Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• College grads gain degrees, lose health insurance
  Many college graduates drop off their parents' health insurance before getting a job of their own with health coverage. The National Institute for Health Care Management recognized the problem and called young adult health care a "national imperative."4:44 p.m.
• Heffelfinger lashes out at Justice Department
  Former U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Tom Heffelfinger told a group of lawyers Thursday that something is fundamentally broken at the U.S. Justice Department.5:20 p.m.
• Ham Lake fire reveals extraterrestrial visitor
  This weekend, teams of volunteers will plant trees to help rejuvenate forest areas along the Gunflint Trail, after the big fire earlier this month. Many in the area want those burned areas to look green as soon as possible. But, some think the newly barren ground holds its own different kind of attraction.5:24 p.m.
• The art of death
  Looking good when you're dead isn't easy. Luckily there are people out there who can help.6:20 p.m.
• How's the family?
  A new program, "How's the Family?" delves into the everyday truths about the families we grow up in, and the ones we choose later on. This time, the show looks at what happens when children -- and parents -- do bad things.6:25 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• The Peculiar Role of Gasoline in Consumers' Lives
  Consumers watch the price of gasoline like no other product. As Valerie Folkes tells Robert Siegel, gas is unique. Folkes is a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
• Checking In on Fort Carson, Part II
  Problems at Fort Carson in Colorado, where soldiers were punished despite showing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other conditions, prompted the base's commanders to vow that soldiers would get the help they need.
• House, Senate Approve Iraq War-Funds Bill
  Congress has approved emergency legislation containing $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure passed despite widespread opposition in the Democratic majority. It omits the provision for a U.S. troop withdrawal timeline, which prompted an earlier veto.
• Student Loan Industry Moves to Keep Subsidies
  Critics of proposals to cut subsidies to the student loan industry say they could hurt low-income and black students the most. But at least some of the criticism seems to be orchestrated by private lending companies such as Sallie Mae, which stand to lose billions of dollars if the system is discontinued.
• Bush Hails House War-Fund Bill Free of Timeline
  President Bush says that he is glad the House has agreed to send him a funding bill for Iraq that does not set a timetable for troop withdrawal. The bill funds the war through September, when members of Congress are hoping to hear reports of political and military progress.
• President Bush Airs His Ideas About Iraq and Iran
  President Bush made wide-ranging statements this morning about Iraq and Iran during his Rose Garden press conference. Robert Siegel talks with Peter Rodman, senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, and Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• Gunfire Breaks Truce at Lebanese Refugee Camp
  A two-day truce at a Palestinian refugee camp was broken Thursday, when heavy gunfire was exchanged between the Lebanese military and Islamist militants who refuse to leave the camp in northern Lebanon. Government officials says it is only a matter of time before it orders its troops to go after the Islamist militants.
• Israel Attacks Hamas, Which Argues Over Response
  Israel stepped up its offensive against the Islamist group Hamas, in response to continued rocket fire from Gaza. The Israeli military has launched more airstrikes against targets in Gaza, and arrested Hamas members in the West Bank. Some Hamas leaders are calling for renewed suicide attacks on Israel.
• States Push to Legalize Hemp Cultivation
  The crop known as "industrial hemp" may look like marijuana, but it has little in common with its illegal cousin. The plant, a non-narcotic version of cannabis, is valued for its fiber and oil. But there has been a virtual ban on farming industrial hemp in America for nearly 50 years, even though it is grown in other industrialized countries.
• N.Y. Coroner Links Death to Ground Zero Toxins
  In a reversal, New York City's medical examiner has officially ruled that a woman's death was related to toxic fumes after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Felicia Dunn Jones was working one block from the World Trade Center on the day the towers were destroyed. She died from a lung-related infection several months later.
• U.S. Gasoline Prices Rise; the Highest Is in Chicago
  Chicago has beaten out San Francisco for the dubious title of having the nation's most expensive gas. Chicagoans can blame high taxes of almost 80 cents a gallon, along with a special fuel recipe required to protect air quality.
• You Call That Folk?
  Whenever there is a revival of folk music, the music gets further from its roots — and gets closer to being ludicrous.
• Moving House: The Places I've Lived
  Like most Americans of the baby boomer generation, commentator Marion Winik has bought and sold a couple of homes in her life. Each time, the change was hard and gut-wrenching. With kids off to college, she is facing another possible move — and has this meditation on the places she has lived.
• Robert Olmstead's 'Coal Black Horse'
  A boy becomes a man by heading out into the middle of a war in search of his lost father. Sound familiar? There's a new version of the tale: Coal Black Horse, by Robert Olmstead. It is a sparely written quest story that can provide hours of rewarding reading.
• Body of Missing GI Identified as Pfc. Anzack
  The body of 20-year old Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. of Torrance, Calif., was found floating in the Euphrates River in Iraq; al-Qaida claimed responsibility for his death. Anzack was one of three U.S. soldiers who disappeared outside Baghdad after an ambush May 12.

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