October 11, 2008 - Special personal finance call-in show after Marketplace Money, after week of dropping stock market and world financial turmoil. Cathy Wurzer hosts and various guests answer questions about the markets and your money. Nate Winner, Financial Planning Assoc. of MN, Darryl Dalheimer, Lutheran Social Services.
November 24, 2008 - College investment officers are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, which is money that colleges rely on to operate. How are they handling the financial crisis?
December 29, 2008 - An initiative to make northwestern Minnesota hospitals more efficient is spreading across the state. It's called Lean Health and it uses the same ideas companies like Marvin Windows and Arctic Cat use to streamline assembly line production. Those companies are trying to encourage hospitals to use the same ideas. Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson visited one hospital where the assembly line efficiency model is working for healthcare.
January 8, 2009 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews R.T. Rybak, Mayor of Minneapolis about President-elect Obama economic speech. In his speech today, President-elect Obama also recognized the budget problems local governments are facing these days. Here in Minnesota, the Governor and the legislature are working to close a 4.8-billion-dollar budget shortfall. And, that has meant less aid money for cities and counties. The president-elect tried to offer local leaders some words of hope.
March 4, 2009 - Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing costs for Minnesota government. Governor Tim Pawlenty says it's critical to slow the growth in healthcare spending. He wants to reduce the cost of Minnesota Care, the state-funded insurance program. He's also proposing cuts to medicaid reimbursements. This week, Minnesota Public Radio is exploring the effects of the state budget crisis from the perspective of one community, Fergus Falls. It's the largest city in Otter Tail County. This is the latest installment in our series, "The State Budget in Your Backyard." As Dan Gunderson reports, balancing the state budget could mean big changes for the people covered by Minnesota Care and the hospitals that treat them.
May 14, 2009 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports that critics of Minnesota's new ballast water permit system will argue in court that the system doesn't do enough to protect Lake Superior from invasive species. They say with a deadly fish virus infesting every Great Lake except Lake Superior, the state needs to act more quickly and more effectively.
July 31, 2009 - MPR’s Brandt Williams visits the Metrodome for Minnesota Twins batting practice to get a closer look at the bat…or more specifically, the wood of the bat. Traditionally, Major League Baseball bats have been made from white ash, but increasingly organizations are using maple as well. Use of white ash bats are at risk with the spread of emerald ash borer, a green buprestid or jewel beetle native to north-eastern Asia that feeds on ash species.
September 9, 2009 - Tonight at 7:00, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress about his health care reform proposal. Obama is promising to offer more details about his vision for overhauling the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system. Minnesota Public Radio News will provide live coverage of the address. One of the people who will be in the audience tonight in Washington is Jeffrey Korsmo, the Executive Director of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. He was invited to attend the speech by DFL Congressman Tim Walz. Korsmo says he's eager to hear more about Obama's plan. That is Jeffrey Korsmo, Executive Director of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. He will be in the Capitol tonight when President Obama makes his health care reform speech.
October 16, 2009 - Thirty-three thousand of the poorest Minnesotans may lose state health coverage sooner than expected. Earlier this year, Governor Tim Pawlenty cut the General Assistance Medical Care program, which provides coverage for adults without dependents who don't qualify for other healthcare assistance. The program was originally projected to end in March. But now estimates show funding may not last that long. Rupa Shenoy reports that has advocates scrambling to find another option.
October 23, 2009 - Plans are moving ahead for a copper-nickel mine in Northeastern Minnesota. The draft of an environmental review of the project is expected today (FRI). So-called sulfide mining has never been done in Minnesota, but in other parts of the world, similar mines are polluting rivers and lakes. Stephanie Hemphill reports on the mine and its possible impacts.