MPR News with Angela Davis

Craig Leipold may be one of downtown St. Paul’s biggest boosters.

He’s the owner of the Minnesota Wild, and his company manages the venues that bring two million people downtown every year for games, concerts and other events: the Grand Casino Arena, the Saint Paul RiverCentre and Roy Wilkins Auditorium.

This year, he expanded his sports franchises to include a new women’s volleyball team that he hopes will attract even more fans to downtown. And he just became majority owner of the historic St. Paul Hotel, the century-old hotel overlooking Rice Park where he stays on the top floor when he isn’t home in Racine, Wis.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Leipold about his career, the business of sports, being a dad of five sons and what’s ahead for downtown St. Paul.

Summer is a great time to get lost in a good story, discover a new author, or tackle that book on your nightstand. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two booksellers about their recommendations and what Minnesotans are reading.

Many people underestimate how much they spend on subscriptions and memberships.

Consumers think they spend around $90 a month, according to one survey. But when asked to actually add up those recurring fees, the average came to $220 a month — more than twice as much.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the rise of the subscription economy, why recurring fees have become so common and how consumers can get a better handle on what they’re paying for.

Guests:

• Demitri McGee is a financial coach, certified housing counselor and youth director at Build Wealth Minnesota, a nonprofit opportunity center dedicated to helping families through financial education, personalized coaching and community-based programs.
• Akshay Rao is a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the General Mills chair at the Carlson School of Management.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

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

From missing a father to mourning a changed relationship or grieving the dad you never had, Father’s Day isn't joyful for everyone.

On Thursday, MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the complicated emotions the day can bring and strategies for coping.

Each minute after someone’s heart stops is a countdown towards death — nine in 10 people die if they experience a cardiac arrest outside a hospital.

Dave Ogle beat the odds. The Woodbury man’s heart stopped seven years ago while he was at home watching TV. His wife Kris Patrow was able to perform CPR until paramedics arrived. And then he was rushed to one of the few hospitals in the world that was pioneering new techniques that could restore blood flow to his lifeless body.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Ogle and Patrow about his recovery, and with a cardiologist about the importance of CPR and why Minnesota has some of the best cardiac arrest survival rates in the country.  

Commencement speeches are meant to mark an ending and a beginning. And the best ones offer wisdom that lasts beyond graduation day.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with three Minnesotans who were commencement speakers this year about the messages they shared with graduates and what the rest of us can learn from them.

Guests:

• Myles Frueh earned his associate’s degree from Alexandria Technical and Community College in May and was a student speaker at the school’s 2026 commencement ceremony. He double-majored in business management and sales marketing, was vice president of the student senate and was a campus tour guide. He also serves as a vice president for Collegiate DECA, an international nonprofit that prepares high school and college students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.
• Maria Reeve is the executive director of culture and careers at The Minnesota Star Tribune. Prior to her current role, she was a managing editor for the newsroom. Before that, she was the executive editor for the Houston Chronicle. And she was a reporter and editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press for 19 years. She delivered the 2026 commencement address for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
• Della Schall Young is the CEO and principal hydrologist of Young Environmental Consulting Group, a Minnesota-based environmental consulting firm specializing in water resources, stormwater management, and environmental planning. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences at the University of Minnesota and was invited back this year to give the undergraduate commencement address.

Minnesota's student population has grown significantly more diverse over the past few decades. Today, nearly 40 percent of the state's K-12 students identify as students of color.

But, according to the Minnesota Department of Education, just 7 percent of the state’s teachers identify as teachers of color.

The gap is even wider for Black educators. While Black students make up about 12 percent of Minnesota's student population, Black teachers account for just 1.4 percent of the state's teaching workforce. And Black men make up only 0.5 percent of all K-12 teachers in the state.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with leaders of Black Men Teach, a Twin Cities organization that’s working to recruit, prepare and support Black male elementary school teachers in Minnesota.

Guests:

•  Markus Flynn is the CEO of Black Men Teach, a nonprofit committed to increasing the number of Black male elementary school educators in the Twin Cities. He used to teach fifth and sixth grade science at Prodeo Academy in Minneapolis.
• Devon Minke teaches third grade at North Park School for Innovation in Columbia Heights.
• Keondre Lewis teaches second grade at North Park School for Innovation in Columbia Heights.

In the year since the assassination of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, concerns about political violence have continued to grow. MPR News guest host Catharine Richert and her guests talk about what fuels political violence and how to prevent it.

Guests:

• Nealin Parker is the executive director of Common Ground USA, which is part of Search for Common Ground a global peace building organization.
• Kathryn Pearson is a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota. She is also an associate dean of undergraduate education and the director of the University Honors Program.
• Dr. Garen Wintemute is a professor of emergency medicine and director of the Centers for Violence Prevention at the University of California, Davis.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

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

Summer in Minnesota means more time outdoors — and more encounters with ticks and mosquitoes.

While most bites are little more than an annoyance, these tiny pests can carry diseases that pose serious health risks.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two experts about the risks posed by ticks and mosquitoes, and what Minnesotans can do to protect themselves, their families, and their pets while enjoying the outdoors this summer.

Guests:

• Elizabeth Schiffman is the epidemiologist supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Health. She oversees disease surveillance activities for mosquito- and tick-borne diseases across Minnesota.
• Caleb Corona is a research entomologist and vector control scientist for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

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

This past Saturday marked five months since Renee Good was shot and killed on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

The federal officer was one of about 4,000 immigration and border enforcement agents sent to Minnesota during the immigration crackdown the White House called “Operation Metro Surge.”

The focus was to deport — in the words of President Donald Trump — the “really bad criminals.”

By the time the surge wound down weeks later, several thousand people had been detained. Many were deported. Most had no criminal record. Many more immigrants stopped going to school and work, and hid at home for weeks. In response, thousands of Minnesotans organized to support people in hiding, document ICE activity and protest the immigration raids.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the leaders of two organizations on the front lines about their experiences during the federal enforcement surge, what immigration enforcement looks like now and what comes next.

Guests:

• Francisco Segovia is a founder and executive director of Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción Latina (COPAL), which was started in 2018 to organize grassroots support to improve the lives of Latino families in Minnesota. In 2024, COPAL launched the Immigrant Defense Network, a coalition of more than 100 immigrant, labor, legal, faith and community organizations to respond quickly to immigration enforcement actions in Minnesota.
• Michelle Garnett McKenzie is the executive director of The Advocates for Human Rights, a nonprofit that provides free legal services to immigrants, documents human rights abuses and advocates for human rights. She joined the organization in 1999 as an attorney representing asylum seekers and detained immigrants. She also serves on the steering committee of the Immigrant Defense Network.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

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