Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• A trip to Body Worlds
  Response to the newest exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota has been overwhelming. According to the museum, in just the first weekend, over 12,000 people have seen "Body Worlds." All Things Considered host Tom Crann toured the exhibit with Dr. Jon Hallberg.4:50 p.m.
• Lawmakers face deadline pressure
  With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, Minnesota lawmakers must still resolve major issues, including dramatically different stadium plans and differences over how much to borrow for construction projects. Legislative leaders are sniping at each other across the aisle, and it's doubtful lawmakers will finish their work by a stated goal of May 17. All Things Considered host Tom Crann talks with Minnesota Public Radio's Capitol Bureau Chief Laura McCallum about the work left to do.5:20 p.m.
• Army pilot who grew up in Minnesota killed in Afghanistan
  A St. Paul native who joined the Army shortly after graduating from high school was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan Friday, according to the Pentagon.5:25 p.m.
• Moorhead utility wants to revive interest in wind power
  Wind power is popular with with consumers in Moorhead, Minnesota. The local utility, Moorhead Public Service is now trying to expand its customer base.5:45 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Phone Companies Gave NSA Millions of Call Records
  The nation's largest phone companies -- AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth -- reportedly have been providing the National Security Agency with call records of millions of Americans. The agency says it is not listening to the calls, only using them to form a database to detect potential terrorist activity.
• Senate Panel Debates NSA Domestic Phone Taps
  Reports that the National Security Agency has compiled a database of telephone numbers with the help of U.S. phone companies leads the Senate Judiciary Committee to table its agenda for an immediate debate over the allegations. Lawmakers decried what they described as preparations for the surveillance of domestic phone calls.
• Tracking Patterns in Database of Millions of Calls
  Tracking and analyzing domestic phone calls would require pattern-recognition software and intense traffic analysis, two of the newest tools in the intelligence trade. Steven M. Bellovin, computer science professor at Columbia University, says the National Security Agency would have to use such techniques to analyze the huge databases turned over to the NSA by phone companies. Robert Siegel talks with Bellovin.
• Genetics IDs Katrina Victims; Some Were Long Missing
  The bodies of scores of victims of Hurricane Katrina are in morgues along the Gulf Coast, awaiting identification. Cutting-edge genetics that are being used to help identify the dead are turning up dozens of "missing" people along the way.
• New Spy Novels for a New Time
  Two new spy novels, Alex Berenson's The Faithful Spy and Robert Baer's Blow the House Down offer thrilling fictions based on today's realities of terrorism — and undercover efforts to thwart it. Literature professor Alan Cheuse has a review.
• Legal Immigrants Work; Does the System?
  The janitors, restaurant workers, and other low-wage immigrants who've been demonstrating lately have almost no legal way to be in the United States. Instead, nearly all the permanent work visas issued each year are for highly skilled workers like computer programmers, university professors and nurses.
• Phonegate: Jamming Democrats' Campaign Efforts
  It began as a dirty trick: On Election Day in 2002, New Hampshire Republicans hired a calling center in Idaho to jam the phone lines at Democratic offices, so that Democratic voters couldn't get rides to the polls. The ploy has not faded with time, however: The episode has blossomed into a criminal investigation, a civil lawsuit and a story whose players include several prominent Republicans.
• Celebrating Beloved Bilko's Shenanigans
  Sergeant Bilko cheated and conned officers and underlings alike -- and TV audiences loved him. The producer of a new DVD set of The Phil Silvers Show, aka "Segeant Bilko," explains what made the 1950s show so beloved.
• Senate Bridges Gap on Immigration Overhaul
  Senate leaders from both parties agree on a plan that should allow a long-delayed immigration bill to proceed. But the fate of the underlying legislation, which would strengthen the borders but provide a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, must still be determined in the Senate next week.
• Calling Out the Posse to Fight Illegal Immigration
  Confronted with illegal border crossing in Arizona, the Maricopa County Sherriff's office has turned to a traditional Western solution: the posse. Wednesday night, sheriff's deputies and members of the department's 300-member reserve force were sent to patrol the desert and round up illegal immigrants.

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