November 19, 2003 - The National Transportation Safety Board says the cause of the crash that killed Senator Paul Wellstone and 7 others was a result of pilot error. The crash happened in October of last year during the heat of Wellstone's campaign for a 3rd term. The NTSB said the plane lost air speed, and the aerodynamic lift required to keep the plane in the air, as it approached the airport in Eveleth. The Board also agreed with investigator's findings that the pilots lacked proper training in crew coordination. Former Wellstone campaign director Jeff Blodgett says the findings of the report are difficult to take.
November 19, 2003 - Governor Tim Pawlenty is taking his prescription drug importation plan to Washington. Pawlenty will testify before the Senate Commerce Committee tomorrow morning at the invitation of chairman Senator John McCain. Pawlenty is the only Republican governor to actively push the idea of importing drugs from Canada. Larry Jacobs is a political science professor at the University of Minnesota who follows the politics of health care. He's also the author of the book "The Health of Nations." Jacobs says the importation issue comes at a good time for Pawlenty.
November 20, 2003 - Two Republican state legislators said today (THURSDAY) they'll push a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Their announcement comes two days after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gay couples have the right to marry under that state's constitution. The Minnesota legislators say defining marriage in the state constitution would ensure that voters, not judges, decide the issue. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports...
November 20, 2003 - Midwestern governors like Tim Paulenty are disappointed to hear that a drug importation plan backed by the House was dropped from the final Medicare bill.
November 20, 2003 - Governor Pawlenty appeared before the Senate Commerce Committee at the request of committee Chair, John McCain of Arizona. Senator McCain and others on the committee gave the governor and his prescription drug plan a warm welcome. Max Cacas of Minnesota Public Radio's Capitol Hill bureau reports.
November 20, 2003 - Oleg Timofeyev plays and discusses a Russian seven-string guitar with MPR’s Mindy Ratner. Timofeyev learned the instrument so he could play medieval music, never dreaming the he would ever perform 20th century Russian music. Later he discovered the work of Georgian-born composer Matvei Pavlov-Azancheev, who created a body of work for the Russian seven-string guitar while imprisoned in a Soviet labor camp during Stalin’s regime.
November 21, 2003 - The issue of gay marriage has elicited a strong response from our listeners. Several of you called our comment line yesterday after we aired a National Public Radio commentary by Stanley Kurtz.... who opposes gay marriage. Kurtz said gay marriages... by definition can't produce children... and allowing them would undermine what he calls the "symbolic link" between marriage and parenthood. That... he says... would lead to more out-of-wedlock births and more family disillusionment. He says this has already happened in Scandanavian countries.. where gay marriages have been allowed for a decade. But this listener... from Minneapolis... questions the comparison to Scandanavian countries.
November 21, 2003 - Chris Julin presents a Mainstreet Radio report from Duluth, where he visits the Sacred Heart Music Center. Before becoming a music venue, the building spent more than 100 years as a cathedral. It has different acoustics from most concert halls and recording studios. For this reason, musicians from bluegrass bands and punk rockers love the sound, saying it has a different feel.
November 21, 2003 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles The Commissioning Club, a local performing arts organizations that commissions new music. Roberts interviews numerous supporters of club to better understand it’s purpose and process.
November 21, 2003 - An interview Jim Walsh, music critic for City Pages, about Prince’s career and selection as one of the 2004 inductees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.