Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• A handheld that saves native languages?
  A military device used in the Middle East is helping to preserve the Dakota language in southern Minnesota.3:42 p.m.
• Residents offer their ideas for property tax relief
  The tax committee in the Minnesota House took up a series of property tax measures Tuesday that came from an unusual source -- ordinary taxpayers.5:20 p.m.
• Twin Cities will stay separate in new shared brand
  Minneapolis and St. Paul hope to attract attention by featuring the best of both cities in marketing a single destination.5:23 p.m.
• Minnesota's jobless rate matches the nation's
  Minnesota's unemployment rate has risen to match the national average for the first time in more than 30 years.5:50 p.m.
• Small Wisconsin town mourns soldier
  The small community of Minong, Wisconsin, is mourning someone described as a nice kid who has died in Iraq -- Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Timberman. Timberman, 20, died Saturday from combat wounds suffered in the Al Anbar Province.5:54 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Congress, White House Clash on Hearing Rules
  President Bush says he will make Karl Rove and former counsel Harriet Miers available to testify — but not under oath — about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and others on the Judiciary Committee respond that the rules won't bring true accountability to the process.
• Gonzales Known for Loyalty, Handling Problems
  The current woes of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, whose agency is mired in a scandal of the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006, pale when compared to his disadvantaged upbringing. And that, says at least one author, is what binds Gonzales to President Bush.
• House Panel Threatens to Curb FBI Powers
  Members of the House Judiciary Committee say they will seek to curtail the FBI's record-gathering powers if the agency doesn't fix a raft of problems outlined in a recent report by its own inspector general. The report by the inspector general, who spoke to the panel, said the FBI used "National Security Letters" to obtain personal information improperly and illegally.
• Michigan Cuts Arts Funding, and Trouble Begins
  In Michigan, state lawmakers have cut funding for the popular Ann Arbor Film Festival, claiming it showed material they considered pornographic. But the ACLU says the lawmakers may have overstepped their bounds.
• Team Solves Mammoth, Century-Old Math Problem
  Scientists have solved one of the toughest problems in mathematics, performing a calculation to figure out the symmetry of a complicated 248-dimensional object known as the Lie group E8. The solution is so large that it would take days to download over a standard Internet connection.
• Seattle Refinery Rides Biodiesel Boom Into Big Time
  The Seattle Biodiesel refinery started out in a little warehouse just a couple of years ago, making a few thousand gallons of eco-fuel a day for local buses. Now it has mushroomed, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and building a large plant.
• 'Consumer Reports' Alters Testing Policies
  In January, Consumer Reports announced it was withdrawing the results of a test on the safety of infant car seats because of questions about the reliability of its data. The magazine says it will change the way it tests new products.
• Lakota Indians Use Defense Tool to Boost Language
  The Prairie Island Indian Community wants to revive its language with a tool developed by the Defense Department. The Phraselator can aurally translate pre-programmed phrases. For instance, someone saying words in English would then hear the phrase in Lakota Dakota.
• Young Pianist Ready to Be Jazz Ambassador
  Composer and pianist Robert Glasper grew up listening to his mother sing in churches and night clubs in Houston. On In My Element, Glasper delivers his brand of jazz to a hip-hop generation.
• Senate Votes to Resume Attorney Confirmation
  By a vote of 94-2, senators agree to rescind a provision that had been quietly slipped into a reauthorization of the Patriot Act last year. No longer will the attorney general have powers to appoint interim federal prosecutors indefinitely and without Senate confirmation.

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