North Star Stories

This week, we hear how residents and tribal leaders are responding to a proposed copper-nickel mine in Central Minnesota. And how the mining industry addresses concerns about water quality, tribal nations' sovereignty, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

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Executive Producer: Victor Palomino

Producers: Maija Hecht

Anchor: Victor Palomino, Britt Aamodt

Reader scripting: Xan Holston, Tracie Wells Collier, Victor Palomino

Fact checking: Victor Palomino, Joel Glaser 

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Production Coordinator: Britt Aamodt

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
Image: Not far from the Boundary Waters, another copper-nickel mining project is gaining traction. [Image credit: Talon Metals]

Audio: brief excerpt of "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot

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Farmington celebrates Vikings, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities face tough financial decisions, and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe holds an intertribal community feast.

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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston, Emily Krumberger

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image: Nett Lake Community dishes up for a traditional meal provided by Chef Yazzie (2020, KBFT Radio)
Audio credit: WTIP, October 14th, 2026 Minnesota State Board of Trustees Meeting, and “Viking Hord
in D” by roemergruft (freesound.org)
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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

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instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Irreplaceable Dakota language archives are safe after a fire, St. Paul public schools announce possible staff cuts, and a shipwreck emerges in Lake Superior.
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image:  A map of Lake Superior, circa 1680 [Image credit: n/a (public domain)]
Audio credit: contains a snippet of Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Two Chippewa nations’ Minneapolis offices burn, feds raid Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s D.C. home, and 50 years of central Minnesota symphonies.
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image: Today is White Cane Awareness Day at the state Capitol. [image credit: State Services for the Blind]
Audio credit: Fawn Youngbear-Tibbetts; Heartland Symphony’s Fall 2026 concert (https://www.heartlandsymphony.com/videos)

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Faith leaders speak out against Trump’s anti-Somali American statements, and scarecrows infest Waconia.
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image: Waconia has scarecrows, but Oz it’s not. [image credit: A W. W. Denslow illustration from L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz,” 1900. Public Domain Image Archive / Library of Congress]
Audio credit: Public News Service; contains a clip of Warner Bros. “The Wizard of Oz”

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Esta semana, la nueva ley de nudificación está bloqueada temporalmente, Minneapolis celebra la Semana de las Empresas Latinas y un barco embrujado atraca en Duluth.
This week, the new nudification law is temporarily blocked, Minneapolis celebrates Latino Business Week, and a haunted ship moors in Duluth.
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Productor/Producer: Victor Palomino
Voiceover/Voiceover: Natalia Toledo y Rito Ayala
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Pie de foto: Una placa dedicada a William A. Irvin en el Duluth Haunted Ship [Crédito fotográfico: duluthhauntedship.com]
Image: A marker for William A. Irvin at the Duluth Haunted Ship [image credit: duluthhauntedship.com]

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Allegations against the Cass Couty Sheriff, charges for vandalism in an Albert Lea high school, and Drunk History for a ball of twine
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

 Image caption: A ball of twine in Darwin, Minnesota, that once held the record for world's largest. [image credit: August Schwerdfeger, licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Audio credit: The Biggest Ball of Twine (w/ Patton Oswalt) - Drunk History: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afXtQ6ghzsA&t=619s
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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

This year, Minnesota's lawmakers passed new legislation governing their use and allowing state-chartered banks and credit unions to offer cryptocurrency custody services. This week, we look at what cryptocurrency is, and what the new rules mean for customers and financial institutions. Then, we meet a group of students working to fill a gap in youth financial education.

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Executive Producer: Victor Palomino

Producers: Jose Ozoria

Anchor: Victor Palomino

Reader scripting: Victor Palomino, Xan Holston: Fact checking: Joel Glaser, Tracie Collier

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Production Coordinator: Britt Aamodt

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
Image: Bitcoin ATM in a mall allows to buy and sell Bitcoin crypto. Orange BTC cryptocurrency exchange machine [image credit: Adobe Stock, by salarko]

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

Somali parents and community leaders speak up on recent violence, Latino Business Week is in full swing, and Duluth’s The West Theatre looks to pack the house.
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image:  Duluth’s The West Theatre [image credit: The West Theatre]
Audio credit: World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qCSUEpZ3ug) 

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund

More on measles, metro law enforcement responds to overnight shootings, and Stillwater smashes pumpkins.
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Executive Producer: Tracie Wells Collier

Producer: Xan Holston

Reader scripting: Tracie Wells Collier, Xan Holston 

Image:  A giant warty pumpkin [image credit: VasenkaPhotography, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]

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For the latest episode drops and updates, follow us on social media. 

instagram.com/ampersradio/

instagram.com/northstarstoriesmn/

Never miss a beat. Sign up for our email list to receive news, updates and content releases from AMPERS. ampers.org/about-ampers/staytuned/ 

This show is made possible by community support. Due to cuts in federal funding, the community radio you love is at risk. Your support is needed now more than ever. Donate now to power the community programs you love: ampers.org/fund