Minnesota Now

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.

Govenor Walz signs a bill Monday that will bring relief to folks with medical debt. The new law bans the transfer of medical debt to spouses and the denial of necessary medical care over unpaid bills. We heard from two Minnesotans who are directly affected by this new law.

In the span of a week, Minnesota high schoolers created and ran a mock government. We talked to the teen governors who were elected by their peers.

An outdoor adventure journalist shared her favorite Minnesota locations, plus tips for beginners to get outside this summer.

Pride Month can bring out divisions in our communities. We explored how families and rural communities in Minnesota are building bridges.

Many rural pride events in Minnesota have at some point faced pushback, or even threats. Over the weekend Cook County Pride in Grand Marais received a bomb threat.

Meanwhile, Itasca Pride in Grand Rapids is also facing pushback as they get ready for their first ever celebration this weekend. But despite that, rural pride events are still successful in Minnesota.

Joining MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer is the chair of East Central Pride, Aaron Bombard and a board member of Itasca Pride, Liz Branum.

Monday afternoon Gov. Tim Walz will ceremonially sign a bill into law what’s known as the Minnesota Debt Fairness Act. Starting Oct. 1, the bill will ban medical providers from withholding care from patients with unpaid medical bills. It also requires that thousands of Minnesotans be forgiven medical debt that was transferred onto a spouse after death or whose bills have errors in them.

Two Minnesotans whose lives would have been deeply affected by medical debt joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer. Denis St. Martin from Inver Grove Heights has a son whose medical care was paused after a coding error resulted in a $250,000 bill for their family. And Walt Myers was hit with a surprise $135,000 bill transferred from his wife’s hospice care after she passed away from breast cancer in 2019.

Do you remember what you did last week? I’m guessing most of you didn’t create an entire government with people you have never met — and then run for office, pass laws, or decide court cases. That’s what two groups of high school students in Minnesota were up to. Boys State and Girls State are separate, weeklong programs run by the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, respectively.

Toluca Tellaeche Ramirez, an incoming senior at Pine Island High School and this year’s Minnesota Girls State Governor elect, joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to share more about this crash course in the workings of government.

Tucker Fournier, an incoming senior at Maple Grove High School and this year's Boys State Governor elect also joined the conversation.