An appeals court could rule as soon as today if a Mille Lacs County judge had the right to bar at least six defendants from voting as part of their sentences. Experts call it a highly unusual move for Judge Matthew Quinn to say that the legislature overstepped with its new law allowing formerly incarcerated people to vote as soon as they step out of prison. Judge Quinn wrote in his order that the law was unconstitutional. The state has asked an appellate court to move quickly with election day just about two weeks away.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Staff Attorney David McKinney about the case. McKinney signed onto a legal petition from the state's public defender and attorney general meant to block Judge Quinn's actions.

You’ll be two years older, the U.S. will have gone through a presidential election, and we’ll be gearing up for another mid-term in January 2026. That’s when Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program is supposed to launch… along with a payroll tax to help fund it.

In the meantime, Greg Norfleet is in charge of working to set it up. Norfleet is the Director of the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. He joined the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, also known as DEED, about a month ago.

He talked with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

Members of Congress are back in Washington today, where the U.S. House remains gridlocked. It has been almost three weeks since the chamber was thrown into disarray when a set of Republicans joined Democrats in removing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

After the effort to replace him hit a pair of snags, nine Republicans say they’ll go for the job. Minnesota’s Tom Emmer is seen as a top contender. We’ve dispatched MPR correspondent Mark Zdechlik to Washington as it all unfolds.

A lawsuit over Governor Tim Walz's pandemic powers is getting a state supreme court review. A legal expert weighs in on what this means for the case and the next steps.

It’s vaccine season, but some Minnesotans are facing roadblocks. A health official will explain why.

Plus, the Twin Cities Film Fest kicks off today. We hear from a local filmmaker about her film featuring an inter-tribal love story.

He's an unmistakable figure with a booming voice: we learn the Minnesota history behind the Jolly Green Giant.

And sports guys Wally and Eric join us as the Minnesota Wild season gets into full swing.

The Minnesota Wild will host the Los Angeles Kings Thursday night in St. Paul. Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the upcoming hockey game, the Vikings recent win in Chicago, and other sports news.

Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Sports Magazine and co-host of the sports talk show 10,000 Takes. Eric Nelson is the other host of that show and Vikings reporter for CBS Sports radio's Eye on the NFL.

Did the governor's emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic violate the state constitution? A judge decided this week to send the question back to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The state Court of Appeals sided with Walz in July. Now, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the case. For context, MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer talked with Mitchell Hamline School of Law professor Jason Marisam.

What is 55 feet tall, wears size 78 shoes, weighs 8,000 pounds, is green head-to-toe and lives in Blue Earth? Did you guess the Jolly Green Giant statue? The colossus has made a home in Southern Minnesota since 1978. But how did he get there? And who came up with the idea for the Jolly Green Giant? MPR contributors Robbie Mitchem, Jamal Allen, and Britt Aamodt tracked down his backstory for this installment of our history series, Minnesota Now and Then.

The Twin Cities Film Fest will kick off Thursday with in-person showings, panel discussions, virtual screenings and more. The festival includes filmmakers big and small.

One Minnesota-made movie in the lineup is “A Winter Love” by filmmaker Rhiana Yazzie.

It’s an intertribal love story about a Navajo singer-songwriter who is struggling to find inspiration in Minneapolis winter.

MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer talked with Yazzie about making the film and showing Minnesota’s vibrant Indigenous community on screen.

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. 

Community groups are in Minneapolis are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. And in a speech Wednesday morning, President Biden continued to pledge support for Israel while promising aid to people in Gaza. A U of M professor will help break down the latest in the war.

Wednesday is Minnesota Now’s second birthday! Happy Birthday to us. We’ve picked some of our favorite stories from the past year.

That includes a conversation with a woman who is one of 15,000 Minnesotans with an incarcerated family member, a landowner who is trying to help address climate change, amazing archival audio of musician Lead Belly and electronic powwow music from Minneapolis musician Joe Rainey.

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.   

To celebrate two years of Minnesota Now, the team picked their favorites from the past year.

“Minnesota Now and Then” is a recurring segment on Minnesota Now.

We shared this unique story on our show on May 31. Folk and blues singer Huddie Ledbetter, known by his stage name Lead Belly, had just finished a tour of Minnesota college towns, when he turned up at a friend’s Minneapolis home and gave a short concert.

It was a moment that would have been lost to music history, except that somebody decided to record it.

“I loved the way the producers wove together the lost to time audio with their distinctive storytelling,” said MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

Back in January we spoke to Nakisha Armstrong from Hopkins. She hasn’t spent a holiday with her dad for over 30 years. He is incarcerated. The father of her two teenage sons, is also incarcerated for the last 15 years.

Her experience is not unique. Nakisha is one of 15,000 Minnesotans who have a parent or close relative incarcerated.

”Sometimes the conversations we have on Minnesota Now aren’t easy. But we are thankful for the people every day willing to be honest with us and Cathy about the sometimes difficult parts of their lives,” said Minnesota Now senior producer Aleesa Kuznetsov.

We learned this year that land use, including agriculture and forestry, is one of Minnesota’s largest sources of greenhouse gases. It’s second only to transportation.

And there’s a group of people with some power to help shrink that pollution. They’re people who own farmland, but who don’t farm it themselves. They own more than a third of the state’s farmland.

Back in April, MPR News talked to Meg Nielsen who is part of a group called Climate Land Leaders. They recruit and train landowners to try to store carbon and reduce emissions.

“I thought this conversation brings together two things we’ve been talking about on the show this year: family transitions that everyone goes through in some way or another and people feeling the impact of climate change or trying to adapt to it. I also remembered it because of something that, when it happens, is one of my favorite parts of working on this show — when we hear back from people directly that a conversation is resonating with them,” said Minnesota Now producer Alanna Elder.

We’ve played the music of Joe Rainey on the show on the Minnesota Music Minute segment. He’s from the south side of Minneapolis and a citizen of the Red Lake Nation who fuses powwow with experimental electronic music.

“I love that this show gives us opportunities to meet our neighbors, even with they are famous musicians with growing buzz nationally and internationally. Joe Rainey is so talented. But in this interview he seemed so down to earth a like someone I’d want to hang out with,” said Minnesota Now producer Gretchen Brown.

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.