What’s it like to be married for 34 years to someone who wrote a book called “What Happy Couples Do.”

That’s the lucky situation in which Brian Bruess finds himself.

He is president of the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University and the first president to lead both schools. His wife, Carol Bruess, is nationally known for her research on relationships and communication and is the schools’ scholar-in-residence for relationships and dialogue.

MPR News host Angela Davis continues her Power Pairs series talking with Carol and Brian about how they’ve supported each other in marriage, careers and creating community on campus.

Guests:

• Brian J. Bruess is the president of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University outside of St. Cloud, Minn. He started in July of 2022 and is the first person to serve as the joint president for both schools. He was previously president of St. Norbert College in eastern Wisconsin. Before that he worked for over two decades in administration at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn.
• Carol Bruess is scholar in residence for relationships and dialogue at the College of St. Benedict and Saint John’s University and professor emerita of communication and family study at the University of St. Thomas. She researches, speaks and writes about how to create healthy relationships. She’s the author of five books, including “What Happy Couples Do,” and “Family Communication in the Age of Digital and Social Media.”

“Power Pairs” is a series featuring prominent Minnesotans in a close relationship. You may know of them separately but they reveal a new side of themselves when they sit down together. Listen to past interviews here and submit your idea for a future Power Pair here.

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Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

When federal agents surged into Minnesota in January, communities didn’t just face a legal issue. They faced a moral one.

Faith leaders showed up. Churches became distribution hubs for food and diapers. Nonprofits organized ride shares and distributed rent money. Clergy mobilized to protest, sing, champion and, in some cases, face arrest. “Our faith compels us,” was the common refrain.

“Operation Metro Surge” is over now. But churches, mosques, synagogues and faith-based nonprofits say their work is just ramping up.

A group of faith leaders joined MPR News host Angela Davis for a North Star Journey Live event at our studios in downtown St. Paul on Thursday, March 26, to talk about what they experienced on the front lines of the immigration enforcement surge and how their faith both compelled and comforted them. They also shared gifts from their own faith traditions to help Minnesotans process our collective moral injury.

Guests:

• JaNaé Bates Imari is a minister and the co-executive director of ISAIAH, a multi-racial, multi-faith, nonpartisan coalition of faith communities in Minnesota.
• Rev. Hierald Osorto is senior pastor of St. Paul's-San Pablo Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, a multicultural, multilingual, inclusive Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) congregation.
• Rabbi Arielle Lekach Rosenberg is lead rabbi at Shir Tikvah Synagogue, a reform congregation in south Minneapolis.
• Imam Mowlid Ali serves as an imam and youth counselor at Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center in Minneapolis.

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Federal job cuts last year hit one group the hardest — Black women. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a journalist who interviewed some of the women who lost their jobs about how they are doing a year later — financially and emotionally. The article was published recently in Hammer and Hope, an online magazine that focuses on Black politics and culture.

Guest:

• Natalie Moore is a senior lecturer and director of Audio Journalism Programming at Northwestern University in Illinois. She was a reporter and editor at the Chicago public radio station, WBEZ, for 17 years where she was known for her reporting on segregation and inequality.

  
  

  She writes a monthly column for the Chicago Sun-Times and she is also the author of “The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.” And she is co-author of “The Almighty Black P Stone Nation: The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of an American Gang” and “Deconstructing Tyrone: A New Look at Black Masculinity in the Hip-Hop Generation.”

Hennepin Healthcare operates one of Minnesota’s largest and most essential hospitals, HCMC, formerly known as Hennepin County Medical Center. And it’s not in good health.

The hospital provides emergency trauma and burn care to patients from across Minnesota and trains more than a third of the region’s future doctors.

But that mission comes at a cost. The public hospital serves more low-income and uninsured patients than other hospitals, leaving it especially vulnerable as federal Medicaid cuts take hold and the number of uninsured Minnesotans rises. Add in other mounting financial pressures, and leaders say the system is being pushed to the brink.

HCMC has already eliminated 100 positions, reduced services and is now seeking sales tax revenue just to stay afloat.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with her guests about the financial crisis at HCMC, why other hospitals are also struggling and some possible solutions.

