January 8, 2010 - Republican Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem and Republican House Minority Leader Kurt Zellers preview their priorities to solve the state's budget crisis and address key issues in the 2010 legislative session opening February 4th.
January 11, 2010 - MPR’s Steven John interviews U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar about China’s use of cadmium in children's items. The chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning Asian manufacturers against the use of cadmium in children's items. That's after lab tests found that Chinese manufacturers were substituting the heavy metal in place of lead in cheap charm bracelets and pendants being sold in this country. Cadmium is known to cause cancer, and, like lead, it can hinder brain development in the children. Senator Amy Klobuchar led the fight to ban lead from toys manufactured in China. She's traveling in southern Minnesota today and we caught up with her.
January 11, 2010 - MPR’s Tim Nelson reports on how the Karen have adopted Minnesota as their new home, 10 years after the first of the Karen escaped the oppressive regime that rules Myanmar, and began to immigrate to the Twin Cities.
January 12, 2010 - The battle is on for the smartest smartphone. Apple's iPhone and Google's new "Nexus One" are competing for the hearts and dollars of this year's phone buyers. But with so many phones out there, commentator Peter Smith is starting to notice some side effects.
January 14, 2010 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews sports columnist Jim Klobucahar about the history on rivalry of Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys.
January 14, 2010 - Miep Gies, the woman who helped hide Anne Frank from the Nazis and later saved Anne's diary, died this week in Amsterdam. She was 100 years old. Midday features a remembrance of Gies, plus an excerpt from an interview with Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
January 15, 2010 - MPR’s Dan Olson profiles Twin Cities musician and educator Cyril Paul. A native of Trinidad, Paul has lived in Minnesota for more than 50 years performing the music of his homeland and also serving as a music resource person in schools and churches.
January 15, 2010 - MPR’s Tom Robertson reports on DFL candidates for Minnesota governor participating in Bemidji forum on Native American issues. Report includes comments from Peggy Flanagan, director of Wellstone Action’s Native American Leadership program.
January 15, 2010 - There's a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. today for former Pioneer Press executive editor Deborah Howell. She was hit by a car and killed in New Zealand earlier this month. Howell led the paper to two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s. She later went on to Washington and was most recently the ombudsman for the Washington Post. New York Times columnist David Carr says Howell cut her teeth in the tough, male-dominated newspaper business at an early age
January 22, 2010 - Chris Roberts reports on Minneapolis hip-hop artist Dessa. Roberts interviews Dessa and others about artist’s style, lyric writing, and album "A Badly Broken Code."