Minnesota Public Radio Stories

• Mark Seeley predicts more weather disturbances this summer
  Mark Seeley says La Nina could be causing the weather disturbances we have seen all summer. He says there could be more to come.6:55 a.m.
• Junior composers try hand at writing music for silent films
  It's hard enough to learn to compose music, but imagine having to write a score for a silent film. That's exactly what a group of young composers is doing this week at the University of Minnesota.7:35 a.m.
• Dayton: Higher taxes needed because cuts would be 'drastic'
  Former Sen. Mark Dayton said Friday that balancing the budget through substantial cuts would ignore the state's priorities and values.7:42 a.m.
• Sports medicine expert says new rules, not new helmets, will prevent concussions
  Dr. William Roberts, chair of the Sports Medicine Advisory Committee for the Minnesota State High School League says concussions will be cease to exist with new rules, not new helmets.8:35 a.m.
• Disabilities Act at 20: A milestone, but work remains
  Twenty years after it was signed into law there have been many accomplishments, but many consider the Americans with Disabilities Act part of an ambitious social revolution that remains unfinished.8:40 a.m.

National Public Radio Stories

• Inside Our Toxic Asset: An 81-Year-Old Man With A Dog Named Muffin
  We bought a toxic asset full of mortgages gone bad. Then we went to Florida to find some of the people behind the mortgages.
• Four Letters Ease Housing Fears For Some: Rent
  The rental market hasn't seen an uptick in business even though home sales continue to decline. The rental vacancy rate is at 10.6 percent, near an all-time high. But changing attitudes may boost the rental market going forward.
• Gut Check: How Do Caterpillars Walk?
  Caterpillars don't have a bone in their body. They move by squeezing muscles in sequence in an undulating wave motion, but what exactly happens on the inside? Scientists wanted to find out, so they got a tiny, custom-built caterpillar treadmill.
• Wavering Euro Makes Store Owners Do The Math
  Prices of specialty food like European cheeses, olive oils and pastas are extremely dependent on the strength of the euro compared to the dollar. One small businessman says he never imagined that running a neighborhood food store would require him to become an expert on global currency rates.
• Who Is 'Salt'? Tastily Enough, It's Angelina Jolie
  Critic Kenneth Turan says the actress's steely resolve -- in a kicking-butt-and-taking-names part originally written for a male star -- is the main reason to see a summer action thriller that otherwise gets pretty silly, pretty fast.
• Ramona Quimby: The Mischievous Girl Next Door
  Ramona has been making trouble ever since the 1950s, when she first appeared in print. Now she's the focus of a new movie, Ramona and Beezus. In a revival of NPR's 'In Character' series, Elizabeth Blair takes a look at Beverly Cleary's most beloved creation.
• After Just 10 Days, 'Best Years' Of Life Begin
  Hilda Chacon and her husband, Pedro Moran-Palma, didn't have a long courtship -- just 10 days, in fact. But ever since they met at a party 20 years ago, they "haven't stopped having fun," Pedro says. And that includes raising Hilda's daughter, Nadia.
• Amid Mixed Economic News, Strong Corporate Earnings
  Microsoft's profits surged this week, so did Apple's and AT&T's. Despite stubbornly high unemployment, consumers are buying PCs, along with iPhones and iPads. Companies are buying, too.
• Letters To Beloved Authors
  We took to Facebook on Thursday to ask listeners if they had ever written a letter to a favorite author from their childhood. Some listeners shared their stories.
• Holocaust Survivors Blast French Rail's U.S. Pursuits
  A subsidiary of the French national railway, SNCF, took over operation of a commuter train in Virginia this month and has its sights on a contract in California. The railway transported some 75,000 Jews to death camps during World War II, and survivors say the company has not made amends.

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