Minnesota Now

The number of farms in the United States is slowly dropping and farms are trending larger. A side-effect of this is that farmers are often more separated from their neighbors, which means in a health crisis or natural disaster, there are fewer people around to help. This is one of the changes the founder of a non-profit Farm Rescue noticed when he decided to start the organization in North Dakota in 2005. The organization has since expanded to dispatch volunteers and equipment to eight states, including Minnesota, to help farmers get through essential tasks like planting and harvesting.

MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer talked with John Thomas, who recently received volunteers on his 600-acre corn and soybean farm in Dundas, Minn., and Mike Youngblood, a retired John Deere engineer from Ashby, Minn., who called in from volunteering on a farm in North Dakota.

Two Minnesota members of Congress could be making political news in Washington this week. Reporter Mark Zdechlik is there with the latest on Republican Tom Emmer's bid for House Speaker and Democrat Dean Phillips' potential presidential campaign.

The director of Minnesota's new paid family and medical leave program is about a month into the job. We check in with him.

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says the most important step you can take to address climate change is to talk about it. We talk with a Minnesotan who helps people tell personal climate stories.

There's a sport growing in popularity in Minnesota and beyond and it's not pickleball! We meet the founders of the state's first indoor cricket facility.

The sport of cricket seems to be having a moment. Last week it was added as an Olympic sport for 2028. This past summer was the first ever Major League cricket tournament in the U.S.

Here in Minnesota, more parks are being created with cricket pitches in mind. And now Minnesota is set to have its first indoor cricket facility next month. MPR News host Nick Beecher and Piyush Patel, two of the people behind that facility, Eka.

You’ve heard it all year, like a broken record: the sixth-hottest May recorded in Minnesota gave way to the fourth-hottest June. September was the state’s hottest on record. Globally, 2023 is on its way to being the hottest year, which is, of course, part of a larger trend: The world’s eight warmest years have all happened since 2014. Numbers stacked up like this are one of the ways we talk about climate change.

Jothsna Harris is working to help people with another way – storytelling. She’s a climate justice advocate in the Twin Cities area and the founder of a consulting company called Change Narrative.

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.

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.

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.