Minnesota Now

Many parts of the country saw a total solar eclipse Monday. Here in Minnesota experienced a partial eclipse, but the clouds blocked most Minnesotans from seeing it.

MPR News’ Sven Sundgaard was in the path of totality in Indiana and joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer live to talk about what he was seeing.

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. 

On Monday, lawmakers heard a bill that would make swatting public officials a felony. Swatting is when someone makes a false emergency call of a violent incident such as a mass shooting or bomb threat, prompting the dispatch of emergency responders. We heard more about the dangers of swatting.

A veteran walked from Minnesota to Texas to witness Monday’s solar eclipse and raise money for the non-profit 23rd Veteran. He joined the show with a message for veterans like him. We also got live updates from the eclipse from MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard, who traveled to Indiana to get the best view.

The final game in the women’s NCAA basketball championship was Sunday. Minnesota native Tessa Johnson led University of South Carolina to their victory. We spoke with her high school coach to get a glimpse into her beginnings, as well as his reaction to her early success.

And for the cherry on top, we had an inside look at a group that brings together Catholics nuns with nonreligious people for spiritual conversations.

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee will hear a bill that makes swatting public officials a felony. Swatting is when someone makes a false emergency call of a violent incident such as a mass shooting or bomb threat, prompting the dispatch of emergency responders.

U.S. Congressman Tom Emmer, who lives in Delano, was swatted earlier this year, and according to the FBI, more than 550 swatting incidents have occurred across the country since May 2023. At least two innocent people have died as a result of swatting-- one was shot by officers, the other had a heart attack.

In Minnesota, swatting calls that send first responders to the home of an elected official, judge, prosecuting attorney, employee of a correctional facility, or peace officer is currently a gross misdemeanor. As a felony, perpetrators would receive up to one year in prison and a $5,000 fine.

GOP Senator Warren Limmer joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to break down the Senate swatting bill.

Thursday’s Minnesota Twins home opener will sound a little different this year. Longtime broadcaster Dick Bremer stepped down at the end of last season after 40 years as the TV voice of the Twins.

Now in a special assistant role in the organization’s front office, Bremer threw out the first pitch Thursday. Before that, he got behind an MPR News microphone to talk baseball with Minnesota Now host Cathy Wurzer.

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.   

Yeah, it’s been strange in all the predictable places, I felt a little bit out of sorts, I guess, or unsure what to do with my time in January when I wasn’t on the Twins caravan, which is a uniquely Minnesota Twins thing for the first time in four decades.

And then like everybody else in the Upper Midwest, I dealt with a snowstorm at the end of March instead of being in Fort Myers. And now here we are an opening day and that’s all part of it right? When you retire you it’s an adjustment for everybody, regardless of his or her walk of life.

I’m doing some special projects. I’ve actually been doing some writing for the Twins magazine, recording some things for the Twins radio broadcasts, making public appearances emceeing events and all that.

It’s an interesting role that I have with the Twins, and one that I’m very grateful for because of whenever the time was going to come, I still wanted to be connected to the team as someone who was really connected and intimately connected with the team for 40 years.

Well, for the longest time, it was just one guy for 25 years. It was Bert Blyleven, it was me and Harmon Killebrew for a few years and Jim Kaat. In recent years they have rotated Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, LaTroy Hawkins, Glen Perkins, Roy Smalley, so on and so forth.

It’s a bit of an adjustment, I suppose. But it really hasn’t been that much of an adjustment because I’ve always taken the attitude that whether it was Bert Blyleven, or Paul Molitor, Jim Kaat, or, you know, whoever, that they really were the stars of the show, and I was just kind of a traffic cop and tried to draw out of them their baseball wisdom, and their baseball personality, if you will.

It is no reflection at all on my abilities or lack thereof as a broadcaster, but I am the answer to a trivia question, who is the only major league announcer who’s been privileged to work with five Hall of Fame players and that’s me

It’s been one of the great blessings of my 40 years. I won’t ask your listeners to name them all. I’ll try to do them all. Paul Molitor did games for a year Jack Morris, Jim Kaat, Herman Killebrew and of course Bert Blyleven, and they’re all in Cooperstown.

Well, I don’t know that any conversations were held or anything like that, but I, as you know, grew up in this area. So I was privileged to listen to Herb Carneal, Al Shaver, Ray Christensen, people like that. And when we lived in Missouri, listening to Jack Buck and Harry Caray do Cardinal games and the one thing they all had in common was they were very wearable if you will.

There wasn’t anything controversial about them. They did their job, night after night, year after year and as a result, they had long careers in one city, one region. And at least for me, that was always the goal to be able to say that you know what, I did a job. Hopefully I did it well, but I was able to have a long career with one team. And I guess 40 years later, you could say I guess that I succeeded.

