There were more than 100 cookbooks released this year from major publishers and one of them comes from a Minnesota native. It has wound up on the LA Times list of the best cookbooks of 2022.

Twin Cities native, adventurer, National Geographic journalist, and longevity expert Dan Buettner has spent the last 20 years studying and writing about areas of the world. He calls them Blue Zones. They’re places where people live longer and with less disease than anywhere else in the world. His research finds the diets of those long lived cultures are remarkably similar.

In December, Buettner is out with Blue Zones American Kitchen, where he found four American food traditions that match the longevity diets he’s found elsewhere in the world.

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State Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm is wrapping up her tenure this week. She's reflecting on nine years of service, three years of a pandemic and looking ahead to retirement. We’ll hear a reflection on her work.

One of the best cookbooks of the year comes from a Minnesota native. We'll talk to him about how his research has changed his life.

The price of everything has gone up, including farmland. Is that impacting the price of our hamburgers or tofu at the grocery store? We'll take a look.

And our Minnesota Now and Then segment is back with a fun story involving Chuck Berry, Minneapolis, and New Year's Eve. It's a fun one.

The Vikings broke more records on Christmas Eve and they're heading to Green Bay. Our sports guys will give us their predictions on that game and more.

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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 this week’s sports roundup with experts Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. 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. 

Rent prices are soaring. That’s true of apartment dwellings in the Twin Cities. But it’s also happening on fields across Minnesota. Two-thirds of farm fields are rented out to farmers, not owned by them. These days, those fields cost a pretty penny. What does that mean for the price of our cornflakes, hamburgers and tofu? You’re probably already feeling the pinch. Kent Thiesse is a Farm Management Analyst and Senior Vice President and MinnStar Bank. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to answer that question and more.

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. 

An explosion of COVID-19 cases in China... plus large groups of people together for the holidays. Are we looking at another COVID surge?

And that big winter storm is over... we're thawing out after those sub-zero temps, but could snow be on its way back in time for New Year’s? We'll get your weekend forecast.

Lots of kids are struggling with anxiety this year. A doctor shares signs your child might need some extra help.

If you love a good road trip, we have a guest who has taken a lot of them, professionally, for the past 45 years. Tune in for that conversation.

And we're looking back at the year in music with Julian Green from Carbon Sound. Lots of good songs to add to your playlist.

As 2022 winds to a close, it’s a good time to look back at some of the freshest music that came out this year.

Everyone probably has a different opinion on that, but we wanted to ask Julian Green. He is content director for Carbon Sound. It’s an MPR-affiliated online streaming service celebrating Black musical expression of all genres.

A lot of us love a good road trip! But how long would the romance last if you were on the road 11 hours a day, 300 days a year? Well, our next guest probably has the answer.

Gerald “Red” Popp has been a trucker for most of his life. This year, the Minnesota Trucking Association recognized him as one of its Drivers of the Month. Now, he is among the 12 drivers up for Driver of the Year, which will be announced at a banquet coming up on January 17th.

That big winter storm is in the rear-view mirror. Hundreds of crashes and spinouts, impassable roads, blizzard conditions and subzero temperatures were quite a combination.

We've been warming up pretty steadily since then and our forecast this week looks a lot different. Meteorologist Sven Sundgaard is here with the latest.

There's an explosion of COVID-19 cases in China that's making news as that country lifts restrictions. Meanwhile, health officials in this country are warning of COVID spikes because of the holidays. COVID is still very much with us. Veteran epidemiologist Michael Osterholm joins MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

Southwest Airlines is cancelling thousands of flights a day right now. We'll tell you why and what to do. We'll get the latest on the investigation into the shooting at the Mall of America on Friday. Lots of us are spending more time with family this time of year and we'll talk about what to do if you are noticing some memory issues with older family members. Plus a conversation with Minnesota musician Dua Saleh.