What’s on MPR News – 5/29/19

Wednesday May 29, 2019

(Subject to change as events dictate. This page is updated throughout the day.)

9 a.m. - MPR News with Kerri Miller

LGBTQ Christians have a fraught relationship with the church. But according to a study by the Marin Foundation, 76 percent who have walked away from their congregations say they are open to returning to their faith – if things would change.

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Emmy Kegler is the pastor for this group. She grew up in the church and found comfort and community there. But as she matured, she found the teachings were often damning and damaging to the identity she was coming to terms with. Today, she tries to bridge the two worlds, pastoring Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis, an inclusive congregation, and co-leading Queer Grace Community, a group of LGBTQ Christians in the Twin Cities who meet for worship, study and friendship.

Guest: Emmy Kegler, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis

10 a.m - NPR Special Report

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will make his first public remarks since issuing his report on the Russia Investigation. He’ll be speaking at the Justice Department. MPR News will carry those remarks live at 10am CT. The length and exact timing of his statement is not clear.

11 a.m. - MPR News with Angela Davis

Several studies in the past few years have pointed to a growing public health crisis in America: loneliness. Feeling lonely or isolated can have serious health consequences, researchers have found links to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and depression. Technology seems to be playing a role, but there isn’t consensus on whether it’s making us feel more isolated or more connected.

Guest: Cheryl Bemel, a licensed psychologist with Allina Health.

12 p.m. - MPR News Presents

From Chris Farrell's "Conversations on the Creative Economy" series: three Rochester entrepreneurs in the medical field.

1 p.m. - The Takeaway

On Tuesday, Malaysia announced it would return 3,300 tons of plastic waste to countries like Canada, the U.S., and the UK, stating that it would not be a dumping ground for the world’s waste and that contaminated plastic was being shipped under the pretext of recycling. The Takeaway explores the problem of a world that produces too much plastic waste with no place to put it.

A new program from the Boston Public Health Commission called Porn Literacy is teaching teenagers to understand that the stereotypes seen in porn don’t need to be followed for a happy sex life. Cristina Quinn, a reporter from WGBH in Boston has been reporting on the Porn literacy course. She joins The Takeaway to talk about how porn is shaping kids’ views on sex, and what educators can do to address it.

Earlier this month, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello signed a bill that establishes the framework for the development of Opportunity Zones on the island -- at the local level. This correlates with the national Opportunity Zone projects the Trump administration has pushed.

Overcrowding on Everest has led to a deadly climbing season, with more than 11 deaths already accounted for. But the conditions highlight a different problem: luxury tourism that sometimes comes at a cost to the environment and to the communities that serve these natural resources.

Burnout is now specifically related to workplace stress, according to the World Health Organization’s handbook that guides doctors in diagnosing patients. The Takeaway talks to an expert about how this manifests in modern working America and hear from employees about whether or not they feel they are experiencing burnout.

2 p.m. - BBC NewsHour

Why has Aung San Suu Kyi's government in Myanmar failed to enact legal reforms to protect freedom of speech with dozens of journalists and activists arrested?

And residents return to Fukushima, eight years after the meltdown at the Japanese nuclear reactor.

3 p.m. - All Things Considered

AIDS activists take on an expensive prescription drug; radio frequency brings the internet to small towns; how Ebola has been politicized in the DRC; Syria ISIS trials.

6:00 p.m. - Marketplace

Under the Trump Administration, tariffs have become front page news. But some companies, like the outdoor clothing giant Columbia Sportswear, have been baking tariffs into their design and manufacturing process for decades.

6:30 p.m. - The Daily

From Day 1, the Trump administration has tried to dismantle regulations aimed at curbing climate change. Now officials are attempting to undermine the very science on which such policies rest.

7 p.m. - The World

One result of the crisis in Venezuela: many Venezuelans have fled to neighboring Colombia. Among them, Venezuelan doctors who report a disturbing number of preventable medical conditions among the migrants.

8 p.m. - Fresh Air

Children's book author and illustrator Maira Kalman and her son designer Alex Kalman have collaborated on a new book, and museum exhibit Sara Berman's Closet. It's the story of her mother/his grandmother who went from a shethl to Tel Aviv, to New York, and at the age of 60 left her husband and started a new life. The exhibit is at the National Museum of American History in Philadelphia [April 5 - September 2, 2019]

8:30 a.m. - We remember the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tony Horwitz, who died Monday at the age of 60. He apparently collapsed while walking. No cause was given. We listen back to our interview with him after the publication of his book Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, which explored the subculture of Civil War re-enactment fanatics. Horwitz has most recently been on tour with his latest book, Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting at the Wall Street Journal on working conditions of low-wage workers. (Rebroadcast from 3/18/98)