News Cut: January 26, 2010 Archive

Five at 8 1/26/10 - By the numbers

Posted at 8:07 AM on January 26, 2010 by Julia Schrenkler

Bob should be back at any time now. Besides counting down until his return to News Cut headquarters, let's take a look at some of the numbers in the news today.

1) $300 That's how much ice fishing anglers could be fined for leaving trash behind. But wait! There's more, because the sweep staff doesn't come for free.

People who leave behind bottles, cans, cigarette butts, or worse can be fined up to $300 and be charged for the cleanup costs.

2) $12 to $20 million The amount Minnesota State University, Mankato will need to balance out in Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013, according to this piece by Tim Post. That's just Mankato State. For armchair budgeteers: Which academic programs do you cut?

3) $2.99 What it would cost you to buy an electronic issue of GQ or Esquire for viewing on an iPhone. Why did that even come up in the news? With Apple Tablet, Print Media Hope for a Payday (The New York Times) Bonus from our own Future Tense: Amid Apple tablet hype, who actually wants to buy one?

4) $75 dollars According to nora, that's the difference between her high school teacher take and her daycare provider's monthly salary. From Today's Question, How has the cost of child care affected your career decisions?

5) 76 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes and 9 seconds until Monday, April 12, 2010 at 3:10:00 PM. Well, at least at the time I copied and pasted that set of numbers. That's the countdown until the Minnesota Twins opener. h/t Minnesota Twins Fan

Today's Question

I've already quoted nora (see above) but share your reply to Today's Question, How has the cost of child care affected your career decisions?

What we're doing

Personally speaking, I'm waiting for Bob Collins to return to the office. But there's some programming too.

Midmorning
Hour one: The election of Barack Obama ushered in much discussion of a "post-racial America." But a year into his presidency, the president is facing vocal criticism, and some are questioning the role that race is playing. Hour two: The latest in cancer research. Forty years into the war on cancer, the death rate for many cancers has not changed significantly, and scientists and researchers say a new approach is needed. Midmorning talks with two cancer researchers about the latest and most promising research.

Midday TBA

All Things Considered
Ethiopian-American author Maaza Mengiste has a critically acclaimed debut novel about a family living through the revolution which rocked her country in 1974. Even though she was only 2 years old when it happened she has very clear memories of things which happened at that time, and she says she wrote the book in part to put those memories into a historical and political context. We continue Civil War Kids: Young Somalis in Minnesota. Somali refugees in Minnesota were lucky to flee a bloody civil war. But the trauma of seeing their loved ones killed or tortured can linger long after resettling to a new country. Many are still haunted by a kind of turmoil inside -- mental illness.