the state, and twice the minority population of Hennepin County. State Senator Linda Berglin of Minneapolis says she finds the report "disturbing." She asked for the data after several African-American parents complained they'd been denied in-home services that are routinely given to white families with disabled children. State officials say the higher rate of institutionalization among minorities is not necessarily the result of discrimination. In the first of three reports on state programs for the developmentally disabled, Minnesota Public Radio's John Biewen examines the case of an African American mother who charges that she and her mentally retarded son
February 8, 1995 - MPR’s John Biewen reports on Hmong women breaking tradition by going to work, changing the family dynamic. The friction between traditional and new gender roles have led to divorce for some in Hmong community.
June 21, 1994 - MPR’s John Biewen and Kate Cavett, both producers of the documentary "O Freedom Over Me," discuss excerpts, interviews, and outtakes that did not make it into final production. The documentary focused on the 30-year anniversary of Freedom Summer.
June 20, 1994 - Documentary is a look at Freedom Summer, 1964.
May 3, 1993 - MPR’s John Biewen profiles Minneosta poet Bill Holm after his heart attack. Holm talks about his health, his time in China, writing, and disdain for strict nutrition.
April 12, 1993 - Continuation of a Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Grand Casino Mille Lacs near Garrison, Minnesota highlighting American Indian casinos…what some term as the ‘New Buffalo.’ In this second hour of program, MPR’s Catherine Winter interviews Leonard Prescott, chairman of Little Six Inc.; Charlie Berg, state senator and chair of Minnesota Senate Gaming Regulation Committee; Bernita Churchill, elected legislative official for Mille Lacs Tribe; and Doug Twait, commission of public affairs for Chippewa Tribe. Group discusses benefits, concerns, issues of gambling in Minnesota, and answer listener questions.
April 12, 1993 - A Mainstreet Radio special broadcast from the Grand Casino Mille Lacs near Garrison, Minnesota. First hour of program highlights American Indian casinos…what some term as the ‘New Buffalo.’ MPR’s Catherine Winter interviews Leonard Prescott, chairman of Little Six Inc.; Charlie Berg, state senator and chair of Minnesota Senate Gaming Regulation Committee; Bernita Churchill, elected legislative official for Mille Lacs Tribe; and Doug Twait, commissioner of public affairs for Chippewa Tribe. Group discusses benefits, concerns, and issues of gambling in Minnesota.