Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Housing money to rescue foreclosed homes
  The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency announced its largest award ever on Friday to create a revolving loan fund to help buy foreclosed homes before potentially unscrupulous investors get to them.5:20 p.m.
• Piece by piece, budget heads to governor
  Beginning with a construction projects bill, the Legislature on Monday started sending slices of the state budget to Gov. Tim Pawlenty in a piecemeal fashion that could trigger vetoes.5:50 p.m.
• Retired English teacher's writings find a musical home
  St. Paul writer Sister Mary Virginia Micka is still smiling from having her words set to music and performed in public recently.5:54 p.m.
• Minnesota Orchestra plans Orchestra Hall renovation
  If a $90 million fundraising campaign is successful, Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis will get upgrades inside and out, including video screens and on-stage seating.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Vocal Impressions: Hearing Voices, Round Four
  Commentator Brian McConnachie has been asking listeners to describe — in poetic language — their impressions of famous voices. In his last challenge, he asked listeners to describe the voices of Sean Connery, Bob Dylan, Odetta and Mae West.
• Behind the Messages on Stopping Terrorism, and Iraq
  President Bush and other supporters of the surge in Iraq say that if U.S. troops withdraw, the terrorists "will follow us home." But many military and intelligence analysts say the U.S. presence in Iraq - and elsewhere in the Middle East - is what really upsets the terrorists and mobilizes their base.
• Bush Signals Willingness to Compromise, to a Limit
  President Bush said Monday that he's ready to work with Congress on a funding bill for the war in Iraq. But he offered no new proposals or signs he's ready to compromise. Instead, he made clear he will veto the version the House and Senate approved last week, and that any timeline for withdrawal is unacceptable.
• Map from 1507 an Early Look at 'America'
  The year was 1507. A landlocked German cartographer created a surprisingly accurate map of the world, and used the word "America" to honor explorer Amerigo Vespucci. This is believed to be the first time the word "America" was used. Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially gave the map to the Library of Congress.
• Bay Area Tries to Cope with Massive Traffic Shift
  For thousands of commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area, the road home no longer exists. A crucial freeway interchange on the Oakland side of the Bay Bridge was destroyed early Sunday after a tanker truck exploded. Even though a huge section of the freeway is now just a mass of concrete and melted steel, the Bay Area's morning commute was easier than expected.
• Bush Veto of Iraq Timeline Is Likely; What's Next?
  Melissa Block talks with Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) about what compromises the Democrats are willing to make on the Iraq war spending bill that President Bush is expected to veto.
• 'DC Madam' Calls for Clients to Aid Her Defense
  The alleged "D.C. Madam" says her business was a legal escort service in Washington, D.C. — not a high-dollar prostitution ring, as prosecutors say. Deborah Jeane Palfrey expects to enlist some of the capital's top power-brokers to help her case.
• Lineman Amobi Okoye Breaks Through to NFL at 19
  This weekend, the Houston Texans laid claim to the youngest man ever picked in the first round of the NFL draft. Defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, 19, is very large — and very bright. He is already graduating from the University of Louisville with a psychology degree.
• Baseball Has Been Very, Very Good to Him
  For one 89-year-old man, a lifetime of collecting baseball cards delivered a solid return this past weekend: $1.5 million dollars and counting. Lionel Carter of Evanston, Ill., sold a portion of his 50,000-card collection at auction. The items included the 1951 rookie card for Mickey Mantle.
• A Favorite D.C. Food Landmark Suffers in Fire
  Commentator Bonny Wolf lives just one block from Washington D.C.'s Eastern Market, which was ravaged by an early morning fire Monday. It was a devastating sight to watch a 134-year-old food market go up in flames.
• Britain Convicts Five of Plotting Bombings in 2006
  In Britain, five men have been sent to jail for life after they were found guilty of plotting al-Qaida-inspired bomb attacks across England. Their planned targets ranged from nightclubs and trains to shopping malls. The men are all British citizens with links to Pakistan.
• Scientists Prowl to Destroy Mute Swan Eggs
  Nobody objects when government biologists move to kill off ecologically destructive invasive species, such as zebra mussels or snakehead fish. But when the target is the elegant mute swan — which destroys native wetlands — nasty fights break out. In Maryland, biologists are using Wesson oil and wiles to destroy swan eggs.
• Polly Hill, the Tree Lady with a Magnificent Garden
  The cherry trees, camellias and magnolias are in bloom this week at the Polly Hill Arboretum at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts — a fitting tribute to Polly Hill, the legendary horticulturalist who died last week at 100. Hill began planting seeds outside her West Tisbury home more than four decades ago.
• High Court Sides With Police on Car Chase Injuries
  The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of police officers involved in high-speed car chases that may cause unintentional injury. In an 8-to-1 decision, justices ruled that officers are protected from lawsuits filed by someone who was injured while fleeing police.
• Critique of Olmert Pushes His Tenure to Brink
  David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, tells Robert Siegel that with Olmert's approval numbers already hovering in the single digits, the report makes the "lame duck" prime minister look like "a dead duck."

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