MPR’s Lynette Nyman talks with Ilean Her, director of the state’s Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about Hmong community leaders release of a proposal seeking state dollars to help Minnesota's South-East Asians population. Several recent tragedies in the Hmong community prompted the initiative which will be presented to the legislature. It calls for mental health, education, violence prevention, and self-sufficiency programs.

In September 1998, tragedy after tragedy in the Hmong community made headline news. The worst was the killing of six children by their mother who pleaded guilty to six-counts of second degree murder.