Minnesota Now

New regulations will go in place Friday as part of the Native American Grave Protection Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA. 33 years ago congress passed NAGPRA to prevent grave looting and push museums to return human remains and items excavated from Native American gravesites back to tribes. But there have been loopholes preventing this. And the new regulations hope to close that loophole.

According to a Pro-Publica database, The University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum, The Minnesota Historical Society and the Goodhue County Historical Society are among some of the institutions in Minnesota that have Native remains from across the country.

To explain more about the process and the impact of these new rules is University of Minnesota professor of Anthropology Kat Hayes, who specializes in Archaeological ethics and repatriation.

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

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We have a new face on the MPR News politics team. The talented Clay Masters is joining as a senior politics reporter. Clay was previously at Iowa Public Radio as the host of Morning Edition. And this week is his first week with Minnesota Public Radio. And he’s hitting the ground running with covering the Iowa Caucuses.

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

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So many firsts are being celebrated in St. Paul today as the all-female city council meets this afternoon for the first time. Much attention has been given to the all-female council, but it’s members are also young. All seven members are under the age of 40. Six are women of color. Leading the council, in her first meeting as that body’s president, is Mitra Jalali. She represents Ward 4.

Newly elected Council President Jalali joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer from a busy day at city hall.

The long-running band the Mubbla Buggs will join a host of other Minneapolis favorites Friday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the iconic Cedar Cultural Center. Since it opened in the city’s Cedar Riverside neighborhood in 1989, the Cedar has hosted musicians from hundreds of countries.

Eric Hohn has been a sound tech at the Cedar for the past 27 years and he is a founding member of the Mubbla Buggs, who are headlining the anniversary show. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to tell some stories of the band and the venue.

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.

St. Paul is celebrating its first ever all-women city council meeting this afternoon. The newly elected council president is here to talk about it.

Multiple salmonella outbreaks have made Minnesotans sick. Experts say foodborne illness has increased over the past few years. We get more on why.

It’s finally starting to feel like January. We take a look at the upcoming weather report.

We hear from an entrepreneur who has some good ideas about coffee and camping.

Plus, an international music venue celebrates 35 years.

The federal government is looking into three salmonella outbreaks that have made several Minnesotans and many other people across the country sick. Three people in the state died and more than 20 became ill after eating tainted cantaloupe late last year.

Just last week a brand of charcuterie meats was recalled after two dozen people got sick, including in Minnesota. And back in November there was an outbreak in dog food, affecting pet owners who touched the food or their dog’s saliva.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that cases of foodborne illness declined during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. But by 2022, the latest year for which data is available, they had increased to levels seen before the pandemic.

Lisa Robinson, Vice President of Global Food Safety and Public Health at Minnesota-based EcoLab, is well-versed in health and safety issues in the complicated system that churns out much of our food. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to explain.

A two-year motorcycle trip from St. Paul to Argentina. Taking youngsters and adults on camping trips. Experiments run out of a college dorm. A Kickstarter campaign. Intrigued?

Those are some of the key elements behind the creation of the JoGo straw. Think French press in a straw. MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell recently sat down with entrepreneur Joey Jones, chief executive officer and co-founder of JoGo. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what he learned.

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.

There’s no denying it now: winter has arrived. First we got the snow and now the real cold is not far behind. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for the latest details on snowfall and the first wave of subzero temperatures.

It is 2024, which means we are heading into Summer Olympic season. The 2024 games in Paris don’t start until July, but Olympic trials have begun. Many Minnesotans are vying for a spot. One of the first trials underway is for U.S. sailing.

Right now, Shoreview native Lara Dallman-Weiss is in Miami, competing for a spot. MPR News’ Todd Melby spoke to Dallman-Weiss ahead of the trials about the sport and her hopes for the summer games.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Dallman-Weiss: There are 10 different types of sailboats in the Olympics. I race one called The Mixed Dinghy, so it’s mixed gender, one male, one female. And this is actually the first time my type of boat has been mixed-gender. I’m racing with a teammate who has sailed in for the Olympics before, but it’s our first time sailing together. [It’s a] two-person boat. It has three sails, my teammate sits on the side of the boat and I’m on a trapeze. So I hang off the side of the boat.

It is so fun. It’s extremely physical and you’re working to your highest heart rate most of the 45-minute race and you’re also reading the wind making decisions based on the weather, and you’re competent. So you’re pretty much doing math problems while at your highest target for 45 minutes, twice a day.

I have this harness that I wear and it has a hook around my pelvis section. And something on the side of the boat I grab and I hook on to that, so my feet are actually on the side of the boat and there’s a wire or a rope — you can use either — that goes up to the side of the mast.

It’s worth a Google search. It’s harder than I imagined to describe.

I think each sailor and each team has different styles, different body shapes, different techniques.

So I’m more eager to show the sport and get that out there than I am worried about people seeing what equipment we use. I just really want to show everyone what the sport is like.

I think it’s so amazing, from so many different levels. There’s disabled sailing, which is amazing. There are a lot of veterans that come back and get into the sport of sailing; they have blind sailing racing. You can take it in so many different avenues.

There are boat deliveries around the world and everyone that I’ve shown sailing for the first time and been with them for their first sail, they’re just like: “This sport is something else.” And that really gets me excited.

I am rich in experiences. I am certainly privileged in that I was able to grow up sailing, but by no means do my parents pay for my sailing or my Olympic sailing. I very much had to fundraise and work side jobs and do anything I could to make this work.

I grew up sailing on White Bear Lake, sailing in the summers. And then lakes would freeze and I would play basketball and I was in track, cross-country and dance line. Sailing was just such a fun thing for me to do in the summers with my friends and learn how to race.

Then I went off to college in Florida and that’s when I really took it to the next level, started sailing on professional programs where you get paid to race and then got into the Olympics scene.

In The Mixed Dinghy that I sail, there are nine teams and one team goes. So it’s winner-takes-all.

I’m not, no. We have had so much preparation and we’ve done everything we can in our control. So now it’s enjoy and just take it one day at a time, one race at a time. And that’s kind of my motto that always gets me through.

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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.

Police say they do no know the motive behind Monday night’s fatal shooting at a motel in Cloquet.

And ambulance services in Minnesota are facing challenges. Minnesota Now talks about what state leaders can do to make sure people can get emergency care.

A north Minneapolis charter school is closing suddenly at the end of the week because of a funding crisis. We talk about what happened — and what it means for parents and staff.

Last year, state lawmakers passed several bills to lower greenhouse gas emissions. We talk about what’s on the climate agenda for this year’s session, which begins next month.

And we hear from a Minnesotan competing for a spot on the U.S. Olympic sailing team.