Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• New money changes ethanol industry
  The bulls on Wall Street have developed a taste for Midwest corn. They're investing in corn-based ethanol, which is both good and bad news for Minnesota farmers.7:45 a.m.
• Bush budget proposal holds arts funding stable
  President Bush's $2.7 trillion budget plan, which he unveiled earlier this week, calls for stable funding for cultural entities such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dominic Papatola, Minnesota Public Radio arts commentator and theater critic for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, tells us what that means for the arts world.8:20 a.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Scientists Illuminate the Nature of Dark Matter
  More than 20 years ago, scientists discovered that most of the matter in the universe isn't made up of ordinary atoms but rather invisible material dubbed dark matter. New observations of nearby galaxies suggest that dark matter only comes in enormous clumps of particles that race through space faster than fighter jets.
• FDA Probes Safety of Attention-Deficit Drugs
  The Food and Drug Administration holds a hearing Thursday on drugs for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder. The agency is looking for advice on how to design studies to determine whether the drugs are safe. Critics say the FDA's approach is too slow.
• Signs of Life Return to St. Bernard Parish
  Pockets of post-Katrina pioneers are sprouting up all around New Orleans. In the community of Arabi, just to the east of downtown New Orleans, a few pioneers are rebuilding. They hope their presence will draw others back home.
• Bush: Al Qaeda Planned 2002 Los Angeles Attack
  President Bush says that in early 2002 the United States and its allies foiled an al Qaeda plot to hijack a commercial airplane using shoe bombs and fly it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles.
• Congress Examines Reform of Ethics Standards
  Congress continues to wrestle with the fallout from the bribery scandals involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Two Senate committees looked at the issue of ethics standards Wednesday, but found no easy answers.
• Warren Buffett: An Animated Investor
  We all know Warren Buffett as a billionaire investor. Now, he'll be a cartoon character, appearing in a children's animated series about investing. Buffett will lend his voice to the show, in which a group of children become millionaires thanks to a successful online auction. Looking for advice on what do to with all their cash, they turn to Buffett.
• Soldier Asked to Pay for Body Armor Destroyed by Combat
  The U.S. Army had a message for 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook: Before he could leave the Army, he had to pay for body armor vest he lost. Medics destroyed the vest because it was soaked with Rebrook's blood when he was wounded. The Army demanded $632 to replace it. Rebrook's friends helped raise the money. After a senator asked questions, the Army promises a refund.
• Testing Out the Five-Blade Razor
  Steve Inskeep tries out the new Fusion razor by Gillette, which boasts five blades. To test it out, he shaved one-half of his face with the Fusion and one-half with the four-blade Quattro, put out by Gillette's competitor, Schick.
• Bush Discusses Budget Plan with Business Leaders
  President Bush was on the road Wednesday touting the $2.77 trillion budget he sent to Congress this week. The president found a receptive audience of business leaders in Manchester, N.H. But an independent survey of state voters at the end of December put Mr. Bush's approval rating at 36 percent.
• Spread of Bird Flu Expected in Africa
  Now that the deadly bird flu virus has spread to poultry in northern Nigeria, experts say it is almost certain to spread further in Africa. Nigeria's poultry population is estimated at 140 million birds, and the nation appears ill-equipped to stamp out the virus.
• Iraq's Shiites Mark Holy Day of Ashura
  An apparent suicide bomb tore through a Shiite religious procession in Pakistan Thursday, killing more than a dozen people and wounding many more. The attack came on Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Shiite calendar. In Iraq for the past two years, Ashura has been a day of violence, with more than 200 Shiite deaths at the hands of Sunni attackers.
• Executives Increasingly Turn to E-Mail
  A new study suggests that executives who used to telephone or hold face-to-face meetings have increasingly turned to e-mail over the last five years.
• Bush Administration Cites Progress in AIDS Program
  The Bush administration reported to Congress that it has more than doubled treatment for people with AIDS in developing countries. In the second annual report to Congress, the administration also defended AIDS prevention programs run by faith-based organizations.
• Complaints Prompt Government Review of Immigration Courts
  The Justice Department is reviewing immigration courts after repeated complaints that some judges are rude or incompetent. Immigration judges say there are not enough of them, and they are overworked.
• Morocco Hopes to Ease Dispute over Western Sahara
  Morocco has a new proposal aimed at resolving a decades-old dispute over the Western Sahara. The Kingdom of Morocco seized the land to its south when Spain withdrew from there 30 years ago. Fighting ensued with a rebel group known as the Polisario Front, until a cease-fire was reached in 1991. Morocco is hoping that Western fears of a potential terrorist threat in the nearby Sahel region will bring new attention to the problem.

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