Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Rep. Betty McCollum visits Middle East leaders
  Rep. Betty McCollum met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other Middle East leaders about the treatment of Iraqi refugees. MPR's Tom Crann spoke with McCollum from Amman, Jordan.4:45 p.m.
• St. Paul children's theater moves upstage
  SteppingStone Theatre hopes to find its spot in the limelight. This weekend the children's theater opens its new home in a prominent building in a prominent neighborhood.4:54 p.m.
• Authorities search for cause of pipeline explosion
  Federal and state agencies are investigating what may have caused an explosion Wednesday at a crude oil pipeline near Clearbrook in northern Minnesota.5:20 p.m.
• Pipeline explosion a lesson in worldwide energy policy
  The shutdown of major oil pipelines running through Clearbrook, Minnesota, is providing a surprising lesson about Minnesota's role in world oil markets. Oil prices fluctuated Thursday as oil buyers waffled on how much of problem they thought the shutdown would cause.5:24 p.m.
• Debate over Northshore Mining air quality plays out in court
  Northshore Mining company and its critics argued in a St. Paul courtroom Thursday over air quality. The company wants a judge to drop part of a 30-year-old ruling on how much air pollution it can put out. The state and environmental groups say the standard shouldn't be dropped.5:50 p.m.
• Judge denies law firm access to bridge collapse data
  In his ruling, the judge said that federal regulations covering National Transportation Safety Board investigations trump state laws dealing with access to government records.5:54 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Stars Ready for Spotlight After 3 Workless Weeks
  Broadway's stagehands have agreed to return, and the shows will go on. But what about the actors who have not had a complete performance in nearly three weeks? Bob Saget, star of the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, talks about what he expects when he hits the stage.
• Stagehand Strike Ends; Broadway Back in Business
  Once the stagehands union strike was settled Wednesday night, the frazzled but happy casts and crews of the 27 shuttered Broadway shows went into high gear to reopen Thursday.
• Aussie Singer Joins Ranks of Entertainer-Politicians
  Peter Garrett has joined the ranks of musicians who have used their fame to get into politics. The former lead singer of the rock group Midnight Oil is the environment, heritage and arts minister in Australia's new government.
• Cable Dispute Blocks Big Game from Football Fans
  One of the biggest professional football games of the year — Dallas Cowboys vs. Green Bay Packers — will likely not be available for your viewing Thursday night because of a dispute between the league and cable TV companies.
• Lebanese Get By with a Paralyzed Government
  Its been almost a week since the president stepped down, and Lebanon remains without a head of state because the divided political elite has yet to agree on a successor. There are fears that the power vacuum could lead to clashes. But for now, downtown Beirut echoes with the sounds of construction, not violence.
• GOP Candidates Raise Ethics Question in Debate
  The GOP debate Wednesday started with a bang over the topic of immigration and raised a question: Is it the responsibility of homeowners to determine the status of people working with a contractor — a landscaper, for instance? It's a question that many Americans have had occasion to ponder.
• Watching the Debate with Voters in New Hampshire
  A group of Republicans in Bedford, N.H. — a state that will be voting in less than six weeks — gathered to watch Wednesday night's Republican candidate debate and said they weren't impressed by a tussle over immigration.
• Iowans Are Leaning But Haven't Committed
  With five weeks to go until the caucuses, Iowans are wearing candidate stickers and cheering at candidate events. But ask them who they will vote for, and Iowans say they're just not sure yet.
• White House Revises Economic Forecast Downward
  The White House revised its rosy economic forecast downward Thursday, citing a more significant housing slump than was previously predicted. But the Bush administration still says there will be growth in the economy in 2008. Are predictions of a recession overblown?
• CEO's Resignation Punctuates Turmoil at Red Cross
  The resignation of Mark Everson is the latest in a series of troubles for one of the nation's most respected charities. He was the group's eighth chief executive in the past 12 years. Other charities fear the turmoil will hurt holiday giving.
• Banks Pay the Price for Risky Mortgage Bets
  Major banks are suffering enormous losses on investments tied to home mortgages. For years, Wall Street made handsome returns betting on mortgage-backed securities. But those securities are opaque and contain risks that investors were either unwilling or unable to recognize.
• Bush Urges Congress to Fund Wars Before Holiday
  President Bush met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to approve nearly $200 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan before leaving for the holidays.
• Letters: Socks, Texas Climate, Chinese Music
  Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read from listeners' e-mails, including comments from a Vermont sock company on our stories about the sock industry, response to our stories on dealing with climate change in Texas, and reflections on our conversation with a virtuoso of a Chinese musical instrument, the erhu.
• Musharraf Sworn In, Promises to Lift Emergency
  Pervez Musharraf was sworn in Thursday as a civilian president and promised to lift the state of emergency he imposed earlier this month by Dec. 16. He also said he would restore the country's constitution before parliamentary elections in January.
• Jet Lag a Tool for Recapturing Youth in Romania
  Commentator Andrei Codrescu makes a return trip to Romania, his native land, and finds that his jet lag makes what is weird there weirder. He sees a lot of German tourists, visits his brother's new home in the mountains, and brings us up to date on the state of the former communist country.

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