The Sunday Take

This past week Blois Olson took on his annual visit to Farm Fest where the important issues of Agriculture, Trade and even Higher Education were taken on first talking Ag with Congresswoman Rep. Angie Craig and Brad Finstad. We then talk trade with Luke Lindberg, USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agriculture, Randy Spronk, Immediate Past Chair of the U.S. Meat Export Federation, Chad Will...

One of the constant revolving doors in Minnesota right now that does not seem to have a lot of clarity is the current situation with cannabis in the state of Minnesota - Blois sits down with Interim Office of Cannabis Management Director Eric Taubel at a forum earlier this week discussing where we sit, what is working or not working - or to use the metaphor “blooming and not blooming”, what is the...

A couple big stories from this past week in Minnesota politics were the announcement of Senator Eric Pratt seeking sitting Congresswoman Angie Craig’s seat and also the addition of security for Minnesota lawmakers following the horrific murder of Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, as well as the attempted murder of Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette - plus late Saturday ne...

It was a busy week as usual in Minnesota politics and nationally, including the verdict on Senator Nicole Mitchell who was found guilty on both counts and what that looks like from the state’s outlook and we are now left once again in a tie! Then Blois chats with Scott Jensen, who this week announced he would be running it back in a rematch with Governor Tim Walz - what has driven him back to this...

This past Friday, for the first time in history, the NYSE bell was rung here in Minnesota at the Medtronic headquarters. We had the chance to hear from Corie Barry, CEO of Best Buy as well as Geoff Martha, CEO with Medtronic! So today we place the focus on Minnesota’s businesses and give ourselves a chance to refresh and a chance to move forward in this current economic environment and really look...

There is still a ton to unpack with the “Big Beautiful Bill”, Blois lays out just a few pieces of this bill of which we do know with plenty still to come as it overall is a 900 page bill - Representative Tom Emmer joins Blois to discuss some of the specifics of the bill such as the effect it has on Medicaid and the short term effects on the deficit going forward as Tom has been in the center of th...

In the aftermath of Saturday’s funeral for the former Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and Mark Hortman, we reflect on the path forward as we heal but also remember the contributions of Melissa to this state and the groundwork she laid. Then we chatted with Sen. Scott Dibble on the 10 year anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling for legalization of Same-Sex Marriage, the current culture of how memb...

As we in Minnesota are still reeling from the events of last weekend we look ahead to what is next for the Minnesota legislature. Today, Blois chats with Representative Dave Baker and Minnesota state auditor Julie Blaha about the path ahead, things to look ahead to with the special session behind us, some of the humanity that people do not see between the many colleagues around him and more! and w...

A detailed 20-page complaint filed by federal prosecutors reveals chilling details about the actions by Vance Boelter, the suspect in targeted, political shootings that left former Minnesota Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark dead, and State Senator John Hoffman and his wife seriously injured. Here's reaction from local hosts on WCCO in Minneapolis, plus commentary on our ov...

Yesterday was the darkest day in Minnesota history where we lost Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and reflecting on Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette as they recover from an assassination attempt. Blois shares his thoughts as we replay last Sunday’s conversation with Speaker Hortman as they discuss being cordial with each other amid the tensions in the special session. Then...

Now that we are hours away from meeting, Blois brought on the four leaders to join in on discussion for today’s Sunday Take ahead of Monday’s special session. We begin with Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman and Rep. Lisa Demuth and then transition to Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson and Majority Leader Erin Murphy to discuss several topics including the process that brought them to this point, imm...

Another Sunday, another week closer to the final deadline to a deal in the legislature on the budget and the clock is ticking - Blois breaks down some of the uncertainty amid this chaos at the Capitol. Fatima Moore of SotaCann joins Blois to talk about the state government putting a surprise tax on cannabis before business overall is up and running due to the disarray of the implementation of the...