Guests:

• Jan Malcolm was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz as his senior adviser on hospitals and health systems. She served as Minnesota’s health commissioner under three governors, stepping down in 2023 after guiding the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She previously served in executive positions at Allina Health and HealthPartners.
• Dr. Rahul Koranne is president and CEO of the Minnesota Hospital Association. He leads the organization in advocating for Minnesota's hospitals and health systems, focusing on sustainability, workforce challenges and community health. He previously served as the MHA's chief medical officer.

It’s a tough moment in the job market right now.

Layoffs are happening across industries, and for recent graduates just starting out, getting a foot in the door can feel harder than ever.

If you’re not out of work, you likely know someone who is — a friend, a partner or a family member.

For a lot of us, work is tied to our sense of purpose, identity and even self-worth. So, a job loss can ripple beyond the loss of a paycheck.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about what unemployment can do to our mental health — and how people are coping.

Guests:

• Connie Wanberg is a professor and a leading researcher on unemployment and job search behavior at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
• Eli Blase is a therapist who owns Blase Therapy Solutions, a private practice based in south Minneapolis.

Repa Mekha saw slim opportunities for himself and his peers growing up as a young Black man in Milwaukee.

He ended up in prison, where he started college and embarked on his life’s work of figuring out what it takes to create more paths forward for Black Americans and other groups left out of mainstream economies.

He worked with homeless teens in the Twin Cities and got a master’s degree from Harvard University. He also founded a nonprofit that promotes cooperatively-owned businesses and distributes “wealth-building” grants to people who are descendants of the transatlantic slave trade.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Repa Mekha about his life and vision for building wealth and wellbeing for Black Minnesotans.

Technology is changing how we work, how businesses operate and how decisions get made — from artificial intelligence to cybersecurity and automation. 

And it’s happening quickly. 

Some leaders in the state’s tech sector say Minnesota has the opportunity to lead — by bringing companies together, developing talent and thinking carefully about how technologies like AI are built and used. 

MPR News guest host Chris Farrell talks with some of those leaders about the opportunities, the concerns and how Minnesota is preparing people for a changing workforce.

Guests:

• Joel Crandall is the president and CEO of the Minnesota Technology Association.  
• Elizabeth Adams is the founder and chief engagement officer of the Minnesota Responsible AI Institute.  

What makes tree sap start running in late winter? And how do you tap a tree without harming it?

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the science behind maple syrup, how climate change is affecting the sap season in Minnesota and what trees may better withstand climate change. 

Guests:

• Laura Irish-Hanson is an extension educator at the University of Minnesota.
• Brandon Miller is an assistant professor of horticulture and curator of Plant Collections at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

The weight of the world is increasingly showing up in therapy these days — from fears of the war with Iran to worries about the job market to anxiety about immigration enforcement.

And, the counselors themselves are also feeling the strain.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two mental health professionals about how therapists are coping with stress and burnout, and how all of us can take care of ourselves in difficult times.

Guests:

• Darcie Davis-Gage is director of the Minnesota Center for Rural Behavioral Health at Minnesota State University Mankato, which provides mental health counseling in southern and central Minnesota and clinical training for students. She is a licensed mental health counselor and previously worked as a clinician and educator in Iowa.
• Nancy Rocha is a licensed clinical social worker and clinical manager at Canopy Mental Health & Consulting with locations in Northeast Minneapolis and Richfield, Minn. She sees clients and provides oversight and support to the clinical team.  

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The wage gap facing women in Minnesota has barely budged in more than a decade. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two nonprofit leaders about how they think mentorship can help close it.

Guests:

• Ethelind Kaba is the executive director of the Ann Bancroft Foundation, a nonprofit that works to empower girls to achieve their highest potential and dreams. 
• Gloria Perez is the president and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. She is a former president and CEO for the Jeremiah Program, a nonprofit that aims to end poverty for single mothers and children. And she was the executive director of Casa de Esperanza – now Esperanza United – where she mobilized Latinas to end domestic violence.