Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Rediscovering the "Unknown White Male"
  Imagine this happening to you: You're riding a train, past houses, buildings and bridges, in a city you don't recognize. You don't know who you are, and you have no ID. That's exactly what happened in July 2002 to a man who developed a rare form of amnesia. He is the subject of a new documentary, "Unknown White Male."4:45 p.m.
• Rep. Martin Sabo to retire from Congress
  Martin Sabo is holding a press conference Saturday to announce he's not seeking re-election. The 5th District Democrat has been a member of Congress representing Minneapolis for 28 years.4:50 p.m.
• Analyzing Sabo's decision
  University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs says Martin Sabo's decision to retire is "momentous," and the time of the announcement is "strange."4:53 p.m.
• Johnson apologizes for gay marriage remarks
  Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson says he embellished when he said Supreme Court justices told him they wouldn't overturn the state's marriage law, and he's sorry. The Republican Party wasted no time in producing a new ad that criticizes Johnson's actions.5:19 p.m.
• Other states may follow South Dakota on abortion ban
  Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are working to copy South Dakota's ban on most abortions. Republican Governor Mike Rounds signed the ban into law earlier this month, making South Dakota the first state to outlaw abortion.5:23 p.m.
• girlsBEST
  The only coffee shop in Staples, Minnesota attracts a lot of the town's teenagers. Some sip drinks and talk with friends, but others are running the place. The shop, called "Stompin' Grounds" is the brainchild of a group of local teens who wanted a place for their peers to hang out. The group received a grant from the Women's Foundation of Minnesota's girlsBEST program. The program has awarded over $1 million to girl-run projects around the state in the last 5 years. BEST is an acronym for "Building Economic Success Together." Some members of the Stompin' Grounds crew will be in the Twin Cities this weekend for a meeting of girlsBEST grant recipients. 80 percent of the recipients are girls of color or are from low-income families. Stephen John talked with Women's Foundation of Minnesota President Lee Roper-Bakter, who says the very idea for the grant also came from girls.5:45 p.m.
• Auto show features more fuel-efficient cars
  The 2006 Minneapolis and St. Paul International Auto Show wraps up March 22 at the Minneapolis Convention center. With average area gas prices hovering around two-fifty per gallon, Minnesota Public Radio's Steven John checked out how fuel-efficient vehicles are being received at the show.5:53 p.m.
• Brauer on the media
  Uncertainty is the byline at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and other newspapers in the region owned by Knight Ridder, four days after the company announced it had agreed to a buyout by McClatchy company. McClatchy publishes the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and with the purchase of Knight Ridder, said it plans to sell the Pioneer Press. Stephen John talked with David Brauer about the deal.6:19 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Political Strategies Shift in New Abortion Landscape
  Recent changes in abortion laws have turned abortion politics upside down. Republicans who have been promoting abortion restrictions as part of their campaigns are worried that sweeping state bans might scare away swing voters. Democrats are using those same bans to paint Republicans as extreme.
• Kurdish Gathering Spirals into Violent Protest
  For the past two decades, Kurds have traditionally gathered in Halabja, Iraq, in mid-March to mark a grim chapter in their history: the day when Saddam Hussein's government unleashed a poison-gas attack that killed more than 5,000 people. Thursday, that normally peaceful commemoration turned turbulent.
• Conflict Flares Up Between Kurds, Turkish Forces
  A long-simmering conflict is escalating in southeastern Turkey between government forces and Kurdish rebels known as the PKK. According to a local human-rights organization, the conflict left about 500 people dead last year, including government soldiers and police officers.
• Serbs Feel Punished in Post-Yugoslavia World
  Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Serbs feel they have no identity. There is no national anthem, and the passports still say Republic of Yugoslavia. After years of isolation, sanctions and international criticism, Serbs feel they are on the fringes of the world.
• Scattered New Orleans Election Raises Concerns
  New Orleans politicians are deep into campaign mode for the April 22 citywide election. It's a strange campaign because half the potential voters are scattered around the country. The state has made some accommodations, setting up "satellite" polling stations in other Louisiana cities.
• Weekend Marks Three Years of War in Iraq
  This weekend marks the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. We hear moments from the beginning of the war: from March 17, 2003 when President Bush gave a Saddam Hussein a 48-hour deadline to leave Iraq, through the first days of the conflict.
• Family, Friends Remember N.Y. Soldier Killed in Iraq
  Staff Sgt. Dwayne Lewis of New York was hit by insurgent gunfire and killed last month while on patrol with is Army unit. Lewis moved to New York from Granada when he was nine. His family says he was ready to risk his life for his adopted country. Kathleen Horan of member station WNYC reports.
• NPR Announces 'Word Fugitive' Winner
  About 2,700 listeners responded to last Friday's contest to find a word that describes the phenomenon of almost sneezing. The challenge was a nod to word maven Barbara Wallraff and her book Word Fugitives, about gaps in the language that dictionary words have failed to fill. Melissa Block has the results.
• East St. Louis Police Lose Evidence... Again
  Is it corruption or incompetence? Evidence from the East St. Louis Police Department is missing, and officials say it's not the first time it has happened. The city's mayor is calling it an inside job, but the police chief is downplaying the importance of the missing evidence.
• Monitors Skeptical Belarus Vote Will Be Fair
  Belarus will hold presidential elections Sunday, and the current president, Alexander Lukashenko, is widely expected to win. The European Union and the United States accuse Lukashenko of crushing human rights, and warn of new punitive measures if the election is declared unfair.
• Court Says New Pollution Rules Violate Clean Air Act
  A federal appeals court rules that the Environmental Protection Agency acted illegally when it issued new air-pollution rules for power plants and factories. The three-judge panel says the rules allowing plants to modernize without installing pollution-control equipment violated the Clean Air Act.
• Moussaoui Judge Will Allow Substitute Witnesses
  In contrast to her earlier ruling in the Zacarias Moussaoui sentencing trail, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema says the government may present new witnesses from the aviation industry, but not the ones who were tainted by a government lawyer who told them what to say under oath.
• Columnists Look Back on Three Years of War
  E.J. Dionne, a columnist for the Washington Post and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and David Brooks, columnist for the New York Times talk with Robert Siegel about the situation in Iraq three years after the U.S.-led invasion.
• Reading Blogs Is a Time-Consuming Endeavor
  Commentator David Weinberger takes blogging -- and blog-reading -- seriously. But he won't read your every word. He couldn't possibly.
• Hollywood Honors Shakespeare with Recycled Plots
  Shakespeare stole his plots from sources and ideas before his time, and now Hollywood is stealing from Shakespeare. A lot of recent teen films are adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. The most recent example: The new tweener comedy She's the Man is based on Twelfth Night.

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