The 2020 presidential election moves a step closer as Democratic presidential candidates prepare for their first debate in Miami, Fla.

Immigration, health care and foreign affairs are certain to be among the top talking points in South Beach. How will the Democratic candidates distinguish themselves from their peers?

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke to political expert Samara Klar about what to expect from the first presidential debates.

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American astronauts first landed on the moon in 1969.

Now Minnesota author Drew Brockington is sending cats to space in his kids' lit series "Catstronauts."

The author and illustrator joined MPR New host Kerri Miller to share how his love of space fueled this series, and what humans can learn from an intrepid crew of Catstronauts named Waffles, PomPom, Blanket and Major Meowser.

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Scientific consensus that humans are driving climate change is 97 percent among climate researchers. A survey released earlier this year found that two-thirds of Americans agree. But among Christians, that percentage is markedly lower. A 2015 Pew study found that only 28 percent of white evangelicals believe the Earth is warming because of human activity — by far the lowest percentage of any religious demographic in the survey.

But those numbers flip when it comes to Christian millennials and Generation Z. They overwhelmingly accept the scientific consensus, and they say caring for God's creation makes it imperative to do something about the warming planet before it's too late.

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with two young environmental activists who are using faith to motivate their generation to fight climate change.

Guests:

Melody Zhang, climate justice campaign coordinator for Sojourners and co-chair of the group Young Evangelicals for Climate Action

Shantha Ready Alonso, executive director of Creation Justice Ministries

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President Trump launched his re-election campaign last week promising to immediately deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Raids were scheduled to begin in 10 cities on Sunday — but Saturday afternoon, the president tweeted that the operation would be delayed two weeks to see if Congress can "work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border."

Many analysts say the plan to deport millions is not tethered to reality. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is already struggling with staffing and budgeting constraints. Currently, ICE is detaining the largest number of migrants in its history — more than 50,000 a day — because of an influx of Central American migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many say the agency simply doesn't have the personnel or money to carry out mass deportation orders.

MPR News host Kerri Miller was joined by two guests to sort the reality from the rhetoric.

Guests:

Laura Collins, director of the Economic Growth Initiative at the Bush Institute

Theresa Cardinal Brown, former Department of Homeland Security policy adviser

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The starkest divide in America is partisan. A December 2017 Pew Research poll ranked politics as the No. 1 thing that causes conflict today — more than race, income, community or age. Even more significant: a study this year found 45 percent of Democrats and 35 percent of Republicans would be unhappy if their child married someone from the opposite party.

Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers believe there's a better way. Creators and hosts of the fast-growing politics podcast Pantsuit Politics, Holland and Silvers themselves come from opposite sides of the partisan spectrum. But they've learned to stay engaged in conversation and relationship even while disagreeing with each other.

It's a principle they practice each week on their podcast and one that animates their new book "I Think You're Wrong (But I'm Listening)." Their core belief is that faith should at least influence the way we communicate, if not the outcome of the debate.

As part of our Women of Faith series, MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with Holland and Silvers about how to engage in grace-filled discussions so that even political disagreements can pay spiritual dividends.

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Joy Harjo, the first Native American to be named U.S. poet laureate, has been ready for a long time.

"I've been an unofficial poetry ambassador — on the road for poetry for years," the 68-year-old Harjo wrote in a recent email to The Associated Press. "I've often been the only poet or Native poet-person that many have seen/met/heard. I've introduced many poetry audiences to Native poetry and audiences not expecting poetry to be poetry."

'We were there': Joy Harjo on the forgotten origins of jazz

More poetry: Listen to The Slowdown

Her appointment was announced Wednesday by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who said in a statement that Harjo helped tell an "American story" of traditions both lost and maintained, of "reckoning and myth-making."

Harjo's term is for one year and she succeeds Tracy K. Smith, who served two terms. The position is officially called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry," with a $35,000 stipend. Harjo will have few specific responsibilities, but other laureates have launched initiatives, most recently Smith's tour of rural communities around the country.

"I don't have a defined project right now, but I want to bring the contribution of poetry of the tribal nations to the forefront and include it in the discussion of poetry," says Harjo, an enrolled member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and a native of Tulsa, Okla. "This country is in need of deep healing. We're in a transformational moment in national history and earth history, so whichever way we move is going to absolutely define us."

She is known for such collections as "The Woman Who Fell From the Sky" and "In Mad Love and War" and for a forceful, intimate style that draws upon the natural and spiritual world. Her previous honors include the PEN Open Book Award and the Wallace Stevens Award for lifetime achievement. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Jackson Prize, given by Poets & Writers, for a poet ...

Minnesota author Siri Hustvedt was the special guest at a Kerri Miller Book Circle event earlier this spring. Listen as they discuss Hustvedt's latest book "Memories of the Future" and how serendipitous listening is an art that is being lost, perhaps to our detriment.

Guest:

Siri Hustvedt, author

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Over the past eight months, 211,000 Guatemalans have been taken into custody at the southwest border of the United States. Many have left their homes in search of jobs, while others seek escape from communities plagued by gang violence.

Last week, the Washington Post reported that the falling price of coffee has also played a major role in the current migration crisis at the southern border.

Coffee, which was worth $2.20 per pound in 2015, hit a low of 86 cents this year.

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with Dean Cycon, owner of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Company and author of "Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee," about how falling prices of coffee in Guatemala are influencing migration to the United States.

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Last week, New York passed a suite of laws that strengthen rental regulations.

Earlier this year, Oregon passed a statewide rent control law, the first of its kind in the country.

A recent study from Harvard found that nearly 40 million Americans are living in "cost-burdened" homes, where they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

Does rent control help make housing more accessible to more people? Or does it worsen the shortage of affordable units?

MPR News host Kerri Miller was joined by two housing policy guests for a discussion on the affordable housing crisis and potential solutions.

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Eric Kaler will leave the University of Minnesota in July. He sat down with host Kerri Miller to talk about his tenure at the Big 10 school.