Minnesota Now

About 600 nursing home workers are planning a one-day strike and more could vote to join them in the coming days. We talked about their calls for more staffing and higher pay. We also heard from a union leader helping organize the strike across at least seven nursing homes.

We're entering the final days of meteorological winter, if you can believe it. Paul Huttner joined us with details on the potentially record-breaking season and the forecast ahead.

We met a woman who is weaving her identity from Muslim and Ojibwe belief systems.

Comedian Eli Leonard grew up in Minnesota and he's headlining this years' Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival. We got his take on ‘Jewish humor.’

After a couple days of weather that actually felt like winter, we’re back to temperatures well above average across the state. MPR’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joins MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to fill us in.

As an Ojibwe woman with Muslim faith, Megan Kalk is a minority within a minority.

The 31-year-old from St. Cloud has spent the past 15 years discovering the intersections between these two identities in her own life. Turns out, there’s more than you might think.

Nursing home workers across the Twin Cities will be voting Wednesday and Thursday to authorize a strike. They will join around 600 workers from seven Twin Cities nursing homes that announced Tuesday they will stage a one-day strike on March 5 to protest being overworked, understaffed, and underpaid.

So far, workers at ten nursing homes will strike, including Saint Therese Senior Living in New Hope, the Estates nursing homes in Excelsior, Fridley and Roseville, the Villas at The Cedars in St. Louis Park, Cerenity Humboldt in St. Paul, and the Villas in Robbinsdale.

Staff at these facilities say they are burning out from taking extra shifts because of staffing shortages and aren't getting the wages or benefits they deserve.

Jamie Gulley is the President of SEIU Health Care for Minnesota and Iowa, the union representing these nursing home workers. Travis Burth is a union member has worked for three years at Cerenity at Humboldt Nursing Home. He currently works there as a chef and has been part of the push at the Capitol to improve conditions for nursing home workers.

Gulley and Burth joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to discuss what’s next for the nursing home strikes.

MPR News reached out to leaders of the nursing homes with workers striking for this story and did not hear back with comments by the time of this interview.

On Thursday, the annual Twin Cities Jewish Humor Festival will begin with its celebration of comedy and resiliency in Minnesota’s Jewish community.

Headlining the festival is Minnesota-raised standup comedian Eli Leonard with his show called “Good ShowBiz,” which is all about the history of Jewish showmanship.

Leonard joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about his comedy influences and takes a stab at defining ‘Jewish humor.’

The suspected gunman who shot and killed three first responders in Burnsville couldn't legally own guns. We talked to a journalist covering gun violence about how guns are still able to be illegally obtained.

A local percussionist is beating to the sound of his own drum, and we asked him how his life as a Buddhist priest informs his music.

In our Connect the Dots series we talk to the director of Minnesota’s premiere choir, “Vocal-Essence.” Hear the life-long love story between Phillip Brunelle and music.

We’ll meet the oldest living Gold Star mother here in Minnesota, who is sharing her memories at 105. Last but not least, and a southern Minnesota wildlife photographer will share how this warm winter is affecting his work.

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

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Albert Lea native Jacob Schlichter spent the beginning of his new year bundled up along I-35, photographing swans.

The 27-year-old photographer and business owner was awarded the southeastern Minnesota Arts Council grant in November of last year and used the funds to create a public photography exhibit showcasing southern Minnesota wildlife.

Schlichter joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer today to talk about his creative process and the challenge of photographing wildlife in such a warm and dry winter.

Philip Brunelle has done it all. Currently, he’s the founder and artistic director of VocalEssence. VocalEssence is based at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. Brunelle has led the choir for 55 years.

A former member of VocalEssence once wrote, in addition to his choral work, he is often “simultaneously employed as a church musician, organist, opera conductor, and orchestral musician and conductor.”

MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell recently met with the 80-year-old Brunelle. Farrell shares highlights of the conversation with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

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

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

Marc Anderson is a Twin Cities-based percussionist. For the past thirty years, he’s traveled the world learning and performing musical instruments of many different cultures. Along the way, he became an ordained Zen Buddhist priest.

Marc joined us today to talk to MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about the intersections of his Zen Buddhist faith and being a professional percussionist.

We're continuing to learn more about what led to the fatal shooting of three first responders in Burnsville over the weekend and the injury of another.

Court records show that the suspect, Shannon Gooden, had been legally barred from owning guns since he was convicted of felony assault in 2008. In 2020, he asked a judge to reinstate his right to have guns, but that petition was denied. Minnesota ranks in the top third of states according to the strength of its gun laws, according to the gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

We still don't know how Gooden would have acquired the gun that police say he used in Sunday's shooting.

Jennifer Mascia is a senior news writer and founding staff member of The Trace, which is a non-profit news outlet focused on gun violence in the United States. Mascia joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer today to talk about possibilities of how Gooden acquired the gun that he is believed to have used Sunday, given the lifetime ban he was under.