Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• State shutdown pushes unemployment rate to 7.2 pct.
  Minnesota's jobless rate jumped from 6.8 percent in June to 7.2 percent in July as employers shed nearly 20,000 jobs.5:20 p.m.
• Restored Metrodome gets ready to meet public
  The Metrodome is getting the final touches in preparation for its public reopening this weekend.5:24 p.m.
• Dining with Dara: Asian fusion, Minnesota style
  Asian fusion cuisine has been a national trend for years, but it's had a harder time taking root here in Minnesota. A couple of big-name attempts at Asian fusion in the Twin Cities have flopped, but some homegrown fusion restaurants are having more success.5:55 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Justice Department Probes S&P
  The Justice Department confirms reports that it is looking into the ratings Standard & Poor's gave to mortgage-backed securities before that market melted down in 2008. A look at how that relates to this summer's downgrade — and where the probe may go. Melissa Block talks to NPR's Tamara Keith.
• In Past Financial Crises, Fewer Pursued In Courts
  News of the investigation of Standard and Poor's is remarkable because the financial mess of 2008 has resulted in so few prosecutions or civil suits compared to past financial disasters. To explain what was different this time, Robert Siegel speaks with William Black, a professor at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. Black was litigation director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.
• SEC Documents Destroyed, Employee Tells Congress
  A staff member at the Securities and Exchange Commission has complained to Congress that thousands of investigative documents have been destroyed by the agency, including some relating to huge investment banks. But an SEC spokesman says there's nothing wrong with how it handled internal records.
• Oren Discusses Attacks In Israel
  Robert Siegel speaks with Israel's ambassador to the United States Michael Oren about the recent attacks on Israelis near Egypt.
• Letters: Presidential Vacations; Bush Impersonator
  Robert Siegel and Melissa Block read emails from listeners.
• Politics Still Play A Role In Arizona Redistricting
  Arizona voters approved a constitutional amendment establishing an independent commission to decide where to draw redistricting lines. The intent was to avoid the self-interest of having the Legislature draw its own. But the commission is taking political flak even before it releases any maps.
• States May Have To Readopt Deportation Program
  Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn was one of three governors to pull their states out of the federal Secure Communities program earlier this year. But this month, the Obama administration told state officials they would have to participate.
• Chinese VP Meets With Biden
  Melissa Block talks to NPR correspondent Anthony Kuhn about Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping. Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with him in Beijing Thursday, and the two men are expected to spend quite a bit of time together in the next few days. It's an opportunity for the U.S. government to get better acquainted with the man who will likely be the next president of China. Xi is sometimes referred to as a "red princeling," a senior party official whose parents were revolutionaries under Mao Zedong.
• Brawl Between U.S. College, Chinese Teams Ends Basketball Exhibition
  An exhibition basketball game between Georgetown University's Hoyas and theBayi Rockets descended into a brawl and then a full-on melee Thursday, one day after visiting Vice President Joe Biden stopped by to watch Georgetown play another team, the Shanxi Brave Dragons.
• On Location: The Frozen Ozarks Of 'Winter's Bone'
  "I did feel like I was sometimes the translator between hillbilly and New York," says Richard Michael, a resident of Taneyville, Mo. He helped to scout locations and find props for the makers of last year's film about a teenage girl navigating the local meth trade in order to protect her home.

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