Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Pawlenty says Essar concerns are resolved
  Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he will now support an Indian company's plan for an Iron Range steel mill. Pawlenty says Essar Global Ltd. has pledged to abide by U.S. economic sanctions against Iran.5:16 p.m.
• EPA halts arsenic soil tests in south Minneapolis
  A new EPA report says the site of a now-closed pesticide plant is not likely the sole source of the arsenic in soil.5:20 p.m.
• Newspapers struggle with online comments
  Many newspapers allow readers to comment on news stories online. Sometimes those comments can turn into intense and hurtful battles.5:44 p.m.
• To post, or not to post online comments
  How do news organizations make the decision to receive and publish comments about their stories online? MPR's Tom Crann talked to media analyst David Brauer about that topic.5:49 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• FEMA Trailers May Be Making Residents Sick
  Many people living in FEMA trailers since Hurricane Katrina suffer from headaches, skin rashes, nosebleeds and asthma. There's no scientific proof that formaldehyde is to blame, but some say that elevated levels found in trailers are likely contributing to the illnesses.
• Crisis-Prone Texas Juvenile Facilities Look to Reform
  The Texas Youth Commission is in what one national researcher has called "the most spectacular collapse of a juvenile corrections system in this country's history." Texas is looking to Missouri to try to reform its youth detention facilities.
• 'Child Prodigy' Film Revives Question: What Is Art?
  My Kid Could Paint That follows the painting and controversy over four-year-old Marla Olmstead's abstract works. Some critics believe her parents encouraged, if not altered, her work.
• Stayed Executions Revive Lethal Injection Debate
  The Supreme Court plan to consider in a case later this term whether a drug combination that's used in many state lethal-injection executions causes the prisoner so much pain that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is banned by the Constitution.
• Mukasey's Torture Comments Give Panel Pause
  Prospects for Senate confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general seem to be suffering because he's not giving Democrats the answer they want on waterboarding. That's the interrogation technique that makes the subject feel like he's about to drown.
• Philadelphia, Baltimore Battle Over Edgar Allan Poe
  Philadelphia and Baltimore are locked in a dispute over which city has the better claim to Edgar Allan Poe. The writer, novelist, editor and critic is buried in Baltimore, where he died 158 years ago, but he produced much of his best work while living in Philadelphia.
• Where Do the Candidates Stand on Social Security?
  Social Security's financial problems are fodder for the 2008 presidential candidates. Sen. Barack Obama is trying to gain traction with a proposal to fix the retirement system and he's criticizing Hillary Clinton for not offering any specific solutions.
• Debates Do Little More Than Attack Front-Runner
  Do presidential candidates derive any benefit from participating in debates? Lately, candidate debates have focused on attacking the frontrunner, but candidates often fail to draw attention to their own attributes.
• Southern Governors Convene to Solve Water Fight
  Severe drought is gripping Georgia, Alabama and Florida, and the states' governors, who meet Thursday in Washington, have been engaged in a rhetorical battle over how much water the Army Corps of Engineers should be releasing downstream from reservoirs in northern Georgia.
• Digital Clocks 'Fall Back' Too Early
  Clocks on computers, VCRs and other reputedly "smart" devices left a lot of people confused when they automatically switched from Daylight Savings to standard time before they were supposed to. That's because Congress moved the changeover by a week.

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