Minnesota Now

A shiny green beetle has transformed city streets and forests in parts of the United States. The emerald ash borer has been found in 59 counties of Minnesota and it has especially affected the southeast corner of the state.

The beetle depends on ash trees to survive and reproduce. It lays eggs into their bark. Then those eggs hatch into larvae that feed on the living tissue of the trees, eventually killing them. The larvae become beetles and fly off to other trees.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota have found several species of parasitic fungi that can interrupt this cycle by killing emerald ash borer.

Colin Peters is a Ph.D. candidate and lead author of a recent study about using these fungi to protect ash trees. He joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about his research and what it could mean for Minnesota’s one billion ash trees.

The state released new health data Wednesday about students across Minnesota. The 2025 Minnesota Student Survey shows that students are generally reporting better mental and physical health than they did when they took the survey last, back in 2022. But they were asked about a new topic this time around: social media and screens. That was where students reported a bigger struggle.

University of Minnesota professor Jodi Dworkin studies how technology shapes child development and she helps parents navigate children's use of social media and screens. Dworkin joined MPR News host Nina Moini on Minnesota Now.

Minneapolis' Somali community continues to be on edge, following a confrontation between ICE agents and community members. It happened Tuesday afternoon in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis where a large Somali community lives. Federal agents used chemical irritants to push through a crowd that blocked their vehicles as they checked identifications of people in the area.

ICE officials say they did not make any arrests Tuesday. Minneapolis City Council member Jamal Osman, who represents that area, said he saw at least one young Somali person detained. The incident was the latest in an ongoing operation targeting some Somali people in the state.

MPR News host Nina Moini talked with Osman for more about what he saw.

The lawyers of several people detained by federal immigration authorities in the Twin Cities are suing for their release. We talked to one attorney about the case he's making on behalf of his clients.

A metro area county is using AI to answer non-emergency calls to its police line. We found out why.

We learned about a new substance use disorder treatment program designed for people who are on the autism spectrum.

As the self-driving taxi company Waymo runs tests in Minneapolis, we found out what lawmakers are saying about regulation.

A Minnesota paleontologist just made a really cool discovery. He took us back to when dinosaurs roamed the badlands.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was “I’m Not Giving Up on You” by Mike Kota and our Song of the Day was “Ma and Hank Williams” by Luke Hendrickson.

Those who have faced it know it well: substance use disorder does not discriminate. But addiction treatment can look different for everyone. That's why Fraser, a Minnesota-based autism services program, has launched a new substance use disorder treatment program specifically for Minnesotans on the autism spectrum.

To get a better picture of how their services look different from a traditional addiction treatment program, Aric Jensen, the vice president of the outpatient and community-based mental health program at Fraser, joined MPR News host Nina Moini.

Since an immigration operation launched in the Twin Cities on Dec. 1, federal officials have not said exactly how many people they have detained, have in custody for deportation proceedings or who has been released after questioning.

Of those detained by ICE in the last week, several lawsuits have been filed on their behalf in an effort to secure release.

Attorney David Wilson represents several of those individuals. He joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about his clients.

Digging for dinosaurs is a dream job for young children around the world. For a Winona State University professor, that is his job, and he’s just made one of the rarest dinosaur discoveries in the world. The fossils discovered in the Badlands of North Dakota is 66 million years old and may be what’s called a “dinosaur mummy.” That means skin and tissue from the dinosaur could still be intact.

Joining Minnesota Now host Nina Moini to talk about his discovery is Winona State geoscience professor and paleontologist Lee Beatty.

When someone in Dakota County calls the police non-emergency line it isn’t a dispatcher that answers the phone, but rather an AI assistant. The change is so that the dispatch center, which is already understaffed, can focus on emergency calls in the county. Dakota County is one of the first in the Twin Cities metro to establish an AI assistant for non-emergency calls.

Joining Minnesota Now to explain how this works is the executive director of Dakota 911, Heidi Hieserich.

It has been one week since an ICE operation began in the Twin Cities. Augsburg University was at the center of an immigration arrest over the weekend. We’ll talk to the university’s president about what unfolded between students and agents on campus.

We’ll learn more about the tools ICE agents use to get data about who to arrest — and where to find them.

Plus, the federal government announced it will no longer recommend newborn babies immediately receive a hepatitis B vaccine. We’ll talk to the state epidemiologist about that.

And the Vikings finally won over the weekend! Though it may be too little, too late in terms of their chances for the playoffs.

Our Minnesota Music Minute was "A Case of You" by Prince and our Song of the Day was "Snow Days" by Trip Shakespeare.

A federal vaccine advisory committee has voted to end the longstanding recommendation that all babies get the hepatitis B vaccine on the day they’re born. The committee decided to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive for hep B, and in cases where the mom wasn’t tested. Otherwise, parents can wait until their baby is two months old.

Public health leaders have criticized the action, pointing to evidence that the vaccine has successfully prevented thousands of illnesses and no documented evidence of harm from the birth doses.

Joining Minnesota Now to explain what this means for vaccine access for babies in Minnesota is Dr. Ruth Lynfield, the Minnesota Department of Health state epidemiologist.