Prairie Home Companion star Garrison Keillor, 67, suffered a minor stroke over the weekend, reports Minnesota Public Radio. Doctors at the Minnesota hospital where Keillor is being treated expect to release him on Friday. The Star Tribune says fans were alerted to his condition on the pubradio host’s Facebook page that reportedly said, “Garrison Keillor has landed in the hospital, one more pitiful giant with tubes in his hands, wearing a tiny hospital gown, peeing into a container, and endlessly reciting his correct name and date of birth. Have Mercy.” That was later changed to: “Garrison Keillor is enjoying a sunny day at an undisclosed location in southern Minnesota.”

CPB and PRX are cooperating on an H1N1 website for stations, fluportal.org. Local and national reports are available, as well as data from health organizations, content and widgets from websites within the system and a blog.

The Inspector General’s Office of the Commerce Department is reviewing the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, according to Broadcasting and Cable. The investigation will focus mainly on efficiency and the online application process. Several pubstations have applied for grants, including Florida Public Broadcasting Service; it’s asking for $22 million to connect public service entities into the Florida LambaRail high-speed network.

Community Cinema, a free monthly screening series in more than 50 cities nationwide, begins its fifth season this month. It shows Independent Lens films through partnerships with more than 2,500 local organizations such as the American Legion Auxiliary, Amnesty International and the Nature Conservancy. Since September 2005 more than 100,000 people have attended some 1,000 events, making it the biggest public outreach program in noncom or commercial TV, according to ITVS. Up first: D Tour, about an indie rocker’s quest for a new kidney.

Viewers like you — by name — have literally moved to the front of the line in underwriting credits at WQED in Pittsburgh. Since mid-August, a Mary Jones or Joe Smith of Anytown, Pa., who donated as little as $40 to the station, is mentioned ahead of major corporations or donors providing hundreds of thousands. That better reflects the overall importance of viewer contributions to the TV/FM licensee, said Deborah L. Acklin, g.m. At a time when audience contributions are proving more reliable than many corporate and state government funders, the WQED credits and new ones from PBS are emphasizing the role of viewer-donors.

Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe set will come alive for the first time since production ceased in 2001 during an open house Nov. 6-8 in Studio A at WQED in Pittsburgh. King Friday XIII’s castle, X the Owl’s tree and other set pieces from the longtime fave kids’ show will be on display. Mr. McFeeley the Speedy Delivery Mailman will even be there (in real life, David Newell, still on the staff at Rogers’ Family Communications). WQED said in a statement it will send invitations to pubTV stations nationwide for Mister Rogers’ fans to attend the event. This will be the last look at the sets, it added.

Live interviews, news sound bites and talk segments featuring voices of people who are living the news are essential elements of the mix.

WGBH and WNET are “re-imaging and re-engineering” the PBS World documentary-oriented multicast channel, which has been picked up by only about 40 of the 170-plus public TV licensees.

As a self-proclaimed evangelist for HD Radio, I am often asked why I have inculcated it so deeply in the workings of WAMU in Washington. We devote several full-time employees to produce more than 50 hours a week of live original programming for our multicast channels — bluegrass and Americana music on Channel 2, and news and information on Channel 3. We further demonstrate our commitment to multicasting on our main channel. For the first year after we started multicasting three HD Radio channels, we spent at least 15 seconds of every hour on our flagship signal cross-promoting Channels 2 and 3, and our hosts still give them at least four spots a day.

Now here’s a must-watch YouTube video: An interview on German TV of Lady Gaga dressed in a cape and hat made of dozens of Kermit frog bodies. Beneath the German voiceover the quirky pop phenom can be heard explaining, “I dress this way because my whole life is art.” No reaction from Muppet Kermit thus far. And no word on whether he’s pondering this outfit depicted in a photo of “Kermit’s revenge.”

Madonna’s current visit to Israel may be getting more press, but Grover will reach far more fans with his. The popular Sesame Street resident is traveling the country to update the 1986 Shalom Sesame, which has sold 1 million copies — the No. 1 Jewish educational title, according to The Jerusalem Post. Grover has visited the Dead Sea, Caesarea, the Western Wall and even Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s largest shuk (outdoor market) to sample the goodies. Madonna may be visiting bigwigs including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Grover gets to star in Shalom Sesame with stars including Jake Gyllenhaal and Debra Messing.

Some pledge drives are going pretty darned well, reports The Washington Post. At D.C.’s WAMU, donations are running 50 percent higher than last year and membership is up 53 percent. “We’re getting astounding numbers,” Walt Gillette, WAMU’s director of individual giving, told the paper. Maryland Public Television in Baltimore saw a 3 percent increase over last year. WETA in Arlington, Va., is off 11 percent overall, but radio is up 2 percent. Colorado Public Radio, up 15 percent; KPBS in San Diego had a record number of donations over $1,200. How did your pledge go? Email Current Senior Editor Dru Sefton at seftond@current.org

Next week, a group of supporters of WLIU on Long Island will detail their plan to buy the radio station from Long Island University, reports the local Sag Harbor Express. The news site adds that within the next two weeks the backers will offer $800,000 to take over; a source with the group told Current while that figure is “in the ballpark,” it is not precise. More than 300 supporters in SPREE (Save Public Radio on the East End) include Loews Hotels Chairman Jonathan Tisch, publisher Jann Wenner, actor Alec Baldwin, singer Suzanne Vega and Congressman Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.). Here’s Current’s Aug.

Nearly 80 viewers wrote to PBS or ombudsman Michael Getler to lament the end of the long-running Reading Rainbow (Current, Aug. 6). Several of the letters Getler shared are quite emotional; one Portland, Ore., woman calls the show’s demise “a crime against literacy.”