Minnesota Now

The Minneapolis downtown area is not as busy as it once was. You can thank the pandemic for that. Overnight, workers disappeared, more than 150,000 in Minneapolis and about 50,000 in St. Paul. Workers are coming back, but slowly.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey supports converting downtown office buildings into apartments, according to an interview with Axios. With government buy-in, a downtown transformation is likely. But what exactly will that look like? That’s up in the air. Fernando Burga is an assistant professor of urban planning at the University of Minnesota and he joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to make sense of the future of downtown Minneapolis.

Minneapolis writer Emily Strasser has a brand new book inspired by a curious picture that hung in her Grandmother's house. Her questions about that image set her on a years long exploration of her family history, and its disturbing connections to global conflict.

Residents of Raymond in western Minnesota are returning to their homes following a train derailment in the early hours of Thursday morning that prompted an evacuation of the small town about 90 miles west of the Twin Cities. MPR News reporters Mark Zdechlick and Kirsti Marohn were on the scene and joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what they heard. Raymond Mayor Ardell Tensen talked about the city’s response and former Minnesota Pollution Control Agency hydrologist Mark Toso answered questions about ethanol spills.

There’s a new book on the shelves from a local author about a real-life mystery. Memorial Day weekend 1971, two 17-year-old girls hopped in an old Studebaker for a kegger in Vermillion, South Dakota. They took a wrong turn near the gravel pits and were never seen again. Lou Raguse is a reporter on KARE 11 and the author of the book ‘Vanished in Vermillion: The Real Story of South Dakota’s Most Infamous Cold Case.’ He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the case.

Residents of Raymond, Minnesota were evacuated after a train derailed early Thursday morning and some cars caught fire.

A local reporter tells the story of a real-life cold case and what drove him to investigate.

The Minnesota Film Festival is in full swing in Duluth Thursday and runs through the weekend.

Sports guys Wally and Eric talk about the Timberwolves, Wild, and the Twins opener.

The Minnesota Film Festival lasts from March 29 through April 2. The festival features local and international films at the Zeitgeist Zinema theater in Duluth. Program Director Beth Chatelain joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about how the festival has been going so far and what audiences can look forward to.

Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the opening day of the season for the Twins, the Minnesota Wild, and the Timberwolves.

In 2021, 1,286 people in Minnesota died from drug overdoses, according to the Minnesota Department of Health, a 20 percent increase from 2020.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that Narcan nasal spray, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, would soon be available over the counter.

Opioids can cause overdoses by decreasing the urge to breathe, the respiratory drive. During an opioid overdose, people can stop breathing altogether and, if not helped in time, die. But, if Narcan is administered, it goes into the body and removes the opioids from the receptor, engaging breath and saving lives. 

Heather Blue, associate professor of pharmacy for the University of Minnesota Duluth and emergency medicine pharmacist at St. Luke’s Hospital, said making Narcan available over the counter will increase accessibility. She spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about it. 

So when we think about how opioids cause overdose, they sit on the opioid receptors in our body. And while that can provide euphoria and kind of that high, and as well as pain control, part of that opioid receptor can actually decrease your respiratory drive and that urge to breathe. 

So what we see in opioid overdoses is our patients will not breathe, they will not be breathing adequately, or they will stop breathing altogether. When naloxone, or as you mentioned, the brand name Narcan, is administered, it goes into the body and then kind of rips the opioid off of that opioid receptor. 

Then the patient is able to have that drive to breathe, be able to take breaths, as well as it doesn't cause some opioid withdrawal. But what we want that naloxone to do is to allow the patient to be able to breathe, and of course, then prevent a fatal overdose.

I think making it over-the-counter will really increase the accessibility of the medication for patients as well as patients family members to obtain this and to be able to prevent those fatal overdoses. I should also point out as we're talking about accessibility, that it's not the patient, or the person that is experiencing the opioid overdose that's going to be administering this medication, it is going to be the friends, the family members or the rescue workers that will be administering this medication. 

When it was just a prescription medication, there was some concern of whether or not that prescription should be written for the person that would be most likely to use that versus the patient that wanted to have it available. By going over-the-counter, we've really taken that away and made it available for family members, anyone who wants to have naloxone on hand to hopefully again, reverse that fatal overdose.