This Sunday marks five years since the events involving George Floyd had taken place and so much has changed while much has also stayed the same. Blois sits down with Nekima Levy Armstrong, Activist and Attorney and Andy Mannix with the Minnesota Star Tribune to discuss and reflect on social justice, where Minneapolis is at today, the state of the Minneapolis Police Department and what should or n...

It indeed is the final countdown or so we hope for the oh-so eventful Minnesota legislative session where there hopes to be a resolution on the budget as Monday is the “deadline” of May 19th but we will need more time - we chatted with Mary Lahammer political analyst with TPT Almanac. Then Blois gives us his take on the importance and impact of open meetings and transparency in politics - and all...

Time is winding down towards the deadline about a week and change left until the May 19th deadline! Blois invited Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R) on today to talk about the current session, his experience being on the boat with Governor Walz for the fishing opening weekend and also Senator Judy Seeberger (D) joins as we try to engage on what some of the main points of what needs to be done...

We are winding down on the legislative session and this week, Blois chatted with Kirk Schneidewind, MN Assoc. of School Boards and Scott Croonquist, Association of Metropolitan School Districts on what school districts need statewide from the legislature this session and the overall need of students from this legislature as we are just a couple weeks away from the deadline for the budget and this...

Today we reflect on fifteen years of The Morning Take and Blois invites on Tom Hauser of 5 Eyewitness News and occasionally WCCO Radio to talk about their time since 2010 in working with the confines of covering politics in media and the ever changing landscape during this stretch. We also dive into this past week’s State of the State and other Tim Walz discussion and much more! Finally, this week...

After the legislature has taken the week off for Passover and Easter - we look ahead to a few of the bullet points including the deadline approaching on May 19th (in reality June 30th). Then Blois sits down with DFL Chair Richard Carlbom chatting about his beginnings, getting Minnesota to a more balanced state politically, conflict and trust within the DFL and whether Governor Tim Walz will run fo...

This week the state legislature has the Easter-Passover week break so we discuss some of the things you would want to know or need answers on from the state as the legislative deadline approaches ultimately on June 30th - outside of the budget, what are the other key topics that need to be taken care of this session? We discuss this and much more with Senator Nick Frentz (DFL) and Representative D...

It was a busy week nationally with the tariffs creating global economic chaos and the locally Minnesota legislature so far seems to be getting along. Then, Blois chatted with Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan on what she hopes to bring to the Minnesota Senate, some issues commonly heard around the state of Minnesota, building trust with people of Minnesota, the permitting system in Minnesota, rural econ...

We can expect a lot to roll out over the next week and Blois gives the latest on a student at the University of Minnesota who was detained by ICE officials and an upcoming special election in Senate District 6. Then, it was announced this past week that former DFL leader Melisa Lopez Franzen will vie for the soon to be vacated seat come 2026 that Sen. Tina Smith currently holds. She joins Blois to...

Another very busy week in politics as per usual - Blois discussed the latest developments in the Sen. Justin Eichorn case and Minnesota's struggles with senatorial seats. We had the chance to talk to John McCormick of the Wall Street Journal, asked him about the resurgent Minnesota Governor Tim Walz amid his townhall tour of the midwest, how Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a lot o...

Today, Blois offers up your input as far as reflecting on what we learned from the pandemic five years later. We briefly discussed the Tim Walz townhall tours and also chatted with Peter Callaghan who announced Friday after serving the Minnesota political media market as a state government reporter for 10+ years and he joins us to reflect on Minnesota, his time at MinnPost, the future of media,wha...

It has been a busy week in politics as always from the Feeding our Future case continuing on, to the continuation of tariffs being on, off and on again, etc. Blois touches on that, discusses tariffs, Agriculture, Department of Education and more with Representative Brad Finstad and he gives his take on the federal chaos and disruptions taking place!

This morning we chatted with Sen. Jordan Rasmusson about forecasting the state budget forecast set to be released Thursday, federal funding and the HHS spending. Also, Blois gives his take for this Sunday including some of the specifics of this upcoming release and addresses some of the “finger pointing” in Minnesota politics. That and much more with the Sunday Take.