Minnesota Now

Four chefs and one pastry chef from the Twin Cities have been nominated by the prestigious James Beard foundation for “Best Chef Midwest.” Finalists will be announced on March 29th. Today host Cathy Wurzer talks with Christina Nguyen, chef and co-owner of Hai-Hai and Hola Arepa in Minneapolis.

Two leaders of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs were fired following allegations of a toxic culture at a veterans home. What's next for staff and residents?

A program in the Twin Cities is trying to address mental health crisis among LGBTQ youth. We'll talk about how this effort started and it’s expansion to St. Cloud.

Four Minnesota chefs were nominated for the James Beard award for best chef in the Midwest. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked to one nominee about what they’re eating for lunch.

Another meat processing company employed children as young as 13. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to an immigration attorney about how youth are ending up in these risky jobs.

On the spring equinox, Cathy Wurzer spoke with a dedicated bird watcher about her new book.

QUEERSPACE collective matches LGBTQ adults with youth to improve mental health outcomes. MPR News reporter Grace Birnstengel wrote a story about the program and she joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.

Has someone ever taken you by suprise with an act of kindess when you're at your lowest? Sometimes it's the small things that can make you feel a whole lot better. Our series ‘Thank You, Stranger’ looks at those special people whose small acts of kindness have a big impact.

MPR Producer Ellen Finn spoke with a nurse who was comforted by a stranger during a difficult period in her life.

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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.

Governor Walz is updating his proposed state budget. We'll find out what he's doing to fine tune a two year financial plan as the legislative session winds down.

You've probably seen pictures of the roof collapse at the Miller Hill Mall. We'll find out how much more snow is headed for Duluth.

Parents are busy booking their children's summer activities. But what about those tweens who are too old for camp and too young for work? We'll get some ideas.

We have the latest story in our series, "Thank you Stranger" all about small acts of kindness with a big impact.

The Minnesota Now sports guys Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson are back to talk about the latest Minnesota sports news.

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Sports experts Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined guest host Tim Nelson to talk about the chances of Gopher Hockey winning the Big 10 Tournament Championship, the Twins gearing up for their baseball season, Gopher basketball, and NFC North quarterback drama.

Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the cohost of "ten-thousand Takes" sports talk show. Eric is the other host of "ten-thousand takes" and is also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio "Eye on Football.”

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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.

It's that time of year when many caregivers have their kids just all booked for camps and summer activities. That’s fine for elementary age children, but what about our tweens? Many of our 12 to 14 year old young people are too old for a lot of camps and too young to get a summer job. So what do parents do? And what do these kids need developmentally? Guest host Tim Nelson spoke with Dr. Gigi Chawla, chief of general pediatrics at Children’s Minneapolis about what changes for kids physiologically, developmentally, and socially during their ‘tweenage’ years.

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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.

Delegates from Ukraine are in Minnesota this week. The topic? The huge demand for limb prosthetics due to the Russian-Ukrainian war. The Ukrainian team is meeting with multiple organizations from the medical community here to figure out how to meet that demand.

Phil Hansen is president of Global Minnesota, a nonprofit promoting international understanding and engagement. Yakov Gradinar is chief medical officer of Minnesota-based Protez Foundation which provides Ukrainians with free prosthetics. They both joined guest host Tim Nelson to talk about the need and how to meet it.

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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.

Duluth has been buried by nearly 10 feet of snow this winter -- so much so that part of the roof of the Miller Hill Mall collapsed on Tuesday. That mall is still closed today as of Thursday afternoon. More snow is on the way today in northeastern Minnesota and across the state. Ketzel Levens is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Duluth. She joined guest host Tim Nelson to discuss whether or not we should be concerned about the structural integrity of other buildings with all of this snow, snowfall predictions across the state, and how this winter compares to others in terms of snowfall.

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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.

Gov. Tim Walz is releasing an update to his state budget plan Thursday. It's a revision based on the latest state budget forecast that still showed the state with a huge projected surplus, topping $17 billion.

MPR News politics editor Mike Mulcahy joined guest host Tim Nelson to talk about what the governor is proposing and where things stand with the surplus and the next two-year state budget.

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.