Juneteenth has long been celebrated in Black communities to remember June 19, 1865, the day that enslaved African Americans in Texas learned they were free. 

After becoming a federal holiday in 2021, broader community celebrations began in cities around the country, including the Minnesota Orchestra’s annual Juneteenth concert tonight at Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis.

MPR News host Angela Davis talked with the guest conductor of the Juneteenth concert and one of its organizers about the contributions of Black American composers and how classical music is being shaped by Black American music traditions, including gospel, jazz and the blues.

Tickets to the 7 p.m. concert were still available as of Thursday morning. The concert will also stream live on YourClassical MPR with host Melissa Ousley.

Guests:   

• Jonathan Taylor Rush returns to guest conduct this year’s Juneteenth concert with the Minnesota Orchestra after conducting the concert in 2024. Now based in North Carolina, Taylor Rush was associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 2020 to 2023 and is in demand as a guest conductor around the world.  

• Grant Meachum is director of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Live at Orchestra Hall season, which includes the Juneteenth concert and more than twenty other special programs every year featuring film presentations, holiday celebrations and collaborations with popular artists.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

The last few days have been heavy in Minnesota. Many people are experiencing a collective sense of grief in the wake of the targeted fatal shootings of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband. MPR News host Kelly Gordon talks with her guests about the shared sadness, anger and anxiety — and how people can heal, together.

Guests:

• Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman is the senior rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis.  
• Fiyyaz Karim is co-director of graduate studies and a senior lecturer who teaches addiction counseling and integrated behavioral health at the University of Minnesota. 

Summer is starting, the days are getting warmer and if you’ve got a garden, it’s calling for your attention. 

Maybe you're growing tomatoes on the back deck or trying to fill your yard with vibrant flowers. Or maybe you’re just trying to stay one step ahead of those pesky weeds. 

Whatever your gardening goals, summer is the season when gardens can really shine — or struggle. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about what grows well in our region, how to time plantings, how to fix common garden problems and how to keep your soil — and your plants — in good shape all summer long.  

Guests:

• Catherine Grant is a horticulturalist who manages the greenhouses, medicinal garden and pollinator habitat for the Department of Biology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.  

•  Laura Irish-Hanson is a horticulture educator with the University of Minnesota Extension. She works primarily out of the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.  

  
  
  
  

  Here’s a list of resources that were discussed on the show:

• University of Minnesota Soil Testing laboratory
• University of Minnesota Extension

• “Hort Shorts” created by UMN Extension

  
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7GaPXLa0w&list=PLyMOSdo2sM9tCmiTBa19yapMRxPL-04Eb&index=4
  
  
  

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.   

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Rachel Hardeman and Simone Hardeman-Jones are identical twins who share more than DNA. They also share a commitment to addressing racial inequities.

Rachel Hardeman is a professor at the University of Minnesota whose research is used nationally to show how racism affects health. Her work illuminates the disparities between the experiences of Black mothers during pregnancy and childbirth and their white peers. This year, she was named one of TIME’s 2024 most influential people in the world.

Simone Hardeman-Jones has spent most of her career in education policy, including four years at the federal level working in former President Barack Obama’s administration. Now she heads GreenLight Fund Twin Cities, which is changing how philanthropy can better listen to communities to identify unsolved problems and introduce solutions.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the two sisters about their work and how they support each other as part of our MPR News Power Pairs series.

Do you know a Power Pair?

We’d love to hear your ideas for Power Pairs to interview in 2025. We’re talking with prominent Minnesotans who you may know of separately but who reveal something new when we sit them down together. Maybe they’re married or siblings or best friends. They could be business partners or a parent/adult child dynamic duo.

Check out previous previous Power Pair conversations.

And, send us your suggestions for Power Pairs.

Guests:

• Rachel R. Hardeman is a professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. She is also the Blue Cross endowed professor of health and racial equity and the founding director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity. She serves on an advisory committee to the director of the Centers for Disease Control.

• Simone Hardeman-Jones became the founding executive director of GreenLight Fund Twin Cities in 2020. Her previous work focused on education policy. She was a national director of policy and partnerships at the nonprofit Educators for Excellence and served as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education in the Obama administration. Simone also worked as a policy advisor to two U.S. senators, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

  
  

 Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Children of color and children on the autism spectrum are less likely to know how to swim than their peers. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about efforts to bring water safety and swim lessons to communities most at risk.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … unless you’re running late, the roads are icy and someone races past you and then cuts you off.

