Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Shoppers snatch up bargains, but remain cautious about spending
  Shoppers swarmed shopping centers and malls today, eager to snatch Black Friday bargains. Retailers hope those shoppers will give them their best holiday season since 2007. But many are not yet ready to spend as freely as they used to.5:20 p.m.
• Wadena bistro puts local food on the menu, when in season
  Harvest Thyme Bistro in Wadena has a simple message for its customers: fresh food in season tastes better, and it's healthier.5:24 p.m.
• Dinner Party Download's Thanksgiving menu
  This week, hosts Rico Gagliano and Brendan Francis Newnam celebrate the day after Thanksgiving with a smorgasbord of tasty leftovers -- a collection of food-centric segments from the Dinner Party Download archives.6:18 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• South Korea Military Drills: Symbolic Or Provocation?
  Tensions have escalated between the Korean nations following the North's shelling of a South-held island on Tuesday. North Korea warned Friday that joint military exercises this weekend between the U.S. and South Korean military could push the peninsula to the "brink of war." But what do the planned drills entail, and why does North Korea see it as a move toward war? Mary Louise Kelly speaks with retired Army Gen. Burwell Baxter Bell, who was the U.S. commander of forces in South Korea from 2006 to 2008.
• Week In Politics: Korean Unease, Lame Duck Congress
  In our political roundtable this week, guest host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Matthew Continetti of the Weekly Standard about how Washington should respond to bellicose North Korea. They also look ahead to how the lame duck session is shaping up in Congress.
• 'Soul Mates': Shoe Entrepreneur Finds Love In Giving
  A few years ago, Blake Mycoskie traveled to a remote indigenous village in Argentina. There, he noticed that most of the children had no shoes. So he created Toms, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that gives away one pair of shoes for every pair purchased. The company recently celebrated donating 1 million pairs.
• When A Facebook Friend Becomes A Fan
  Commentator Andrei Codrescu creates a modern-day biblical passage that describes the ideal of "friendship" as decreed by Facebook. There's a 5,000 friend limit.
• A Scientist's Saga: Give Son The Gift Of Speech
  When Dr. Barry Gordon's non-verbal son Alex was diagnosed with autism in 1996, he could find little research about autism without words. Then Gordon, a neurologist and an experimental psychologist, met a man of means whose son had a similar condition.
• Saddam Hussein's Yacht Back In Iraq
  A 269-foot yacht commissioned by Saddam Hussein in 1981 for about $25 million has finally made its way home after spending decades on loan. As plans for the boat are still hashed out, Iraq's minister of transportation has been spending some long-awaited time on the former Iraqi dictator's boat.
• A Street Fight Leads To Love
  Guest host Mary Louise Kelly speaks with her dad, Jim Kelly, for the StoryCorps National Day of Listening project. She asks him how he met her mother and for advice to pass along to her own children.
• Retailers Hope To Make Up For 2009 Holiday Season
  Retailers hoped for a healthy turnout on Black Friday -- a huge shopping day that has become almost a national holiday. The recession has taken a lot of the fun out of holiday shopping for millions of households, but there are still a lot of bargain-hunters out there.
• Post-Feast Weight Gain Isn't As Bad As You Think
  Our brains help regulate our weight, and scientists say a holiday feast is unlikely to cause much weight gain. The bigger problem is slow and steady weight gain over the years.
• Brewers Collaborate On Champagne Of Beers
  The maker of Sam Adams beer and Germany's Weihenstephan Brewery have joined forces to create a champagne-style brew in time for the holidays. Guest host Mary Louise Kelly samples the beer -- called Infinium -- with Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch.

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