August 19, 2004 - A group of Hmong refugees who left St. Paul in June arrived in Washington, D.C. on August 19th, 2004, many of them on foot. Some walked the entire 1100 miles journey; others joined en route. MPR’s David Molpus talks with two involved in march.
August 9, 2004 - MPR’s Brandt Williams takes a look at probably the ugliest racial slur ever created. It is a word known primarily as a means to denigrate African Americans. The word packs such power to represent overt racial hatred, most people - regardless of race - will not even utter it. How can one word have such power?
July 13, 2004 - Expectations have always been high for Joe Mauer. Long before the Twins chose the St. Paul native as their top draft pick in 2001, Mauer was considered a sports phenom. If his rookie season is any indication, the Minnesota Twins catcher will be rubbing elbows with the league's other top talents in a not-too-distant All-Star game.
July 8, 2004 - Classical musicians from across the Twin Cities have come together to perform the premiere of a new orchestral work called “Mosaic: Cedar and Lake.” The piece attempts to capture the cultural diversity of Minneapolis.
July 6, 2004 - MPR's Jeff Horwich looks at the employment scene awaiting the state's new job seekers. After the struggles in a refugee camp and a 8,000-mile trip from Thailand, this wave of Hmong refugees will find a tight job market and a challenging U.S. economy.
July 5, 2004 - On this Fourth of July weekend, MPR listeners are asked to call in with their stories about coming to America. Caller comments are interspersed between an interview with guest Senator Mee Moua, the first Hmong American elected to State Legislator. She speaks of living in refugee camps in Laos and resettling in the U.S.
June 15, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio has compiled a series of stories on meth and the effect it is having on the state for the first half of a two-hour special report, “Methamphetamine Madness.” Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive, most abused and most readily available drugs in America. Experts are calling it an epidemic, and Minnesota is anything but sheltered from it.
May 18, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Cara Hetland reports that The Weiner Memorial Hospital in Marshall is announcing it's merge with a regional health care system. For the last year the board has struggled between independence and the desire to grow. Officials have decided the benefits of joining with a larger system outweigh the loss of autonomy.
May 14, 2004 - Mainstreet Radio's Tom Roberston reports that the floodwaters are starting to recede in the northwestern Minnesota town of Roseau. The Roseau River crested on May 14th at 25.3 feet, but then went down several inches from that level. That's welcome news for a town that was devastated by floodwaters just two years ago. Lessons learned from that flood helped keep the town mostly dry this time around.
May 1, 2004 - American RadioWorks presents “Thurgood Marshall Before the Court,” a documentary on the story of Thurgood Marshall's remarkable career before he joined the Supreme Court, when he was the nation's leading civil rights lawyer.