According to a Pew Research Center study, about half of Americans say people in their area are driving more dangerously than before the pandemic.

And aggressive driving is one of the leading causes of traffic deaths in Minnesota.

As more of us tense up and hit the roads over the next few weeks, MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how badly some people are driving and the angry responses of other drivers.

Guests:

• Mike Hanson is the director of the Office of Traffic Safety for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
• Ryan Martin is the dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he is also a psychology professor who researches and writes about anger.

If you see unsafe driving on state highways that does not need immediate attention, you can report it to the State Patrol: Report unsafe driving | Minnesota Department of Public Safety

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Have you fallen for a scam? A lot of people have become victims. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with her guests about latest examples, how anyone could fall for them and how to protect yourself.

Age discrimination remains a serious barrier to employment.

But creativity can flourish with age. And experienced workers and late-in-life entrepreneurs are often more productive.

MPR News host Chris Farrell and his guests talk about the value of older workers and how to find purpose later in your career and in retirement.

Guests:

• Richard Leider is an executive life coach and founder of Inventure — The Purpose Company. He is also a best-selling author who has written twelve books, including the fourth edition of “The Power of Purpose,” which will be published in January. 
• Janine Vanderburg is the CEO of Encore Roadmap, which champions the benefits of older workers and intergenerational teams to businesses and brands. She is also the co-founder of Changing the Narrative, a national anti-ageism initiative.

During the conversation, Vanderburg mentioned this resource about tackling internalized ageism.

More than a third of people over the age of 50 feel lonely. And nearly as many feel isolated. MPR News guest host Chris Farrell and his guests talk about how to connect the disconnected.

MPR News host Chris Farrell talks with his guests about what we can do to address the frustrations many Americans feel about the health insurance industry. 

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how to strengthen trust in public health amid a surge of misinformation.

Mariah Levison and Rob Fersh help people find consensus on how to solve divisive issues, ranging from prison reform to what art should hang in the Minnesota Capitol. Learn how they do it in this MPR News Talking Sense conversation hosted by MPR News correspondent Catharine Richert.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the authors of an illustrated children’s book aimed at helping families have conversations about generational trauma.

Minnesota has the highest rate of people working remotely in the Midwest, according to the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. More than a third of workers in the state worked at home at least part time in 2023.

But now, five years after the pandemic, the great experiment of remote work is shaking out. More employers are calling workers back to the office. On Monday, tens of thousands of state employees who had been working remotely are required to return to work in person at least 50 percent of the time, complying with a return-to-office order from Gov. Tim Walz.

Some private companies, such as 3M and Medtronic, also are dialing back their work-from-home policies and President Donald Trump has sought to end remote work for federal workers.

MPR News host Angela Davis discusses what we’ve learned about remote work — when it works and when it doesn’t — and what its future might be.

Guests:

• Chris Farrell is a senior economics contributor for MPR News and Marketplace.  
• Colleen Flaherty Manchester is a professor and faculty director of the Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies in the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She studies flexible work and other benefits and programs offered by employers. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.   

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Newcomers to America — be they immigrants, refugees or even international students — have access to a variety of social services to help them begin a new life.

But do they feel like they belong?

That was the topic of discussion at the North Star Journey Live conversation recorded in Moorhead, Minn., on Nov. 21. MPR News senior reporter Sarah Thamer traveled to Concordia College for the international student potluck to talk with people who are dedicated to making the Fargo-Moorhead area welcoming.

The founder of the Fargo Moorhead International Potluck shared how food can be used as a bridge to cross cultures. Community leaders who work with the growing immigrant population in northwest Minnesota agreed that simple things like being able to find spices to replicate food from home goes a long way to making newcomers feel seen.

A trio of international students studying at Concordia also shared their experiences and offered advice on how to cultivate belonging amidst diversity. Pro tip: Don’t be afraid of discomfort. It’s a necessary part of the process.

Guests:

• Peter Schott is the founder of the Fargo-Moorhead International Potluck.
• Fowzia Adde is the executive director of the Immigrant Development Center in Moorhead.
• Zoë Absey is a board member at the New American Consortium for the Fargo-Moorhead region.
• Siam Shimul, Timea Vrabcova and Alecious Togbah are international students studying at Concordia College.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the first African American president of St. Catherine University about her commitment to empowering women and helping first-generation college students navigate higher education.

