DEED’s New Commissioner

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has appointed Mark Phillips to be the new commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development, the umbrella department for the State Services for the Blind. Phillips, who started his duties with the department January 31, brings more than 25 years of demonstrated leadership in development and finance, including launching new and creative programs for community and economic development, real estate development, and business financing. Most recently he had been the director of Business Development for Kraus-Anderson Construction.   

Phillips’ career bridges public and private industry in both metro and greater Minnesota, having served as director of Community and Economic Development at the IRRRB under Gov. Perpich, as director of Development for Minnesota Power, and as vice president of Northeast Ventures Corporation. He is a recipient of the Economic Development Association of Minnesota’s Career Achievement Award.

Including State Services for the Blind, DEED has almost 1800 employees, including 46 workforce centers around the state.

 

Books Available Through Faribault

Books broadcast on the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network are available through the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library in Faribault, MN. Their phone is  1-800-722-0550  and hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their catalog is also online, and you can access it by going to the main website, http://education.state.mn.us, and then clicking on the link. If you live outside of Minnesota, you may obtain copies of books by contacting your own state’s Network Library for the National Library Service.

Listen to the Minnesota Radio Talking Book, either live or archived programs from the last week, on the Internet at www.mnssb.org/rtb. Call the staff at the Radio for your password to the site.

See interesting information about current RTB events on the Facebook site for the Minnesota Radio Talking Book Network. Register for Facebook at www.facebook.com.

 

Chautauqua
Tuesday – Saturday, 4 a.m.

Chasing the White Dog, Nonfiction by Max Watman, 2010. Americans have been making illegal whiskey (moonshine) since the beginning of the country. It has played a surprisingly large role in American history, but the story continues. Read by Art Nyhus.  12 broadcasts. Began March 2.

Nudge, Nonfiction by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, 2009. Our lives are full of choices we make and many of them are bad ones, from personal investments and unhealthy foods to bad decisions about our families and education. But people can be helped toward making good decisions.  Read by Scott Brush. 12 broadcasts. Begins March  18.

 

Past is Prologue
Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.

Citizens of London, Nonfiction by Lynne Olson, 2010.  Three Americans were key to the U.S. wartime alliance with Britain: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. The three formed close ties with Churchill and were drawn into his official and personal circles. Read by Bonnie Smith-Yackel.  22 broadcasts. Begins March 14. 

 

Bookworm
Monday – Friday, 11 a.m.

Dear Money, Fiction by Martha McPhee, 2010. Perennially broke writer India Palmer is visiting rich friends in Maine when a stranger comes into her life and changes everything. Wealthy Win Johns is charmed by her and proposes to turn her into a world-class bond trader. Read by Carol Lewis. 12 broadcasts. Began March 3.         

Red Hook Road, Fiction by Ayelet Waldman, 2010. Newlyweds Becca and John are killed on the day of their wedding. The two families are driven apart by their grief. Only a powerful storm can help them to see what really matters most. Read by Jenny O’Brien. 12 broadcasts. Begins March 21.

 

Writer’s Voice
Monday – Friday, 2 p.m.

Half Baked, Nonfiction by Alexa Stevenson, 2010. When her daughter is born fifteen weeks early, Alexa is plunged into the life of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She makes the surprising discovery that an almost-worst-case scenario may be the best thing that’s ever happened to her. L – Read by Kathy Stults. 12 broadcasts. Begins March 10.      

Marcus of Umbria, Nonfiction by Justine van der Leun, 2010. Tired of her city life, Justine moves to Collelungo, Italy, to live with a gardener in the town of 200. When the romance is lost, she finds love with an English pointer that she rescues. L – Read by Marylyn Burridge. 8 broadcasts. Begins March 28.

 

Choice Reading
Monday – Friday, 4 p.m.

Parrot & Olivier in America, Fiction by Peter Carey, 2010. Olivier, traumatized child of survivors of the French Revolution, sails for the United States to study the penal system. He meets up with Parrot, a printer’s son, and an unlikely friendship takes hold. Read by Arlan Dohrenburg. 20 broadcasts. Began March 7.

 

PM Report
Monday – Friday, 8 p.m.

The Price of Stones, Nonfiction by Twesigye Jackson Kaguri, 2010. Twesigye excelled in school and became a visiting scholar at Columbia. When he returned to Uganda, He was overwhelmed with the number of people needing help because of AIDS. Read by June Prange. 7 broadcasts. Began March 7.

Neoconservatism, Nonfiction by Justine Vaïsse, 2010. Neoconservatism has undergone a transformation that makes a clear identity almost impossible. Are they New York intellectuals reacting against 1960s leftists, Scoop Jackson Democrats, or the Neocons of the 1990s and 2000s. Read by John Demma. 16 broadcasts. Begins March 16.

 

Night Journey
Monday – Friday, 9 p.m.

Shoot to Thrill, Fiction by P.J. Tracy, 2010. In Minneapolis, Magozzi and Rolseth are investigating a drowned bride; the computer geeks are helping the FBI looking at a series of murder videos posted on the Web. It turns out there’s a connection. L – Read by Joy Fogarty. 9 Br. Began March 8.          

Elegy for April, Fiction by Benjamin Black, 2010. April, a junior doctor at a local hospital in Dublin, is independent and unconventional. When she disappears, her friend Phoebe suspects the worst and enlists the help of her father. L – Read by Pat Kovel-Jarboe. 10 broadcasts. Begins March 21.

 

Off the Shelf
Monday – Friday, 10 p.m. 

Something Red, Fiction by Jennifer Gilmore, 2010. It is 1979 in the Goldsteins’ home. The age of protest has come and gone and each of the Goldsteins is forced to explore what it means to be a radical. Read by Lynda Kayser. 16 Br. Begins March 14.   

 

Potpourri
Monday – Friday, 11 p.m.

The Eastern Stars, Nonfiction by Mark Kurlansky, 2010. A disproportionate number in baseball’s Major Leagues have come from San Pedro de Macorís in the Dominican Republic. For many there, baseball is seen as the only way to a better life. Read by Denny Laufenburger. 9 broadcasts. Began March 8.     

Zoo Story, Nonfiction by Thomas French, 2010. Humans have a desire to both exalt and control nature. Nowhere is that more evident than in a zoo. Read by Alvin Apple. 10 broadcasts. Begins March 21.

 

Good Night Owl
Monday – Friday, Midnight

Freedom, Fiction by Jonathan Franzen, 2010. Patty and Walter Berglund were new pioneers of St. Paul, the avant-garde of the Whole foods generation – progressives. But in the new millennium, they have changed and become a mystery. L – Read by Dan Kuechenmeister. 24 Br. Began March 8.   

 

After Midnight
Tuesday– Saturday, 1 a.m.

Sidney Sheldon’s After the Darkness, Fiction by Tilly Bagshawe, 2010. Grace Brookstein is the prized wife of the king of Wall Street, Lenny Brookstein. Life is easy for her until the day that Lenny goes sailing and never returns. She has no idea that it is the beginning of a nightmare of murder, lies, greed and betrayal. L,S – Read by Kristi Sullivan. 13 Br. Began March 3.

The Infinities, Fiction by John Banville, 2010. As Adam Godley lies dying, his family gathers at his bedside. But in addition to the family are a family of mischievous immortals, including Zeus, Pan, and Hermes. As Adam’s days run down, they start to stir up trouble. L – Read by Bob Malos. 11 broadcasts. Begins March 22.

 

Abbreviations: V – violence, L – offensive language, S – sexual situations