Wedge LIVE!

Minneapolis Caucus Night 2025 is in the books and if anyone is qualified to draw premature conclusions, it's the Wedge LIVE news team. Taylor Dahlin and Jason Garcia are in studio. Josh Martin is here via his landline telephone. Which city candidates have the edge heading into DFL convention season? Who needs a little help? Does Ward 8 candidate Josh Bassais really drive a Mustang with the van...

A conversation with three founders of a group called "Seniors for All." After becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way they were being represented by the Minneapolis DFL Senior Caucus, they decided to do something about it. They organized for change. This grew into a movement that swept new leadership into power. Along the way, they were falsely accused of infiltrating the Senior Caucus. Th...

A conversation with Paula Chesley, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 7. https://www.paulaforward7.org/ You can participate in the Minneapolis DFL caucuses on April 8, 2025. For more info: https://minneapolisdfl.org/ Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song b...

For years Mark Lanterman has been a go-to expert on tech-based crimes and scams, both on local news and in courtrooms. Now people are asking, was Minnesota's king of digital forensics sitting on a throne of lies? In an exclusive interview, I spoke with Wisconsin-based lawyer Sean Harrington, who's turned up a trove of evidence calling into question Lanterman's credentials and affiliati...

Bill Lindeke says there is no trash emergency in St Paul. Pay no attention to Mayor Carter's declaration of a state of emergency. We talk about disagreement over the future of a piece of land that Mayor Carter and the city's trash hauler say must be used for a garbage truck staging facility. We talk about why the council sided with neighbors who say the city should stick with the plan to designate...

A conversation with Lydia Millard, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 10. https://lydiamillardward10.com/ You can participate in the Minneapolis DFL caucuses on April 8, 2025. For more info: https://minneapolisdfl.org/ Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song...

A conversation with Aisha Chughtai, Vice President of the Minneapolis City Council, who's running for reelection in Ward 10. https://www.aishaforward10.com/ You can participate in the Minneapolis DFL caucuses on April 8, 2025. For more info: https://minneapolisdfl.org/ Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon....

A conversation with Soren Stevenson, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 8. https://sorenstevenson.org/ You can participate in the Minneapolis DFL caucuses on April 8, 2025. For more info: https://minneapolisdfl.org/ Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by...

A conversation with Josh Bassais, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 8. https://www.joshbforward8.org/ You can participate in the Minneapolis DFL caucuses on April 8, 2025. For more info: https://minneapolisdfl.org/ Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme son...

Elliott Payne reflects on his first two years as President of the Minneapolis City Council. We talk about the stakes of this year's city election; the recent surge of corporate money and PACs trying to influence the results; an assessment of the city's public safety situation; and why he both loves and hates being the man in the middle of all those complicated personal relationships on the...

Amity Foster is here to talk about her effort to organize transit fans to show up on 4/8/2025 for the Minneapolis DFL caucuses and become delegates to DFL ward and city nominating conventions. She wants you to use this golden opportunity to make the case for better transit and a more livable city. Candidates for city council and mayor will be knocking on your door and calling you on the phone, rea...

Mary Moriarty joins John for a conversation reflecting on her first two years as Hennepin County Attorney. We talk about navigating politics as an elected prosecutor; her approach to a recent spate of reckless driving and vehicular homicide cases; how to fix the problem of extremely low rates of police solving certain crimes; her occasionally strained relationship with Chief O'Hara; how we went fr...

Caucus season is almost upon us. It's your chance to become a superlobbyist and wield influence with local candidates on behalf of the issues you care about. Josh Martin joins John to talk about why you need to get involved and why there's no reason to feel intimidated by the process. We're talking about the story of the unsuspecting flower shop owner who says she had little interest in politics f...

The Minneapolis government restructuring of 2021 was sold as a solution to our city's biggest problems. The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce (yes, that's right the campaign to change the charter was 100% funded by the Chamber) said said we had to rid ourselves of the 14 bosses holding us back and creating internal confusion at city hall. Council Member Jeremiah Ellison's career spans both the four...

My conversation with a man who attended the 2025 North Loop Neighborhood Association annual meeting. This episode may contain the sounds of opening a swag bag. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

My conversation with Sen. John Marty (Roseville) about an effort in the state legislature to legalize sports gambling apps: the recent failure to pass the bill out of committee and what that means for its prospects in 2025; why anyone who's lived through the last 15 years of smartphones and social media would think it's a good idea to set tech companies free to unleash 24/7 pocket casinos; the ext...

My conversation with Ethrophic Burnett, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 5 on the Northside. Ethrophic's campaign site: https://www.eforward5.com/ Star Tribune article discussed in this episode: https://www.startribune.com/poor-families-path-to-american-dream-leads-to-suburbs/386364021 Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live...

Harrowing Personal Story: Up until last week, Deborah was the author of a popular local substack called "Deborah Copperud Shops at Target." Then her whole world got turned upside down. The Target corporation surrendered to Donald Trump's whims and dropped their diversity initiatives. We talk about Deborah's attempt to vote with her family's dollars, whether you should ever buy into the PR-driven g...

After four years representing Ward 11 on the Minneapolis City Council, Emily Koski is running for mayor. Why has this formerly Frey-endorsed council member decided to oppose him? Koski argues she hasn't changed, she just got an up close look at all the ways the Frey isn't up to the job. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Support the show...

Mayor Frey's administration has a plan to add "vibrancy" to Nicollet Mall by adding additional programming and events, but that means removing the buses. The longtime transit mall would transition to a full time pedestrian mall. Bus riders Amity Foster and Taylor Dahlin join John for a conversation about whether this is a good idea; why buses aren't the problem; why you should be...

Celisia Stanton is the Minneapolis-based host of a podcast called Truer Crime (season 2 out now). We talk about how she came to podcasting, her unique approach to the true crime genre, and how her experience as a crime victim informs her perspective. We also talk about how mutual friend PeggySue Imihy brought us together. From truercrimepodcast.com: "Do you ever listen to a true crime podcast and...

It was a few days before Christmas and Kyle Jones was trying to report an Amazon delivery driver for the dual infraction of parking in a bike lane and blocking a bus stop. But as Kyle was attempting to report this using the Minneapolis 311 app, the driver of a Mercedes pulled up and all hell broke loose. Do you have a harrowing personal story you'd like to tell on the Wedge LIVE podcast? Email you...

We're talking property taxes with Steve Brandt, who is running for reelection to the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation. We talk about what's behind this year's large property tax increase and how declining commercial property values are shifting the burden to residential taxpayers. Steve suggests a small income tax on the city's highest earners and a geographic expansion of the downtown e...

There's a special primary election coming up on January 14th, which will effectively decide which DFL candidate fills the open seat in Minnesota Senate District 60. I'll be speaking with several of the top candidates for the podcast. This episode features Peter Wagenius (https://www.peterwagenius.org). Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live...

There's a special primary election coming up on January 14th, which will effectively decide which DFL candidate fills the open seat in Minnesota Senate District 60. I'll be speaking with several of the top candidates for the podcast. This episode features Doron Clark (https://www.doronforsenate.org). Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live Su...