Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Nell Freudenberger's Dissident
  Nell Freudenberger's new novel "The Dissident" is a book about family, art, and ownership. In the book a famous painter and performance artist arrives in Los Angeles from China. He's come to teach at an exclusive girls school, and to present an exhibition. But who is he really?4:50 p.m.
• Stem cell issue fuels flare-up in attorney general race
  During a debate on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning program, Lori Swanson said Jeff Johnson supported a bill as a state legislator that was aimed at limiting stem cell research at the University of Minnesota. Johnson accused Swanson of resorting to wedge issues.5:23 p.m.
• Predicting winter's heating costs as uncertain as forecasting the weather
  The feds say the cost of heating with natural gas will be cheaper than last year. But Minnesota's largest energy company says it believes heating costs will jump. What gives?5:50 p.m.
• Cashing out
  With just 70 employees, Eden Prairie-based CNS Incorporated is a pretty small local health care company that has earned international attention. Europe's largest drug-maker, GlaxoSmithKline, announced yesterday that it will buy CNS for $566 million. CNS is best known for making the Breathe Right nasal strip, but when it started, it was in a very different business. Tom Crann talks with Dr. Dan Cohen, who founded CNS incorporated in 1982.5:53 p.m.
• Liberians' search for truth begins in Minnesota
  In the coming months, Liberians living in the U.S. will begin to tell their stories about atrocities that occurred in their West African nation. Some of the early training to collect those statements is underway now in Minnesota.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Supreme Question: What Would Warren Do?
  Commentator Jim Newton says that for the Supreme Court this session, the most urgent issue it will face this session is freedom during wartime. Jim Newton is the author of the book Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made.
• A Samoan Soldier Who Died for the United States
  A remembrance for a 47-year-old Samoan-American National Guardsman killed in Afghanistan. In Kansas City, the small Samoan community is rallying around the family. Frank Morris of member station KCUR reports.
• Graduated Licensing Cuts Teen-Driving Dangers
  For generations, getting behind the wheel for the first time meant excitement, romance and danger. But now, most states have adopted new rules aimed at taking some of the danger out of learning to drive -- and perhaps a little of the fun.
• Security Becomes a Tricky Issue in 2006 Elections
  The new threat to national security posed by the North Korean nuclear test underscores the main theme of President Bush's presidency: security. But it's not clear which party might best use the issue. New polls show a kind of sea change coming over the electorate, just four weeks from Election Day.
• Gwendolyn Brooks' Indispensable 'Maud Martha'
  Gwendolyn Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who died in 2000, published only one work of fiction for adults: Maud Martha. Author Asali Solomon says Brooks tells this coming-of-age tale with "minimal drama and maximal beauty."
• My Brightest Diamond: A Polished 'Workhorse'
  Singer Shara Worden of the group My Brightest Diamond comes to pop music from a background in opera and performance art. She also serves as a back-up vocalist to the iconoclastic singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. The result, says critic Jim Fusilli, is alluring and adventurous, as in the new Bring Me the Workhorse.
• To Correct Rights Record, Liberia Sends Team to U.S.
  In the coming months, Liberians living in the United States begin to tell their stories about atrocities that occurred in their West African nation. The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission is gathering statements in one of the most ambitious effort ever by such a commission.
• Palestinians Deadlock on Forming Unity Government
  Talks to form a new Palestinian government have broken down between Fatah and Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian Authority's ministries. A unity government may have led to a way out of sanctions imposed by the West.
• Kolbe: GOP Knew About Foley as Early as 2000
  Rep. Jim Kolbe confirms a Washington Post report that in 2000 or 2001, his staff notified House leaders of inappropriate contact between Rep. Mark Foley and underage pages. Meanwhile, a former page's lawyer acknowledges his client has been interviewed by the FBI.
• Questionnaires Test Judge Candidates' Views
  Lawmakers are not the only people running for office this fall. In many states, judges are chosen through popular elections. And as Election Day nears, special interest groups are pushing judicial candidates to fill out questionnaires to show where the candidates stand on controversial issues.
• Airbus Faces New Delays, Costs and Concerns
  No sooner had Airbus announced further production delays to its giant A380 aircraft than problems emerged with two other crucial programs: The A400M military transport is faces rapidly rising costs and possible delays; and the A350 airliner is said to be under similar threats.
• North Korea's Place in China's Foreign Policy
  China has been reluctant to support sanctions targeting North Korea's nuclear weapons program, according to analysts. Robert D. Kaplan, correspondent for Atlantic Monthly, says China hopes to see North Korea's Kim Jong Il fall from power.
• U.N. Moves Toward 'Punitive' Actions for N. Korea
  Diplomats at the United Nations say they are making progress on a resolution to punish North Korea for conducting what appears to have been a nuclear weapons test. The Bush administration has proposed a list of sanctions to target North Korea's small elite and the secretive nation's weapons programs.
• An American Peeks Across the Border into N. Korea
  Commentator Lauren Keane has lived in China for more than a year -- and recent events inspired her to take a trek to where China and North Korea share a border. Keane is a freelance journalist living in Beijing.
• U.S. Museums Cope with Art Tainted by Nazi Looting
  More than 600,000 pieces of artwork are believed to have been looted from private European collections by the Nazis between 1933 and 1945. Some of that art is in the United States. NPR's Guy Raz reports on the quandaries museums face as they investigate claims. Recently, Yale University reached a creative solution with an elderly man over a Courbet landscape valued in the millions.

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