Minnesota Now

President Donald Trump’s plan to apply 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican exports is set to start Tuesday. He hopes to pressure the countries to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the U.S.

Mexico and Canada have vowed to retaliate by slapping their own tariffs on U.S. goods, setting the stage for a potential North American trade war.

“Canada and the United States have had free trade for 35 years now and this will be the single most turbulent element of our trading relationship since 1989, so it's very worrying,” said Beth Richardson, the Consul General of Canada to the U.S. in Minneapolis.

Richardson told Minnesota Now host Nina Moini that she’s had business and agricultural associations calling her with concerns. She laid out three everyday impacts Minnesotans could see.

It was 50 years ago this March that science research in the U.S. took a landmark turn. Biologists know the significance of the historic Asilomar Conference, which gathered around 150 scientists in California. They had reached a turning point in research on DNA that would change the science world forever.

Kate Adamala researches genetics and cell biology at the University of Minnesota. Her work to create artificial cells is a direct result of what scientists talked about at their conference 50 years ago. And she was lucky enough to be at the anniversary conference to talk about the state of biotechnology in California last week.

Adamala is back in Minnesota and joined MPR News host Nina Moini to reflect on that experience.

Press freedom concerns are bubbling up at the White House. The Associated Press is suing the Trump administration after being barred from covering the Oval Office. Now the White House said it will decide which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump in what’s known as the press pool.

The decision, announced last week, breaks from a tradition where an independently chosen press pool follows the president and holds him accountable on behalf of the American public.

Pool reporters were previously determined by the White House Correspondents Association. The group has said the decision “tears at the independence of a free press.”

Joining Minnesota Now is someone who has experience covering the White House. Ben Tracy is the former senior White House correspondent with CBS News and a St. Paul native.

A teacher and coach sexually assaulted students at a Minneapolis charter school. Now the state's highest court has ruled that the school is liable for failing to vet him. We learn more details from a journalist following that story.

One in twenty U.S. kids have developmental challenges caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy. A Minnesota-based organization is working to change that.

A woman expresses her gratitude towards a stranger halfway across the world in our series Thank You, Stranger.

The decline in American Christianity is slowing. Researchers join the show to talk about new data on religious life in the state.

Mardi Gras is coming up next week in New Orleans. A local restaurant is bringing New Orleans-style food to Minnesota.

Thousands of people will travel to New Orleans this weekend ahead of Mardi Gras. Also known as Fat Tuesday, it falls on the last Tuesday before the Christian fasting season of Lent. Besides colorful beads and parades, people traditionally spend the day eating rich and fatty foods.  

You don’t have to go to Bourbon Street in New Orleans to celebrate. A new restaurant brings the cuisine to the Twin Cities. Lagniappe opened just five months ago in the rebuilt Coliseum Building on Lake Street in Minneapolis.  

Lagniappe’s owner, Chris Montana, and the restaurant’s mixology consultant, Daniel Victory, joined Minnesota Now from New Orleans to talk about the festivities.

In 2010, 52-year-old Lisa Korslund was diagnosed with leukemia while she was living in Switzerland. Her doctors told her she needed a bone marrow transplant, and she needed to find a match.

A match is based on human leukocite antigens. It's important to have a very similar genetic makeup as your donor and donors are typically siblings or other family members.

But none of Korslund’s siblings were a match.

Minnesota Now producer Ellen Finn spoke to Lisa Korslund, who now lives in Edina, about the stranger halfway across the world who saved her life.

Thank You, Stranger is our series about unexpected kindness in our lives. If you have a story to share about a stranger who made your life a little brighter, we want to hear it.

Contact us at [email protected] or ‪(612) 361-1252‬.

A new poll from the Pew Research Center indicates that the decline of Christianity in the U.S. has slowed.

Churches across the U.S. say they have lost members over the past century, indicating a larger trend of declining religious life in the United States.

Greg Smith, the Pew Research Center senior associate director, and Penny Edgell, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota and an advisor to this study, joined Minnesota Now to talk about the poll’s results.

About one to five percent of school-age children in the United States are living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders — known as FASDs — developmental challenges caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy. The numbers are higher for children in foster care.  

A Minnesota-based organization called Proof Alliance is working around the country to raise awareness of FASDs and support people who are impacted by them. 

DaKota Morgan, a participant in the organization’s youth programs who has an FASD, and Proof Alliance’s Executive Director, Mollie O’Brien joined Minnesota Now to talk about their work to raise awareness about FASDs.

A Minneapolis charter school can be held legally responsible for hiring a gym teacher who sexually assaulted students, according to the Minnesota Supreme Court, who ruled on the case Wednesday. Adam Hjermstad was convicted in 2021 for the sexual assaults of students where he taught and coached basketball.

One of the survivors and his family sued the charter school Harvest Best Academy for hiring Hjermstad. Sahan Journal education reporter Becky Dernbach joined Minnesota Now to talk about how the Supreme Court’s ruling could have implications for schools across the state.

Former teacher, coach in Minneapolis faces new charges of sexually assaulting children

Minneapolis charter school may be liable for hiring teacher who sexually assaulted student, court rules

A new report looks at the contributions of immigrants to Minnesota's economy. It found that foreign-born workers are making up an increasing share of the state’s workforce. We talk to an official behind the report about what that means for the state's economy.

A food bank in northern Minnesota is expanding to feed more people in the area. They are opening a new facility. We hear from the CEO of Second Harvest Northland.

Plus, rain in February! We check in with meteorologist Sven Sundgaard for the forecast.

And we go Out to Lunch, this time with Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth. We hear about everything from her love for spicy food to her unconventional path into politics.

The Minnesota Music Minute was Bob Dylan’s song “Girl from the North Country” and “Alive (For the Second Time)” by Faux Pseudo was the Song of the Day.