MPR People

Lorna Benson

Reporter
Minnesota Public Radio
lbenson@mpr.org

Lorna Benson is a St. Paul-based correspondent for Minnesota Public Radio. She has been reporting for MPR since 1990, and hosted All Things Considered from 1997 to 2003. She has also worked at Minnesota Public Radio bureau stations in Rochester and St. Peter, where she was the news director. For a brief time in 1996, Benson worked at KPBS radio in San Diego, where she hosted Morning Edition and a weekly call-in program. She has been honored by the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Minnesota Psychiatric Society, the Minnesota Medical Association, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill of Minnesota, Eli Lilly & Company and the Minnesota Education Association. Benson was the 2003 Commencement speaker at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Lorna Benson Feature Archive

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Turnout light at Minneapolis H1N1 vaccination clinics

Turnout was light at four H1N1 vaccination clinics held last night at four Minneapolis elementary schools. (11/20/2009)

Seven Minnesota counties holding H1N1 vaccination clinics

At least seven Minnesota counties are holding H1N1 flu vaccination clinics Friday and this weekend. (11/20/2009)

Turnout light at school H1N1 clinic

The Minneapolis Public Health Department offered H1N1 vaccine to kids at four elementary schools Thursday. (11/19/2009)

Five more H1N1 deaths confirmed in Minn.

Cases of H1N1 influenza continue to decrease in Minnesota schools, even while five more deaths from the illness were confirmed in the past week, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. (11/18/2009)

Health officials keep quiet about vaccine supplies

The distribution process for the H1N1 flu vaccine in Minnesota has been shrouded in secrecy to this point. Some Minnesota clinics have withheld information from the public about their vaccine supplies. And the state Health Department has deliberately kept quiet about which clinics and hospitals have received doses. (11/17/2009)

Minnesota reports 6 new confirmed H1N1 flu deaths

Six more Minnesotans have died from H1N1 flu complications and a seventh flu death was likely caused by the H1N1 virus. There have now been 21 confirmed H1N1 deaths since April. (11/12/2009)

Federal health officials meet with Minnesota media on H1N1

Officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its agencies met with members of the Minnesota media Tuesday to talk about the nation's pandemic influenza response. (11/10/2009)

Some fear H1N1 vaccine campaign is too late

The H1N1 vaccine campaign is gradually picking up speed in Minnesota, but health officials fear that the doses may be arriving too late for some people who think the worst of the outbreak has passed. (11/06/2009)

Minn. counties planning vaccinations clinics for kids

Minnesota counties are ironing out the final details on public vaccination clinics for kids that could begin as early as Nov. 16. The doses will only be available to children aged 9 and under. (11/04/2009)

U of M offering H1N1 vaccine to 'high priority' students and staff

The University of Minnesota will offer H1N1 vaccine to some students and staff in so-called "high priority" groups Wednesday and Thursday. (11/04/2009)

Local lab makes Tamiflu for kids

A pharmacy lab in Minnesota is helping address the shortage of H1N1 medicine for children, by making kid-sized doses of Tamiflu from adult-sized capsules. MPR's Lorna Benson visited the lab to see how it's done. (11/03/2009)

Hospitals see big jump in H1N1 cases, restrict visitors

The Health Department says there were 275 patients hospitalized with influenza-like illness in the last week. That's the biggest jump in hospitalizations since the department began tracking the H1N1 flu outbreak in April. (10/30/2009)

Four Minnesota hospitals open separate flu centers

The Minnesota Department of Health says four greater Minnesota hospitals have opened centers to deal with a surge in flu patients. (10/29/2009)

H1N1 flu vaccine supply catching up to demand

There has been a lot of pent-up demand for the H1N1 vaccine, and getting it has been a frustrating process for many people these past few weeks. But federal and local officials say the gap between supply and demand is starting to narrow. (10/29/2009)

Lack of fever in some H1N1 cases complicates prevention effort

It appears a lot of people with the H1N1 flu do not experience a fever, and the absence of a fever could mean they are not taking enough precautions to prevent transmitting the virus to others. (10/28/2009)