Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• The tale of the teenagers who remade "Raiders of the Lost Ark"
  When "Raiders of the Lost Ark" hit the big screen in 1982, Indiana Jones' exploits thrilled millions of people of people. In Mississippi it thrilled Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos so much they decided to remake the film with themselves in the starring roles. The fact that they were respectively 11 and 10 years old didn't concern them. Now "Raiders of the Lost Ark:The Adaptation" is being screened in Minneapolis.4:50 p.m.
• Northwest Airlines: As fixed as it can get?
  Northwest Airlines has fixed the cost issues that pushed it into bankruptcy in the first place. Some observers point to serious challenges ahead.5:19 p.m.
• Strib cuts affect arts coverage
  Friday marks the deadline for Star Tribune staff writers to decide whether they'll take buyouts the paper is offering as part of the recent budget cuts. While we still don't know the full effect of the cuts on the paper, we do know substantial changes are being made to the Star Tribune's arts coverage.5:53 p.m.
• Builders of the Cathedral: One hundred years later
  Catholics in Minnesota are celebrating this weekend. It is the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the Cathedral of St. Paul.6:22 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Stolen Fine Art: Organized Crime's New Commodity?
  Art theft has turned into a global industry that experts believe now fuels everything from terrorism to drug-running. At least one art sleuth puts art crime (including stolen antiquities and forgeries) behind only drug and arms-trafficking as the third-most-lucrative criminal activity in the world ($2 to $6 billion a year).
• Who Should Decide the Ideal Global Climate?
  It is arrogant for certain people to decide that today's climate is the best climate for all other human beings, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told NPR's Morning Edition. Michele Norris talks with Richard Alley, who specializes in climate change and is a geosciences professor at Penn State University.
• Bush Urges Curbs on Greenhouse Gases by 2009
  The United States will engage in new international negotiations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a plan President Bush announced Thursday. The president heads to Germany next week to discuss climate change with other world leaders.
• Have a Stagnant Pool? Call the Mosquito Guy
  In the Sacramento, Calif., area, housing prices are way down. In the past year, sales volume has dropped by almost one-third. That means there are more vacant houses than usual, which means more untended swimming pools, which means more breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
• Florida Towns May Feel Homeowners' Tax Pains
  Years of rising home values have brought local governments buckets of property tax money. But now, in Florida and other states, taxpayers are saying "enough." Florida's legislature is expected to roll back property taxes next month — imposing big cuts on cities and counties. Local officials say the rollback may force police and firefighter layoffs.
• Intelligence Chief Hopes to Speed Staffing Checks
  Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell will release recommendations to streamline intelligence agencies' background checks. The FBI is having particular problems: It now takes almost twice as long to identify and hire qualified analysts as it did last year.
• Russian Spy Blames MI6 for Litvinenko's Death
  The man British authorities charged with poisoning former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko has responded with his own accusations. Andrei Lugovoi, another former KGB officer, says Litvinenko was a British agent trying to get compromising materials about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• TB Patient Identified; Father-in-Law Works at CDC
  The Georgia man who shuttled around Europe while infected with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis has been identified as attorney Andrew Speaker, 31, of Atlanta. Speaker's father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, works at the Centers for Disease Control as a microbiologist in the tuberculosis division.
• Seeking Perspective on the U.S. Death Toll in Iraq
  Casualties in Iraq are high. May has been a brutal month for American soldiers in Iraq; but it would be a mistake to think that it's the number of deaths alone that is creating the sense of national urgency to improve the situation in Iraq.
• New York Family Finds Home on Scotland's Fair Isle
  An upstate New York couple was chosen from 800 applicants to move to one of Scotland's remotest islands, Fair Isle. After six months on the island, they and their 6-year-old son love their new life among the sheep and seabirds.
• Study: Human Ancestors Walked Upright Early
  When our human ancestors first descended from the trees, they scurried around on all fours before eventually learning to walk upright. Or did they? A report in the journal Science argues orangutans actually learned to walk upright while they were still living in trees.
• Textbook-Free: Checking In at Laptop High
  In the fall of 2005, Empire High School in Vail, Ariz., ditched its textbooks and gave each student a laptop instead. The experiment was meant to foster creativity and put the most current material in front of students. It is now the end of another school year, and time to see how the switch measures up.
• Persuading Pakistan's Justices to Stand Up
  The current political crisis in Pakistan centers on a campaign led by lawyers who say they are trying to establish a genuinely independent judiciary. Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association President Muneer Malik persuaded the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, to take his case to the streets of Pakistan after Musharraf tried to fire him.
• Finding the Balance Between Rap and the Books
  Keith Shine, 17, is a junior at Curie High School in Chicago. He wants to go to college — but he also wants to be a rapper. In a piece produced by Curie Youth Radio, Shine shares his dilemma.
• Letters: PTSD Soldiers, Bulls and Holiday Travel
  Michele Norris reads from listeners' e-mail. Topics include our continued report on soldiers and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; our story on a very big pig hunted down by an 11-year-old; bull-riding; and the real price of holiday travel.

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