Minnesota Now

Minneapolis may soon have a new police chief. The city council is deciding Thursday whether to appoint department veteran Bill Peterson. And Todd County, Minnesota is the epicenter of a large measles outbreak. We talked to a doctor on the frontlines. A pilot program is training YMCA after-school staff to support children’s mental health. We heard more about the challenges the program hopes to addr...

A measles outbreak has sent cases soaring in central Minnesota this fall, particularly in Todd County, which has 85 percent of the cases in the state. As of new data out Thursday, that number has climbed to 136 cases in the county since mid-September. It's the biggest measles outbreak the state has seen since 1990. Lakewood Health System in Staples has been on the frontlines of the outbreak. Dr. C...

Some grown-ups will have a chance for science fair nostalgia Thursday evening in St. Paul. Dual Citizen Brewing Company is hosting an adult science fair. The event is also a fundraiser for Starbase Minnesota, a program that educates 5th graders in the Twin Cities and Duluth about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. It’s the brainchild of Dual Citizen events manager Caitlin Searls, who spoke...

Minnesota DFL lawmakers plan to bring back the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA, during the next legislative session, which starts in January. The bill would ask voters to amend the state constitution to seal protections for race, sex and gender identity among others. Democrats have introduced the ERA dozens of times at the state legislature. It came close to passing in 2024 when the party held a sl...

When the school day ends, some students go to after-school programs. But if a student has a hard day, after-school staff aren’t always equipped with the tools to respond. To help address that, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health is partnering with the YMCA of the North to pilot a program that trains non-clinical, after-school educators in mental health support. Minnesota Now host N...

An ICE detention facility three hours west of the Twin Cities is open. MPR News went to Appleton, where the new center is located, and heard from an immigration lawyer about they are preparing to represent clients. On Veteran's Day, we learned about a unique program that helps military medics attend medical school at the University of Minnesota. Plus, a new fellowship will help Dakota youth preser...

A documentary out this week follows the experience of Native American basketball players at the University of Minnesota Morris. Director Leya Hale joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about the film, which is called Medicine Ball.

A new fellowship set to begin next year will provide six Dakota youth ages 18-24 with the opportunity to research and tell stories of their communities' history in the Winona area. The program comes from the Winona County History Center in partnership with Prairie Island Indian Community and Lower Sioux Indian Community. The goal for the fellows is to answer the questions: What do I want Winona to...

Growing up in New Prague, Lauren Kitner was interested in science. After high school, she joined the Minnesota National Guard as a medic. “It seemed really interesting to be able to learn how to take care of patients in more resource-limited environments,” she said, adding that working alongside physicians as a medic “solidified” her interest in a medical degree. Now in her first year of medical s...

The first detainees have arrived at a new western Minnesota immigration detention center. Observers and lawyers say the center in Appleton, Minnesota opened earlier this week. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has not added the facility to its public list of detention centers or responded to requests for comment. MPR News immigration reporter Estelle Timar-Wilcox went to Appleton Tuesday and jo...

A Minneapolis woman is suing the federal government for alleged assault, battery and false imprisonment, nearly 10 months after ICE agents dragged her from her car. Reporter Jon Collins joined the program with details on the lawsuit filed Tuesday morning. Jobs like police officer, paramedic and firefighter come with a higher risk of mental health crises. A Minnesota group is working to respond whe...

A woman who was dragged out of her car and detained by federal agents in January has filed a lawsuit against the federal government for violating her constitutional rights. In the lawsuit, Aliya Rahman is alleging assault, battery, false arrest and imprisonment. MPR News reporter Jon Collins shared the story with MPR News host Nina Moini.

New Ulm in southern Minnesota is known as the polka capital of the nation. The history of polka in Minnesota stretches back more than a century to the Polish, Czech and German immigrants who brought with them the music and dance they loved. Generations later, the tradition is still alive but there are concerns it could fade away. Pete Mrozinski is a board member of the Midwest Polka Association an...

