January 15, 2007 - In this installment of MPR series The Bookshelf, Lou Bellamy, founder and artistic director of St. Paul's Penumbra Theatre, talks about Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," a novel featuring an unnamed black narrator whose race makes him "invisible" to others.
December 11, 2006 - Gene Merriam says he is voluntarily leaving his position as Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources. Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Dennis Anderson, a Star Tribune columnist, about Merriam’s tenure as commissioner. Anderson also discusses what he sees as needed next in the challenging role at the DNR.
December 1, 2006 - On this World AIDS Day, Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Andy Ansell, a health education coordinator with the Minnesota AIDS Project. Andy's been living with HIV for 19 years and shares his experience.
November 14, 2006 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Ilean Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans, about a new census report that shows that while some minority groups are struggling economically, the Hmong community in Minnesota has made significant gains. Their per capita income jumped up fifty percent over the last five years.
October 13, 2006 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson about his opposition to the U.S. Coast Guard conducting periodic training exercises on the Great Lakes to prepare for law enforcement and homeland security missions. The exercises have included live machine gun fire.
October 12, 2006 - A new book by sportswriter John Egan tells the story of basketball Hall of Famer Vern Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen played alongside George Mikan and Jim Pollard on the Minneapolis Lakers when they won a series of NBA championships in the late '40s and early '50s. He was introduced to the game when his family moved to Askov, Minnesota where his father, a Danish immigrant, was hired as a Lutheran minister. Mikkelsen, who lives today in the Twin Cities, says the man who recruited him to play at Hamline University, ended up in Askov by accident. That is Vern Mikkelsen who sang with the Hamline A Cappella choir for three years before quitting to concentrate on basketball. To read about that and more you'll want to track down a copy of a brand new book, "The Vern Mikkelsen Story" by John Egan.
September 26, 2006 - Morning Edition sports commentator Steve Rudolph talks Minnesota Twins baseball with host Cathy Wurzer. For the fourth time in the last five years, the Twins are headed to the playoffs, clinching at least a wild card berth after a 8-1 game victory over the Kansas City Royals.
August 25, 2006 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with meteorologist Craig Edwards about a memorable August 24th, which brought destructive hail and tornadoes to southern areas of the state. Edwards details what transpired.
May 11, 2006 - Dominic Papatola, MPR arts commentator and St. Paul Pioneer Press theater critic, discusses the potrayal of contemporary social issues at local theaters.
May 8, 2006 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Minnesota poet James Armstrong, who talks about his volume "Blue Lash." The poems look at the complex nature of Lake Superior. Armstrong also reads a poem from book.