Disasters

Three teenagers are dead and one is struggling to survive this morning after they were apparently overcome by carbon monoxide in the Wabasha caves in St. Paul. A fifth teenager managed to get out of the tunnel yesterday and told police that his friends were still inside. Officials say the group entered the cave through a small hole in the bluffs across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Paul. The complex of caves in the soft sandstone in that area can stretch for hundreds of feet. People exploring the area have died there before. An effort was made to improve safety by filling in the caves with debris from construction. But some experts believe that the effort may have made the caves more dangerous. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Calvin Alexander, a professor at the University of Minnesota who studies geology.

A Great Conversations event focusing on the loss of life, loss of innocence, and the jarring blow to Americans' sense of security following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Pauline Boss, University of Minnesota Family Social Science professor and author of Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief, talks with Gail Sheehy, a cultural observer and best-selling journalist, and author of Middletown, America: One Town's Passage from Trauma To Hope. The event was sponsored by the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education.

A year after the plane accident that killed the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven others, the crash is still under investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, issued a preliminary report in the spring that reached few conclusions about the accident. Its final report is expected to come out next month. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer talked with Jeffrey Johnson, a professor in the Aviation department at St. Cloud State University.

A Commonwealth Club speech by Jean David Levitte of France, who was President of the U.N. Security Council during 9/11.

Investigators say they don't know yet know what started a fire this weekend that killed three University of Minnesota students. And they are not releasing any details of the investigation. But, in response to the tragedy, Minneapolis officials say they will conduct an inspection sweep of university-area rental properties over the next several weeks.

A special 9/11 "Talk of Minnesota" program, inviting comments about how the terrorist attacks have affected people and families, and if the impact of 9/11 has faded over the past two years.

Two years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we'll update the world's terrorist movements and the whereabouts and strategies of terrorist leaders.

The voices of children marked the profound horror and grief of Sept. 11, joining in song at ground zero Thursday and reading the names of 2,792 loved ones who died there exactly two years ago. Two hundred children and young adults, each of whom lost a relative in the most devastating terrorist assault in U.S. history, approached the microphones in pairs and began reading the names as hundreds of victims' relatives listened. Many in the crowd hugged one another and prayed.

MPR News marked the second anniversary of September 11 by asking you for your stories about its impact. Did the events of that day leave a lasting mark on you and your family? Or has the impact faded? How will you remember September 11th?

Among the 2,792 names on the official World Trade Center death toll are 42 people actually listed as missing - not dead - because their remains have not been identified and their whereabouts on Sept. 11 cannot be established with certainty.