Rochester Today

Tim Penny, the President and CEO of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, joins Andy to talk about the upcoming FEAST Festival at the Mayo Civic Center and the other activities of the foundation. The former First District Congressman also chimed in a bit about this very unusual election cycle.

The Med-City Movie Guy, Chris Miksanic joins Andy and reviews a soon to be released documentary about the musicians behind the hit mellow rock songs of the mid and late 1970s. Chris also lists his favorite spooky movies for Halloween!

The list of topics and issues discussed by Tom and Andy today include a congressional investigation into Minnesota's "Feeding Our Future" scandal and the chair of the committee looking into it wants Governor Tim Walz to appear before the panel.

Tom and Andy talk about the back peddling that occurred after Governor Walz apparently discovered that his support for getting rid of the Electoral College ran counter to the official stance of the Harris presidential campaign.

Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson joins Andy and talks about a technology upgrade for the Sheriff's Office, how the Sheriff's Office contracts with smaller communities in the county to provide law enforcement services, and the conundrum facing the law enforcement and judicial systems when it comes to young children committing serious violent crimes.

Steve Lange from Rochester Magazine shares the complicated story of David Kunst, who 50 years ago, attracted international attention after he departed from Waseca and walked around the world.

Tom and Andy talk about the criticism being leveled against FEMA and the Biden administration for its response to the Hurricane Helene devastation, youth crime in the Twin Cities, and the Republican challenging Ilhahn Omar.

Tom and Andy discuss a rather scathing news article concerning Minnesota's Governor that was published by CNN and the listener chimes in about a Twin Cities-based group's decision to campaign on behalf of some candidates for Rochester City Council.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton discusses addressing housing and child care needs in the community using the local sales tax revenues that voters approved for "economic vitality." She also reminds citizens that the end of the month is the deadline for responding to the Rochester Vision 2050 initiative.

Mike Dougherty, a.k.a. MNDOT Mike, with love Minnesota Department of Transportation joins Andy to talk about the construction projects that are winding down or have been recently completed in southeastern Minnesota. Mike also shares what is already being done by MNDOT to keep our highways clear of snow and ice as the dreaded winter season rapidly approaches.