What’s on MPR News today? 2/20/18

Tuesday February 20, 2018
(Subject to change as events dictate)

Until 9 a.m. – Morning Edition
The psychology of a mass shooter; the GOP and gun control; Jill Abramson’s Me Too and Clarence Thomas; and a look at long-track vs. short-track speedskating at the Olympics.

9 a.m. – MPR News with Kerri Miller
How to make schools safer. School shootings are becoming a regular occurrence in America. Is there anything that can be done to make schools safer? MPR News host Kerri Miller talks to two school security experts, including the mother of a Sandy Hook victim about what can be done to protect students in an era of regular mass shootings.

Guests: Michele Gay, co-founder and executive director of Safe and Sound: A Sandy Hook Initiative; Greg Crane, founder of ALICE, a school safety training program used across the country.

10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
What impact will the next generation have on the gun debate?

Guests: Coni Sanders, whose father died in the Columbine attack. She is now a therapist in Colorado; John Nicoletti, Denver-based psychologist, author of “Violence Goes to School.”

11 a.m. – MPR News with Tom Weber (Mike Mulcahy hosts)
How worried should you be about the flu?

Guests: Patsy Stinchfield, senior director, Infection Prevention & Control, Children’s Minnesota; Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota.

12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
A special hour-long edition of Witness from the BBC World Service, bringing together some interviews looking at the African-American experience as told by people who were there. We hear the story of America’s first major-party black candidate for president; meet one of the founding members of the first classical ballet company to focus on black dancers; and Ruby Bridges talks about being escorted to school by U.S. Marshals.

1 p.m. – The Takeaway
The influence of Russian bots; redistricting Pennsylvania; and why are red wolves closer to extinction?

2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
Did Syrian pro-government forces pull back from the northern border when they came under fire from Turkey? Also, a case for an illiberal democracy in Hungary. And, can solar empower the Himalayas?

3 p.m. – All Things Considered
The first day of MN legislative session; The DNC’s year of rebuilding; parental support after a school shooting; Euan Kerr’s interview with the author of “Dreadful Young Ladies.”

7 p.m. – The World
There are reports that Russian internet bots went to work right after news of the Parkland shooting in Florida last week, spewing out messages on social media arguing both sides of the gun control debate. Host Marco Werman speaks with Erin Griffith, who’s covering the story for Wired.

We’ll also hear from Seema Yasmin, a doctor and writer who has a nuanced view of guns, school shootings and new legislation to prevent them. She says she loves guns, but doesn’t want them anywhere near a classroom.

Also on the show today: how immigration has taken center stage in the campaigning ahead of Italy’s elections next week, and an update on the deal between the United States and Australia that has led to about 100 refugees from Asia resettling here in the US.

Plus, a walk on the beach where Julius Caesar’s army invaded Britain more than 2,000 years ago. Or was it the next beach over?

8 p.m. – Fresh Air (Dave Davies hosts)
Tara Westover has a debut memoir about growing up in rural Idaho; she didn’t go to school, have a birth certificate, or have any medical records. She was the youngest of seven children. Her parents were suspicious of institutions, including schools and hospitals, and trained the kids to be ready to flee at any time should the government come after them. Westover didn’t see the inside of a school until she was 17. She went on to Harvard and eventually got a PH.D from Cambridge. She details her early years and how she was able to build a new life in her memoir, Educated.