So being that naloxone was only available with a prescription, it really limited where that medication could be. And we know that in our rural Minnesota areas that we do have places that are pharmacy deserts, that it's a long ways away for some of our residents to be able to have a pharmacy.

We don't know exactly where this naloxone over-the-counter will go, but this announcement by the FDA does make it available [and] could be as similar as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, available in stores, grocery stores and gas stations even. 

That can definitely increase the accessibility in our rural areas. Instead of having to go to a doctor and get a prescription or go to the pharmacy to pick up your naloxone, it could be available when you fill up your gas tank.

That's definitely been kind of the piece today as this announcement comes out. Because we had gotten to a point where insurance companies were covering the prescription naloxone fairly well, and so usually what happens when a medication goes over the counter, a lot of private insurances will not cover over-the-counter products. 

It is really unknown right now where that coverage will lie. And again, that's a decision made by the insurance companies, and then where the price point is. So even if it's not covered by insurance, making sure that it is still affordable for patients that want to have this should be available.

Oh, absolutely. I would say those concerns are still out there. But I would also categorize them as they also are feeling some of the stigma seen around both this product as well as the opioid use disorder in general. As we look at the studies, we can see that when naloxone is available, and some of their harm reduction strategies such as safe-use places, the use of opioids does not increase. We see those fatal overdoses decrease. 

We need to be thinking at a broader kind of the next step, right? So this naloxone will reverse an opioid overdose. However, it doesn't take care of the opioid use disorder, it doesn't think about preventing an additional overdose experience. And so while that stigma still stands within health care practice, I think there are an equal amount of studies showing that it doesn't increase that engagement. However, it does save lives. Then we can move forward into thinking about how we can treat opioid-use disorder in a more holistic way.

Naloxone use is very easy, even just a quick Google search and you can find YouTube videos. The packaging will have education, the current prescription packaging has pictures and diagrams as well as walking you through with words.

It should be administered when a patient is suspected of opioid overdose death, or opioid overdose. So that looks like them being really lethargic, sleepy. Again, they're not able to breathe well, they you may see some blue lips, a blue color to their skin.

For the nasal form, which again will be over the counter, all you have to do is insert that into the patient's nostril, press the little trigger that gives the spray and so even if they're not breathing adequately, they can absorb that medication within their nose and then that again is going to go and kick that opioid off the receptor. 

The other piece that I think it's really important that people know is that often the opioid that's causing the overdose hangs around in the body longer than the naloxone. So even if you have the naloxone available, and the patient does start to breathe again, that patient needs medical attention. 

They need to be brought to the emergency department because once the naloxone leaves the body there is that chance that the patients will have an additional overdose. And so they may require additional naloxone. It's really important that people just know that piece of that, while we have more naloxone available, it does not take the place of further health care needs for that patient as well as getting connected to some of the community resources and treatment for opioid use disorder.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above.

Along with spring thunderstorms and severe weather on the horizon, MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner gave MPR News host Cathy Wurzer updates on spring flooding risks, snow melt, and warmer temperatures for the week.

Shawn McKenzie started baking cookies at 11 years old alongside her chef father at a senior center. He taught her patience, waiting for the dough to be ready. Even then, she says she focused on the chocolate chips coming through with just the right texture and flavor lasting for days.

“I was always obsessed with making sure it didn’t taste like it was old or crusty.”

Her obsession that started, and continues, with cookies helped the Minneapolis chef move to the top of her profession.

McKenzie and four other bakers from around the country are the finalists for the best pastry chef award from the James Beard Foundation. The foundation made the announcement on Wednesday.

McKenzie co-founded Café Cerés, which has two shops in south Minneapolis. She’s also the executive pastry chef at Rustica.

On MPR News’ Minnesota Now, host Cathy Wurzer asked McKenzie Tuesday what the nomination means for the future. McKenzie credits others who have worked with her and said while it’s an honor for her team, "I'm trying not to think of, OK, what is this going to do. I guess I'm still trying to take one step at a time … I need to bake off cookies today, you know?"

The best chef Midwest category includes five chefs from Madison, Milwaukee, Omaha and Sioux Falls. None of the Twin Cities chefs in the category made it past the semifinalist round.

Beard award winners will be announced June 5 in Chicago.