Minnesota Now

On March 31st The Copyright Royalty Board took a first step in changing the rate musicians are paid when their songs stream on services like Spotify, Apple, Pandora and Amazon. Producer Alex Cheng caught up with Minneapolis based music manager Bobby Maher to talk about how this may impact musicians.

There’s a bicameral, bipartisan appetite for billions of dollars in tax cuts in the Minnesota Legislature. Host Cathy Wurzer talks with MPR News reporter Brian Bakst on legislators' tax and spending proposals.

We’ve all heard stories of Prince growing up on Minneapolis’s north side, and his early musical beginnings. But there aren’t many photos and videos of Prince as a child. But a special discovery has lit up the Internet. While digging around in old news film in the basement of the WCCO TV station for footage of the 1970 Minneapolis teachers strike, WCCO production manager Matt Liddy found footage that appears to be Prince at 10 or 11 years old, being interviewed by a reporter, outside his former junior high school. Matt joined Cathy to talk about his find.

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Over the years those in charge of managing nature have done some good things to protect the natural world. But sometimes what seems like a good conservation management idea goes very wrong. A new podcast out of Interlochen Public Radio in Michigan explores how people have fiddled with the natural world in the upper Great Lakes region and what’s come of it. Morgan Springer is a producer on the "Un-Natural Selection" podcast from Interlochen Public Radio. You can find the show at interlochenpublicradio.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The pandemic has been challenging for all of us, but especially health care professionals. Many have been working in very stressful environments with limited staff for over two years. The Journal of the American Medical Association published an article about the impact long-term burnout has had on physicians and health care staff on March 30. Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen is a physician at Mayo Clinic and host of the podcast Millennial Health. She joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the ongoing struggles medical professionals have faced and what a potential exodus could mean for America’s health care system.

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Ukrainian officials say the evidence is mounting of war crimes by Russian forces that have invaded the country. President Joe Biden called for war crimes trials on Monday, as the U.S. stepped up sanctions, including the seizure of a 255-yacht believed to belong to a Russian oligarch. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is talking to the UN. Security council today, asking for tougher sanctions. 

MPR reporter Tim Nelson has been in touch with his longtime friend and colleague Brian Bonner. Brian is a former journalist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the former editor of the Kyiv Post, Ukraine’s premiere English language newspaper. Brian has a new job with a Polish NGO and has been in and out of Ukraine and Poland in recent weeks. Tim spoke with Brian about what’s new in Ukraine.

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What do gamers with disabilities, the gay rodeo and anime have in common?

They’re all lesser-known communities here in the United States—but they’ve made big impacts on mainstream culture.

A new YouTube series takes a peek inside these communities to see what the rest of us can learn from them. Subcultured is produced by Twin Cities PBS for PBS Digital Studios – and host and producer Josef Lorenzo is a Minnesotan who grew up in Brooklyn Park.

Host Cathy Wurzer talked with Lorenzo about their series.

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Some Minnesota lawmakers say it’s time to mandate financial literacy education as a requirement to graduate from high school. They say ensuring all young Minnesota are taught personal finance is critical to helping address persistent economic disparities. Mark Zdechlik has the latest in our series North Star Journey, about the history and culture of Minnesota communities.

Mosques and Islamic Community Centers throughout the Metro area, Duluth and Rochester are inviting their neighbors of all faith backgrounds for a traditional Ramadan Iftar throughout the month. Organizer Imam Asad Zaman joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk more about the program, Taking Heart.

Andrew Luger was sworn in as U.S. attorney for Minnesota on March 30. He joined host Cathy Wurzer to talk about what he plans to accomplish during his second term.