The St. Louis County Board has declared a local disaster in response to flooding and other damage resulting from recent torrential rain that swept across the region.

In downtown Cook, homes and businesses are under several feet of water with flooding from the Little Fork River. The owner of the 85 year old Comet Theater said many businesses, including theirs, don’t have flood insurance because it’s too expensive.

Ryan Horner the owner of the Comet Theater and Dewey Johnson, Emergency Support Services Administrator for St. Louis County spoke to MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

10 years ago this June, Matt Stanton figured it was time to take his motorcycle out for a ride. His dad was staying in Black Duck near Bemidji, and Stanton decided to avoid the interstates and take back roads from Minneapolis on his bike to join them for a few days of camping and fishing.

He was having a great ride up until he was right outside of Cromwell, when his motorcycle broke down. Stanton coasted in front of the only driveway for miles. And the man who owned that house, couldn’t have been the more perfect stranger to help him out.

In a recent visit to Morris, MPR senior economics contributor Chris Farrell visited several small businesses in the area. One of those businesses is Lakeside Prairie Farm in nearby Barrett, about half an hour north of Morris.

Lakeside Prairie is owned by Bryan and Jessie Simons. Their farm business? A goat grazing service. And it’s become very successful.

Farrell joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about their niche business.

Each year the Bush Fellow program recognizes people who are making a difference in their communities in Minnesota, the Dakotas and 23 tribal nations in the region.

The fellows receive up to $150,000 to learn and expand on their work. The 2024 cohort was announced on June 17.

The fellows have a wide variety of work including art, food, housing, racial justice and more. Many are focused on health care and healing, like Mari Avaloz.

She’s currently director of the St. Olaf College TRIO/Upward Bound program that prepares low-income and first-generation students for higher education. She’s putting the fellowship toward a vision of getting Latino families better access to cancer care. Mari Avaloz joined Minnesota Now to talk about her work.

Minnesota’s major rivers are rising and are forecast to be at flood stage soon. We talked to a hydrologist about how unusual it is for this time of year, and we talked with an official with the city of St. Paul about how it’s preparing.

For our Minnesota History Segment, we looked at a transformative labor battle among truckers 90 years ago in Minneapolis.

We talked to one of this years Bush Fellows who is helping Latino families get better access to cancer care.

St. Paul’s historic Rondo neighborhood is celebrating Juneteenth. We talked to an organizer about the festivities.

We heard about 45 years of Farmington Dew Days and learned about the historic connection to the soft drink Mountain Dew.

This summer, Minnesota Now is featuring small town festivals across the state. We’re kicking it off with Farmington Dew Days.

Saturday marks the 45th year of the celebration. While the celebration isn’t completely focused on Mountain Dew these days, the celebration still tips its hat to its origin story.

Kristie Kerr, the committee chair for the festival joined the show to talk about it.

Wednesday is Juneteenth, a holiday to recognize and remember the abolition of slavery in the United States. Minnesotans across the state are observing the holiday, including the Rondo community in Saint Paul. Their fourth annual Juneteenth celebration will be held at the Rondo Commemorative Plaza Wednesday from 12p.m. to 5p.m. The Rondo Center of Diverse Expressions is hosting the event, and its president, Marvin Anderson, joined Minnesota Now to share more about upcoming celebrations.

Minnesotans are on flood watch this week. After a two year drought and an abnormally dry winter, we’ve been hit with weeks of rain that's got soil saturated and rivers rising.

Several cities including Delano, Henderson and Saint Paul have already closed roads near swollen rivers. Craig Schmidt, a senior hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Chanhassen joined Minnesota Now to talk about the unusual flooding.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer also talked to Lisa Hiebert, public information officer from the City of Saint Paul’s Public Works department, about how the city near the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers is planning for high water.

As of June 2024, 13 percent of workers in Minnesota belong to a union, which is higher than the national rate of 10 percent. And it’s much higher than 90 years ago, when a transformative labor battle was boiling over in the state’s largest city.

Unions were basically non-existent in Minneapolis in the early 1930s until a group of worker activists rallied truckers and their wives to form a union in 1934. By May, they had as many as 3,000 members. The union led three strikes, beginning in February and stretching into the summer of 1934. The struggle became violent at times. Strikers killed two strikebreakers in May.

Police killed two workers and wounded 67 others in July, a day known as “Bloody Friday.” By late August, the union had accomplished its goal of securing influence for workers in the city. Linda Leighton is granddaughter of a strike leader and she’s one of the organizers of an annual commemoration. She joined Minnesota Now to talk about her family story of the strike.

By this time, most students in Minnesota are done with school for the year — that means summer vacation! Families have the chance to take advantage of the warm weather on adventures all over the state.

Though the North Shore is a favorite, there are so many more beautiful places in Minnesota to relax and explore.

Stephanie Pearson knows — she grew up around northern Minnesota and has spent her career writing about outdoor adventure around the world for Outside Magazine and National Geographic.

But she just can’t stop coming back to Minnesota to hike, swim and bike. She joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer with some tips on getting outside this summer, especially to those lesser-known gems.