December 2, 2009 - Morning Edition gets a Democratic perspective on President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy from DFL Congressman Tim Walz. Walz went to Afghanistan on a fact finding mission in September. Walz is also a military veteran, serving 24 years in the Army National Guard and retiring with the rank of command sergeant major.
October 23, 2009 - Kate DiCamillo discusses her books with MPR's Cathy Wurzer at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. "Because of Winn-Dixie" and "The Tale of Despereaux" won Newbery Awards and were made into movies. Her newest book is "The Magician's Elephant." Guest: Kate DiCamillo: Award-winning author of several children's books, including "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" and "The Tiger Rising," which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
October 16, 2009 - Negotiations continue in Washington on how to craft legislation that reforms health care and has enough support to pass. Earlier this week, a reform bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee. It must now be reconciled with a substantially different health care bill that was approved in July by the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. Joining us now with her take on how this is playing out is Minnesota's senior U.S. Senator, DFLer Amy Klobuchar.
September 9, 2009 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer chats via phone with Minnesota DFL Congressman about his latest visit to Afghanistan and the war effort there. Walz also discusses President Obama’s upcoming speech on healthcare debate.
August 27, 2009 - The Minnesota State Fair's many buildings are pretty familiar ground to long-time fairgoers, but there are nooks and crannies in some of them that many folks never get to see. Fair official Briana Schuette takes Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer on a tour of some secret places on the fairgrounds.
August 21, 2009 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Mark Seeley, meteorologist at the University of Minnesota, about sudden changes in the summer weather. Areas of the state went form drought conditions to record breaking rainfall in a span of a week. Unexpected tornadoes in the Twin Cities are also discussed.
July 14, 2009 - Riley Spartz is back on the case. Spartz is a fictional TV reporter that fans may remember as the main character from the mystery novel "Stalking Susan." In a new sequel called "The Missing Mark" Spartz is looking into a human interest story, but winds up in the middle of a missing person case. Amid the mystery and suspense "The Missing Mark" examines how news organizations decide which missing person cases to cover. Both books are set in the Twin Cities. Author Julie Kramer.... a former investigative producer with WCCO-TV told me she got the idea for the book from a classified ad.
February 4, 2009 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with St. Paul Pioneer Press theater critic and self-described poetry rube Dominic Papatola about the state of poetry in Minnesota. They also discuss Graywolf Press book of poetry by Elizabeth Alexander, who recited one of her works at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
January 23, 2009 - As part of a weekly NewsCut focus, MPR’s Bob Collins embarks on a set of college tours to see how the tough economy is impacting young people. In this segment, Collins visits Vermillion Community College in Ely, Minnesota.
November 27, 2008 - Curt Brown discusses his book “So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior,” which chronicles The Great Storm of 1905, also known as Mataafa Storm of 1905. The cyclone storm brought death and destruction for those on Lake Superior during the intense weather event.