March 6, 2008 - R.T. Rybak, mayor of Minneapolis, discusses crime and the economy with Midday host Gary Eichten. Other topics include bridge collapse and city initiatives. Rybak also answers listener questions.
March 7, 2008 - MPR’s Steven John talks with Twin Cities guitarist Billy McLaughlin in the studio. They discuss McLaughlin’s adjustment in playing as he battles a neurological disorder called focal dystonia. McLaughlin performs examples on what he does different as a musician since his diagnosis.
March 10, 2008 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Mary Hu, high school poetry champion of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest held at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Segment also includes clip of Hu performing a Thomas Hardy poem. The students recited poetry of old -- by Longfellow, Poe, Kipling and Browning -- as well as new, like Maya Angelou, Billy Collins and Sharon Olds. After three rounds, Morris Area High School student Mary Hu emerged as this year's winner.
March 11, 2008 - MPR's Dan Gunderson reports on PRACS Institute, a Fargo company that has quietly become one of the largest pharmaceutical testing facilities in the country. The growth of PRACS reflects a trend toward more private drug research.
March 13, 2008 - MPR’s Tom Crann talks with guitarist Brian Miller, who is reviving some songs that were nearly lost to history. They're the melodies and lyrics of Minnesota's Irish lumberjacks, who logged the boreal forests in the two decades around the turn of the last century.
March 13, 2008 - St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman joins Midday to discuss the challenges facing his city, and the achievements that have been made in the past year. Coleman also answers listener questions.
March 14, 2008 - MPR News analyzed the governor's campaign travel, his public events schedule and press accounts and found that he's been out of the state all or part of the day at least 25 times between January 1st and March 12th, 2008.
March 14, 2008 - MPR’s Steven John interviews renowned poet Maya Angelou, who shares thoughts on her life and politics.
March 18, 2008 - MPR’s Art Hughes reports on Minnesota colleges and universities endowment growth, as well as tuition hike ups.
March 18, 2008 - MPR’s Laura Yuen reports on local female ski jumpers who are pressuring the International Olympic Committee to create a women's event for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Ski jumping is the only event in the Winter Olympics that excludes female athletes.