Last month the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would remove its warning on hormone-based products used to treat menopause symptoms.  

As women age, most will experience changes linked to the stop of their monthly menses, including hot flashes, bone density loss and sleep problems. But in the past two decades a strong “black-box warning” has scared many women off from seeking relief in hormone creams, patches, pills and other treatments.

The warning was added following a landmark study that linked hormone therapy to an increased risk for cancer and cardiovascular problems. Now the FDA says the risks were overblown for most women.

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks about the FDA’s change, the risks and benefits of hormone therapy and what women should consider as they decide whether to try it.

Guest:

• Dr. Jissy Cyriac is a primary care physician trained in internal medicine. She sees patients at the Menopause and Women's Sexual Health Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and is also a certified practitioner through The Menopause Society.  

A federal vaccine advisory committee recently voted to end the decades-old recommendation that all U.S. newborns get a hepatitis B vaccine dose at birth. 

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted that only infants born to mothers who test positive for hepatitis B — or whose infection status is unknown — are recommended to get that first dose immediately. 

The vote could result in new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is a dramatic shift from the CDC’s current policy, which was adopted in 1991 and is credited with reducing childhood hepatitis B infections by more than 95 percent. 

MPR News guest host Chris Farrell talks with a pediatrician and an infectious disease researcher about what the new recommendation means for families, hospitals and communities in Minnesota that are disproportionately affected by the liver infection.

Guests:

• Dr. Leslie King-Schultz is a pediatrician at Hennepin Healthcare where she co-chairs their vaccine committee.
• Angela Ulrich is a researcher and infectious disease epidemiologist with the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. She was one of the lead authors on the Vaccine Integrity Project’s recent report about the safety and effectiveness of the hepatitis B vaccination at birth. 

For much of the last century, a steady career often meant staying with one company for decades. But that idea started to fade in the ‘80s and ‘90s as layoffs and restructuring made long-term loyalty feel less secure. By the 2000s, job hopping became the norm and often led to better pay and benefits.

But today, something new is happening. Alongside job hopping, we’re seeing a rise in job hugging — people staying put, even when they’d rather move, because the job market feels uncertain.

MPR News guest host Chris Farrell talks about shifting hiring trends, when it’s smart to switch jobs, when it’s best to stay and what it all means for our careers and workplaces.

Guests:

• Alan Benson is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management where he researches hiring, promotions and employment.
• Mark Sorenson-Wagner is the director of career development at the University of St. Thomas.

Food has the power to comfort us, connect us to our roots and preserve our culture.

When coming to a new country, immigrants leave much behind. But one thing many people carry with them to start life in a new place are their family’s recipes.

MPR News guest host Kelly Gordon talks with a cookbook author and a chef from Mexico about the dishes and stories that tie us to the people — and places — we’re from.

Guests:

• Lee Svitak Dean was the longtime food editor at The Minnesota Star Tribune. She's co-author of “Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes from Home.” She is also author of “Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus” and co-author of “The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book.”
• Gustavo Romero is co-owner with his wife Kate of Nixta, a tortilleria in northeast Minneapolis where they make tortillas using traditional methods and heirloom corn. They expanded next door to open the restaurant, Oro by Nixta, which was a finalist for a James Beard award and named one of the 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024 by Bon Appetit.  

President Donald Trump has escalated rhetoric about Minnesota’s Somali community in recent weeks. And according to reports from The New York Times and the Associated Press, the Trump administration now plans to target hundreds of Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the Twin Cities.

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks about what we know so far, what remains unclear and the impact it’s all having on the Somali community in Minnesota.

Guests:

• State Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL-Minneapolis) has represented south Minneapolis since 2023. She is the first Somali woman elected to the Minnesota Senate. She is also the youngest member in Minnesota Senate history. 
• Tatiana Padilla is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation at the University of Minnesota where she researches how immigration enforcement affects communities.
• Steve Thal is an attorney practicing immigration law in Minnetonka.

The weekly radio show, The Splendid Table, turns 30 this year. For three decades, the program has helped home cooks feel more brave, curious and connected through the food we share. 

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert marks the anniversary by talking with Splendid Table host and James Beard Award-winning food writer Francis Lam. 

They’ll talk about food during the holiday season — how to take the stress out of holiday meals, how to be a thoughtful guest and how to get out of that “same-old recipe” rut.     

Guests:

• Francis Lam is the host of The Splendid Table, a radio program and podcast produced by American Public Media. He is an award-winning food writer with contributions to The New York Times Magazine, Bon Appetit and Gourmet. His work often explores how food connects us to culture, memory and community. 

On the first day of 2026, Minnesota will introduce a new benefit for most workers in the state.  

