February 16, 2005 - Minnesota author Judith Guest is drawn to the dark side of life. She loves reading the most lurid tales from the daily newspapers: the kidnappings and the murders. Her latest novel, "The Tarnished Eye," is based on the real-life unsolved killings of a father, mother and their four children.
August 19, 2004 - Minnesota Public Radio President Bill Kling joins Gary Eichten to answer questions from MPR listeners about buying WCAL and a range of other topics.
May 14, 2004 - Midday broadcasts live from the Capitol rotunda on one of the last regular days of business for the state legislators. By law, the state legislature must adjourn in three days. Key legislators stop by the MPR broadcast table, including House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon; Senator Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis; Representative Phil Krinkie, R-St. Paul; Senator Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon; House Minority Leader Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul; and Representative Alice Seagren, R-Bloomington. Wayne Simoneau, former longtime DFL legislator and former state commissioner in both the Carlson and Ventura administrations, offers analysis.
April 2, 2004 - On this Midday program Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, discuss the gay marriage issue in Minnesota. Bachmann supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, and Dibble opposes it. Listeners call in with questions.
March 11, 2004 - A literary view with Bill Holm. Music is the subject when Minnesota author Bill Holm takes the stage at the College of St. Benedict. In books and essays like "Box Elder Bug Variations" and "Playing the Black Piano", Holm has often explored the places where language and music intersect. The Wednesday evening event is at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph.
March 11, 2004 - Target might sell Marshall Field's and Mervyn's chains. Minneapolis-based Target Corporation says it's considering the possible sale of its struggling Mervyn's and Marshall Field's chains. The Minneapolis-based retail chain says it's hired the Goldman Sachs firm to review the stores' future. Marshall Fields has stores in North Dakota's major cities. Industry watchers have expected the move. Guests on the program are University of St. Thomas marketing professor David Brennan, and Pioneer Press columnist Dave Beal.
December 4, 2003 - Harold Kushner, Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in the Boston suburb of Natick, Massachusetts, is probably best known for his 1981 international best seller, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." But he's also written a number of other popular books, including "Living a Life that Matters," "Who Needs God," and "After the Darkest Hour the Sun will Shine Again: A Parent's Guide to Coping With the Loss of a Child." His latest book takes a somewhat different approach. It explains why the well known 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is My Shepherd," has proved so helpful to so many in times of distress. Rabbi Harold Kushner spoke last month at Wayzata Community Church at an event sponsered by Bookcase of Wayzata. He explained that he took a different approach to writing his latest book.
June 3, 2003 - Hour 2 of Midday featuring two Voices of Minnesota interviews with Opera singer Vern Sutton and Bonnie Morris, the founder of the Illusion Theater.
January 2, 2003 - The civil rights sit-ins and voter registration drives of the 1960's were dangerous, sometimes deadly. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is Monday, Jan. 20th, and in a "Voices of Minnesota" broadcast, we hear from Chuck McDew and Willie Mae Wilson. McDew is a founder and the first chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee or SNCC. Wilson was one of the thousands of people who marched with SNCC organizers to end segregation in southern cities.
October 29, 2002 - On this Midday program, commentator Sarah Stoesz, attorney Sam Kaplan, and callers share stories about the late Senator Paul Wellstone, and the family members and campaign workers who died with him.