May 8, 2007 - Jim Koppel, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund Minnesota, discusses 2007 Kids Count Data Book, an annual report that measures the health and well-being of children and their families. Minnesota saw the steepest increase in child poverty rates in the nation this year, up 63% from the year past. What is behind that troubling statistic?
May 8, 2007 - Author Sherman Alexie isn't shy about sharing. He's a prolific writer whose novels and short stories often describe the paradoxes of life as a Native American in the 21st century. Alexie told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that he's been thinking lately about violence. What resulted is a book of gritty fantasy called "Flight" which is about a young man named "Zits.'
May 10, 2007 - Will the session end in gridlock? Broadcast: Midday, 05/10/2007, 11:00 a.m. Wednesday brought another veto from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, this one on the higher education bill. With just a week-and-a-half left in the session, will the DFL-controlled Legislature and the governor be able to agree on a budget? Guests: Duane Benson: Former Republican Senate minority leader. Roger Moe: Former DFL Senate majority leader.
May 11, 2007 - MPR’s Roseanne Pereira speaks with buddhist monks at the Gyuto Wheel of Dharma Monastery in Minneapolis, as they prepare to take part in a tantric choir performances in Minnesota.
May 15, 2007 - MPR's Brandt Williams reports on construction on the new Minnesota Twins ballpark begins in coming week when crews will begin ripping up asphalt from the old Rapid Park site in downtown Minneapolis. The Twins are scheduled to move in to their new home in 2010, leaving the Metrodome behind.
May 15, 2007 - It's a rare novel that opens with instructions on how it should be read. But that's exactly how Heather McElhatton's "Pretty Little Mistakes" begins.
May 15, 2007 - That is photographer Doug Ohman who took the pictures in a new book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press called "Cabins of Minnesota." Bill Holm wrote the accompanying text.
May 18, 2007 - Former governors offer advice on ending a session . Broadcast: Midday, 05/18/2007, 11:00 a.m. Legislators and the governor have three days to wrap things up -- and there is much wrapping left to do. Two of Minnesota's former governors have some advice for today's lawmakers on bringing the session to a successful conclusion. Guests: Wendell Anderson: Minnesota governor: 1971 - 1977. Arne Carlson: Minnesota governor: 1990 - 1998.
May 22, 2007 - The Minnesota History Center in St. Paul holds a reception tonight to celebrate a new exhibit and book featuring photographs of Ojibwe people in Minnesota. The author of "We Are at Home: Pictures of Ojibwe People" is historian Bruce White. His book explains that to truly understand a photo you need to know who took it and why. I asked White to select some of his favorite pictures from the book for us to talk about. The first one he chose was taken around 1900 in Grand Portage. It shows a woman in front of a tipi with a baby on her back.
May 29, 2007 - Novelist Anoshi Irani says he still pines for India and in particular Bombay, where he grew up. But he also says he knows he can't write about his homeland while he's there, because it's just too close. He now spends most of his time in Vancouver. The Minneapolis-based press Milkweed Editions has just published his new novel, "The Song of Kahunsha." The book follows two little boys living on the streets of Bombay when the huge Indian city is torn apart by religious violence.