Minnesota Now

It’s been more than a month since the City of St. Paul shut down an encampment where more than 100 people lived. Since then, seven people from the Pig’s Eye encampment have made use of available shelter beds, according to a report from the city at the end of August.

Many former Pig’s Eye residents have moved to other, remaining encampments in the city. St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her’s office said this summer it planned to clear encampments “on a rolling basis”, but it has not released a timeline for the other sites.

For an update on the situation and other issues facing the capital city, including police drones and downtown development, MPR News host Nina Moini talked with St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker.

Minnesota Now also requested an interview with Mayor Her to talk about these issues but she was not available.

Both leading candidates for Minnesota governor say officials in the Walz administration should be fired for their handling of fraud in state programs. They were responding to a story by a Minnesota Star Tribune reporter detailing the fraud response. We'll talk to him.

Minneapolis has a new fire chief. Reginald Freeman is taking over a department that's facing staffing challenges and responding to a range of emergencies, beyond fires.

If you're in southeast Minnesota, a blue cargo van called the Justice Bus may soon come to your town. We'll meet the staff behind the mobile legal office.

And we'll hear from Lynx forward Natasha Howard, who has a new book out today about her life.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Feelin It” by Tearra Oso and our Song of the Day was “Villain” by Betty and the Rubble.

Minneapolis swore in its 19th fire chief, and the department's first ever outside fire chief hire, last week. Chief Reginald Freeman has a pretty unusual resume for a Minneapolis fire chief — he has led fire departments in Oakland, Calif., and Hartford, Conn., served as a civilian fire chief for the Department of Defense in Iraq and ran fire and EMS operations in Saudi Arabia.

He's taking over a department facing questions about staffing and firefighters who have responded to unprecedented emergencies since 2020. Freeman discussed those topics and more in a conversation with MPR News host Nina Moini.

These days, Natasha Howard is jersey no. 1 on the Minnesota Lynx. She returned to the team this season after nearly a decade of competing on other WNBA teams and internationally. The last time Howard played for Minnesota, they won the 2017 championship. She won two other titles with the Seattle Storm and was named the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year. Howard is a three-time all star and now, she’s also an author.

Her memoir, “The Vision Through My Lens: My Life in Basketball and Beyond,” is out Tuesday. Howard spoke to Minnesota Now host Nina Moini about her new book and this Lynx season.

Later this week, a royal blue cargo van will roll into Faribault and Northfield, offering no-cost legal help to community members. The Justice Bus is a mobile office set up to help with civil cases related to issues like eviction or custody arrangements. There are four of these in the state, each dedicated to a different region.

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services has one. The group’s outreach coordinator Jenna Saverynksi and family law attorney Jocylyn Poehler are taking it to stops around southeast Minnesota this fall. They spoke to Minnesota Now host Nina Moini about their effort to make legal services more accessible.

A new Minnesota Star Tribune report is taking a closer look at how the Walz administration responded to fraud allegations across state government and why it took years for the administration to recognize a broader, interconnected problem.

The in-depth report is based on interviews with people who worked in and around the administration, as well as testimony from a congressional investigation.

Ryan Faircloth led the reporting for this piece and joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about his reporting.

Leaders of major artificial intelligence companies are calling for more regulation of AI. President Donald Trump is dismissing those concerns and says more regulations would put the U.S. behind China. A local AI ethics expert weighs in.

Minnesota is ending the use of hotels for people facing mental health crises. Hennepin County had already stopped turning to hotels before this change. We'll hear more about what they've learned.

A new MPR report shows how removing aquatic plants from our beloved lakes could have negative impacts.

The Vikings beat the Packers in a thrilling comeback game, but their quarterback is now sidelined with a concussion. Our sports contributors have more on that, plus news about the Twins and the Gophers.

Our Minnesota Music Minute is "Flight Simulation" by Absolutely Yours and our Song of the Day is "See You in September" by The Happenings.

For the Minnesota Vikings, the very beginning of the new NFL season was rough. Starting quarterback Kyler Murray left the field with a concussion early in Sunday’s home opener against the Green Bay Packers. But Carson Wentz came in as backup and helped the Vikings win 39-22.

Minnesota Now sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined the program with those sports headlines plus other Minnesota sports news, including the latest on the Minnesota Twins and the University of Minnesota Gophers.

Starting this week, Minnesota will no longer allow the use of hotel rooms to provide what’s called “crisis respite.” It’s a Medicaid-funded program aimed at providing care and supervision to people experiencing mental health crises.

Case workers have turned to hotels for help in some cases since 2020, but after concerns about oversight and safety, the state stopped allowing new hotel placements in June. Starting Tuesday, all existing hotel placements must end.

Hennepin County had already stopped using hotels for crisis respite before this change. Debbie Ackerman, the area manager for Hennepin County Human Services, joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about why they made the change and what they have learned.

The CEOs of the country's top AI companies are unifying in their call for a global slowdown on AI development, after two former researchers at Anthropic shared concerns that AI is becoming too powerful too quickly and could ultimately threaten humanity's survival.

Manjeet Rege is the director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas and also author of the book "Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence: Frameworks, Risks and Society." He spoked to Minnesota Now host Nina Moini about AI technology, its risks and regulation.