Minnesota Now

In 1998, the new public radio quiz show “Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me” did a regular segment called “Suck Up to Minnesota” in hopes of getting MPR to carry the program. It worked, and host Peter Sagal has been a weekend staple of our program lineup ever since.

Sagal joined MPR News host Tom Crann on the big stage in Dan Patch Park at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday to talk about what it takes to put together a comedy quiz show every week. Jennifer Mills joined the conversation as well. She’s a writer for “Wait Wait” and a Minnesota native.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.   

At United South Central Public Schools in Wells phones will be locked in a pouch for the entire day. Meanwhile at Grand Rapids-Big Fork Public Schools, phones will be put in a designated area during each class period.

After nearly a decade in Minnesota, MPR News senior reporter Hannah Yang visited the Minnesota State Fair for the first time and shared her experiences with the food, arts and unique attractions she encountered.

The desire to own a business runs strong throughout American history. “Entrepreneur. Americans have fallen in love with this French noun,” write two historians in their book about entrepreneurship. Much of the dynamism in our neighborhoods and communities comes from entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Among them is Mhonpaj Lee Vang and her family. She and her mother own Mhonpaj Garden, the first Hmong-owned certified organic farm in Minnesota with five acres in Stillwater and four acres in Marine on St. Croix. She also owns 22 farming acres in Hugo. Mhonpaj is a licensed real estate broker, real estate developer and, more recently, program host on Hmong TV.

MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell caught up with Mhonpaj in White Bear Lake.

School MCA results are out. The 2024 Minnesota teacher of the year is here to talk about what it means for students.

And many of those students are facing new cell phone policies this year. We'll learn more about the more restrictive policies, why they're in place, and if they will work.

We'll hear from generations of Hmong families about their serious entrepreneurial spirit.

Plus our own senior reporter Hannah Yang goes to the state fair for her first time ever. We'll get her takes.

And Thursday is a big night if you're a Gophers fan! We'll get a preview of their first football game of the season.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

The Minnesota Department of Education released test scores Monday morning for K-12 students across the state. The data shows scores have still not rebounded from a slump that began during the pandemic. About half of Minnesota public school students are proficient in reading and about 45 percent are proficient in math — numbers that have not changed since last year. These standardized tests are known as the MCA’s or Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments. Third through eighth graders typically take them every year. And high school students take one reading and one math test during their 10th or eleventh grade years.

Joining MPR News guest host Nina Moini for perspective from the classroom is Washburn High School english teacher and 2024 teacher of the year Tracy Byrd.

High school and college football fans are ringing in a new season. There are about one hundred high school games scheduled for Thursday afternoon and evening. The Minnesota Gophers play their first game at Huntington Bank Stadium. And for the Vikings, the regular season is just around the corner.

Joining MPR News guest host Nina Moini with a football preview and other Minnesota sports news are Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show Ten Thousand Takes. Nelson is the other host of that show and Vikings reporter for CBS Sports radio’s Eye on the NFL.

It’s time once again to test how much you know about Minnesota weather and climate. Cathy Wurzer and Mark Seeley presented the annual Minnesota State Fair Weather Quiz Event to a live audience at the MPR stage on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. The quiz has questions related to Minnesota history, recent weather events, record weather events, and climate patterns.

The fairgrounds is in the city of Falcon Heights, which might be considered neutral ground for our two guests, the executives of Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer at the MPR State Fair stage to talk everything from property taxes, bringing back downtowns and their favorite fair traditions.

One of the Minnesota State Fair’s new Creative Activities competition categories was nearly 25 years in the making. Back in the year 2000, Doris Rubenstein was disqualified from the Minnesota State Fair’s pickle competition for the second time. The liquid in her pickle jar was cloudy, because she made them by a different process than the pickles the judges were used to.

They were traditional kosher pickles, fermented in brine instead of preserved in vinegar. Rubenstein took the experience to local media and even turned it into a one-woman play that was performed at the 2017 Minnesota Fringe Festival and more recently in Winnipeg, Canada. This year for the first time, fermented pickles had their own category at the Minnesota State Fair. Rubenstein was a judge.

She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer live from the state fair to share her story — and some pickles.