Minnesota Now

The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase, with a counteroffensive trying to push Russian troops out of the territory they’ve held for more than a year. MPR reporter Tim Nelson has been following developments in the fighting with his former St. Paul Pioneer Press colleague Brian Bonner.

Brian is a long time Ukraine watcher. He lives there and was the former editor of the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s premiere English language newspaper. Brian has been working most recently with a Polish NGO, which has published extensive analysis of the situation in Europe.

The federal Department of Justice now enters into negotiations with the City of Minneapolis over what will be a legally binding plan to reform the city's police department. That's after the DOJ, Friday, issued its investigation into the department, sparked by the death of George Floyd and after decades of complaints about its treatment of people of color.

The report shows the department's culture and practices created systemic problems that made the police killing of Floyd possible.

The Justice Department was also critical of the Minneapolis Police Department's treatment of people having mental health crises. But the report had positive things to say about the city's behavioral crisis response team. The report praised the unarmed mental health professionals who answer certain 911 calls and says the program should be expanded.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Marisa Stevenson, the interim program manager with Canopy Roots, the group that runs the program.

The music stream, Carbon Sound, has reached its first anniversary. That’s one year of celebrating the depth, breadth, and beauty of Black musical expression. Carbon Sound is supported by MPR and the Current, in partnership with KMOJ. To look back on this first year and to look ahead to the future, MPR host Cathy Wurzer checks in with Carbon Sound’s content director, Julian Green.

The war in Ukraine has entered a new phase, with a counteroffensive trying to push Russian troops out of the territory they’ve held for more than a year. We get an update from a former St. Paul journalist in Ukraine.

And the top official on Minnesota's highest court is stepping down. We hear from Chief Justice Lorie Gildea about her decision.

The federal department of justice has been critical of the Minneapolis police department's treatment of people with mental health issues. But the department praised the unarmed mental health response teams who answer certain 9-11 calls. We'll hear from the leader of that program.

And on this Juneteenth, we'll celebrate one year of Carbon Sound ahead of events all over the state today.

Governor Tim Walz has a decision to make: Who will become the next Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court?

That's because the current Chief Justice, Lori Gildea, announced last week that she is stepping down.

Gildea is one of the longest-serving Chief Justices on the State high court in its history.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Gildea about her decision.

Many Minnesotans woke up this morning to air quality alerts this morning, and while air quality is expected to improve throughout the day and into Friday, as of noon the air in Southwest Minnesota is still classified as unhealthy for people with lung or heart disease, older people, and the very young. Yesterday smoke from Canadian wildfires settled over the middle of the state, casting what looked like low-level smog over us, causing record poor air quality for the metro. If you were outside at all, you felt it, you could almost taste it, and it wasn’t good.

Experts say this will probably not be the last time the air will be smoky this summer. Host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Mayo Clinic Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn about the short- and long-term health impacts of breathing wildfire smoke. MPR meteorologist Sven Sundgaard puts the Air Quality Index in context and gives us the weather forecast.

MPR News host Cathy Wurzer chats about the Twins, Lindsay Whalen’s contract buyout, high school basketball, and Minnesota United with sports guys Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson.

Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the cohost of "10,000 Takes" sports talk show. Eric is the other host and also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio "Eye on Football."

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.   

If you're out when it gets dark, perhaps sitting around a campfire or lingering at a park, you might see a bat swoop through the shadows, gobbling up insects like they’re M & M’s.

We are getting into the "busy season" for bats. Baby bats that were born this spring will soon start to fly out on their own, which can occasionally lead to some surprising encounters with humans--especially if bats wind up somewhere you're not expecting, like inside your house. THAT might lead you to call the Minnesota Department of Health. The MDH fields several thousand calls a year from people concerned about rabies after encountering bats.  

To get more information, MPR host Cathy Wurzer speaks with Carrie Klumb, senior epidemiologist and Rabies Surveillance Coordinator for Minnesota Department of Health and she's the Rabies Surveillance Coordinator.

It's Pride month, and for our ongoing Changemakers series, MPR News is featuring trans and nonbinary individuals who are making a difference in our community.

One of those Changemakers is Rox Anderson. They're a longtime Minneapolis resident with decades of experience serving LGBT communities as an activist, a creative, and a health worker. Anderson is the director of the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition and a former Bush Fellow. They're currently working on a campaign to improve health outcomes for queer people across the region.

Reporter Feven Gerezgiher talks with Anderson about their work creating safe spaces for LGBT people, especially those who are most marginalized.

The US Supreme Court has upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, also known as ICWA. The case was closely watched by tribal communities in Minnesota and across the country. The law gives priority to tribal families in the foster care and adoption cases of Native American children. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer speaks with Professor Angelique EagleWoman, director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law.