Behind the Story

On June 6, the McKnight Foundation announced that the revered actress, director and teacher Wendy Lehr will receive the 2013 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award. The award, now in its 16th year, includes a $50,000 cash award and is meant to “recognize individual Minnesota artists who have made significant contributions to the quality of the state’s cultural life,” according to a press release.

This week I started a Reporter’s Notebook about a group of families who have to leave their home because their landlord, who took over ownership of their building at the end of last year, has decided to fix up the place. The landlord has given a number of tenants in the building notice to vacate to make way for renovations.

This week marked the 50th anniversary of the first play staged at the Guthrie Theater. On May 7, 1963, Sir Tyrone Guthrie’s bold new experiment opened its production of Hamlet, directed by the Guthrie at their brand new theater adjacent to the Walker Art Center. Whether you love Minnesota’s largest theater or hate it—or, like me, have intensely mixed feelings about it—there’s no denying the impact that the institution has had on the Twin Cities' cultural life.

Any time I write a story about a school, I look for test scores, which are available to the public on the Minnesota Department of Education website. I know that scores can’t give the whole picture, but they can be useful from a reporting perspective. MDE’s site allows you to compare different schools—to see how a particular school compares to others in the same district or the state. The website also allows you to look at how particular groups of students—such as high-poverty students, English learners (EL), or those from a particular race or ethnicity—are faring.