The head of Feeding our Future has been found guilty in the largest pandemic fraud scheme in the U.S. We get a recap on the trial full of twists and turns and learn how state lawmakers are working to prevent it from happening again.

Friday marks 20 years since a shooting claimed the lives of 10 people on the Red Lake Reservation. We talk to a survivor who is working to memorialize the lives lost.

Minnesota's winters are getting warmer. We look at this past winter and how it fits into climate trends.

Thursday marks the first day of spring. We get some professional help to do spring cleaning.

Plus, it’s the middle of fish fry season. We go inside a church that is home to the Twin Cities largest fish fry.

Today’s Minnesota Music Minute was “Backseat” by Chastity Brown and “First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes was the Song of the Day.

Friday marks 20 years since the tragic mass shooting on the Red Lake Nation that left 10 people dead and seven injured.

On March 21, 2005, a Red Lake High School student killed five of his classmates, a teacher, the school security guard, his grandfather and his grandfather’s partner. The shooter died by a self-inflicted gunshot.  

At the time, the Red Lake shooting was the largest school shooting in the U.S. since the Columbine massacre.

Starr Jourdain was at Red Lake High School on the day of the shooting and now serves as the chair of 3.21.05 Memorial Fund, a memorial group formed by survivors that honors the victims of the shooting. Jourdain joined Minnesota Now to reflect on the 20 years that have passed since the tragedy.

Thursday marked the first day of spring and the end of a very peculiar winter. According to state climate data, winter is Minnesota’s fastest warming season. Minnesota winters have warmed two to three times faster than summers.

Kenny Blumenfeld, a senior climatologist with the State Climatology Office, joined Minnesota Now to talk about the state’s warming winters and the impact climate change has on the environment.

We all need a little help to get through life sometimes. From everyday questions to more complex problems, we’re asking the experts to lend us a hand.

Throughout the series Professional Help, we’ll hear some direct advice, for us not-so-direct Minnesotans.

Thursday marks the first day of spring, which means many Minnesotans may be opening their windows for the first time this year. With the spring season can come the urge to deep clean your home. But maintaining those decluttering and organizing habits throughout the year can be a difficult task.

Minnesota Now producer Ellie Roth decided to ask an expert for tips on how to declutter and stay organized this spring.

Our ask: Help us declutter and organize our homes this spring

Our professional: Melissa Klug, professional organizer and the owner of Home By Eleven

Listen to more Professional Help segments here.

A federal jury in Minneapolis has found two people guilty on all counts in the nation’s largest case of pandemic-era fraud.

Prosecutors say Feeding our Future founder Aimee Bock and former restaurant owner Salim Said led a scheme to defraud taxpayers of $250 million meant for child nutrition programs. The case had led to calls from state lawmakers to prevent this from happening again.

MPR News correspondent Matt Sepic was in the courthouse throughout the five-week trial and he joined Minnesota Now to talk about the case and its impacts at the state Legislature.

Each Friday during Lent in kitchens all over the state, fish filets will be hitting the fryer to be served to Lent observers and anyone else with a hankering for fish fry.

The tradition has roots in the Catholic practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, especially in the 40 days before Easter, but it has expanded more widely.

At Church of St. Albert the Great in Minneapolis, Father Joe Gillespie presides over one of the largest fish fry dinners in the region. He and Mpls.St.Paul Magazine food and dining editor Stephanie March, who writes a Twin Cities fish fry guide every year, joined Minnesota Now to talk about the tradition.

A state senator is accused of soliciting a teenage girl for prostitution. Now, there are bipartisan calls for Republican Sen. Justin Eichorn to resign. We get the latest on this developing story from MPR News senior politics reporter Clay Masters.

As measles spreads in the southern U.S., we check in with a doctor about preventing further outbreaks in Minnesota.

Plus, a business owner tried to open a thrift store in a north metro suburb, only to find city zoning laws don’t allow it. We talk about how these regulations shape communities.

Meteorologist Paul Huttner has the latest on the winter storm in southern Minnesota.

This March Madness, all eyes will be on Hopkins native Paige Bueckers. We catch up with her former coach.

Today’s Minnesota Music Minute was “Moqueca” by room3 and “Here for You” by Afflatus was the Song of the Day.

A secondhand store in the north Twin Cities suburb of Arden Hills may be forced to shut down or relocate after finding out zoning laws ban thrift stores in certain areas of the city.

Odds & Ends Again is a resale storefront that helps seniors downsize and sell items they no longer need. The owner, Brett Foss says he didn’t realize the zoning rules for his store would be different than other retail spaces.

Arden Hills mayor David Grant told the Minnesota Star Tribune the city had given Foss all the information he needed about city zoning rules.

Joining me for a wider conversation about city zoning and the impact it has on communities is Evan Roberts. He’s an assistant professor with the University of Minnesota and is leading a project called the Minnesota Zoning Atlas.

It has been 25 years since the U.S. declared it had eliminated measles. But one of the worst outbreaks since then is spreading through rural Texas and New Mexico. It is not a threat to most Americans right now, but public health experts are alarmed. Measles is very contagious and can cause death or long-term effects like brain damage.

Dr. Alison Galdys, a University of Minnesota Medical School professor and infectious disease physician with M Health Fairview, joined MPR News host Nina Moini to explain what’s causing measles to come back with such force.

March Madness, the college basketball tournament where teams need to win every game or be eliminated, begins this year. It’s hard to believe it has only been a year since record numbers of fans tuned in to watch Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and other stars of the women’s game.

This year many, many eyes are on University of Connecticut guard and Hopkins, Minn. native Paige Bueckers. MPR News host Nina Moini talks with Bueckers’ former coach, Tara Starks, who led Hopkins High School to a state championship earlier this month.