Minnesota Now

The land area used for farming in Minnesota hasn’t changed much in the last few years, according to data released in February. But there are fewer farms on that land and the average farm has grown larger. This fits into a nationwide pattern of farm consolidation that has been happening for generations. For Brian Reisinger, it took searching through generations of family history to understand why.

Reisinger is the author of the book “Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family’s Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer.” His family farm is in the driftless region of Wisconsin and he has farming roots in Minnesota. Reisinger joined host Nina Moini on Minnesota Now to talk about the loss of family farms in the region.

State investigators have unlocked a cellphone with a video of the shooting of Winston Smith, who was killed by law enforcement in Minneapolis in 2021. It’s the only video of the incident from three years ago. MPR News host Nina Moini speaks with senior reporter Sarah Thamer about the latest on the developing story.

An organization based in St. Paul is working to better understand homelessness in the state. New data shows that Native Americans make up a disproportionate number of unsheltered people in the state and there is a growing number of homeless people in great Minnesota.

The number of farms in the U.S. have been dropping for decades. We talk to the author of a new book about the economic and political events that shaped his own family’s experience of farming.

Holidazzle is back on this season. We hear what’s in store for the winter festival and how it fits into a bigger plan for revitalizing downtown Minneapolis.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Somebody” by sahn and our Song of the Day was “Another Place to Cry” by Clare Doyle.

On Dec. 18 Holidazzle will return to its beginnings: Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. The event started as parade in 1992 that attracted more than 750,000 people downtown. In 2016 it moved to Loring Park due to construction on Nicollet Mall, and since the pandemic the event has been on thin ice. In 2023 it was altogether canceled.

The CEO and President of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, Adam Duininck, joined Minnesota Now to talk about the new iteration of Holidazzle and how it fits into the council’s plans to revamp downtown Minneapolis.

As temperatures plummet, some people who are unsheltered and homeless have had to find a way inside to stay safe. It’s a difficult time of year for the roughly 10,000 people in the state who have unstable or no shelter.

Often people without stable housing live unnoticed and without the safety and care they need. That’s why the Wilder Foundation in St. Paul conducts a survey of all the unhoused people they can find every three years.

The research organization just published new data from their Minnesota Homeless Study with geographic, demographic and social information about our neighbors without housing.

Rebecca Sales is a research scientist who worked on the project and she joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about their findings.

State investigators say they have a crucial piece of evidence from a police shooting in 2021. Winston Smith was shot and killed at the top of a parking garage in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis while sitting in his car. The BCA believed the only video of the incident was from Winston Smith himself recording on his phone. But it wasn’t until now, that officials say they were able to unlock the phone and watch the video.

MPR News senior reporter Sarah Thamer joins Minnesota Now to talk about what this video means for the case.

The GOP candidate in a narrow race to represent the Shakopee area in the state legislature has filed a legal challenge to the election. We’ll have the latest on the story and find out what this could mean for the tie between Republicans and the DFL in the House of Representatives.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota published a deep-dive on evictions from single family homes in the Twin Cities. We’ll find out what they learned.

Can a vibe be intellectual property? A Minnesota-based influencer says yes. She’s suing another influencer in a case that is the first of its kind. We’ll talk with a tech reporter about the lawsuit.

And the second season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League has begun. We’ll talk about Minnesota Frost, plus other sports news.

A first-of-its-kind legal battle is playing out between two Amazon influencers. Minneapolis-based influencer Sydney Nicole Gifford claims in a lawsuit that Texas-based influencer Alyssa Sheil won’t stop copying her. The two influencers make very similar content and have a very similar look.

How this lawsuit plays out could change the protections for influencers. This entire story was chronicled by reporter Mia Sato in the technology news outlet “The Verge.” Sato talked to MPR News host Nina Moini about her reporting and the implications of this lawsuit.

It was around 15 degrees outside U.S. Bank Stadium when the Minnesota Vikings kicked off against the Arizona Cardinals. And it took the team a while to heat up. But they pulled off a stunning comeback in the final minutes of the game.

It was the perfect weather for the Minnesota Frost who began their second season on the ice.

Our sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined the program to talk about this and other sports news.

There have been more than 23,000 evictions in Minnesota this year, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. That’s 40 percent higher than the average before 2020. And a new study by Minnesota researchers finds eviction rates for single family homes are higher for properties owned by large investors, especially private equity firms. And it finds rentals owned by private equity are concentrated in lower income neighborhoods.

Anthony Damiano is a research associate at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Urban and Regional Affairs and one of the authors of the study. He joined Minnesota Now to break down the study results.

An election contest lawsuit has been filed by the Minnesota House Republican candidate Aaron Paul in Scott County. It seeks to block an apparent win by the Democratic incumbent Brad Tabke by having his election certificate withheld and the seat declared vacant. That’s after Scott County acknowledged last week that about 20 ballots were accidentally discarded without being counted. Tabke’s margin of victory was 14 votes.

It’s all intensified further by an election that left the state House of Representatives split down the middle for 2025. And the Scott County race isn’t the only district that could push the house to one side or the other. To explain further, MPR News senior politics editor Brian Bakst joined the program.