Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Retailers look to gift cards to boost sales
  Many retail stocks fell Wednesday, including shares of Minneapolis-based Target, as tepid holiday sales results worried investors. Retailers are shifting their hopes to gift card redemptions in the post-Christmas season. According to the National Retail Federation, gift card sales continue to post hefty gains.5:20 p.m.
• White means green for winter tourism industry
  With more snow on the ground this December than parts of Minnesota have seen in years, area resorts and hospitality businesses are optimistic about a healthy winter recreation season.5:24 p.m.
• Tiger escape raises safety concerns
  Officials are trying to figure out how a tiger escaped from its enclosure Tuesday at the San Francisco Zoo. The 300-pound tiger mauled three men -- one of them fatally -- before being killed by police.5:50 p.m.
• Minnesota woman is a champion beaver skinner
  A Detroit Lakes woman is among the best at a skill once critical to the Minnesota economy.5:54 p.m.
• Lake Superior heats up
  Scientists explore why Lake Superior is warming quicker than air around it6:24 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Syrian Church Aims to Foster Religious Dialogue
  From high on a mountaintop, the monastery of Dier Mar Musa is trying to bring greater understanding between the Christian minority and the Muslim majority in Syria. The church houses a special place for Muslim prayer.
• Holes Found in U.S. Claims of a Drug-War Win
  Federal officials have celebrated "an unprecedented cocaine shortage" in U.S. cities, crediting more busts in the southwestern United States and Mexico. But NPR has found that while there are indeed spot shortages of cocaine, they are neither nationwide nor unprecedented. And the scarcity may have unintended consequences.
• In 'Blood,' Day-Lewis Revisits His Darker Side
  In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day-Lewis plays an obsessive loner who hits it big in the California oil rush. Day-Lewis says exploring "the darker recesses of one's imagination and psyche" has always appealed to him.
• Mom Serving 19 Years in Crack Case May Get Break
  Nearly 20,000 crack felons could get a break in their sentences as a result of the new sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine, and Nerika Jenkins is one of them. She was sentenced to 19 years in a federal penitentiary.
• Shows That Got Away: TV Drama, Reality, Game
  As part of NPR's series on "The Ones That Got Away," we highlight three TV shows from 2007 that didn't get the ratings they might have deserved: Mad Men on AMC, Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel and Merv Griffin's Crosswords.
• Tiger Attack Shutters San Francisco Zoo
  The San Francisco Zoo was closed Wednesday as police swept the zoo grounds after a tiger escaped Tuesday, killing a 17-year-old and mauling two others. The Siberian tiger was shot and killed by police officers.
• Calif. Faces Water Limits over Threatened Smelt
  A federal ruling to protect a tiny threatened fish is about to have very real consequences for water supplies in California. As early as this week, state and federal water managers will have to limit pumping in the Sacramento San Joaquin Delta, which supplies water for 25 million residents and millions of acres of farm land.
• Shoppers Spent More Than Expected This Season
  The much-anticipated, much-feared collapse of retail sales this holiday season did not materialize. Christmas shoppers spent more than expected, but not by much. This year's holiday sales grew, but the pace of growth was slow.
• A Brutal British Mystery Novel for Boxing Day
  Writer Jonathan Hayes was escaping a painfully dull Boxing Day dinner when he was introduced to Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors for the first time. Hayes says Sayers helped nudge the English mystery novel out of the drawing room and into the real world.
• Huckabee Returns to Iowa for Final Push
  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the new Republican front-runner in Iowa, returns to the Hawkeye State in advance of the Jan. 3 caucuses. He is the first Republican candidate to do so. New polls show that he is in a fight there with Mitt Romney as other candidates fall back.

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