August 3, 2009 - A leader in both football and teaching, former Vikings offensive guard Randall McDaniel joins Midday to talk about his upcoming induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and about being an educator in Minnesota. McDaniel also answers listener questions.
August 3, 2009 - MPR’s Euan Kerr speaks with Penumbra Artistic Director Lou Bellamy about Claude Purdy, a founding member of the Penumbra Theater in St. Paul. Bellamy says Purdy offered many strengths to the stage.
August 19, 2009 - On this Midday program, MPR’s Gary Eichten talks with U.S. Representative Tim Walz, who represents Minnesota's 1st Congressional District. Walz is holding a town meeting on health care reform in Mankato. In advance of that meeting, he joins Midday to talk about healthcare reform and other issues facing Congress.
August 21, 2009 - MPR’s Jess Mador reports on how the health care debate continues to be contentious, with town hall meetings across the country devolving into shouting matches. Things were just as noisy but slightly more polite in Mankato, where hundreds of people packed a high school auditorium to participate in a town hall forum on health care sponsored by Congressman Tim Walz.
August 27, 2009 - On the first day of the 2009 Minnesota State Fair, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-MN., joins Midday at to discuss current events and answer questions from the audience.
September 4, 2009 - Garrison Keillor, host of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, joins Gary Eichten at the Minnesota State Fair for this Midday program. They take questions from the crowd and talk about many topics including but not limited to Keillor’s books, money, and comedy.
September 9, 2009 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer chats via phone with Minnesota DFL Congressman about his latest visit to Afghanistan and the war effort there. Walz also discusses President Obama’s upcoming speech on healthcare debate.
September 21, 2009 - The inaugural formal meeting of The Kerri Miller Book Club presents an interview with Louise Erdrich, twenty-five years after Erdrich's novel "Love Medicine" was published and became a bestseller. Program recorded before an audience in Minneapolis.
September 29, 2009 - America faces difficult choice in Afghanistan, to send more troops there or not. The U.S. has been in Afghanistan nearly eight years, and yet the situation there is increasingly unstable. With debate brewing over further troop increase, Midday’s Gary Eichten talks with U.S. Representative Tim Walz about the path that lies ahead. Walz also answers listener questions.
October 1, 2009 - Julian Bond, chairman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a civil rights activist, reflects on the state of the civil rights movement now that a black man is president of the United States. Bond also answers listener questions.