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People & Places

• A Mighty Fine Road
  On October 15, 1852, the first train of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad traveled from Chicago to Joliet, Illinois. Two years later it would bring a delegation of East Coast journalists and dignitaries to the Mississippi River as part of the Grand Excursion to Minnesota. Over the next 50 years, as the Rock Island Line grew, it carried passengers and freight through 14 states and became part of the story of the American west. Then it inspired a song that has been passed from generation to generation. Minnesota Public Radio's Jim Bickal has traced the stories of the song and the railroad and discovered that together they tell quite a tale.December 11, 2002
• Humanitarian and peace efforts
  Former President Jimmy Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on International Human Rights Day. He is honored "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." We hear Jimmy Carter's acceptance speech, and then Midday's guest-host Mike Edgerly will discuss Carter's mission, and peace efforts as the U.S. faces possible war with Iraq.December 10, 2002
• Catching up with Kevin Kling
  December is a busy month for Minneapolis humorist Kevin Kling. He just released a new CD of his National Public Radio commentaries, Wonderlure. A few weeks from now he'll reprise his role of Joseph in what's now become an annual holiday pageant at the Southern Theater. On Monday, Kling returns to the Guthrie Theater to spin more wacky childhood yarns in "Tales From the Charred Underbelly of the Yulelog." Kling talked with MPR All Things Considered host Lorna Benson about his somewhat jaded view of the holiday season.December 6, 2002
• The lure of lutefisk
  The annual lutefisk supper at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis usually draws several thousand people. The Friday event is traditionally the biggest event on the Minnesota lutefisk calendar. One Twin Cities couple are regulars on the lutefisk dinner circuit, and Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer asked them why.December 6, 2002
• Public art sprouts on St. Paul's University Avenue
  Work crews in St. Paul braved the cold Thursday to erect two giant steel oak leaves that tower over a set of colorful public benches. Sponsors of the sculpture say it's the first artist-designed bus shelter in the city, and they hope it'll be inspiration for more public art on a notoriously bland commercial strip.December 5, 2002
• Ooh la la! Flops flip for a new kind of musical storytelling
  Two Twin Cities rock and rollers help out with a new type of storytelling project, and end up forming a band.November 29, 2002
• Pilgrim on a musical journey
  Matthew Fox plays guitar, and mandolin. Until recently now he's played in bands, either in ensembles, or backing someone else. Now he has a CD of his own, featuring some of the local folk scenes biggest names.November 28, 2002
• Bread for the masses
  A husband and wife team scour local grocery stores for donated baked goods and deliver the food to those in need in Minneapolis.November 27, 2002
• Eighty years bucking a trend
  One of the oldest radio stations in the Midwest is 80 years old. WNAX in Yankton, S.D. was a broadcast pioneer in the 1930s and '40s. Its glory years were in the days before television, when it helped unite the region's farms and small towns.November 25, 2002
• The domestication of dogs
  New research gives us more insight into where and when dogs first evolved. But the debate goes on as to whether canines or humans initiated the earliest domestic relationships. So, really, who trained whom first? And why would it matter 15,000 years later?November 25, 2002
• Pet behavior questions answered (part 2)
  University of Minnesota animal behaviorist Petra Mertens gives insights into why your pets behave (or misbehave).November 15, 2002
• Pet behavior questions answered (part 1)
  University of Minnesota animal behaviorist Petra Mertens gives insights into why your pets behave (or misbehave).November 15, 2002
• Ask the Veterinarian, part 2
  Gary Eichten talks with Dr. KateAn Hunter about pet and animal issues, and takes listener calls.November 11, 2002
• Ask the Veterinarian, part 1
  Gary Eichten talks with Dr. KateAn Hunter about pet and animal issues, and takes listener calls.November 11, 2002
• Running out of room
  Each day, some 1,500 World War II veterans die in the United States. That's filling up veterans' cemeteries across the country and here in Minnesota. Officials hope an expansion at the state cemetery, at Camp Ripley in central Minnesota, will take some of the pressure off Ft. Snelling.November 11, 2002

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