Minnesota Now

Disability advocates from across Minnesota gathered at the Capitol Wednesday for Disability Advocacy Day. People with disabilities as well as caretakers and community members were there. That includes people affected by PTSD, autoimmune disorders and severe mental illnesses, which can all be disabling without being immediately apparent.

The extra step of disclosing a disability can prevent people from getting the care and accommodations they need. Trevor Turner, public policy director of the Minnesota Council on Disability, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what it’s like to live with a disability that isn’t obvious to others.

In the wake of the bridge collapse in Baltimore Tuesday morning, many Minnesotans thought about the state’s similar tragedy back in 2007 when the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 and injuring 145.

In Baltimore, the mile-long Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed into the river below, around 1:30 a.m., after an enormous cargo ship collided with it.

The reasons for the two bridges collapsing are different. But the trauma is similar.

That’s especially true for Lindsay Walz. She miraculously survived a fall into the Mississippi River from the 35W bridge more than sixteen years ago. And Tuesday’s events brought back a lot of memories.

She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about taking the first steps to heal from such a traumatic incident.

Six people are missing after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore early this morning. And some Minnesotans have actually experienced what people in that city are going through. We'll talk with a survivor of the I-35W bridge collapse about healing from disaster and tending to painful memories.

Early detection of colon cancer saves lives, but there are disparities in screening for the disease. We'll learn about free colonoscopies for underinsured patients in the state.

The recent death of former Minnesota Wild player Chris Simon is starting a conversation about possible links between hockey and CTE. We'll talk with a doctor.

And we'll meet two artists from opposite ends of the Mississippi River. They teamed up for an exhibit that you can see in Winona.

The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona has a new exhibit centering on the Mississippi River. It’s a collaboration between Native artists of two tribes united by the river — the Ojibwe at the headwaters in Minnesota and the Houma at the delta in Louisiana.

The artists used many different mediums to illuminate the connections across Indigenous and colonial histories in their shared watershed. The title of the exhibit spans three languages: “Abijijiwan” in Ojibwe, “Ukeyat Yanalleh” in Houma and “The Water Flows Continuously” in English. The exhibit will be on view through July 7.

The two artists behind the exhibit joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

Karen Goulet is an enrolled member of the White Earth Ojibwe Nation. She lives in White Earth and is currently the director of the Miikanan Gallery in Bemidji. Monique Verdin is a citizen of the Houma Nation and director of The Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange.

Former Minnesota Wild player Chris Simon died of suicide last week, and it’s renewing the conversation about a degenerative brain disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE.

It’s a disease that affects people with repeated head injuries. Simon’s family believes he suffered from the disease. But there’s no confirmation, because CTE can only be diagnosed after death with a brain autopsy.

During life, CTE can cause symptoms of memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety and suicidality.

In the state of hockey, we wanted to learn more about the risk of CTE in hockey. Dr. Michael Stuart joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer. Dr. Stuart a recently-retired orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic and the chief medical officer at USA Hockey.

A note to our listeners: This segment discusses suicide. If this is a topic that triggers you — please take care and know that trained help is available. Call or text 988 and you’ll be connected to a crisis counselor as soon as possible.

Colon cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in Minnesota, according to the state department of health. And like most cancers, the chances of survival are much higher when you catch it early. But studies show that colorectal cancer screening rates in Minnesota are only 50 to 55 percent in non-white populations, compared to 75 percent in white populations. The pandemic made that disparity worse.

Francisco Ramirez is the community and education supervisor for M Health Fairview. He joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the barriers that get in the way of early detection.

To find out if you qualify for a free colonoscopy you can call 651-279-5664.

Snow and rain are falling across the entire state. We talked to people all over Minnesota about everything from the snowfall numbers and transportation to skiing and dogsledding.

We rode along with a snowplow to see what their snow day looked like.

Duluth and further up on the North Shore saw the most snow overnight. We got the latest from our reporters on-scene.

Shoveling this heavy, wet snow can get dangerous. We talked to a doctor from Mayo Clinic about how to stay safe.

Have you heard the term “heart attack snow?” It’s a real thing, unfortunately. Shoveling heavy snow can put you at higher risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest. Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Vanayak Nagaraja joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer and shared how to keep yourself safe as you clean up from the storm.

If there’s any part of Minnesota that depends on winter tourism, it’s northeastern Minnesota. White Wilderness Adventures operates dog sledding trips, deep in the north woods, about 30 miles outside of Ely. Our Dan Kraker had talked to the owner in January when this season’s winter weather was looking pretty bleak. At that time Peter McLelland shared that during his busiest time of year, he had no dog sled trips going out.

“Running a sled dog business like this is a labor of love. You do it because you want to. It’s great to share this with with the guests that come up. But you do not make enough money to really be able to weather this kind of disaster,” McLelland said in January.

MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer checked back in with him.

State lawmakers plan to put up $109 million to help Minnesota counties pay back property owners who lost out on earnings when their forfeited properties were sold.

The move comes after a unanimous 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Hennepin County violated a Minneapolis woman’s rights when it sold her property for more than she owed in taxes and kept the windfall.

The ruling prompted class-action lawsuits in Minnesota and beyond as property owners aimed to recoup lost earnings.

Last week, Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders put forth their $541 million spending plan for the next three years. Included in it is a line item labeled the “Tyler settlement,” referring to the name of the case Tyler v. Hennepin County.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said the funds would help counties pay back property owners for the funds counties pocketed in excess of the amount that the property owners owed in taxes.

“The state has some obligation as to the counties. And in our budget, we’re going to make sure that we’re fulfilling our obligation,” Murphy said.

Because the tax forfeiture process is laid out in state law, the state is required to help Minnesota counties that enforce it, said Sen. Grant Hauschild, DFL-Hermantown. The $109 million is expected to pay back people whose properties were seized within seven years of the Tyler ruling. 

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  2023 Supreme Court ruling Minnesota counties stand to lose millions
  
  


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  U.S. Supreme Court's property forfeiture decision spurs class-action lawsuit in Minnesota
  
  


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  When a county seizes a home over taxes who should get to keep the equity?
  
  

Matt Hilgart, government relations manager for the Association of Minnesota Counties, said the funding could allow county governments to repay thousands of property owners. He said it was critical that the state shoulder some of the financial burden since counties followed state forfeiture law.

“We were not under the illusion that this was a broken system until the Supreme Court ruled that it was. And we are not, very humbly, in a position that we have the resources to pay back that total financial liability,” Hilgart said. “So this is good news for us.”

Hilgart said that assuming the funding gets approved at the Legislature, property owners would be able to submit a claim to a third-party administrator to be eligible for a refund.

The effort appears to have bipartisan backing at the Capitol. Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, said the property owners should be paid back.

“The $109 million — it’s a settlement — it’s not always going to satisfy every single property owner equally,” Limmer said. “But at the same time, it does bring an element of justice to the property owners that in some cases, through no fault of their own, couldn’t make their property tax payments.”

Lawmakers are also working on rewrites to the state’s forfeiture laws that would put them in line with the court’s ruling. Republican and Democratic legislators have introduced bills to iron out constitutional concerns with Minnesota’s law.