May 10, 2017 - As part of MPR Day in Mankato, All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with Minnesota's 1st District Congressman Tim Walz at the historic Kato Ballroom. Topics include the unique aspects of his district, Affordable Care Act, and Trump’s firing of FBI director.
April 24, 2017 - MPR’s Emma Sapong reports on the black women entrepreneurs entering the markets of hair extensions and other products tailored to African American women. The industry for Black hair products has been run largely by South Koreans, but efforts of Black business store owners are changing that.
April 17, 2017 - MPR’s Elizabeth Dunbar reports on the repeated flooding conditions found in the Red River Valley. Dunbar interviews several scientists who have studied climate and hydrology in the Red River basin.
March 27, 2017 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with MPR’s Brian Bakst about Congressman Tim Walz’s announcement that he is running for governor. They discuss how this shakes up the 2018 Minnesota political landscape.
March 17, 2017 - Upon the announcement that Louise Erdrich’s novel ''LaRose” won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for Fiction, MPR’s Tom Crann presents an audio clip of Erdrich discussing book during a Thread live event. “LaRose” is set in an Ojibwe community in North Dakota and it opens with a brutal tragedy. A man shoots and kills his best friend's five-year-old son in a hunting accident. The guilt is so heavy that the man and his wife decide to give their own son, LaRose, to the bereaved couple.
November 2, 2016 - MPR’s Laura Yuen and Rahim Feshir report on disproportionately high traffic stop numbers of minority drivers. They present data and narratives on one of the most common interactions between police and the public.
October 13, 2016 - Bob Dylan's literary roots may be as tangled as the Nobel Prize winner's famously enigmatic lyrics, but at some point they invariably end up in the Hibbing High School classroom of B.J. Rolfzen. MPR’s Dan Kraker profiles the teacher and his future music icon student.
September 9, 2016 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews 20-year-old Augsburg College student Donte Collins, who was given the Academy of American Poets' Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award for his poem "What the Dead Know by Heart." Segment includes Collins reading poem.
September 2, 2016 - MPR’s Tracy Mumford takes a look at the history of one of Minnesota State Fair’s staples…the corn dog, which has been the unofficial food-on-a-stick of the Minnesota State Fair since 1947. That's the year the Pronto Pup came on the scene. And, yes: A Pronto Pup is a corn dog, despite what you might have been told.
August 25, 2016 - All Things Considered’s Tom Crann talks with MPR reporter Nancy Yang about the history of Minnesota State Fair’s mascot, ‘Fairchild.’ The gopher character has been at the fair for 50 years. He even has a sidekick, Fairborne.