On Wednesday morning, the town of Pequot Lakes in northern Minnesota crowned its royalty for this year’s Bean Hole Days festival. The tradition has been going on since 1938 and is described as “rootin’ tootin’ good fun for the family.”

Tuesday night, five cast iron kettles of beans were buried underground to cook. And by noon on Wednesday, they were ready to serve to the thousands of visitors who take part in the annual celebration.

Nichole Heinen is the Pequot Lakes Chamber of Commerce director. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer from South Trailside Park in downtown Pequot Lakes.

Minnesotans ages 18 through 20 could soon be able to legally carry handguns, after a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the state's age limit on concealed carry permits is unconstitutional.

Attorney General Keith Ellison's office could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and a spokesperson said they are considering whether to do so. As of now, the ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a win for gun rights advocates and three young adults who sued against the state's age limit. The cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, in which a 6-3 majority ruled people have a right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.

The Minnesota law, passed in 2003, allowed only people over 21 to apply for a permit to carry a handgun—the federal limit is 18. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke about the ruling with Rob Doar, Senior Vice President of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which was a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

In a statement to MPR News, Attorney General Keith Ellison said he was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling. “This epidemic of gun violence will continue unabated unless we do something about it. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court's Bruen ruling made that far more difficult by opening the floodgates to litigation from gun advocacy groups looking to undo reasonable safety legislation.

“This year alone, Minnesota has experienced at least four mass shootings. Just days ago, a 20-year-old tried to take the life of the former President of the United States. It is extremely troubling that Clarence Thomas' misguided opinion in Bruen is preventing us from acting to protect the public from senseless violence like this. The people of Minnesota want and deserve solutions that reduce shootings and improve public safety, and today's ruling only makes that more difficult.”

Well, it's a relief for many of us. The weather so far has been mild, sunny, and just downright pleasant! That's a big change from the humidity and pretty severe storms that hit much of the state over the weekend. Our chief meteorologist Paul Huttner joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to break down the week’s forecast.

The drama surrounding the campaigns of both President Biden and former President Trump for re-election have reached a fever pitch recently with growing calls for Biden to drop out of the race and Trump recovering from an attempted assassination that has caused conspiracy theories to fly in all directions. It can feel overwhelming.

We talked to some Gen Z voters earlier this week who are raring to make their voice heard amid the chaos. But for many more people of their generation, the recent drama has led to feelings of helplessness or apathy.

Chelsea Sheldon is working hard this year to combat that. She is the co-founder and programming director for the new organization Believe in What's Possible, which is committed to getting younger adults to vote. Sheldon joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer.

The town of Morris lies in west central Minnesota. The small town and its population of some 5,000 is surrounded by farms. Morris is probably best known for its University of Minnesota liberal arts campus.

In downtown Morris is the Inherit Clothing Company. Inherit curates, designs and sells modest, feminine, on-trend styles for its customers.

MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell was fascinated to learn in a recent visit that Inherit is largely an e-commerce business with global sales. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to share his takeaways from a conversation with Inherit CEO Amy Ekron.

Thursday night kicks off a unique summer music festival in southern Minnesota. It’s the third year of the Minnesota Original Music Festival in St. Peter and it features musicians from across the state.

The director of the festival, Eli Hoehn, joined Minnesota Now to play some local music and talk about how the festival has grown as the city gets ready to celebrate the Minnesota music scene.

The Minnesota Original Music Festival runs July 17-21. See the lineup here.

Two years ago on July 16, 988 became the number to call for people anywhere in the country who are experiencing mental health crises. The suicide and crisis lifeline now also has a text and chat component.

In 2023, 988 call centers in Minnesota answered more than 53,000 calls, chats and texts, according to the Department of Health, which is a 74 percent increase from 2022.

For most of those calls, the situation was considered stable after the call or chat. For about four percent of the calls, a mobile crisis team responded in person, and about one percent of the time the call was transferred to 911.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer was joined by one of the counselors on the other end of the line explain how the resource works in the state.

Jamie Drewlow is the text and chat supervisor for First Call for Help, a call center based in Grand Rapids that responds to people from all over the state. Sidney Frye II also joined the show. She leads Olmsted County’s community outreach team.

Tuesday is day two of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer is set to speak. MPR News senior politics reporter Dana Ferguson joined the show to talk about how Emmer fits into the Republican politics of this moment.

The suicide and crisis lifeline 988 has been live for two years as of Tuesday. We met someone on the other end of the chat and text line and learned more about who responds to calls in person.

In a Minnesota Now encore segment, we looked back on journalist Lee Hawkin’s conversation with a teacher who made a big difference in his life.

Plus, we’ll visit a new coffee shop on the Fond du Lac Reservation. And get a preview of southern Minnesota’s Original Music Fest, coming this weekend to St. Peter.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Change of the Seasons” by Beret Finken and our Song of the Day was “Forgiveness” by We are the Willows.

It was a sold out crowd at Target Center for the Lynx-Fever game with Caitlin Clark in town. And it was an exciting game. The Lynx were off to a hot start and led the third quarter with a seven-point lead. The the Fever fought back, winning the game 81-74.

The man behind the mic doing play-by-play for Lynx Radio on KFAN is a new voice. Wendell Epps is just 23 years old and is also the first Black and Hispanic person to do play-by-play for the organization. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about his career.

On Minnesota Now, we’ve heard many stories brought to light by reporters at Sahan Journal. It’s a nonprofit newsroom launched in 2019 to cover immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.

On Monday, the organization announced its new leader. Vanan Murugesan is taking the helm as executive director after founder Mukhtar Ibrahim announced he was stepping down last October.

For the last nine years, Murugesan has worked at Pillsbury United Communities, where he co-founded a nonprofit grocery store in north Minneapolis. And he stepped into the local media landscape by helping with the launches of the community news outlet North News and south Minneapolis radio station KRSM. Murugesen joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.