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.
October 12, 2009 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles August Wilson’s last play Radio Golf. Roberts talks with Lou Bellamy and Quentin Skinner about the play.
October 16, 2009 - Negotiations continue in Washington on how to craft legislation that reforms health care and has enough support to pass. Earlier this week, a reform bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee. It must now be reconciled with a substantially different health care bill that was approved in July by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. Joining us now with her take on how this is playing out is Minnesota's senior U.S. Senator, DFLer Amy Klobuchar.
October 27, 2009 - Garrison Keillor talks about life, literature, and his latest book, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance.
October 27, 2009 - Garrison Keillor talks about life, literature, and his latest book, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance.
November 16, 2009 - On the 30th anniversary in the United States' post-Vietnam War experience, MPR’s Dan Olson takes a look back. 1979 was the year that the U.S., led by Vice President Walter Mondale, convinced world leaders to come to the rescue of more than a million so-called "boat people."