In the southern Minnesota town of Mapleton, childcare provider Brooke Garvey is nearly a year into a new job. She runs a daycare out of a house purchased by the local government. Garvey had wanted to open an in-home daycare, but her old farmhouse outside of town didn't meet the requirements. She couldn't afford to make the necessary upgrades, so the city-owned house gave her another option. She wa...

First responders and veterans are at a significantly higher risk for suicide, due to the trauma they face on the job. And in the last two weeks, a local mental health organization shared that three current or former first responders have died by suicide in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. The Invisible Wounds Project works to support those on the front lines and intervene in crisis. Founder and ex...

U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will light up Monday night with the Vikings playing the Buffalo Bills. This could be a turning point for Minnesota: either they return to their early-season winning pattern or lose their second game in a row. Starting quarterback Kyler Murray is out with an injury. The Timberwolves are on a winning streak, winning four in a row. And they now are playing eights game...

Stephen Miller has taken the helm as President Donald Trump's chief of staff. We'll hear more from a reporter about his role shaping the administration's aggressive immigration agenda and his push against supposed fraud among Somali Minnesotans. From Stephen Miller to midterm candidates, we'll dig deeper into how anti-Somali rhetoric is animating politics and showed up in campaigns leading up to l...

Democrats scored major victories across the country in Tuesday's midterm elections, flipping seats that had been held by Republicans for decades. They won control of both the U.S. House and Senate, picked up governorships and made significant gains in state legislatures. So how big was this wave, and what might history tell us about what comes next after a wave like this? Andrew Karch is a profess...

Monday is Stephen Miller's first day as the White House chief of staff. He was tapped for the role by President Trump shortly after Democrats swept the midterm election. He's been one of Trump's closest advisers for years, and a driving force behind the administration's hard-line anti-immigration policies. A new report from The Washington Sun shows how Miller pushed federal officials to focus spec...

Republicans in Minnesota and beyond echoed President Donald Trump in fixating on Somali Minnesotans ahead of the midterms. Governor candidate Lisa Demuth and U.S. Senate candidate Michelle Tafoya made "Somali gangs" a key campaign issue. Ads supporting Tafoya also denounced quote "Somali fraudsters" and attacked Democrat and Gov.-elect Amy Klobuchar for speaking a few words in Somali to a crowd. V...

Minnesota Now’s series called “Thank You, Stranger” explores the small acts of kindness that make a big impact. Kyrra Rankine’s morning started off like any other — then she found out her car had been towed. It was a classic bad day, the kind that any of us could have. But the kindness she encountered in the aftermath only comes along once in a while. Minnesota Now producer Aleesa Kuznetsov spoke...

A southern Minnesota congressional race is too close to call. Democrat Jake Johnson has around 300 votes more than Republican incumbent Brad Finstad. That likely means it’s headed for a recount. We talked to the Secretary of State about how the recount process works. With a new ICE detention facility opening in Minnesota soon, lawyers and immigrant advocates are gathering to discuss detention and...

On Saturday, some 200 middle and high school-aged girls and gender-expansive youth from across Minnesota will come together for the third annual “Girlhood Summit.” It’s a day-long event organized by the Ann Bancroft Foundation. And young people will get the chance to learn about everything from personal finance to managing stress and bringing their ideas to life. We heard more about the summit fro...

Minnesotans know that the state has been through a lot over the past six years. The COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, fraud scandals, the Annunciation Catholic School shooting, the killings of Melissa and Mark Hortman and Operation Metro Surge. It’s kept the state under a microscope — and affected each of us in very different ways. A new report from the mental health advocacy group NA...

The most recent data from the Deportation Data Project shows more than 2,300 non-citizens who were arrested in Minnesota during the federal immigration enforcement operation this winter were deported or left the country. Immigration lawyers and advocates are still working with people who have been deported or are in ICE custody — navigating the complex legal system that comes with it. That’s the f...