Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Art Hounds
  Each week Minnesota Public Radio News asks three people from the Minnesota arts scene to be "Art Hounds." Their job is to step outside their own work and hunt down something exciting that's going on in local arts.4:44 p.m.
• Economic Lookout: Health care reform is priority concern for restaurant owner
  For restaurant owner Naomi Williamson, health care reform is a concern of priority as Election Day nears.4:49 p.m.
• Audit: Arts Board can improve oversight of Legacy funds
  The Minnesota State Arts Board should do a better job monitoring the artists and arts groups that receive Legacy Amendment funds, according to a new report by the Legislative Auditor.4:55 p.m.
• Pawlenty to become banking lobbyist
  Former governor Tim Pawlenty has been named the head of the Financial Services Roundtable, one of the top banking lobbyists in Washington which represents the nation's top 100 financial institutions.5:20 p.m.
• Rural Minnesota retools health care in wave of hospital mergers
  Outstate Minnesota hospitals are experiencing a new round of consolidations that can add services to communities and let patients stay closer to home but that inevitably lead to the loss of local control.5:24 p.m.
• MPR's All Things Considered takes a walking tour of Minneapolis
  If you're interested in people counting and watching in Minneapolis, Peter Bruce offers free walking tours this week while the International Downtown Association Conference is in town.5:49 p.m.
• Years later, Twin Cities funk and soul bands get their due
  In conjunction with a release compiling old area funk and soul songs, many of the featured artists will participate in an R&B revue at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on Saturday.5:54 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Obama Answers Questions From Latino Voters
  President Obama attended a town hall meeting on Thursday in Miami. The event was sponsored by Univision and focused on issues of importance to the Hispanic community. Scott Horsley talks to Audie Cornish.
• Parties Debate Meaning, Value Of 'Redistribution'
  Mitt Romney's campaign is calling President Obama a redistributionist as a way to change the "47 percent" discussion. But in fact, taking from some and giving to others is a concept long enshrined in the nation's tax code.
• Coptic Christians Feared Attacks After Anti-Islam Film
  Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community feared a backlash after a Copt was linked to the anti-Muslim film that's provoked violent protests throughout the Muslim world. But it seems the anti-Copt reaction has been limited so far.
• Vimeo's Virtual Tip Jar Invites Viewers To Chip In
  The video-sharing site has added a feature that invites users to chip in to support the filmmakers they like. It's just the latest in a long history of attempts to solicit tip-sized donations online, but Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor says the idea is finally catching on.
• Your PIN May Not Be Uncrackable After All
  Nick Berry, president of the data mining consulting company Data Genetics, recently wrote a blog post about how easy it to guess a person's four-digit PIN. Robert Siegel talks to Berry about his findings, the least popular PIN and why the password "1234" isn't such a great idea.
• 'Fast And Furious' Operation Blasted On Capitol Hill
  On Wednesday a government watchdog issued a report finding widespread failures with the government's "Fast and Furious" gun trafficking operation. On Thursday, the watchdog at the Justice Department, Inspector General Michael Horowitz, told a House panel that federal agents and prosecutors failed to protect public safety — and their bosses didn't pay enough attention.
• Crime Lab Scandal Rocks Massachusetts
  Details are still emerging about what officials call a "rogue chemist" who may have mishandled evidence in as many as 40,000 cases over 10 years. It could mean the unraveling of countless convictions. A convict sprung because of the scandal walked out of prison on Thursday.
• Plagued By Attacks, Iran Develops Its Own Internet
  Audie Cornish talks to Washington Post reporter James Ball about Iran's preparations to create an internal Internet.
• Comedian Maz Jobrani's Ideas For Iran's New Internet
  Iranian-American comic and actor Maz Jobrani reacts to the news that Iran is considering severing its links to the Internet and creating its own internal one. Jobrani is a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour.
• Could Genes For Stripes Help Kitty Fight Disease?
  Different lineages of cat with the same coloration got their looks in unique ways. The genetic variants that determine those patterns come from different mutations in the same genes. And that has some scientists thinking there may be more to the genes than meets the eye.

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