Bob Collins
Friday March 29, 2018
(Subject to change as events dictate)
Until 9 a.m. – Morning Edition
The need for Minnesota’s volunteer drivers; a judge who challenged retirement rules retires; a new trial for Adnan Syed; Louie Anderson on his new book, “Hey Mom”; Mark Seeley’s weather chat; Howard Sinker talks sports.
9 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
Friday news roundup. The President of the United States deals with a number of problems and issues that most Americans might never imagine. But one that seems unimaginable in very different way came up this week: No one seems to want to represent him. The president is also looking for a doctor, after naming his current physician head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, replacing a director who says he was in the way of efforts to privatize the department. And in Sacramento, protests continue after the death of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old black man who was shot 20 times by police who thought he had a gun. It was his phone.
Guests: Lisa Desjardins, correspondent, PBS NewsHour; Edward Luce, chief U.S. columnist and commentator, Financial Times; Jessica Taylor, lead digital political reporter, NPR.
9 a.m. – MPR News with Kerri Miller
As an undergrad at MIT, Rellen Hardtke, studied with some of the best and brightest in the STEM field. It was rare to find a problem her classmates weren’t taught how to solve. However, Hardtke noticed that the rigorous science and math curricula did not teach students to question the problems that were presented to them OR how their solutions might be used. Now, Hardtke is a physics professor and she emphasizes the importance of liberal arts and empathy in science education.
Guests: Devavani Chatterjea, associate professor of biology at Macalester College; Doug Dunston, clinical faculty member with the University of St. Thomas School ofEngineering; Rellen Hardtke, professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin.
11 a.m. – MPR News at 11
Host Mike Mulcahy will talk to Sen. Jeff Hayden (DFL) and Rep. Pat Garofalo (R) about how the session is going. Then he’ll check in with Rep. Jenifer Loon to talk about funding for school safety. Finally, he’ll sit down with reporters Mark Zdechlik and Brian Bakst to talk about the week’s political news.
12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
To conclude Women’s History Month: A talk by NYU history professor Thomas Sugrue about his book, “Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North.” Anna Arnold Hedgeman, who grew up in Anoka and was the first African-American to graduate from Hamline, was a key figure in the civil rights movement in the North, and the only woman on the organizing committee for the 1963 March on Washington. But, Sugrue says, very few people have ever heard of this important, long-time, civil rights activist. Even in Minnesota. Sugrue spoke last weekend at the Minnesota Historical Society’s History Forum.
1 p.m. – Science Friday
A look at North America’s native pollinators. And why bumblebees, not honeybees, are better suited to your tomatoes.
2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
Mass protests by Palestinians are under way on the border between Gaza and Israel. A spokesman for Hamas tells us why. We speak to Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai on her first visit to Pakistan after being shot by Taleban militants. And, can the Chinese government really claim the credit for halving Beijing’s toxic smog?
3 p.m. – All Things Considered
The week in politics; the Atlanta cyberattack; reducing opioids at the VA; and Bill Cosby on trial again.
6:30 p.m. – Marketplace
In the upcoming film “Ready Player One”, people spend more time in the virtual world than they do in the real world. What would it be like if that wasn’t just a fiction?
7 p.m. – The World
A reporter cooks up a treasured family recipe carried from the Dominican Republic by her grandfather. A sweet desert for Holy Week, that few people there make anymore.
8 p.m. – Fresh Air
Terry Gross talks with former SNL cast member Bill Hader, who stars in the new HBO series Barry about a depressed former Marine turned hitman who goes to LA on assignment to kill an actor, and ends up falling in love with acting.
