October 23, 2003 - In her latest book "Where No Gods Came," Minnesota author Sheila O'Connor tells the story of 12-year-old Faina McCoy, who is sent to Minneapolis to live with the alcoholic mother who abandoned her years ago. Feeling alone in a strange neighborhood, Faina discovers she's responsible for taking care of her chronically ill mother.
October 22, 2003 - Herbicide-eating bacteria sounds like the stuff that got out of the lab in some 1950s horror flick. But it's real, and the University of Minnesota has received a National Science Foundation grant to sequence the genome of one particular herbicide-eating bacterium. Professor Larry Wackett is part of the team that will study the common, but little understood, soil microbe. He says the bacteria helps decompose toxins and can assist in cleaning up the environment.
October 14, 2003 - St. Cloud State University has received a 24-thousand-dollar grant to provide anti-racism training for its faculty members. The money comes from the Otto Bremer Foundation and is renewable for a second year if the university can prove the training had a positive impact. For years, groups have raised questions about St. Cloud State's ability to deal with diversity. And last year, the school settled a federal lawsuit filed by three professors and a student alleging anti-Semitism on campus. Professor Debra Leigh co-wrote the grant requesting funds for anti-racism training and will be one of those leading the training sessions.
October 13, 2003 - A bill working its way through Congress would allow defendants better access to DNA tests and compensate those exonerated of wrongful convictions. The bill calls for almost two-billion dollars to educate DNA testers and process backlogged DNA tests. Peter Neufeld is the director of the National Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that handles cases where post-conviction DNA testing could prove an inmate's innocence. He says DNA evidence has helped his organization free 138 wrongfully convicted people from prison. Of those already exonerated, at least 10 were on death row.
October 8, 2003 - The documentary "Four Sisters for Peace" was created by the students of Southside Family School in Minneapolis with their help of their teacher Susie Oppenheim and Twin Cities filmmaker Mike Hazard. I spoke with 13-year-old Jordan Sprenger-Wilson, 13-year-old Libby Sweet and 12-year-old Tristan Brown.
October 6, 2003 - Mankato residents are cleaning up following a weekend riot. A crowd of about three thousand erupted into violence near Minnesota State University following the school's homecoming football game Saturday night. People threw bottles, tore down signs and fences, broke windows and overturned cars. Dozens were arrested in the melee. Daniel Myers is a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame and has spent years studying collective violence. He says people tend to congregate after sporting events, and he says this fosters an environment that makes it easier for people to riot.
October 6, 2003 - London's Improbable Theater troupe returns to the Twin Cities tomorrow. In cooperation with the Walker Art Center and Theatre de la Jeune Lune, the ensemble group will perform The Hanging Man. The partially improvised play tells the story of an architect who receives superb reviews for his first building and, as a result, is offered great amounts of money to create his second structure.
September 30, 2003 - More than 1000 people gathered in Cold Spring yesterday at the funeral of a student killed in last week's school shooting; the community still faces weeks and months of grief. Bill Bond has first-hand insight into what Cold Spring's healing process might be like. Bond was the principal at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. On December 1, 1997, a freshman at the school shot eight students, killing three of them. Bond dealt with the aftermath of the tragedy, and guided the school through the recovery process. Bond now serves as the Resident Practitioner for Safe and Orderly Schools for the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Bond says a shooting at a school affects people particularly deeply.
September 29, 2003 - The Hennepin County Government Center is one of the few urban courthouses in the country that has not enhanced its security by adding metal detectors and entrance screening. Architects designed the structure to be an open and convenient center where visitors could move freely between two 24-story glass towers. For years, the Hennepin County board has debated whether to increase the building's security. County officials determined that adding metal detectors and x-ray machines at all of the entrances would cost millions of dollars. Mike Opat is the chair of Hennepin County Board of Commissioners. He says that, in light of today's fatal shooting, the building's security will be re-evaluated. He spoke with Minnesota Public Radio as he was boarding a plane heading back to the Twin Cities.
September 22, 2003 - For centuries, scientists have conducted lab research on animals. This work has resulted in countless medical advances -- from the creation of antibiotics for bacterial infections to the development of chemotherapy for cancer patients. Of course, opposition to animal testing has been around almost as long as the practice itself. And over the last few decades, there's been an increase in the number of scientists joining the animal protection movement. At a speech today at the University of Minnesota, Carleton College Professor Dale Jamieson discussed changes in the way the scientific community views animal rights. He says it's possible for people to approach animal research from a perspective that's both scientifically informed and morally sensitive.