Episodes
-
Spending in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race that could determine the court’s ideological majority has surpassed $90 million.
The two candidates, conservative Judge Brad Schimel and liberal Judge Susan Crawford, will face off on April 1. Both candidates have raised millions of dollars and garnered attention from some prominent names in politics, including Elon Musk, whose Department of Governmental Efficiency has slashed funding for government projects and cut thousands of federal jobs.
Matt Smith, the politics director of WISN 12 News in Milwaukee, Wis., joined Minnesota Now to talk about the race and how it could have impacts in Minnesota and around the country.
-
Federal COVID-19 funds to states, including Minnesota, are being cut by the Trump administration. It erases $266 million in grants to the state. We’ll learn what impact that has from the Minnesota Department of Health commissioner.
Voters in Wisconsin will head to the ballot box next week in a state Supreme Court race. A Wisconsin reporter will share why people like Elon Musk are spending money on that election.
Plus we'll learn about a new partnership between three Twin Cities colleges that hopes to reenroll people who didn't finish their degree.
In our Thank You, Stranger we learn about a Minneapolis music fan known as "Front Row Paul."
And a fundraiser is supporting Minnesota Korean adoptees who want to learn about their past.
Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Just Like That” by Harlow and our Song of the Day was “Spandrel” by Jacob Pavek.
-
Episodes manquant?
-
A landmark report in South Korea has concluded the government bears responsibility for facilitating a corrupt foreign adoption program, peaking in the 1970s and 80s. A commission in the country Wednesday released the findings after a nearly three-year investigation.
The adoption program left thousands of Korean adoptees with questions and grief about their origin. More than 20,000 of those adoptees live here in Minnesota. It's the state with the highest number of Korean adoptees in the country.
David “Chilly” Caufman, a Korean adoptee, has been a part of the Twin Cities music scene for 20 years and is helping to organize a music festival called Heart & Seoul Connection. Money raised during the festival will support adoptees to visit their birth country.
Caufman is working with Adoptee Hub, a Minnesota-based organization that supports Korean adoptees, to put the concert on. He joined Adoptee Hub founder and CEO Ami Nafzger to talk about the concert and the recent report on Minnesota Now.
-
This week's episode of “Thank You Stranger” honors a Twin Cities music scene legend. He was well known by local musicians and show-goers as “Front Row Paul”, or Paul Engebretson. Paul passed away earlier this week after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
MPR News producer Ellen Finn talked to local musician and talent buyer Christy Costello about how Paul went from stranger to friend for hundreds of musicians.
A celebration of life for Paul is being planned at Palmer’s Bar in Minneapolis at the end of May.
-
A new partnership is helping Minnesotans get their college degrees, if for some reason they couldn’t finish. Minneapolis College, St. Paul College and Metro State University are working with a ReUp Education, a national organization that helps reenroll people in college.
According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the state of Minnesota has more than 600,000 residents who have some college but no credential.
Greg Mellas, dean of Liberal and Fine Arts at St. Paul College, and Katy VanVliet, ReUp Education’s senior vice president of Learner Services, joined Minnesota Now to share more about the program.
-
State health leaders say the federal government is canceling $226 million in public health funding in Minnesota.
The cuts are part of an $11.4 billion cut to COVID-19 related grants nationwide. In a statement, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is over.” The department also called the grants a waste of taxpayer money.
Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham joined Minnesota Now to talk about how the cuts will impact services in Minnesota.
-
The state of Minnesota is asking more than 50,000 employees to return to the office for 50 percent of the time beginning in June. The governor wants more in-person collaboration. We hear from a union leader who disputes the move and its timing.
A Minneapolis charter school is facing two lawsuits questioning the school administration's conduct after two teachers were accused of sexual abuse. We get the latest on a leadership change.
Plus, a sloppy spring storm could be on the way. MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner has an update.
And we go out to lunch with basketball legend Lindsay Whalen! She is back with the Lynx as an assistant coach after taking an 18-month break from basketball.
Today’s Minnesota Music Minute is “Late Bloom” by Zippy Laske and the Song of the Day is “Girl from the North Country” performed by Timothee Chalamet and Monica Barbaro.
-
It’s time for another edition of Out to Lunch. We’re getting out of the studio and meeting different members of our community over a meal, at a restaurant of their choice.
Today we’ll hear a conversation MPR News host Nina Moini had with Lindsay Whalen. She’s a Minnesota basketball legend with a storied playing career with the Gopher’s and Lynx. Now she’s coaching and gearing up for her first season as an assistant coach with the Lynx. Moini and Whalen met up at The Freehouse in the north loop neighborhood of Minneapolis for lunch.
-
Believe it or not, April is around the corner. This week Minnesota has seen pretty typical spring weather. We are feeling milder temperatures but we are also seeing raindrops and even snowflakes across the state. It looks like we may be in for more spring slop with a storm coming this weekend.
MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner joins MPR News host Nina Moini with details on the forecast.
-
Starting June 1, employees for the state of Minnesota will be required to work in person for at least 50 percent of their scheduled workdays. Gov. Tim Walz announced the change Tuesday.
Remote work spread widely across the workforce when the pandemic began and many state employees have maintained that setup or work in a hybrid format.
Unions representing state workers are criticizing the governor’s decision. For more, MPR News host Nina Moini talks with Megan Dayton, the president of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, or MAPE, and a senior demographer with the state.
The governor’s office said in a statement that the new policy will lead to faster collaboration among state workers and help boost the economy of downtown St. Paul.
