Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Using fake blood clots to train real nurses
  Reporter Nikki Tundel visits a Minnesota nursing program where pistachio pudding indicates infection and boiled okra is used to represent post-op drainage. And the students are better clinicians because of it.4:25 p.m.
• 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.4:45 p.m.
• Legislative auditor to investigate use of company at center of security concerns
  A state auditor wants to know if Minnesota officials adequately addressed whether a Texas firm hired to verify the identities of new employees had sufficient security safeguards.5:19 p.m.
• Minn. jobless rate falls slightly, employers add 2,000 jobs
  Minnesota's unemployment rate dropped slightly and employers added 2,000 jobs last month, signaling that the state's economy is improving, officials said Thursday.5:24 p.m.
• Teleconference prepares Red Bulls for return to Minnesota
  They're a long way from home, but more than 1,200 Minnesota soldiers already are thinking about what they'll do when they return.5:38 p.m.
• Vikings cool to proposed stadium plan
  The Minnesota Vikings are brushing off proposed new options for overhauling the Metrodome, which were unveiled today by the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission.5:41 p.m.
• Using fake blood clots to train real nurses
  Reporter Nikki Tundel visits a Minnesota nursing program where pistachio pudding indicates infection and boiled okra is used to represent post-op drainage. And the students are better clinicians because of it.5:55 p.m.
• U of M lab may have first terrestrial evidence of dark matter
  A physics lab deep below the Iron Range may have uncovered the first terrestrial evidence of dark matter.6:19 p.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Putting A Price On Emissions Presents Challenges
  At the climate conference in Copenhagen, all the talk is over how to reduce carbon emissions. For economists, the problem boils down to one thing — putting a price on carbon emissions. Generally, placing a price on a commodity — corn or soy or a car — is a fairly easy matter. But putting a price on carbon presents particular challenges.
• Climate Envoy: China, India Remain Stumbling Blocks
  The point of the climate negotiations is to replace the 1997 Kyoto climate treaty. The U.S. never ratified that treaty, because it doesn't require rapidly industrializing countries such as China to cut emissions. The head of the American negotiating team in Copenhagen, Todd Stern, tells NPR's Richard Harris that China and India's reluctance to make binding commitments remains a stumbling block.
• Report: Cause Of Air France Crash Remains Unknown
  Melissa Block talks to Matt Wald, aviation reporter for The New York Times, about France's reopening of the search for the black box of the Air France flight that crashed off Brazil's coast in June. French authorities also released a report Thursday detailing changes they'd like to see made to airplanes to make black boxes easier to find in the future.
• Mexican Drug Kingpin Slain In Firefight
  In a dramatic two-hour gun battle, Mexican troops shot dead one of the nation's most powerful drug kingpins, Arturo Beltran Leyva. This is the biggest victory yet in President Felipe Calderon's war on drug traffickers.
• Oklahoma Abortion Law 'Invasive,' Critics Say
  A new Oklahoma law requires any woman seeking an abortion to first answer dozens of personal questions — information that would be posted on a state Web site. Abortion rights advocates, who are challenging the law in court, say it would have a chilling effect on women considering the procedure.
• Daniel Day-Lewis: 'Nine' Lives, One Way Of Living
  In his new film Nine, the world-famous actor plays a world-famous filmmaker. He joins host Robert Siegel to talk shop about singing and acting — and why he thinks it's strange that anyone thinks it's strange when he throws himself body and soul into preparing for a part.
• Letters: 'French Elvis,' Nuclear Energy
  Listeners respond to stories about the "French Elvis" Johnny Hallyday, and France's nuclear energy program. Robert Siegel and Melissa Block read from listeners' e-mails.
• Tiger's Legacy? He's An Athlete, Not An Angel
  Commentator Daniel Schorr reminds us of something we too often forget: Above all, we admire athletes because of their athletic ability. Tiger Woods may have committed a moral crime, but the man isn't an angel. He's a golfer.
• A Traditional Jazz Christmas, An Unlikely Source
  The jazz composer Carla Bley doesn't celebrate Christmas, and left the church behind as a teenager. But you wouldn't know it from her new album, which sets her favorite Christmas carols — traditional and original — to her edgy writing style.
• Galbraith Denies Promoting Plan To Remove Karzai
  Peter Galbraith, who was the No. 2 United Nations diplomat in Afghanistan earlier this year, tried to have President Hamid Karzai removed from office, according to U.N. officials cited in The New York Times. The move came after widespread allegations of fraud in the elections that kept Karzai in office. Karzai was reportedly incensed when he learned about Galbraith's plan. The U.S. government was, and is, strongly opposed to any effort to remove Karzai by extra-constitutional means. Galbraith, who has been fired, denies that he actively promoted the plan, while acknowledging that he did discuss it.

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