Minnesota Today

Goodhue County authorities announced Monday they have filed second-degree murder charges against a woman they say is the mother of two newborn babies found dead in the Mississippi River in 1999 and 2003. This is an MPR News evening update for May 9, 2022. Hosted by Hannah Yang.

Our theme music is by Gary Meister. 

MPR’s politics reporter Brian Bakst joined host Cathy Wurzer to explain three competing and vastly different tax plans at the Capitol.

The Legislature is barreling toward the end of its yearly session still lacking a big deal on taxes and spending but making progress around the edges nonetheless. Without a broad framework to guide them to the finale, it’s difficult to gauge whether the Republican-led Senate, DFL-led House and DFL Gov. Tim Walz will avert a collapse on the session’s biggest items — public safety, school aid, long-term care relief and tax cuts high on that list. 

This is a morning update from MPR News, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.

Each Sunday we bring you a selection of reporting from the MPR News North Star Journey series. Today, reporter Jon Collins brings us a story about how Black Farmers in Minnesota are reconnecting to the land. Then, reporter Peter Cox explains how COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on Minnesota's Hmong community. And finally, reporter Tim Nelson explains why some groups are pushing to change the images on Minnesota's flag. North Star Journey is a celebration of communities in Minnesota and the champions who are doing the work that we should be bringing a voice to. We hope to bring new understandings of our state and what brought us to today. The series was made possible in part with funds from the Legacy Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

The mother of a man killed by Brooklyn Center police last year says an officer there threatened to arrest her for legally filming a traffic stop and arrest Wednesday night. Katie Wright — the mother of Daunte Wright — was recording from the opposite side of Highway 252 when an officer walked across traffic, demanded her driver's license, threatened to put her in jail and grabbed her wrist.

This is a morning update from MPR News, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.

The Army Corps of Engineers is weighing a key permit for Polymet, and doctors at Mayo are among those trying to figure out a strange outbreak of childhood hepatitis. This is an evening update from MPR News, hosted by Tim Nelson. Music by Gary Meister.

After more than a year of haggling, the Legislature finally agreed on giving out $500 million dollars in direct payments to frontline workers. Any individual in Minnesota who had to remain on the job in person during the pandemic is eligible to receive a $750 “hero” check.

Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Deputy Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach talked with host Cathy Wurzer about the program and what it will mean for frontline workers.

North Dakota National Guard helicopter crews have been airlifting one-ton sandbags to shore up a dam in danger of failing, as rivers across the region remain in flood stage from snowmelt and heavy rain in recent weeks. The Guard on Tuesday dropped more than 100 of the massive sandbags at the Bourbanis Dam in Pembina County, about 70 miles northwest of Grand Forks, N.D.

This is a morning update from MPR News, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.

There's still plenty of potential politicking for abortion rights in Minnesota as Roe may end, and the state wants a deal for oversight of Minneapolis police before Labor Day. This is an evening update from MPR News, hosted by Tim Nelson. Music by Gary Meister.

The growing possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will upend decades of precedent around abortion law has invigorated a political struggle about what comes next just months before the midterm elections. A leaked draft of an opinion that overturns the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion doesn’t mean a final Supreme Court ruling will go that far.

This is a morning update from MPR News, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.