Minnesota Now

Food shelves across the country are seeing increased demand. And a new survey carried out by the University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota-based nonprofit Foundation for Essential Needs provides a closer look at the need.

Among the takeaways from the nearly 10,000 Minnesotans who responded this past spring: more than half say they got half or more of all their food from a food shelf.

Dom Korbel is with Community Pathways of Steele County in Owatonna. He’s joined Minnesota Now to share how he uses the results of the survey to stock the shelves and what the need looks like ahead of the holiday season.

A movement in Minnesota and nine other states calls for an approach to child welfare that maintains connections between foster and birth families, so they can work together to give children love and support. It’s called the Quality Parenting Initiative, or QPI.

For Jessica Gunnarson, this strategy was a natural response to her personal experience on different sides of the child welfare system.

Gunnarson is a foster parent in Duluth and she’s receiving an award this week from the initiative. And Kate Rickord works with the Youth Law Center, a national group behind QPI.

Gunnarson and Rickord joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about the unique approach to foster care.

A Somali American U.S. citizen was detained by ICE amid the agency's continued operation in the Twin Cities. We'll hear from the man who was arrested about what he experienced, plus the federal government's response to other incidents like this.

Minnesota's economy is struggling on some key indicators like workforce growth. We'll talk to an economist who says immigrants have a critical role to play.

Plus parents at the largest elementary school in St. Paul Public Schools are protesting overcrowding in the building.

And if you're in Northern Minnesota, did you catch that mysterious flash across the night sky the other day? Our reporter set out to identify the unidentified object.

Plus, a podcast looks back at the first open heart surgery in Minnesota.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Mr. Revival” by Your Smith and our Song of the Day was “Prayer for Mim in the Color Marigold” by Liz Draper.

Before the 1950s, heart surgery was widely regarded as a guaranteed instant death for a patient. It just wasn’t done, no matter how badly it was needed. So it took a lot of guts for the pioneering doctors to take on the first lifesaving heart surgeries for pacemakers and heart-lung machines.

A screenwriter is telling the winding story of the one of the first open heart surgeries, which took place in Minnesota, and all of the drama, scandal and millions of lives saved that went along with it. That screenwriter’s name is Jamie Napoli, and he created the new six-episode documentary podcast called “Cardiac Cowboys.” Napoli joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about the podcast.

During this snowy start to winter, a group of volunteers have been busy shoveling for their neighbors. Nikita Godette is coordinating a large effort in St. Paul, leading the Facebook group “Saintly City Snow Angels.”

Godette spoke to Minnesota Now producer Ellen Finn about why she thinks its important for neighbors to come together to help neighbors in the winter.

This past Saturday, people across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin saw a long flash of sparkling white and green light trail across the night sky. People captured it on video and it went viral on social media. But no one was exactly sure what it was. Maybe a meteor? A comet? Santa doing a test run with Rudolph?

MPR News Duluth reporter Dan Kraker made it his mission to find out after seeing the spectacle himself. He joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about what he learned about the so-called “space junk.”

A recent report from the Minnesota Chamber Foundation found the state’s economy is slipping in national rankings. The state ranks near the bottom in terms of workforce growth and net migration — which means more people are leaving the state than moving here.

Much of the growth that is happening in the state’s labor force is made up of foreign-born workers. They’ve driven 60 percent of workforce growth in recent years, according to the Chamber Foundation.

These numbers point to a different conclusion from the one President Donald Trump made recently in a dehumanizing tirade about Somali Minnesotans, when he said they “contribute nothing.”

Concordia University Economics Professor Bruce Corrie has done a lot of thinking and writing about the contributions of immigrants to the state’s economy, including as a response to the President’s comments. He joined Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about his analysis.

Parents at St. Paul Public School’s Hmong language and culture school are preparing to keep their kids at home Monday amid an ongoing dispute with the district over overcrowding concerns. The boycott on Monday takes place ahead of a Tuesday meeting where the school board will vote on next steps.

Enrollment at the PreK-8 Txuj Ci school has grown tremendously in recent years. But the district has not been able to find enough space to keep all students under one roof. That’s led to several temporary short-term solutions that have left many parents frustrated.

Tensions have boiled over to the point where some parents say they may even pull their kids from the school entirely.

Sahan Journal’s Becky Dernbach has been following the story and joined Minnesota Now to share her reporting.

Minneapolis leaders are sharing reports of racial profiling and arrests of U.S. citizens by ICE. City Council Member Jamal Osman talked with Minnesota Now about what he witnessed in a chaotic confrontation with ICE agents in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

Minnesota's survey of students shows their mental health is getting better. But for the first time the results include a look at the impact of social media use.

Plus, a local researcher may have found a new way to kill emerald ash borers and save ash trees.

Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joined with snow totals plus details on when the next round could arrive.

And 15 years ago this week, the state was digging out of another winter storm. That one led to the collapse of the Metrodome. MPR News host Nina Moini talked to a man who was in the stadium when it happened.

Much of Minnesota woke up Wednesday buried in a fresh layer of snow. It’s a fitting scene, since this week is 15 years since one of the state’s most infamous snow events.

Early in the morning on Dec. 12, 2010, the roof fell in at what was then the Minnesota Vikings’ stadium, the Metrodome.

Minnesota Now looked back at MPR News coverage of the collapse and talked with the only person who was in the arena when it happened. Peter Eisenschenk, former building operations manager of the Metrodome, joined MPR News host Nina Moini to share what he remembers.