Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Rural residents protest ethanol expansions
  Rural community groups are opposing ethanol plants at the same the industry faces an economic downturn.7:20 a.m.
• Candidates move cautiously toward a run in the 3rd District
  A month after Republican Rep. Jim Ramstad announced he was retiring, it remains unclear who will run for his seat in Minnesota's 3rd District.7:25 a.m.
• Preview of Talking Volumes with Ann Patchett
  Kerri Miller talks with MPR's Cathy Wurzer about the latest Talking Volumes event Tuesday night, featuring author Ann Patchett.8:23 a.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Military Memoirs Offer Unfiltered View of Iraq War
  A new crop of memoirs from soldiers in Iraq highlights stories from the front lines, the complications of leadership, and the terrible choices that war presents.
• Schulz Sketched Own Life in 'Peanuts' Strip
  Charles Schulz used his Peanuts comic strip to reflect secrets and angst in his own life, according to a new biography of the strip's creator. Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography, reveals that the characters echoed his rejection, insecurity and an extramarital affair.
• Hollywood Writers May Strike over New Media
  The specter of a strike by television and movie writers looms over Hollywood. Their contract is up at the end of the month. A strike could change what we see on TV and eventually at the movies. Writers feel like they got cut out of a windfall from DVDs and don't want to get cut out of new media.
• Mattel Cuts Price of Recalled Polly Doll
  U.S. toymakers need China to keep their prices down, despite recalls. Toymaker Mattel's Polly Promise is a campaign to boost sales of its recalled Polly Pocket dolls. Parents are shying away from Polly, even though Mattel reissued the dolls. To boost her image, their first step is to lower her price.
• Lawmakers to Halt Illegally Harvested Timber
  Congress holds its first hearing on legislation aimed at shutting down the U.S. market for wood that is harvested illegally abroad. Tons of it come into the U.S. daily. But sometimes it takes a lumber detective to figure out what is illegally harvested wood.
• North Carolina Urges Water Conservation
  North Carolina's governor is calling on citizens to save a gallon of water every day. His request came as North Carolina and other southern states suffer from a major drought that has left parts of the region in danger of running out of water in the next several months.
• Young Iraqi Refugees in Syria Miss Schools
  Syria has become a safe haven for 2 million Iraqi refugees, most of them children. Education is important to Iraqis, but their parents can't afford school in Syria, meaning a generation of Iraqi kids may go uneducated.
• Chinese Embarrassed by License Plates
  U.S. car owners add vanity plates to their new wheels but motorists in China want some things off their new plates. The new license plates use the initials "WC," the same as "Water Closet." That was the delicate word for "toilet" in Victorian England.
• Proof That Advertising Works
  A woman allegedly involved in a family fight placed an ad on the Web site Craigslist.com that invited people to come to her aunt's house and "take whatever you want." People did. They removed almost everything, including the picture window and the kitchen sink.
• Oil Prices Surge Above $86 a Barrel
  Mounting tensions between Turkey and northern Iraq have traders worried about oil supply disruptions. But demand is already tight. OPEC slashed its latest production estimate. It says demand for crude oil will grow by 100,000 barrels a day over last year.
• Turkey Considers Raid in Northern Iraq
  Turkey's government is asking the Turkish parliament to approve a cross-border offensive. The target would be Kurdish rebels operating there. The rebels are members of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. They've want an autonomous region in the eastern part of Turkey.
• India's Nuclear Deal with U.S. Threatened
  India's prime minister has raised fresh doubts about a landmark nuclear-energy accord with the U.S., telling President Bush that his government was having "certain difficulties" finalizing the deal, which has faced mounting domestic opposition.
• Warren Buffett Slashes PetroChina Holdings
  Brian Bethune, an economist with forecasting and analysis firm Global Insight, discusses Warren Buffett's decision to sell much of his company's holdings in PetroChina. PetroChina works with the Sudanese government to help extract oil from the resource-rich African country.
• UAW Accused of Over-Selling New GM Contract
  Union leaders came away from contract talks with General Motors convinced that the new labor agreement included a guarantee that the company would not reduce the union work force. But GM is telling investors it has made no such pledge.
• Air Force Official Found Dead
  Charles Riechers, a top Air Force official, was found dead Sunday, of an apparent suicide. He had recently come under scrutiny over a well-paying temporary job with a prominent defense contractor while awaiting confirmation. That led some members of Congress to open an inquiry.

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