Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• University hires Brewster as football coach
  The University of Minnesota has hired Denver Broncos tight ends coach Tim Brewster to be its new head football coach.5:20 p.m.
• What the students think
  It's a period of big changes for the Gopher football team. In addition to its new head coach, the university will soon start construction of a $288 million open-air football stadium. Tom Crann stoppped by Coffman Union on the university's East Bank. He heard what some of the school's 50,000 students think about the U's football program and its new head coach.5:23 p.m.
• St. Paul cracks down on rental housing
  St. Paul City Council members say too many landlords are neglecting their properties. They say it's unsafe for tenants and creating blight in the city's neighborhoods.5:44 p.m.
• Minnesotans rescue lost woman in New Mexico
  Carolyn Dorn had been lost in the New Mexico wildnerness for five weeks. Search-and-rescue teams gave up looking for her after three. Last week two brothers from Minnesota did what the rescuers couldn't: they found Dorn alive and got her to safety. Peter and Albert Kottke of Rochester were hiking near New Mexico's Gila River when they found her. They hiked 20 miles out of the wilderness and alerted authorities late on Saturday. The next day, a National Guard helicopter picked up Carolyn Dorn based on the Kottke's description. Tom Crann reached Peter Kottke today in Madison, Wisc., and asked him to describe the landscape where this story played out.5:50 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Bombings Underscore U.N. Report on Iraqi Deaths
  A double bomb attack at Al-Mustansiriya University in east Baghdad has killed 60 students, faculty and employees. The university, near the infamous slum of Sadr City, has been frequently attacked by car bombs and IEDs since Saddam's fall. The United Nations says that more than 34,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2006.
• Peter O'Toole and a Young 'Venus'
  In Venus, Peter O'Toole plays the role of Maurice, an old actor whose career is reduced to playing corpses on TV medical dramas. O'Toole says the movie is about a "dirty, old man and young slut of a woman," but in deeper terms, explores age, youth and beauty.
• South Korean Diplomat Takes Helm at the U.N.
  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the international body faces many challenges, but that he anticipates progress in Sudan and North Korea. He shares his thoughts on these conflicts, Iran and Iraq.
• Military Personnel Present Iraq Petition at Capitol
  Active-duty members of the U.S. armed forces visit Capitol Hill to present more than 1,000 signatures demanding that lawmakers cut off funding for the Iraq war. They say that most of the people who signed the Appeal for Redress have served in Iraq, while others expect to be sent there.
• U.S. Captain: Corruption Threatens Iraq's Future
  Michele Norris talks with U.S. Army Capt. Luis Carlos Montalvan of the 11th Infantry Regiment, who says that corruption among Iraqi security forces threatens to undermine Iraq's future. Montalvan describes two kinds of corruption: commanders benefiting from "ghost" soldiers on payrolls, and rampant oil smuggling. The latter, he says, likely benefits insurgent activities.
• Obama Tests Presidential Waters with Committee
  Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) forms a presidential exploratory committee and says that he will announce his plans — to run for the top office or not — on Feb. 10. Obama's move allows him to raise money for a presidential candidacy.
• Lewis Libby Trial Moves Ahead with Jury Process
  Jury selection begins in the trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame CIA leak case. Libby is charged with repeatedly lying under oath.
• Panhandlers: America's Vanishing Street Artists?
  Commentator Andrei Codrescu gets corrected by a panhandler friend after Codrescu says in a public comment that "panhandlers are vanishing." This provides an opportunity for Codrescu to reflect on the art and meaning of asking for coins on the street.
• In Afghanistan, Gates Hears of Rise in Violence
  Violence in Afghanistan is at a six-year high, according to top U.S. commanders there. The officers spoke to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who also met with NATO commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Gates is on the latest stop on a whirlwind tour through Europe and the Middle East.
• British Prosecutors Show Video of Attack Attempt
  A British court has been shown dramatic film footage that prosecutors say shows a would-be suicide bomber trying to detonate a bomb in a London underground train on July 21, 2005. The footage was shown on the second day of the trial of six men accused of failed attacks on the London transport system.

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