Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Commentary: Nancy Pelosi's new gig
  Nanci Pelosi's election as House speaker today came as no surprise. She's already been making the rounds in Washington, negotiating how a Democratic Congress will share power with a Republican President. Guest commentator Gordon Stewart says there's one image from the past week he can't get out of his mind.5:15 p.m.
• U of M to expand its presence in Rochester
  The U hasn't purchased or leased any buildings yet. President Robert Bruininks says this won't be a traditional campus with housing and a quad.5:18 p.m.
• The slow death of nursing homes
  The number of nursing homes in Minnesota is shrinking. Choices like assisted living apartments have become the preferred housing option for many senior citizens.5:24 p.m.
• A new take on birthday gifts
  A child's birthday party is supposed to be about celebration, but often for the kids it seems to be about the presents. For some parents, the way around that is to make the birthday gifts into birthday donations.5:46 p.m.
• Santana wins second AL Cy Young Award
  Santana received all 28 first-place votes for a perfect total of 140 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees finished a distant second.5:50 p.m.
• Money changes everything
  We've heard the sayings: "Money talks." "Money changes everything." Even, "money makes the world go round." It's been said many ways over the years, but new research from the University of Minnesota appears to prove that money -- and even the concept of money -- influences our behavior and interactions with others. For example, in one experiment, people deliberately exposed to the concept of money -- even via a simple word puzzle -- were shown to be less helpful to a person in need. Tom Crann talks about the research with Kathleen Vohs, an assistant professor at the Carlson School of Management at the U, who conducted this research.6:20 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• German Court Convicts Man Connected to Sept. 11
  A German appeals court finds Mounir El Motassadeq guilty of being an accessory to mass murder. Motassadeq was a friend of some of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers when they lived in Hamburg, Germany, including the apparent ringleader, Mohamed Atta.
• Iran and the U.S., Divided by Stereotypes
  As they debate controls on nuclear development, the United States and Iran labor under stereotypes that shape the discussion. This report comes in advance of Ted Koppel's documentary on the Discovery Channel, Iran. The Most Dangerous Nation. The special airs this Sunday.
• Singer Creates Musical 'Conversation' with Poetry
  Each song on singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst's new CD, Strange Conversation, has its genesis in a poem, by writers ranging from Lord Byron and George Eliot to Edna St. Vincent Millay and E.E. Cummings.
• McConnell Is Senate's New Top Republican
  Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is the new GOP minority leader. Melissa Block talks with McConnell about how his party will adjust to being the minority party. McConnell says that because the Senate's margin is only 51-49, the Republicans can still wield power in shaping legislation.
• For Iraq, U.S. Needs a 10-Year Plan -- At Least
  Retired Marine Col. Thomas Hammes says insurgencies last 10 to 30 years, and that the United States will need to maintain current troop levels in Iraq for the next three to four years. After that, he foresees a gradual drawdown over 10 years, with the U.S. maintaining at least 20,000 troops there.
• Bush Prepares to Join Leaders in Vietnam
  President Bush is in Singapore for the start of a three-nation Asia trip. The centerpiece of that trip is the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held this year in Vietnam. In President Bush's first trip to communist Vietnam, he will be joined by leaders of 20 other Pacific Rim nations, including China and Russia.
• System Sees Rise in Medicare Drug Prices, Profits
  As debate continues over whether the U.S. government should negotiate directly with drug makers over Medicare drug prices, we measure how well Americans have been served by the market so far. Medicare drug prices and premiums have gone up during the first year of the benefit, as have profits for drug companies and insurers.
• Elected House Speaker, Pelosi Suffers First Defeat
  As expected, House Democrats have elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to be the first woman ever to be speaker of the House. But they elected Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland to be majority leader, despite Pelosi's personal endorsement of Rep. John Murtha.
• Wharf's Sea Lion Terrorizes Swimmers
  A sea lion in a San Francisco lagoon has been terrorizing swimmers and has bitten at least 14 people. Experts say the sea lion is either brain-damaged or is protecting his harem of mates. Melissa Block talks with Celeste McMullin, who was bitten by the animal.
• Violence Spills from Darfur into Chad
  Melissa Block talks with New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas D. Kristof. Kristof just returned from eastern Chad, where he was reporting on the violence that has spread there from Darfur. Kristof has chastised the international community for its lack of action in the region; the United Nations has recognized the events as genocide.
• Letters: Catholics and Birth Control; a Dying Father
  Melissa Block reads from listeners' letters and e-mails, including a correction chiding a report that mistakenly identified the Catholic Church's approved method of birth control. There are also responses to Nicole Leblanc's sound portrait of her dying father, and an interview with a high school principal who banned dances at his school.
• Hearing Sounds of Religion, and Fanaticism
  When commentator Gigi Douban was taking her kids to school on a recent morning, a man in a white truck stopped beside her. He was listening to sermons in Arabic and she immediately thought "truck bomb." Douban, who is of Egyptian descent, says her mother listened to similar sermons on a tape player all the time.
• Japan Quake Sends Massive Surges to California
  An 8.1-magnitude earthquake north of Japan created a small tsunami that found its way to Crescent City, Calif. Back-to-back surges destroyed two docks and rattled nerves in the small community, which lost 11 people to a tsunami in 1964. We hear from a local emergency services coordinator, as well as a witness to the pounding.
• Economist Milton Friedman Dies at 94
  Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist who advocated an unfettered free market and had the ear of three U.S. presidents, died today at age 94.
• Hertz IPO Is a Payday for Turnaround Firms
  The Hertz rental car company is going public today. The deal is expected to bring a huge windfall to the company's owners. The Hertz IPO has raised eyebrows because of the expected payout for the private equity firms handling the deal and because of the short period of time they have owned the company.

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