Minnesota Now

The union representing teachers in the state’s largest school district, Anoka-Hennepin, was planning a rally for Monday evening but they canceled it after reaching a tentative contract deal.

While that’s good news for the Anoka-Hennepin school, many other districts, including St. Paul and Minneapolis, are still in mediation. That’s a step unions need to take before calling a strike.

The Star Tribune reported last week that 57 districts have requested a mediator from the Minnesota Board of Mediation Services. Commissioner Johnny Villareal was on this show last month, he said the board typically gets about 50 mediation requests in a bargaining cycle.

Joining MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the state of negotiations around the state is Education Minnesota President Denise Specht.

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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.

A Minnesota company violated a woman’s civil rights when it fired her after learning she was pregnant. We’ll get all the details on that from an expert on pregnancy discrimination.

And the Science Museum of Minnesota is getting ready to expand. We’ll get a first peek at their plans.

A report stretching over 30 years covers the health of the Mississippi River, we’ll get the good news and the bad.

In a new episode of Thank You, Stranger, we’ll hear how a small act of kindness got a woman through her father’s illness.

And Thursday means sports! Will the Timberwolves continue their winning streak? We’ll get Wally and Eric’s hot takes.

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A pet store in Blaine will have to pay $22,000 to a woman it hired and fired an hour after she told a manager she was pregnant.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found Pet Ranch violated Hannah Grell’s rights under state law. The department announced Wednesday that along with the settlement, it will monitor the company for three years.

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  Related Minnesota company illegally fired woman because she was pregnant
  
  

Pregnancy discrimination is more common than you might think. A woman in Coon Rapids recently won a settlement from a dental office in a similar case. And last week the state fined Menards for docking a worker’s pay when she took breaks to pump.

At the national level, one in five mothers say they’ve experienced pregnancy discrimination at work, according to a survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center. And one in four have considered leaving their jobs out of fear of discrimination or a lack of accommodation.

Jerri Adams Belcher is an attorney at Wanta Thome Minneapolis who works on pregnancy discrimination and other employment cases. She joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to help break all this down.

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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.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will take on the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday evening. Will the Timberwolves continue their three-game win streak?

Our sports guys Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson talk with MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer about the Vikings’ prospects in 2024, the continued success of Minnesota’s new women’s hockey team and other sports news.

Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show Ten Thousand Takes. Eric is the other host of that show and Vikings reporter for CBS Sports radio's Eye on the NFL.

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.

It’s time for another episode of Thank You, Stranger, our series about strangers helping us out or even changing our lives forever.

A woman remembers the kindness of another while she was struggling with her dad’s illness. MPR News Producer Ellen Finn talked to her about how even the smallest gestures made all the difference.

If you have a story of your own about the kindness of a stranger, we want to hear it!

Call us at ‪612-361-1252‬ or shoot us an email at [email protected]

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.

If you happen to talk to someone who saw the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities 100 years ago, it would have been a pretty gross centerpiece. It won’t surprise you that since we stopped dumping raw sewage, sawdust, and industrial chemicals into the river, its health has improved dramatically.

A recent report from the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association looks at how water quality in the river changed over 30 years — from 1989 through 2018. There’s some good news and some bad news.

Glenn Skuta is the watershed division director at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He’s also a member of the association’s Water Quality Executive Committee. He joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to explain the details of the report.

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.

The Science Museum of Minnesota is getting ready to expand. As the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics become a bigger part of our future, the museum is looking to grow its STEM footprint.

Science Museum of Minnesota President and CEO Alison Brown joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the endeavor.

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.

For three-quarters of a century, Minnesota has been celebrating the art of auctioneering. There’s nothing quite like going to an auction and hearing a fast-paced bidding war narrated at the speed of lightning. Beginning tomorrow, the Minnesota State Auctioneers Association is commemorating its 75 years of existence as part of an annual conference and show. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with auctioneer hall of famer and Executive Vice President of the association, Col. Frank Imholte. He is also the owner of Black Diamond Auctions in Stearns County.

It seems the entire Midwest has been dumped on with snow, except for much of Minnesota. In fact, this winter has been an exceptionally mild one with ice-in dates lagging behind the average. MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what it all means.

Follow the Updraft for the latest details on the forecast. And listen to Climate Cast for stories of climate change research as well as its effects in Minnesota and beyond.

Under the umbrella of the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition, there are groups devoted to providing resources to Hmong and Indigenous families.

There could soon be a coalition to support Somali parents in breastfeeding. Shukri Jumale is the Midwest Fetal Care Center program manager at Children’s Minnesota and treasurer of the Minnesota Breastfeeding Coalition.

She was part of an effort that led Minnesota Muslim leaders in November to issue a fatwa, or religious interpretation, that encourages families to use donor breastmilk for babies when their parent’s milk is not available.

Jumale joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about her work. You can learn more in a recent article from Sahan Journal.

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  Related story: Decree encourages Minnesota Muslim women to use donated breast milk for vulnerable kids
  
  

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.