Up North Report

Plus: the Minnesota Legislature fails to get its job done before the session's end; Minnesota Power hosts open houses on proposed transmission line; and May is Maternal Mental Health Month.

Plus: North Memorial Health will continue to be the ambulance service provider in the Walker area after a meeting of the newly-formed special taxing authority; Minnesota's Office of Broadband Development announces it can no longer honor $12 million in grants to local governments and small businesses after federal funding cuts; and the Minnesota DNR is accepting comment on an environmental assessment worksheet to restore habitat on the St. Louis River.

As three large wildfires burn in St. Louis County, Leanne Langeberg of the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center provides insight into the work firefighters have been doing.

And: Plans advance for fraud restitution fund in Minnesota; and Highway 73 pavement resurfacing in Chisholm starts Monday.

Plus: State officials say proposed cuts to the federal energy assistance program will disproportionately affect Northern Minnesotan families and ratepayers; residents of an unorganized St. Louis County township voted to incorporate as a new town; and construction on Highway 87 in Hubbard County begins May 19, 2025.

Plus: the state Commission on Judicial Selection has put forward three candidates to fill the bench vacated by the upcoming retirement of an Aitkin County judge; and the Beltrami County Historical Society will present "Women of Law and Order" for a special panel discussion on May 15, 2025.

Plus: MnDOT to host meeting on 2027 plans for Highway 371 between Nisswa and Pequot Lakes; and Pequot Lakes Patriotics are state champions in robotics.

And: A Pine River-Backus senior died in a car crash near Crosslake; two large wildfires are burning in the Arrowhead; and Gov. Tim Walz visits Crosslake for Fishing Opener.

Fishing is a $4 billion industry in the state of Minnesota. With a good crop of minnows this spring after last year's shortage, Northern Minnesotans in the bait industry share their views and concerns with KAXE's Larissa Donovan.

And: Itasca County's early childhood program Early EDge is cutting classrooms; and a U.S. House panel scraps Boundary Waters protection from mining.