April 27, 2010 - Best-selling comic book and science fiction writer Neil Gaiman speaks at Stillwater High School as part of a new Twin Cities-wide program to celebrate reading. He's the first guest of the new Club Book program, bringing authors to metro communities. Gaiman is the award-winning author of "Coraline," "The Graveyard Book," and the acclaimed DC Comics series "Sandman."
May 10, 2010 - MPR’s Rupa Shenoy sat down with a dozen of the girls at a Hmong restaurant. The Hmong teenagers from a north Minneapolis neighborhood have spearheaded an effort to help their families communicate better with police. They have a request in to a number of city officials for a Hmong police officer to work the day shift in the area.
May 11, 2010 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports that three same-sex couples filed a lawsuit challenging Minnesota's ban on gay marriage. The couples say the ban violates their constitutional rights and that state law should treat their relationships the same as heterosexual couples.
May 12, 2010 - Tim Pawlenty is not the only Minnesota Governor to face a budget crisis. In 1980.... Republican Al Quie was the first governor to make unilateral budget cuts through the unallotment process. Quie held the state's top office during the difficult economic period from 1979 to 1983. MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Quie on Wednesday about the budget problems he dealt with in the '80s and about his take on the current negotiations.
May 17, 2010 - Twenty-one lawmakers say they won't seek re-election this year, including two who announced their retirements in the final hours of the session last night. DFL Representative Larry Haws of St. Cloud was first elected in 2005, and DFL senator Mee Moua of St. Paul won her seat in 2002. Moua's decision, coupled with the retirement of DFL State Representative Cy Thao, will leave the legislature without a Hmong lawmaker for the first time in a decade. Both are also immigrants, and Moua said she hoped her service could be an example.
May 18, 2010 - The day after Minnesota's 2010 Legislative session adjourned, Gov. Tim Pawlenty is in the MPR studio to answer questions about the budget, taxes and other major issues.
May 21, 2010 - Tim O'Brien pursues a truth in his fiction that is only somewhat based on what he experienced as a soldier in Vietnam. But the resonance of his work, particularly "The Things They Carried" has convinced people that the characters in his stories are drawn more precisely from life.
May 24, 2010 - MPR’s Annie Baxter reports on the lingering issues of high unemployment rate in Minnesota as the U.S. economy comes out of recession.
May 25, 2010 - MPR’s Annie Baxter reports on the negative impact that the economic downturn has had on various industries…and the hard choices it has left for those workers.
May 26, 2010 - Karl Marlantes, a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War and author of the best-selling novel, "Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War" joins Midday to discuss war-time experiences. Guest: Karl Marlantes: Author of best-selling book, "Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War." A graduate of Yale University and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Karl Marlantes served as a Marine in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts, and ten air medals. He spent 35 years writing this book, his first.