We've been holding Strong Women focus groups at KAXE/KBXE in the last year, talking with women in rural northern MN about their lives and experienced. This time when we gathered we talked about women supporting other women. Laura Connelly led this focus group and in this conversation she talks about themes that surfaced and what they mean. Our Strong Women conversations will continue on the radio, and soon, podcast only conversations as well! Stay tuned!

Today Marshall Helmberger brought us the news from NE MN - specifically Tower, MN. He tells us about delays with the expansion of Lamppa Manufacturing , city council and government of Tower and fishing and the minnow shortage .

The Iron Range Maidens , the Grand Rapids Roller Derby team, is preparing for their season opening bout on May 18. On Close to Home Grant Frashier talks with both current and former team members about roller derby.

This Youth in Radio podcast features Alex Fitch describing the relatively new genre of music called Americana. Hear the episode below. Listen Thursday mornings about 8:10 to hear the Youth in Radio Podcast on KBXE/KAXE. The Youth in Radio Podcast is also available on kaxe.org and through iTunes. If you know someone who might want to make a podcast, send an email to [email protected] .

Peter Callaghan joined us this morning for Making Sausage. We talked budget stalemate, opioid bill , the Help America Vote Act and what the end of a legislative session.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and this morning Senator Tina Smith (DFL) from Minnesota tells us about a bill she is sponsoring - The Mental Health Services for Students Act.

Program 57: The Logging Empire of the Joyce Family; the Decadent Life Style of David Joyce A radio series produced by historian Don Boese. Don is the author of eight books dealing with local history in Itasca County, including "John C. Greenway and the Opening of the Western Mesabi", and the main source for this series, "Papermakers: the Blandin Paper Company and Grand Rapids, Minnesota". The series begins with the arrival of the first Euro-Americans to the forested wilderness of Itasca County

Imagine a plant sale that’s so popular it only lasts an hour! Folks arrive early, bringing their own flats and boxes, to buy annuals and perennials that can thrive in the local climate. All the proceeds support a good cause. This scenario describes the annual Itasca County Master Gardeners’ plant sale. It’s tomorrow evening, May 16 th , from 5-6 p.m. at the University of Minnesota North Central Research and Outreach Center in Grand Rapids. The sale promises beautiful plants at great prices, and

Phenology is the biological nature of events as they relate to climate. Every Tuesday morning, our resident Phenologist John Latimer gathers his phenological data and reports his findings in the weekly Phenology Report. As always, we love to hear what our listeners are noticing out in nature. Give us a call at 218.999.9876 and let us know what is happening around your place. You can also send an email directly to John . Either way, we want to hear from you! If you love this stuff, please

We hear from school kids across our listening area every week when they submit their phenology observations and we look forward to airing their findings every Tuesday. The school year is winding down and we're already lamenting the upcoming loss of our weekly classroom reports. The students have done a stellar job of documenting and reporting their nature observations this year. We've loved all of it! Hopefully some of the kids will continue to connect with us over the summer. What are you