Well, the team is very good. And some of their better players are very young and unfortunately, injury prone. Byron Buxton is pretty healthy and we’ve already been reminded how impactful he can be in a game and on a team when he’s healthy. But the Twins have lost Royce Lewis for a while again, and hope to get him back.

I think this Twins lineup, even though in the first five games, they struggled to score runs, they’re going to be among the best offensive teams in the game. And we’ll find out — that’s part of the thrill of starting a new season, and we’re five games into 162 games but you never really know what your team is going to look like, how they’re going to play and page by page. It’s like a book you, you find out exactly what you’ve got as the season plays along.

I was very surprised when I found out about this weeks ago, and I’ve already kind of taken on the role of a landlord. I’ve already got a list of rules and regulations that have to be followed now in this booth. I might not reveal them all, I might just limit it to one or two. But I think that’s within my right, don’t you? If you’re gonna name the booth after me I think I have a right to dictate what’s going on in there.

Yeah, they are. In fact, my son, Eric is a minor league broadcaster in Florida, he flew in yesterday, and my wife and daughter will be there as well. So that’s what makes it really special, the fact that whatever happens here today, and you know whether I throw the ceremonial first pitch on three hops to home plate, at least we’ll experience all that together.

Oh, man. I was introduced to the game a long, long time ago, even before the Twins showed up here in 1961. Town team baseball is where my roots began with the game of baseball. I’ve been blessed to be around this Twins team in one capacity or another.

I just love the game, I love the challenges. You’ve got individual matchups, pitcher versus batter. It’s very much a team game, particularly when the team is out in the field. I just love everything about it and the game has changed, broadcasting has changed you know over the last few years as well, but there's still the beauty of the game that I enjoy and that will continue on regardless of what my role with the Twins is.

The U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday morning looked the same as it did last week, when University of Minnesota soil scientist Jeff Strock said recent snow and rain brought relief to farmers who will be planting soon.

“The vast majority of that moisture is actually getting into the ground and really starting to wet up that top 4 to 6 inches of soil that has been really pretty dry, given that we’ve had very little snowfall and moisture over the course of the winter,” he said.

In the long term, though, farmers will continue to deal with uncertainty caused by climate change. University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership Director Heidi Roop met with farming representatives in St. Cloud Tuesday to talk through the research on future climate conditions in the state — and what they mean for agriculture. She joined MPR News Cathy Wurzer with takeaways from the meeting.

The future of Uber and Lyft is in limbo in Minneapolis. The city has until the end of the month to find a compromise in hopes of keeping the rideshare companies in the city. They have threatened to pull out of part or all of the metro on May 1 after the city raised minimum wage for drivers. At the same time, the state is looking at its own wage proposal.

Thursday morning, a bill that would guarantee wages and legal protections for rideshare drivers in Minnesota passed the House Judiciary Committee. The bill is a revised version of one vetoed by Gov. Tim Walz last year after Uber and Lyft threatened to pull out of the entire state.

For more on the new rideshare bill, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with coauthor Mohamud Noor, a DFL state representative from the Twin Cities.

Kathryn “Jody” Beaulieu is Ojibwe and an enrolled citizen of the Red Lake Nation. Her career —or rather careers — has included director of the Tribal Information Center, Archives and Library, member of the Red Lake School Board, and Tribal Secretary.

MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell recently met Beaulieu at the Southdale Public Library in Edina. He shared highlights from their conversation with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

A coalition of Minnesota college students will head to Indiana to be part of a national project for the solar eclipse. Students from St. Cloud State University, the University of Minnesota, St. Catherine University, and Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College will launch weather balloons to gather data about how the atmosphere changes during an eclipse. St. Cloud State Planetarium Director and atmospheric science professor Rachel Humphrey joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Nurses are putting pressure on Hennepin County Medical Center to improve their working conditions and have demanded oversight of the hospital go back to the county.

With seven months to go until the presidential election, our panel of Gen-Z voters discussed how the economy is weighing on their voting decision.

The Minnesota Book Award nominee Mona Susan Power is here. She's the author of the new book, A Council of Dolls.

An emerging hip hop artist from the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe's reservation is making music with his heroes. We'll talk to him all about it.

Plus, we'll get the solar eclipse forecast from MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.

Meet Eldayshun Big Bear, known in the Minnesota hip-hop community as Day Dayz. He’s a 22-year-old emerging hip-hop artist from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s reservation.

On Wednesday, he dropped a new video for the song in partnership with the Dream Warriors Collective, a non-profit working to support and amplify Indigenous artists across the country. 

Day Dayz joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the collaboration, what led him to a music career, and his new album coming out this summer.