In the Minneapolis City Council’s first meeting of the new year, the council appointed Elliott Payne as its new president. And within moment of taking offices, Payne found himself pounding the gavel to restore order in a room packed with supporters of a resolution on the Israel-Hamas War.

Payne spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about his plans.

It’s been three years since Waseca police officer and father of two Arik Matson was shot while on duty. He survived, but sustained severe injuries to his brain. A new documentary follows Arik and his wife Megan Matson through the process of healing. It shows how the physical therapy was exhausting and frustrating at times, but Arik had an extra motivator. Hometown Hero Outdoors, a non-profit based in Stillwater, had promised to take him to the Bering Sea in Alaska.  

Arik and Megan Matson joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the film and their family’s journey.

More than 100,000 people around the country are part of a study that aims to look at child health from pregnancy through adolescence. The program looks at how environmental factors like chemicals, pollution, and stress affects children’s minds and bodies. About 800 pregnant Asian Americans in the Twin Cities now have the opportunity to join the study. A recent story by Sahan Journal looks at efforts by a University of Minnesota research team to make sure Asian Americans are well represented in this research. They just won a $13.6 million grant to recruit participants. Ruby Nguyen leads the project. She’s a professor of public health at the U. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.

Early Monday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced one of the largest wage theft lawsuits in Minnesota history against a large dairy producer with Facilities in Stearns and Redwood counties. Ellison alleges that Evergreen Acres Dairy failed to pay an estimated three million dollars in wages to its workers, most of who are immigrants from Mexico.

The Attorney General also alleged that the company-provided substandard housing for the workers. The lawsuit comes after Ellison created a new wage theft unit in 2019 to protect Minnesota worker's pay. He joined the show to talk about the lawsuit.

After a sluggish start to winter, the new year is bringing a wallop of what we haven’t seen in a while: snow. Especially for parts of Southwest Minnesota and around Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where travel is not advised. That part of the region could see nearly a foot of snow by Tuesday morning, and there are winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories posted. Some school districts in places like Canby, Luverne and Worthington have moved to online classes, and other districts even cancelled school in places like Lake Benton and Pipestone.

Nobles County Sheriff Ryan Kruger joined the show from snowy Worthington with a firsthand experience of the conditions.

Winter weather has finally arrived in Minnesota. The southwestern portion of the state is getting the brunt of a storm. We checked in with a sheriff.

Attorney General Keith Ellison joined the show with news of a major wage theft lawsuit against a central Minnesota dairy farm.

Dozens of court interpreters statewide walked off the job in a rare coordinated labor protest. We laid out their demands.

A local professor is making sure Asian Americans won't be left out of health studies.

We checked in with former Waseca police officer Arik Matson four years after he was shot in the line of duty and his story is going to the big screen.

The city of Minneapolis is clearing a controversial encampment of over 100 unhoused people. We’ll get the latest from a reporter at the scene.

Plus, police departments in Hennepin County will now have to disclose more information about when officers have mishandled evidence, lied, or acted out of bias. Hear what that means for defendants on trial.

There aren’t many lakes with safe ice yet. Why the Beltrami County Sheriff’s office has had to make more lake rescues than normal, and how they're keeping people safe.

A scary Minnesota-made podcast is out now. If you love horror, you’re in for a treat.

Also, we have the story of a big family coincidence in the latest of our series, Thank You, Stranger.

And of course, Thursday means sports! We’ll get the latest roundup from across the state.

With the NFL’s regular season winding down, is there any hope the Vikings make it to the playoffs? Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the upcoming game this weekend and other sports news.

Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show Ten Thousand Takes. Eric is the other host of that show and Vikings reporter for CBS Sports radio’s Eye on the NFL.

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

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Thousands of people on TikTok have been taking part in a trend where they share coincidences and connections, many times with people who have passed.

A Minneapolis woman went viral when she shared her own story of a big family coincidence. She talked about it to our producer Ellen Finn for the latest in our series, ‘Thank You, Stranger.’

If this story reminds you of help or even friendship that came from a stranger, we want to hear from you! Call 612-361-1252 and leave a voicemail.

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

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

We love to feature Minnesota-made podcasts on Minnesota Now, but we’ve never featured anything quite like this next podcast. Out Cold is a fictional horror anthology series and producers Julie Censullo and Sophie Nikitas got creative with sound to make things spooky.

Listen to the trailer:

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

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.