August 27, 2003 -
August 20, 2003 - When she was a little kid, Amber Hultman hated horses. Now, at age sixteen, she's the Minnesota High School Rodeo Queen. To win the crown, she had to excel in categories like modelling, public speaking, and horsemanship. But Hultman says being queen is much more than looking pretty while riding a horse. The Chisago Lakes High School junior also excels in events like goat tying, pole bending, and barrel racing. In this week's edition of our series, The Enthusiasts, Minnesota Public Radio's Nikki Tundel caught up with Hultman on her family's farm in Center City.
August 19, 2003 - Health care professionals joined Governor Pawlenty today to inaugurate a new law created to track medical mistakes. The goal of the program is to reduce medical errors in Minnesota and, eventually, help Minnesotans determine which hospitals are doing the best job in preventing mistakes. The Legislature didn't fund the system. But officials hope to find start-up money in the next month and have the program fully operational within two years. The Minnesota law is the first in the nation to embrace standards proposed by the National Quality Forum. Dr. Ken Kizer is the non-profit organization's president and C-E-O. He joined the governor today to praise Minnesota's plan. Kizer says as many as 98,000 people die each year from hospital medical errors, and that Minnesota's new law is an important step in making hospitals safer.
August 18, 2003 -
August 6, 2003 -
July 31, 2003 - In the early sixties, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was a top contender for the middleweight boxing crown. In 1967, he was convicted of three murders and spent nearly 20 years in prison. Carter always maintained his innocence and, in 1985, he was finally set free. His story has been chronicled in numerous books, a song by Bob Dylan, and the 1999 motion picture "Hurricane." Carter is in Minneapolis tonight to discuss the importance of competent legal representation in capital cases. He will speak to more than 500 death penalty opponents as part of the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights Death Penalty Project. Carter says some people interpret his story as an example of American justice finally winning out. Others view it as just another chapter in a long saga of injustices.But the way Carter sees it, his is simply a tale that can never be told enough.
July 30, 2003 - A West African military reconnaissance team arrived in Monrovia today as explosions and gunfire continued to rock the Liberian capital. The group will assess conditions in the war-torn country to prepare for the deployment of regional peacekeepers. U.S. marines are stationed off the coast of the west African country, but the Pentagon says it's too early say if American troops will take part in a ground effort. President Bush has demanded that President Charles Taylor leave Liberia before he'll consider sending in the U.S. military. For decades, western Africa has been a battleground for warlords seeking control of the continent's diamonds, oil, and other resources. Millions of Africans have died in the conflicts. Dr. Willie Roberts marched to the U-S embassy in Monrovia in 1990 to ask for U-S intervention in Liberia and is once again pleading for United States to help stabilize his native land. The Minnesota resident lived through Liberia's bloody seven-year war. He says he was naively optimistic that the election of President Taylor in 1997 would bring stability to his homeland.
July 25, 2003 - The decision to show graphic images of Saddam Hussein's dead sons was criticized today by European commentators and human rights groups. Yesterday Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he ordered the photos to be released in hopes of convincing Iraqis that Saddam's reign was truly over. The media display of the corpses angered many Muslims who said the U.S. treatment of the bodies violated Islam's rules for dealing with the dead. University of Minnesota Professor Mark Pedelty says the decision to show the photos raises a number of ethical concerns.
July 23, 2003 - MPR’s Nikki Tundel interviews Michele Garnett McKenzie, director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program at Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, about newly released figures show Minnesota's largest minority groups are making significant economic strides. McKenzie says over the last few decades the state has become a magnet for the county's newest residents.
July 23, 2003 - A legal challenge to Minnesota welfare cuts will continue despite a judge's order last week allowing the cuts to take effect. Under the new state law, federal supplemental security income will be counted as income. As a result, some disabled Minnesotans will see their welfare checks decreased by as much as one-hundred twenty-five dollars each month. The state says the change is expected to save $22 million dollars over the next two years. A judge had issued an injunction stopping the implementation of the cuts, but a USDA letter stated the cuts were consistent with federal law.