It has been a challenging year and a half for Gov. Tim Walz.

Along with his usual duties of negotiating a two-year state budget with a Legislature divided along party lines — he used emergency powers to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and deployed the National Guard and other law enforcement resources in the face of unrest that followed the police killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright.

Not to mention the drought that has hit the state this summer and a tough reelection challenge the DFL governor is likely to face next year.

Walz joined host Mike Mulcahy for the first half of Friday’s program. On the second half: drought and fires. What’s the current situation on the Greenwood Fire and other state wildfires, and how might things change this weekend? MPR News reporters Dan Gunderson and Dan Kraker give an update on the state of Minnesota’s landscape.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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