Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Midwest carbon market talks get underway
  Five Minnesotans are sitting down with citizens from other states and a Canadian province to design a Midwest regional carbon market.5:20 p.m.
• Sheriff's employees appear in court on fraud charges
  Two Ramsey County Sheriff's office employees who are accused of stealing money during an FBI sting pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court. The men's lawyers say the whole incident is a big misunderstanding.5:24 p.m.
• Guitarist researches lost songs of Minnesota's Irish lumberjacks
  As recently as 100 years ago, Minnesota's north woods were alive with the sounds of axe, saw -- and song. But most of those songs were lost to the ages, except for a handful collected by a University of Minnesota professor in the 1920s.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• What's Behind the Dollar's Downslide?
  The U.S. dollar plunged against other major currencies Thursday, dipping below 100 yen for the first time in 12 years. There were other signs of weakness — retail sales were down in February. Despite all this, the stock market closed higher.
• Struggling Sears May Tap Rivals in Revival Strategy
  It was once the largest retailer in the U.S., but Sears, Roebuck and Co. has been struggling for years as competitors such as Home Depot and Lowe's lured customers away. Now, in an effort to boost its bottom line, Sears may actually turn to its rivals for help.
• White House Unveils Plan to Overhaul Credit Rules
  The Bush Administration unveiled its plan Thursday for overhauling the vast regulatory system to prevent another crisis in the nation's credit markets. It said banks, mortgage companies, investors and credit-rating agencies all share in the blame, and it proposed that mortgage brokers be licensed and added new voluntary guidelines.
• Paulson: Balance Is Key in Plan to Fix Credit Crisis
  As the U.S. dollar hit a 12-year low Thursday in relation to the yen, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson talks with Melissa Block about the weakness of the dollar and recommendations from the president's working group on shoring up the nation's financial services sector.
• Fla. Democrats Weigh Presidential Primary 'Do-Over'
  Florida's Democratic leadership is divided over a solution to its primary dilemma, with some favoring a mail-in redo and others wanting to go all the way to the convention and demand the seating of the delegates chosen in defiance of party rules. Some say the candidates themselves should work it out.
• How Dollar's Falling Value Hits U.S. Companies
  Tom Groos, chairman of Viking Group Inc., which makes fire suppression equipment such as sprinklers and fire extinguishers, says the dollar's falling value hasn't hurt his company. But overseas business travel does cause sticker shock now, he says.
• Study: Sea Levels May Rise Faster Than Projected
  A new study says sea level may rise faster than scientists currently project. That's because dams built in the 20th century have captured and stored a great deal of water on land. That has slowed the rate of sea level rise and masked the effect of expanding seawater and melting ice.
• A Delightful, Awful Marriage to a Pet Parrot
  Perhaps you've seen a colorful, talking bird in a pet shop and thought, "I've always wanted a parrot!" Before you take the plunge, commentator Julie Zickefoose sounds a note of caution.
• Dovey's 'Blood Kin' a Study of Human Behavior
  Ceridwen Dovey says it might be too early to call herself an author, but her first novel, Blood Kin, is being published in 11 countries. At 27, she has made a documentary film about farm labor relations in post-apartheid South Africa, studied anthropology at Harvard, and is now a doctoral student at New York University.
• Prospects Uncertain as Reformists Unite in Iran
  Iran's reformists lost control of parliament four years ago. Now, they hope to capitalize on dissatisfaction with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic policies to regain a significant minority of seats. But they face considerable obstacles.
• Weizenbaum, Creator of ELIZA Program, Dies
  Her name was ELIZA. And to many who interacted with her, she was a great listener. In fact, ELIZA was a computer program — one of the most baffling and controversial experiments in artificial intelligence. The creator of ELIZA, Joseph Weizenbaum, died March 5. He was 85 years old. Weizenbaum was a professor at MIT when he created ELIZA in 1964 and '65. He named her after Eliza Doolittle. His purpose was to study exactly how humans interact with machines.
• A Look Back at the Dollar's Plunge in 1995
  The last time the U.S. dollar sank to 100 yen was 1995. Melissa Block examines what else was going on at that time.
• Budget Vote Draws Presidential Hopefuls to Senate
  All three presidential candidates showed up for work Thursday at the U.S. Senate. Their mission: Be there for the budget resolution, so they can campaign on their votes. How long has it been since they've appeared at the Senate? And what have they missed?
• How Will Paterson Pick Up N.Y. Governor's Office?
  A day after New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer's resignation, the state's new governor takes the stage. David Paterson will have to pick up the pieces after the Spitzer scandal.
• Maine Sculptor Forges Art from Nails
  Sculptor John Bisbee has made almost all of his art with an object most people use to hang art with — nails. Recently, after decades of oxidizing, welding, bending and cutting, he realized that he was overlooking the most obvious thing he could do with nails: hammer them.

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories

Become a Sponsor