-
A Minneapolis charter school is under new leadership after multiple lawsuits called into question the school’s practices.
According to reporting from Sahan Journal, Harvest Best Academy’s school board fired their CEO and founder Eric Mahmoud after a lawsuit claimed he chose to protect a prominent teacher accused of sexual abuse.
Sahan Journal education reporter Becky Dernbach joins MPR News host Nina Moini with the latest.
-
St. Paul's mayor is asking state lawmakers for $397 million dollars to renovate the Xcel Energy Center and other major attractions. We talked to the chair of a senate committee that is considering the proposal Tuesday.
Minnesota's largest mental health advocacy group is holding a workshop to help people navigate federal layoffs and funding cuts. We heard from the social worker leading the event.
As state regulators figure out how to enforce Minnesota's new ban on forever chemicals, two reporters put some household products to the test. We found out what they learned.
We met a woman behind an effort to name March Kurdish Heritage month in Moorhead.
Our Minnesota Music Minute was ‘On My Mind’ by Big Salt and our Song of the Day was ‘Somebody Said There'd Be Cookies’ by Pat Egan.
-
In Moorhead, March is now Kurdish Heritage Month. The city’s mayor issued a proclamation in early March making the city the latest to celebrate its Kurdish population. A community group estimates there are 3,500 Kurds in the city, or eight percent of the population.
Siham Amedy led the effort to submit the proclamation to the city. She’s a member of the city’s human rights commission and a project manager at Creating Community Consulting. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about why March is such an important month for Kurdish people.
-
It’s been nearly three months since Minnesota’s ban on forever chemicals in household products went into effect. The PFAS ban is the widest in the country. Its first stage includes products in 11 categories, from children’s clothes to cookware. On Jan. 2 — day two of the ban — a pair of reporters went shopping for some of those items and then tested them in a lab. A few of the products failed the test.
The Minnesota Star Tribune environmental reporter Chloe Johnson and business reporter Brooks Johnson joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about their report.
Related reading: Star Tribune tested Minnesota’s new PFAS law. Not everyone passed.
-
A big ticket request to renovate some of St. Paul's largest attractions will head to the legislature.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Melvin Carter and others asked lawmakers to pay $397 million to update the Xcel Energy Center, Roy Wilkins Auditorium and the RiverCentre. It's about half of the estimated cost of the renovations.
DFL state senator Sandy Pappas is the chair of the Capital Investment Committee that will hear the request. She also represents the downtown St. Paul area. Senator Pappas joined Minnesota Now to talk about the request for the renovations, if a project like this could help attract people to downtown St. Paul and how much of the project would land on taxpayers.
-
Since coming into office, President Donald Trump has prioritized drastically reducing the size and scope of the federal government. It’s led to mass layoffs that have impacted Minnesotans and also funding cuts that trickle down to local agencies and nonprofits.
It's creating a lot of uncertainty and confusion amongst employees. To help Minnesotans cope with some of the anxiety from that, The National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota chapter, or NAMI Minnesota, is holding a workshop on Wednesday.
Melissa Conway is a licensed social worker with Minnesota Mental Health Clinics and will be leading the workshop. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about the state of federal employee mental health.
-
More details are coming to light about the arrest of former state Senator Justin Eichorn. We'll get the latest from reporter Mark Zdechlik. Plus, we'll talk to the head of the Minnesota BCA about how sting operations work and how agents are trained.
A lawsuit has been filed against St. Francis Area schools over a policy that requires library books to be filtered through a rating site supported by conservatives. We'll hear from an attorney on the case.
Plus, the head of a national veterans group is in Minnesota to spread awareness about veteran mental health. We'll hear about his efforts to support veterans in the state.
And March Madness is in full swing! We'll get the breakdown from our sports guys Wally and Eric.
Our Minnesota Music Minute was “For Her” by Lighter Co. and our Song of the Day was “A Little Brie, A Little Weed, A Little Wine” by Joe Pie Weed.
-
Here’s a lesson from March Madness: there’s no such thing as perfection. There has never been a perfect bracket, according to the NCAA. Out of the tens of millions of people who filled out brackets this year on the men’s side, they’ve all been wrong at least once. In the women’s tournament, there were just 141 perfect brackets remaining this morning.
Plus, the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team have found a new coach after Ben Johnson was fired earlier this month.
Joining Minnesota Now to catch up on all of this and other sports news are our sports contributors, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson.
-
The ACLU of Minnesota and Education Minnesota have filed separate suits against St. Francis Area Schools over a library book policy. The policy requires books in school libraries be filtered through a book rating site, Book Looks, which is backed by conservatives. The school board approved the policy last fall.
The lawsuit from the ACLU of Minnesota was filed on behalf of two parents of students in the district. Education Minnesota filed on behalf of eight students in the district, whose parents are teachers.
Both suits argue argues that banning books violates Minnesota constitutional and state law.
Catherine Ahlin-Halverson is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Minnesota and she joined Minnesota Now to explain the legal action.
-
The head of a national veterans group is on tour in Minnesota this week to talk about preventing suicide. Suicide rates are consistently higher for those who have served in the military, compared to non-veterans according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
The American Legion's Be the One campaign aims to get veterans and their communities talking more openly about mental health. James LaCoursiere Jr., the group's National Commander, is promoting the initiative all over the country.
He joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about the initiative.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone. Call or text 988 to get connected with trained counselors who can help. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is available 24/7.
- Montre plus
