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Archive for May 2 - 6, 2005
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Monday, May 2, 2005
Hour 1 (11 a.m.)
Audio Getting teens to like science
Speaking to the National Governors Association in February, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said that "America's high schools are obsolete" and that he was "terrified for our work force of tomorrow." The lone superpower lags behind a number of other countries in science and math scores. What's the best way to inspire tomorrow's scientists?

Guests:
Glen Sorenson, 2005 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, teaches science at Proctor High School.

Related Links:
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Hour 2 (12 p.m.)
Audio Reflections on the Holocaust
Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner and author Elie Wiesel reflected on his experiences in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in a recent interview with radio producer Larry Josephson.

Related Links:
Document Web Resource: Never Again: A Holocaust Memorial
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Hour 1 (11 a.m.)
Audio How direct should our democracy be?
A Star Tribune poll released Sunday indicated that 71 percent of Hennepin County residents think they should get to vote on a proposed 0.15 percent sales tax to fund a new Twins ballpark. The Hennepin County Board votes Tuesday on whether to send the proposal to the Legislature, which could approve it, deny it or put it up for referendum. Which decisions should be made by the people and which ones should be left to their elected representatives?

Guests:
Chris Gilbert, a professor of political science at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Related Links:
Document Pohlad: Contribution to Twins ballpark `fair, substantial'
Document The Bleacher Bums: MPR's baseball blog
Document Bachmann says voters should define marriage
Document House wants gas tax referendum
Document AG says state-run casino needs constitutional amendment
Document Web Resource: County residents weigh in on stadium plan
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Hour 2 (12 p.m.)
Audio Indyk sees clouds, silver linings for Middle East peace
Speaking recently at the University of St. Thomas, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk outlined four reasons for hope and four reasons for despair in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Related Links:
Document Web Resource: Indyk is currently a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Hour 1 (11 a.m.)
Audio Iraq swears in its Cabinet
After months of negotiations, Iraq's first democratically elected government was sworn in on Tuesday. Will Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari be able to make good on his promise to unite the country's rival factions?

Guests:
Rick Stoll, associate dean of the School of Social Sciences at Rice University.

Related Links:
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Hour 2 (12 p.m.)
Audio Will England's conviction bring closure to Abu Ghraib?
Pfc. Lynndie England pleaded guilty Monday to seven counts of abusing prisoners at Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib prison. England, who was pictured in photographs holding a naked, hooded detainee on a dog leash, will now be sentenced by a six-person military jury.

Guests:
Law professor Scott Silliman, director of Duke University's Center for Law, Ethics and National Security. (Photo: Getty Images/Jana Birchum)

Related Links:
Document Web Resource: Gen. Janis Karpinski tells her side of the Abu Ghraib story
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Hour 1 (11 a.m.)
Audio Should the state pay for more health insurance, or less?
Whereas the Minnesota House has moved to reduce the number of people covered by MinnesotaCare state-subsidized health insurance, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would increase the MinnesotaCare rolls.

Guests:
Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester, chair of the House Health Policy and Finance Committee, and Sen. Linda Berglin, DFL-Minneapolis, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee's Budget Division.

Related Links:
Document Senate approves health bill with MinnesotaCare expansion
Document Session 2005 section
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Hour 2 (12 p.m.)
Audio Putnam says don't bowl alone
Robert Putnam, the Harvard political scientist who has tracked the declining membership in everything from bowling leagues to rotary clubs, wants Americans to start doing things in groups again. Putnam says that people who socialize have longer lives, better health and are better citizens.

Related Links:
Document Web Resource: Putnam's Web site
Document Web Resource: Westminster Presbyterian Church
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Friday, May 6, 2005
Hour 1 (11 a.m.)
Audio Consensus on more school money, but how much and from where?
Legislators on both sides of the aisle in both houses of the Legislature seem to agree that Minnesota schools need more money. But how much money and the even stickier question of where to get it from are still very much up in the air.

Guests:
Sen. Steve Kelley, DFL-Hopkins, chair of the Senate Education Policy Committee, and Rep. Barb Sykora, R-Excelsior, chair of the House Education Finance Committee.

Related Links:
Document Senate hikes education spending with unanimous K-12 vote
Document House bill thaws funding freeze for schools
Document Session 2005: Education
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
Hour 2 (12 p.m.)
Audio On a Note of Triumph
On May 8, 1945, the treaty declaring Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies officially went into effect. That night, Americans across the country gathered around their radios to hear Norman Corwin's "On a Note of Triumph," a radio drama celebrating the victory in Europe. Sixty years later, it stands as a document of American sentiment at the time and an age of radio now long gone.

Related Links:
Document Norman Corwin's Web site
Document Corwin's contribution to the NPR series, "This I Believe"
Document Share your views in the News Forum.
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