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.
May 18, 2009 - University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System Colleges expect big tuition increases.
May 19, 2009 - MPR’s Tom Scheck reports that the number of people on the state's payroll has grown even though thousands of government employees have retired since Governor Tim Pawlenty ordered a hiring freeze at state agencies.
May 20, 2009 - Nico Muhly isn't 30 yet, but the protege of Phillip Glass is already recognized as a major force in contemporary classical music. The Juilliard graduate has composed for, among others, the Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony, and Bjork. Muhly sees himself and his music as a product of the internet age.
May 25, 2009 - Heather McElhatton will tell you she knows a thing or two about dating. She's spent enough time using on-line dating services to know what the terms men use to describe themselves in their profiles REALLY mean.
May 25, 2009 - Veteran Dr. John Linner from Edina kept diaries of the fighting he saw during World War II, but after the war he put them on a shelf for 50 years, until his daughters and wife pressed him to write about his experiences. The result is a book, "From Normandy to Okinawa," Linner's look back at his Navy service as a medical doctor tending to the wounded on D-Day and in the Pacific.
May 26, 2009 - St. Paul architecture critic Larry Millett is out with TWO new guides to the Twin Cities this spring. They're pocket-sized guides that concentrate on two of Minnesota's most distinguished neighborhoods, the Lake District in Minneapolis and Summit Avenue in St. Paul.
May 29, 2009 - MPR’s Laura Yuen reports on the multiple killings of young Somali men in the Twin Cities, and the fight to stop the violence. The slayings represent a tragic irony for a community that escaped the bloodshed and clan warfare of its home country.
June 1, 2009 - There are over 50,000 Hmong people in Minnesota, but very few Hmong restaurants and no mainstream Hmong cookbooks... until now. The University of Minnesota Press has just published "Cooking from the Heart: the Hmong Kitchen in America."
June 2, 2009 - Minnesota 5th District’s Keith Ellison, America's first Muslim member of Congress, reflects on his recent trips to the Mideast and previews President Obama's speech in Egypt. Ellison comments on how to rebuild U.S. relations with Muslim world and answers listener questions.