It’s a paid family and medical leave program that guarantees access to time off to bond with a new child, recuperate from a major medical issue or care for an ill family member. The program replaces a portion of someone’s wage for a leave that can span weeks.

Minnesota is the 13th state to go down this path, but its program is among the nation’s most ambitious. 

MPR News host and politics editor Brian Bakst talks with his guests about eligibility criteria, how people can tap into the program and what they and their employers need to keep in mind.

Guests:

• Dana Ferguson is a political reporter for MPR News.
• Greg Norfleet is the Paid Leave director for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, also known as DEED.
• Justin Terch is a consultant with Terch and Associates, a human resources consulting firm. He is also president of the Minnesota State Council of the Society of Human Resource Management and he serves on the board of Essentia Health, a Duluth-based health care system that operates mainly in rural areas in the upper Midwest. 

For more information about Minnesota’s Paid Leave program, visit: paidleave.mn.gov or call 844-556-0444 or 651-556-7777. The phone lines are staffed from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except holidays.

Earlier this year, South Korea’s government admitted that widespread corruption had tainted hundreds of thousands of adoptions from its country. Babies who were thought to be orphaned had living parents. Some children were trafficked. Paperwork was falsified. Records were destroyed.

Korean adoptees worldwide were left reeling, including here in Minnesota, home to the largest population of Korean adoptees in the U.S. Many had already wrestled with questions of identity and racial and cultural belonging. Now even the small bits of information they had about their past could no longer be trusted.

How are Korean adoptees who call Minnesota home responding to this foundational earthquake? Earlier this month, MPR News’ North Star Journey Live project hosted a gathering of adoptees who are deeply invested in the search for truth about their origin stories at Arbeiter Brewing in Minneapolis.

Moderated by Twin Cities PBS reporter Kaomi Lee, who is herself an adoptee, the panel shared their personal histories and how the work they do today is moving the narrative forward.

Guests:

• Kaomi Lee is a reporter at Twin Cities PBS. She is also the host of Adapted, one of the longest running Korean adoptee podcasts.
• Ami Nafzger has been working on behalf of Korean adoptees for decades as the founder of the Korean-based GOAL (Global Overseas Adoptees’ Link) and the newer Minnesota-based Adoptee Hub.
• Matt McNiff is the board president and director at Camp Choson, one of many Korean culture camps started in the Upper Midwest in response to the wave of adoptions from Korea.
• Cam Lee Small is a licensed clinical therapist who specializes in adoption literacy, working both here in the Twin Cities and online. He’s also the author of “The Adoptee’s Journey.”
• Mary Niedermeyer is the CEO of Communities Advancing Prosperity for Immigrants, also known as CAPI, a Minnesota-based nonprofit.

Correction (Dec. 2, 2025): An earlier version of this story had an incomplete title for CAPI. The story has been updated.

Find a resource guide to learn more about this topic at MPRnews.org.

Earlier this year, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde delivered a sermon that drew national attention as President Donald Trump returned to the White House. She spoke about unity, how people of faith respond in uncertain times, and she directly asked Trump to have mercy on immigrants, transgender children and people fleeing war zones. 

Her sermon — at that moment and in that setting — sparked conversations about how people decide what to stand for and how they respond when those choices are difficult. Those questions are at the heart of her latest book, “We Can Be Brave,” an adaptation for young readers of her bestseller, ”How We Learn to Be Brave.”

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks with Budde — and the theologian who helped adapt her book — about being brave in life’s hardest moments and how they define courage in personal and public life.  

Guests:

• Mariann Edgar Budde is the first woman elected spiritual leader for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington which includes the Washington National Cathedral, other congregations and Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties. Previously, Bishop Budde was a parish priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis for 18 years. She is the author of “How We Learn to Be Brave” and the adaption for young readers, “We Can Be Brave: How We Learn to be Brave in Life’s Decisive Moments.”
• Bryan Bliss is a writer, priest and theologian. He is chaplain and chair of the religion department at Breck School, a private school in Golden Valley, Minn. He helped adapt Bishop Budde’s book for young readers and he is the author of “We’ll Fly Away,” a novel based on his experience witnessing an execution as a member of the press.

At some point in our lives, many of us will struggle to afford groceries. A job loss, a medical crisis, a divorce, an unexpected expense — life happens. Yet shame often keeps us from seeking help at food shelves and through food assistance programs like SNAP.

MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks about food insecurity and the stigma that often surrounds it.

Guests:

• Karen Tolkkinen is a columnist for the Minnesota Star Tribune who writes about issues and people of greater Minnesota. She recently wrote a column about her experience turning to food assistance at two different points in her life.
• Susie West is a University of Minnesota Extension educator who manages and leads a program that helps make food shelves more dignified and inviting — places where families can choose food the way they would in a grocery store.

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