October 21, 2004 - In his 1996 book, "Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy," the journalist and commentator James Fallows wrote that the media had become "irresponsible with its power. The damage has spread to the public life Americans all share. The damage can be corrected, but not until journalism comes to terms with what it has lost." Eight years later, in the midst of another presidential election, the question is: has that happened? Fallows gives his answer live at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis.
October 22, 2004 -
October 25, 2004 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports that English language classes are bursting at the seams in the Twin Cities. New arrivals to the United States have been packing the classes, eager to learn the primary language of their new homeland.
October 26, 2004 - In this installment of our occasional series "Every Vote Counts," Mainstreet Radio’s Cara Hetland reports on South Dakota's close race for the U.S. Senate. The margin for a victory could be just a few hundred votes, and Native American votes could be the deciding factor.
October 27, 2004 - A Michigan author has won this year's Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award with his book about the Great Lakes. Jerry Dennis grew up near the lakes and spent six weeks traveling through them as a crewmember on a tall-masted schooner. He's written a book that's both a personal adventure and a biography of the waters, telling stories of the fisherman, biologists, and environmentalists whose lives revolve around them. The book is called "the Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas." Jerry Dennis joins us now from Interlochen Public Radio, near his home in Michigan, to talk about it.
October 28, 2004 -
October 28, 2004 - A former Minneapolis police officer says a code of silence encourages unethical even criminal behavior among some cops. And, Michael Quinn says, the code of silence encourages good cops to say nothing to prevent the bad behavior of other police officers. Quinn has written a book titled, "Walking With the Devil, The Police Code of Silence." He says it has angered some former colleagues. But he and others say the problem is pervasive and tempts some police to take the law into their own hands. Quinn remembers he was two months into his job as a Minneapolis police rookie when he had his first encounter with the code of silence. It was 23 years ago. He and his training officer were walking the beat on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis when the older officer said he had a job on the side while he was on duty. He told Quinn to come along and offered some of the cash. Quinn says he declined the money, and when he asked fellow officers what to do they told him to ignore it.
October 29, 2004 - Gloria Weisgram, who lives in Moorhead, recounts "scariest night of our life." She vividly remembers one Halloween from her childhood when she dared to go trick or treating at the scariest house in her neighborhood.
October 29, 2004 -
October 30, 2004 - Tomorrow is Halloween--the perfect time to curl up with a new spooky story. A man being swallowed alive by an Irish bog is the first scene in Minnesota author Erin Hart's new novel "Lake of Sorrows."