Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• WWII Medal of Honor recipient shares his story
  One of 32 living World War II Medal of Honor recipients lives in West Duluth. Mike Colalillo earned the medal in Germany during the closing days of the war.4:50 p.m.
• Twin Cities meth use on the decline
  Fewer Twin Cities area students abused methamphetamines last year according to a new state report. But it shows that other drugs such as Ecstasy and LSD are becoming more popular.5:20 p.m.
• Minnesota soldier killed in Afghanistan
  A soldier from Granite Falls was killed in Afghanistan Saturday. The Pentagon is backing off from its original report that Matthew Ryan Kahler may have died from friendly fire.5:24 p.m.
• Muslim leader remembered as uniter
  Members of the state's Muslim community will gather to remember Hesham Hussein. Hussein, 44, died this weekend in a crash while travelling in Saudi Arabia. Hussein worked closely with non-Muslim groups in an effort to foster strong relationships between people of different faiths.6:25 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Clinton Makes a Play for Florida's Democrats
  All the Democratic presidential candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida when the state violated the national party's ban on an early contest. Now Sen. Hillary Clinton is making a clear play for support in the state, where voters will go to the polls Tuesday.
• Pentagon Budget May Put Next President in a Pickle
  Next week, the Pentagon will send its annual budget to Congress. The request totals about $500 billion. But one thing is missing: Most of the money needed to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Critics say that could present a political dilemma for the next president.
• States Facing Big Budget Deficits Seek Solutions
  Robert Siegel talks with state capital reporters in Nevada, New Jersey and Florida about how those states will address looming budget shortfalls. We also hear from Ohio's Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, who successfully brokered a solution to his state's financial woes last year.
• Pakistan's Inaction Frustrates U.S. Terror Officials
  Officials with the Bush administration were highlighting Iraq as the "central front" in the war on terrorism, but concern recentlly shifted toward the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Pakistanis have resisted U.S. requests for a stronger role in anti-al-Qaida operations, and U.S. officials say they're growing frustrated.
• Reports from McCain, Romney, Giuliani Camps in Fla.
  It's the final day of campaigning before the Florida Republican presidential primary. Scott Horsley, Greg Allen and Robert Smith report on three of the candidates: Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
• Sen. Kennedy Backs Obama for President
  Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid picked up a key endorsement Monday from Sen. Edward Kennedy — along with some other Kennedys. Sen. Kennedy, a major Democratic player for decades, had been courted by the Clintons, who requested that he remain neutral.
• Prescription Drug Deaths Rise in West Virginia
  For the first time in U.S. history, drug overdoses and other types of poisonings now kill more people than guns, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Record numbers of West Virginians are dying in the quiet epidemic, mostly from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone.
• State of the Union Preview: Back to Bush's Agenda
  President Bush will deliver his final State of the Union address Monday night, seeking to steer attention back to his administration as the economy sputters and the 2008 presidential campaign reaches a fever pitch.
• Economy, Insurance Top Issues for Fla. Voters
  The high cost of homeowner's insurance is a main issue in Tuesday's GOP primary in Florida. Giuliani has endorsed the creation of a national catastrophe fund. Other GOP candidates have been discussing the economy in broader terms.
• Market Bounces Up on Poor Housing Numbers
  Housing numbers released Monday morning were much worse than expected, and as a result, the stock market is up across the board. Why would the market go up on bad news? The reason has a lot to do with markets wanting another interest rate cut from the Fed and traders thinking another round of bad housing numbers might seal the deal.
• Fictional Characters That Inspire: TV's Jack Bauer
  We continue our series In Character, where we ask listeners to submit personal essays on their favorite fictional characters. Today, it's Jack Bauer from the TV series 24.
• A New, 'Post-Racial' Political Era in America
  NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr observes the ascendance of Barack Obama as a presidential candidate and wonders whether the U.S. is entering a new, "post-racial" political era.
• FBI Unravels the Stories Skulls Tell
  There is an old saying that dead men tell no tales. But forensic experts at the FBI's special projects lab could write a book from the information they get from a simple skull. The reconstructions that forensic artists build on skulls can give the dead new life.
• Shrewd, Selfish Scarlett: A Complicated Heroine
  What business did a young black woman in the Northeast have indulging a fascination with the slave-owning heroine of Gone With the Wind? NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates explains the complicated business of Scarlett fever.
• Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future
  Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity. Instead of building around rising waters, they ask, why not build on water? Floating houses, gardens, even villages are the future vision of some Dutch planners.

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