Minnesota Now

The Twin Cities Film Fest is celebrating Black History Month with a micro film festival on Tuesday night. Five films from local Black filmmakers will be shown at Marcus West End Cinema in St. Louis Park.

Director Alison Guessou’s flim “Out of Time” was awarded “Best Feature Film” at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival. She joined Minnesota Now to talk about the film, the festival and representation in the industry.

Tickets for the MNmicro Film Festival: Black History are available on the Twin Cities Film Fest website.

MPR News host Angela Davis will be premiering a radio documentary on her show Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. It’s about the Police and Black Men Project, which brings together a group of Minneapolis police officers and Black community members on a trip to Montgomery, Alabama.  

Davis accompanied them on a recent trip. She joined Minnesota Now with a preview of the documentary.

Minnesota has been facing a psychiatric bed shortage. In a 2023 Minnesota Department of Health study, the top reason for discharge delays from Minnesota hospitals is a lack of availability of psychiatric beds. The study found some patients were spending as long as two weeks in a hospital waiting for psychiatric bed placement.

There is a new facility hoping to ease some of those pains. The Crisis and Recovery Center in West St. Paul held it’s ribbon cutting on Monday. The facility will have 16 psychiatric beds. It’s run by Dakota County and the non-profit Guild, which provides mental health services.

Deputy Director of Dakota County Social Services Emily Schug and Guild’s CEO Trish Thacker joined Minnesota Now to talk about the new facility.

The Trump administration announced Monday it intends to significantly shrink USAID and fold it into the state department, citing “ridiculous and malicious” projects within the humanitarian aid agency, according to an administration press release.

USAID has been around since the 1960s and has provided assistance to more than 100 countries. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday he is now the acting administrator of the program and blamed the agency’s issues on insubordination from agency employees. Democrats say that the move threatens humanitarian aid worldwide and could have deadly consequences.

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has criticized the significant changes being made to the agency and has argued President Trump does not have the authority to shut down USAID. Omar, who said she benefitted from the agency’s services as a child in a Kenyan refugee camp, joined Minnesota Now to talk about her concerns.

Major tariffs on imports from China and Canada are expected to go into effect tomorrow morning. With Canada being Minnesota's top trading partner, we'll talk to an expert about how these tariffs might affect your wallet and Minnesota's business economy.

Homeless shelters around the state are struggling to stay open as demand for their services grow. We'll learn about the difficulties homeless shelters may face to stay open and operating.

Plus, a program to bring Ukrainians to the U.S. is ending. We'll hear from one refugee about her concerns.

And will the Timberwolves make a blockbuster trade before the deadline. Our sports contributors weigh in.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Raspberry Beret” by Prince and our Song of the Day was “Betty” by Mucilage.

Things were looking up for the Timberwolves. They went into the weekend with a five-game winning streak. But that ended Saturday with a loss to the Washington Wizards, who are ranked at the bottom of the NBA.

Anthony Edwards was out with an illness. Julius Randle was out with an injury. And Naz Reid left the game with a finger sprain.

The Wolves play at home Monday night and as many as six players on the roster could be out. This is all happening as NBA fans are reeling from a trade between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. Which may leave fans in Minnesota wondering, are the Wolves going to make a move before the trade deadline on Thursday?

Sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini about this and other sports news.

Around the state, homeless shelters are struggling to stay open as demand for their services grow. Just last week, The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that Agate Housing and Services homeless shelter in Minneapolis was not planning to reopen, even after they received a $1.5 million grant from the city and an anonymous donation matching the city's contribution.

Agate isn’t alone in facing barriers in providing shelter for the homeless.

Joining Minnesota Now to talk about the difficulties for homeless shelters to stay open and operating is Matt Traynor, the director of advocacy and interim executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless.

Also joining the program is John Cole, the executive director of Chum, a homeless shelter in Duluth.

Department of Homeland Security officials have ordered a pause for a range of programs that have allowed immigrants to settle in the United States temporarily, including a key program that has provided an expedited entryway for Ukrainians known as Uniting for Ukraine. It’s due to an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The program allows Ukrainian immigrants to enter the United States temporarily if they have financial sponsors. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have entered the U.S. through the program since its launch in April of 2022. Now, many of those immigrants feel as if they are in limbo and are unsure what the future holds.

It’s still unclear how, when or if some of these policies will affect those already living here, but many members of Minnesota’s Ukrainian community are concerned. Minnesota saw an influx of Ukrainian refugees seeking asylum after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Joining MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about it’s impacts is Iryna Petrus. She fled Ukraine after Russia invaded and moved to Minnesota in 2022. Petrus now works at the Ukrainian American community center in northeast Minneapolis as a program manager for the Long-Term Care Workforce Program.

Major tariffs are set to go into effect Tuesday morning after President Trump signed an executive order over the weekend. And it could have a big impact on everything from your gas to your groceries.

Trump says the tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China are necessary to pressure the countries do more to curb fentanyl coming into the U.S.

On Monday morning, President Trump paused tariffs on goods from Mexico as the two countries work out a deal. But 25 percent tariffs are still set to go into effect with Canada, along with a new 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

Canada is Minnesota's top trading partner. According to the state’s trading office, in 2023 Canada’s total trade with Minnesota was $21.2 billion. That’s followed by Mexico with $6.6 billion and China with $6 billion.

Joining Minnesota Now to explain how the tariffs might affect Minnesotan consumers is Kingshuk Sinha, the chair of the Supply Chain and Operations department University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Emissions of greenhouse gases in Minnesota increased between 2020 and 2022, according to a new report from the state out today. It's the latest of the updates the state releases every two years on its progress toward a goal of bringing greenhouse gas emissions down to 0 by 2050.

These gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, are released by burning fossil fuels and other human activities. They're also driving climate change, which scientists say is already contributing to things like more frequent severe weather and warmer winters. Minnesota Department of Commerce Commissioner Grace Arnold joined the program to talk about the new report.