Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Still smoking in St. Louis County
  St. Louis County will give state lawmakers another chance to ban smoking in restaurants and bars, before taking on the issue county-wide.5:19 p.m.
• More people using food shelves in Minnesota
  Nearly 380,000 people in Minnesota are relying on food shelves and soup kitchens for their meals. That's according to a new report released Thursday by Second Harvest America.5:24 p.m.
• The ports controversy from a Duluth perspective
  The uproar over Dubai Ports World potentially operating six major U.S. ports highlights the importance -- and vulnerability -- of the nation's international shipping ports. Minnesota has its own international port. The Duluth/Superior port does not begin to rival New York, Miami, New Orleans or the other East Coast ports at the center of the current controversy, but it sees plenty of international cargo come and go each year. Tom Crann talked with Ray Skelton, security director for the Duluth Seaway Port Authority. He says being located so far inland has major security advantages.5:42 p.m.
• U Music School gets wired for sound
  The U of M School of Music is aiming to become a center for experimental electronic music. This week the school is holding its annual Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art.5:52 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Orphanage Director Stands Trial in China
  In southern China, the director of an orphanage is among 10 defendants standing trial for allegedly buying kidnapped children and putting them up for adoption as orphans. But the defendants deny the charges and say the children, all girls, were abandoned days after their birth.
• 'Reflections on Return': Sharing War Experience
  Army Specialist Richard Denny was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq for 12 months. Now he is at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He's from a family of military men in Knoxville, Tenn., but Denny says his war experiences are hard to share, even with his family.
• Senate Panel Seeks Answers on Ports Deal
  The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a briefing of Bush administration officials on the decision to allow a state-run company from the United Arab Emirates to run cargo operations at several U.S. seaports. Many lawmakers from both parties are angry that they weren't consulted before the deal was made.
• Death Penalty in Limbo After California Postponement
  Two anesthesiologists threw the death penalty in California into turmoil this week when they walked out of the execution of a convicted murderer. The doctors objected when the state asked them to do more than observe the execution. Now death penalty experts wonder whether other states will have the same problem.
• Iraqi Security Tenuous After Samarra Attack
  Iraq's national security adviser, Moaffak al-Rubaie, talks to Melissa Block about the violence that has engulfed Iraq after yesterday's bombing of the Shiite Golden Mosque in Samarra.
• The Roots of the Sunni, Shiite Conflict
  Commentator Anisa Mehdi says the conflicts between Sunni and Shiite in Iraq are decades -- not centuries -- old.
• The Mood in Najaf, Shiite Stronghold
  Iraq's Shiite Muslims are outraged by Wednesday's attack on one of their holiest shrines, north of Baghdad. Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Anne Garrels, who assesses the mood in Najaf, the seat of the Shiite clerical establishment.
• Sectarian Violence Mounts After Shrine Bombing
  Scores of Iraqis -- mostly Sunni Arabs -- have been killed since Wednesday's bombing of a major Shiite shrine north of Baghdad. Sunni political leaders have withdrawn from talks on a new government and say they will not return until attacks on Sunnis by mobs of Shiite men are halted.
• United States, Dubai: Understanding the Links
  Commentator Terence Smith visited one of the United Arab Emirates last year. In Dubai, he found a culture so capitalistic and ostentatious that he immediately understands why the U.S. government would be cultivating this rich nation's friendship.
• Debate Rages Over Cost for New Orleans Levees
  The cost of defending New Orleans against another big hurricane could be as much as $32 billion. Federal, state and local officials are at odds over whether levees and floodwalls will be rebuilt to withstand a Category Five storm.
• Four Indicted in Case of Tissue Theft
  Four men are indicted in New York City for allegedly stealing body parts from a Brooklyn funeral home and selling them for transplants. Prosecutors allege that they made millions of dollars by selling tissue samples without permission from the families.
• Philippines Revolution Fails to Live Up to Promise
  Many leaders of People Power, the movement that ousted Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos two decades ago, are disappointed now. Their idealism has given way to disillusionment as the country has failed to thrive.
• Casino Deal Divides California Town
  Barstow, Calif., went shopping for a Native American tribe to build a casino in hopes of bolstering the city's economy. Now, three tribes are interested -- and as Barstow prepares to pick one, the casino project has turned into a high-stakes competition.
• Study of Chicken Teeth Sheds Light on Evolution
  A new study shows that chickens, which don't have teeth, still have the genes that make them, and in special cases, those genes can be switched back on. Scientists now think that as animals evolve, they lose the ability to turn those genes on at the right time during development -- not the genes themselves.
• Letters: Torture, Poetry and Curt Gowdy
  Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read from listeners' e-mails about stories on torture, poetry and remembering sports broadcaster Curt Gowdy.

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