Minnesota Now

Can you believe it is almost August? June and July were quite wet and it has been a soggy summer overall.

MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer with the latest rainfall totals and the outlook for the rest of the month.

The city of Minneapolis is unveiling what’s being called the city’s first “Public Safety Beyond Policing” plan. We talk to Councilmember Robin Wonsley about how the city hopes to create new services that don’t include police response.

Around 14 percent of Minnesotans of voting age are disabled, which means they make up a big voting bloc. We talk to a disability rights leader about what the concerns they bring to the voting booth.

As we wrap up July, chief meteorologist Paul Huttner looks back at just how much rain we got.

Our summer festival spotlight takes us to the 90th year of Kolacky days in Montgomery.

And we meet a Minnesotan who you can watch on Netflix compete in the social strategy show “The Mole.”

Wednesday afternoon, members of the Minneapolis City Council announced the city’s first plan for public safety solutions that does not involve armed police officers. The “Public Safety Beyond Policing Action Plan” is an initiative from the city’s Public Health and Safety committee, which were set to discuss the plan shortly after unveiling it in a press conference. For more on what the plan entails, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with council member Robin Wonsley, who is also the vice chair of the Public Health and Safety Committee.

An estimated 608,340 Minnesotans over the age of 18 report having some sort of disability, according to 2022 data. That is a significant portion — 14 percent — of the voting age population. Joan Willshire, former Minnesota council on disability executive director, serves on multiple advisory boards for accessibility and independent living in Minnesota. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to share what issues she and other voters with disabilities are paying attention to in upcoming state and national elections.

Vice President Kamala Harris is on track to secure the democratic nomination. According to an Associated Press survey, Harris has the support of well more than 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot.

If Harris does indeed become the nominee, it would mark a milestone in presidential politics. She would become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to head a major party’s presidential ticket.

If she were to beat former President Donald Trump, of course, she would be the first woman to serve as President of the United States.

Her background is already getting grassroots support from minority voting blocs. More than 44,000 people attended a Zoom meeting organized by “Win with Black Women” Sunday night and raised $1.5 million in three hours.  

Duchess Harris joined Minnesota Now to provide context to this historic moment. She is a professor of American studies at Macalester College and is currently on the project advisory board for “The Kamala Harris Project” which is tracking all aspects of her tenure as the nation’s first woman of color to serve as Vice President.

Did you know Minnesota is home to the largest collection of Sherlock Holmes books and media in the entire world? It got its start in a funny way.

Fifty years later, the curators of the collection at the University of Minnesota are holding an anniversary celebration to look back on the iconic role the Sherlock Holmes stories have held in mystery storytelling from the late 1800s to 2024.

Tim Johnson is the curator of the Sherlock Holmes Collections at the University of Minnesota. He joined the show to discuss the appeal of Sherlock Holmes and his fan club that’s been going strong at UMN since the 1930s.

The Minnesota Police and Peace officers association has filed an ethics complaint against Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty following her prosecution of two troopers in the death of Ricky Cobb. We talked to the people behind the complaint.

If elected, Kamala Harris will be the first woman of color to serve as president. A local expert with the Kamala Harris Project joined the show to discuss how race and gender affect politics.

Minnesota is home to the majority of senior co-housing groups in the country. The chair of the Senior Housing Cooperative will share what makes the state special.

Did you know that the U of M holds the largest collection of Sherlock Holmes media in the world? The curator of the collection joined the show to talk about celebrating its 50th anniversary.

For the past few decades, senior housing co-operatives have become an appealing option for middle-income people who are aging but don’t need the 24/7 care of a nursing home.

The idea for senior-specific housing co-ops originated right here in Minnesota. The state holds 60 percent of senior co-ops in the country.

Dennis Johnson, president of Cooperative Housing Resources in Shoreview, joined Minnesota Now to share how the idea came about and what it looks like now.

A Minnesota law enforcement group has filed an ethics complaint against Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, claiming her actions in prosecuting a state trooper in the fatal shooting of a motorist violated rules of professional conduct.

Joining MPR News host Cathy Wurzer is two people behind the complaint, Minnesota Police and Peace Officer’s Association Executive Director Brian Peters and attorney Jim Schultz.

It's been an election season like none other as Democrats scramble to find a new candidate to top the ticket. Many big-name Minnesota Democrats are backing Vice President Kamala Harris, including Gov. Tim Walz. The governor joined us at the top of the show.

We heard from Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who also says she’s supporting Harris. And former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson's has experience with running a successful campaign late in the game. We found out what lessons he learned.

We also learned what Minnesota delegates that are going to the Democratic National Convention are thinking now.

Plus, we heard from people across the state about what they think in this unprecedented moment.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Father Hennepin” by Hazelcreak, and our Song of the Day was “I’d Run Away” by The Jayhawks.