Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Fine comes out swinging
  Alan Fine is trying to do what Keith Ellison's DFL rivals couldn't: capitalize on reports of Ellison's past. Fine calls Ellison "unfit" to serve.5:19 p.m.
• A look at the race for attorney general
  Most of yesterday's primary winners were the same people endorsed by their respective political parties earlier in the summer. But there was one notable exception. DFL voters did not choose state Sen. Steve Kelley as their choice for Minnesota attorney general. DFL Party leaders selected Kelley as their endorsed candidate after Rep. Matt Entenza dropped out of the race. Instead, voters picked current Soliciter General Lori Swanson as their candidate. Swanson is one of Attorney General Mike Hatch's top deputies. Former Congressman Bill Luther was also in the race. To talk more about the outcome of this contest, Tom Crann turned to Guy Charles. He teaches Law at the University of Minnesota.5:23 p.m.
• Liriano ails and Twins fail
  The Minnesota Twins lost to the Oakland A's on Wednesday. But the Twins suffered another loss that may prove even more damaging in their pennant run. Pitching phenom Francisco Liriano re-injured his arm and may be lost for the rest of the season.5:50 p.m.
• MacPhail Center for Music breaks new ground
  The MacPhail Center for Music is breaking ground both for its new home and in the world of music education.5:53 p.m.
• SoWash school bond referenda pass
  For some Minnesota voters, there were more than politicians on yesterday's ballot. In two metro school districts, for example, voters approved tax increases for special school projects. In South Washington County, voters approved three separate bond measures totaling $159 million, which appears to be the largest bond issue to ever appear on a Minnesota ballot. What does $159 million buy a school district these days? We asked that question of South Washington Superintendent Tom Nelson.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• NATO Rejects Call for More Troops in Afghanistan
  NATO won't offer extra troops for the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, where military commanders on the ground have called for more support. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warns that Afghanistan could fall back under the influence of the Taliban if the peacekeeping operation fails.
• A Texas Family Mourns Son Lost in Iraq
  Before he was a Marine, his family in Texas called him "Little Georgie." George Ulloa Jr. worked in a local pizza place, learned how to box, got married, had three children, and looked forward to a career in law enforcement. Then the 23-year-old sergeant was fatally injured while serving in Iraq.
• Neanderthals Found to Live in More Recent Past
  Despite the Ice Age and competition from the evolving Homo sapiens, Neanderthals were able to survive for thousands of years longer than many researchers once thought. A discovery in a cave in Gibraltar means Neanderthals survived at least 2,000 years longer than once thought.
• Navy Chaplain Found Guilty in Prayer Case
  A jury of five officers finds a Navy chaplain guilty of disobeying an order by appearing in uniform at a protest near the White House. Lt. Gordon Klingenschmitt, an evangelical Episcopalian, persisted in mentioning Jesus in prayers despite the Navy asking him to stay nondenominational in his work.
• Lawsuit Targets U.S. Aid for Faith-Based Counseling
  An advocacy group files a lawsuit challenging federal support for the Northwest Marriage Institute, a Washington group that provides faith-based marriage counseling. The challenge by the Americans United for Separation of Church and State also targets a similar group, along with the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Problems Found in Ohio Computer Voting
  A report finds several bugs in Cuyahoga County, Ohio's new voting system. The report says that poll workers were poorly trained in monitoring the new touch-screen voting machines, and there were discrepancies between the new paper-ballot backups and the votes recorded by the machines.
• Taliban Borrows Brutal Tactics from Terrorists
  The Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan comes as the group's actions reach new levels of brutality. Michele Norris talks with Scott Peterson of the Christian Science Monitor, who is in Kabul. Peterson says this "new" Taliban is borrowing tactics, such as suicide bombings and beheadings, from al-Qaida.
• Classical: The Sound of Music Tickets
  In Albuquerque, N.M., Pamela Schaeffer prints tickets -- 42,000 of them -- for the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. The season's tickets take two weeks to print, and Schaeffer says that in that time, the Boca Systems ticket machine can make quite a racket. But enduring this noise is worth it, she finds, when the music starts.
• Plants' Wilting Point Linked to Brutal Heat Waves
  Computer models have predicted for years that more common and more brutal heat waves, like those that have struck Europe in recent years, are a probable consequence of global warming. According to a study in Nature, at least one answer has to do with wilting plants.
• Ford Faulted for Mixed Messages on Salaries
  Ford Motor Co. plans to cut white-collar salary costs by as much as 30 percent, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The automaker's board may announce the plan as early as Friday. At the same time, Ford is pulling out the stops to attract new executive talent, giving a $20 million pay package to its new CEO, Allan Mullaly.
• India Sounds Alarm on Rise in Obesity Cases
  In India, which has more undernourished people than any other country in the world, a new problem is emerging: urban, middle-class obesity, especially among children. Experts warn that diabetes and heart disease could rise dramatically in the next 25 years unless the government tackles the problem. And that, in turn, could overwhelm India's already over-burdened health care system.
• Feels Like the Very First Time: Empty Nesters
  After 45 years of marriage, the parents of commentator Ana Hebra Flaster are living together -- just the two of them -- for the very first time.
• Covering NASA: Go Big, and Go High-Energy
  Astronauts working on the International Space Station lost another screw today -- but they made it through a seven-hour spacewalk. NASA provided coverage, with commentary, of the entire event. That got producer Jeremy Hobson thinking what it would be like to have a "color guy" to spice up NASA's coverage.
• For 2006, GOP Strategy Centers on Security
  President Bush and his party are revealing a strategy for this fall's elections that emphasizes holding the party together behind the president and energizing conservatives as a voting bloc. The Republicans see their best hope in emphasizing terrorism -- while portraying Democrats as weak on national defense.
• Primary Won, Ellison Sets Sights on Minn. Seat
  Keith Ellison, winner of the Democratic Primary for the 5th Congressional District in Minnesota, hopes to be the first Muslim to win a seat in the U.S. Congress. He spent a lot of his primary campaign answering questions about his relationship to the Nation of Islam, a revoked driver's license and other controversies in his past. Regardless, he won easily against the other Democratic candidates. Michele Norris talks with Ellison.

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