Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• School districts struggle to pay retirees' health benefits
  Some Minnesota school districts may have to go into debt to pay for the rising cost of health care for their retired employees. But some are unhappy about paying higher taxes to fund someone else's health benefits.5:19 p.m.
• 7 Minn. post offices to close; others to trim services
  The United States Postal Service is preparing to close seven post offices across Minnesota in the first wave of what may be historic change for the mail service.5:23 p.m.
• Critics, bloggers weigh the future of arts coverage
  The movement of arts coverage from traditional media to online arts blogs and independent writers is changing how organizations promote and market their work.5:51 p.m.
• Should Twitter followers be a job requirement?
  Electronics retailing giant Best Buy got quite a bit of attention when they listed 250 Twitter followers as a requirement on a recent job posting. Jon Gordon, host of MPR's Future Tense, talked with Tom Crann, who asked whether Best Buy is a front-runner in wanting employees involved in social media.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Bridge Still Home For Miami Sex Offenders
  A colony of sex offenders living under a Miami bridge has been steadily growing since state corrections officers began ordering offenders there a few years ago. Now, state judges are being asked to mediate a dispute over the encampment.
• Monica Ali Explores Secrets, Travails 'In The Kitchen'
  Author Monica Ali spent an entire year poking around "below stairs" in five London Hotel restaurants before she started writing latest novel.
• Lee Fields: Older And Closer To Perfection
  In a curious case of musical evolution, the older Lee Fields becomes, the closer he gets to perfecting the sound of soul that he grew up with. His latest release, My World, finds an ideal middle ground between the slow grind of Southern blues and the faster, funkier stylings of retro-soul.
• Obama: Overtreatment Drives Health Care Costs
  President Obama, and experts from the Mayo Clinic, are advocating an end to the "fee for service" system that encourages doctors to order more office visits, tests and procedures — and pushes up costs for health care.
• AMA Chief: Health Bill Still In Early Stages
  The American Medical Association, which last week backed the House Democrats' version of a bill to overhaul health care, endorsed the measure not for what it is now, but for what it may yet become, Dr. James Rohack says. He says the status quo is unacceptable.
• Senate Cuts F-22 Money In Line With Obama Wishes
  The Senate heeded President Obama's first veto threat and voted Tuesday to delete close to $2 billion in defense funding for F-22 fighter jets. The president and the defense secretary had said the planes were not needed, and the Obama administration saw the vote as a key test of whether Congress would go along with efforts to restructure the military.
• McCain, GOP Apologize To Jackson Browne
  Singer Jackson Browne has settled a lawsuit with the national and Ohio Republican Party as well as Sen. John McCain. At issue was a 2008 campaign ad that used Browne's song Running On Empty without his permission. Browne settled in return for an apology and an undisclosed amount of money.
• Californians Want Change After Budget Impasse
  California's unprecedented fiscal meltdown has a growing number of people looking for new options. Fixing the dysfunction is the goal of new bipartisan groups looking at possible solutions, including a major overhaul of the state's often-amended constitution.
• Pez Maker Is Sour On Museum's Memorabilia
  The Austrian creator of Pez dispensers is suing a small museum in Northern California that displays a huge Pez snowman outside its doors. The museum is full of Pez-related material, but the company claims trademark infringement, saying: "It's only Pez if we say it's Pez."
• Clinton Worried By N. Korea-Myanmar Ties
  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised concerns Tuesday about a growing military relationship between North Korea and Myanmar. Such cooperation between two repressive regimes would be destabilizing to the region, she said, and would pose a direct threat to Myanmar's neighbors.

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