What’s on MPR News – 5/20/19

Monday May 20, 2019
(Subject to change as events dictate. This page is updated throughout the day.)

9 a.m. – MPR News with Kerri Miller
Seventy-nine million Americans are struggling to pay off their medical bills. Access to quality, cost-friendly health care is largely to blame. Another factor is the lack of transparency about the cost of hospital services and Medicare coverage.

Guests: Katherine Hempstead, Senior Policy Advisor for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Dr. Ryan Neuhofel, a Family Physician and Owner of NeuCare

10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
Sen. Tom Cotton is a critic of the Iranian regime and the nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from last year. He’s a Republican hawk and believes a war against Iran is winnable.

Guest: Sen. Tom Cotton

11 a.m. – MPR News with Angela Davis
Planting season has finally arrived in Minnesota. And now that many yards have had a good weekend soaking, we’re opening up the phones for garden questions. Does your yard have some bald patches? Is your soil too sandy? Is it a bad idea to move that raspberry bush?

Guests: Julie Weisenhorn, horticulture educator and associate professor at the University of Minnesota Extension Service; Catherine Grant, horticulturalist and greenhouse manager in the Department of Biology at the University of St. Thomas.

12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
For American Public Media’s Call to Mind initiative: A Marketplace special: “Brains and Losses. The bottom line on aging and financial vulnerability.” Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio explores the evidence for what doctors are calling “Age-Related Financial Vulnerability,” with stories of elderly fraud victims and their families from across the U.S., supported by a wide range of nationally-recognized experts.

1 p.m. – The Takeaway
Laura Dern on women in Hollywood and her new movie, Trial by Fire. With more middle-aged women on screen and behind the camera, Dern says this is just the start.

2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
Google bars the world’s second biggest smartphone maker, Huawei, from some updates to the Android operating system, dealing a blow to the Chinese company; a special report from the Palestinian territories in a week of coverage from Israel and the West Bank; a comedian famous for playing the role of Ukraine’s president in a TV series, has been sworn in as head of state.

3 p.m. – All Things Considered
The Minnesota Legislature’s last-minute (of course) push; Microsoft leads on artificial intelligence ethics; immigrants and the rural west; Chicago’s new mayor; the ripple effect of flooded farms.

6:00 p.m. – Marketplace
The green argument for nuclear power. Forty years ago, Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant was the site of America’s worst commercial nuclear accident. Now, as the plant nears complete closure, environmental advocates are arguing to keep it open.

6:30 p.m. – The Daily
From the day Roe v. Wade was decided, some have seen the constitutional right to an abortion as an inferred right rather than a guaranteed one. That distinction has become a threat to the ruling’s survival.

7 p.m. – The World
An interview with the Taliban on the prospects of a peace settlement in Afghanistan’s 18-year-old war, which is also America’s longest war. The World’s Shirin Jafaari interviewed Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman who’s been with the Taliban from its early days, about the peace talks that have been ongoing between the Taliban, the Afghan government and the US.

Also today, we continue our journey to Antarctica, and today The World Carolyn Beeler takes us deep below the icy surface of the water to examine the underside of the Thwaites Glacier. It’s the first time a submersible has given scientists a look at how warmer ocean temperatures are eroding the glacier, and contributing to the rise of sea levels globally.

Plus, what do US veterans think of the president’s idea to pardon service members convicted of war crimes? We reached out to vets who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, where some of the crimes or alleged crimes involved were committed, to hear what philosophical and practical issues could arise from the plan.

And, The World’s Monica Campbell reports from Las Cruces, New Mexico, where the increase in migrants crossing the border is also increasing the need for health care – especially since four children have died since December while in Border Patrol custody.

8 p.m. – Fresh Air
Host Terry Gross talks with cult director John Waters, who has given himself a new name: Filth Elder. His new book, Mr. Know It All, includes stories of a life in “radical showbiz”. At age 73 he is a keen observer of American culture, and still has a morbid sense of humor.