Author Richard Flanagan recently completed a remarkable literary double: already a Booker Prize winner for his novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” he just won this year’s prestigious Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction for his latest book “Question 7.”

It’s an audacious memoir, lyrical examination of the interconnections of history and family. He considers how a famed author’s illicit kiss with a woman who was not his wife may have led to the creation of the atomic bomb, and then in turn resulted in Flanagan’s own birth.

The Baillie Gifford Prizes chief judge described the book as “an intricately woven exploration of the chains of consequence that frame a life.”

Speaking recently from his home in Hobart, Tasmania, Flanagan told MPR News senior editor Euan Kerr the book arose from the disconnection of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

MPR News host Angela Davis revisits a conversation with two gastroenterologists about how our digestive system can impact our physical and mental health.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about our favorite cookies — from ginger drops to cranberry swirls and almond palmiers — with the founders of the Minnesota Star Tribune cookie contest.

Guests:

• Lee Svitak Dean was the longtime food editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune, which has won multiple James Beard Awards, an Emmy, and national recognition for “Best Food Section.” She is the author of “Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus” and co-author with Rick Nelson of “The Great Minnesota Cookie Book” and “The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book.”
• Rick Nelson was the longtime restaurant critic and food writer at the Minnesota Star Tribune. He is a James Beard Award winner and his writing has been included in four editions of the annual Best Food Writing anthology, which highlights the finest American food journalism. He’s the co-author with Lee Svitak Dean of “The Great Minnesota Cookie Book” and “The Ultimate Minnesota Cookie Book.”

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two University of Minnesota fruit breeders who helped bring some of your favorite apples to market.

For many people, Fred Child is the voice of classical music. Since 2000, he has hosted APM’s Performance Today, the most-listened-to classical music show in the country. Last month, Fred announced he will step down in October 2025 after 25 years with the program.

MPR News guest host Chris Farrell talks with Child as he heads into his final season about the beauty and breadth of classical music, how it taps into our emotions and why it needs to shed its “stuffiness” to reach younger and more diverse audiences.

Guest:

• Fred Child is the host of Performance Today. He was also the commentator and announcer for “Live from Lincoln Center” on PBS. He has hosted many other live national broadcasts, including significant events from New York, Los Angeles, London, Boston and the Aspen Music Festival.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a business ethicist who says instead of asking, “What is the meaning of life?” we should ask, “What is the meaning of work?”

The Pohlad family announced last month that they were looking to sell the Minnesota Twins after owning the team for 40 years.

Well, for almost that long, the Pohlads also have had a private family foundation. It gives away millions of dollars every year to nonprofit organizations around the Twin Cities.

In recent years the foundation has focused on two priorities — giving money to ease the housing crisis and address racial inequality. One of the foundation’s goals is to increase the number of Black homeowners.

Coming up at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the president of the Pohlad Family Foundation, Susan Bass Roberts, about how and where the Pohlads give away their money and about her own career in corporate and community philanthropy,

We want to hear from you, too.

What questions do you have about the Pohlad Family Foundation or about how foundations give away their money?

Call us during the 9 a.m. hour at 651-227-6000 or 800-242-2828.

Guest:

• Susan Bass Roberts was named president of the Pohlad Family Foundation in 2024, after joining the foundation in 2016 and serving as its vice president and executive director. She previously served as executive director of the Best Buy Foundation, vice president of communications and community relations for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and director of community affairs and philanthropy for Limited Brands, Inc.

Sometimes when we talk about money, we are really talking about feeling accepted, valued, heard and seen. MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the uncomfortable intersection of money and feelings.

Guests:

•  Reema Khrais is the host of the Marketplace podcast, This is Uncomfortable, a show about the unanticipated ways money shapes our relationships, identities and the choices we make.   
• Chris Farrell is senior economics contributor at Minnesota Public Radio and Marketplace, American Public Media's nationally syndicated public radio business and economic programs. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.      

Like most school districts in Minnesota, St. Paul Public Schools is facing a complicated set of challenges.

Enrollment is up a bit this year, but the small increase follows years of decline. The district faces a budget shortfall, has already made deep cuts and plans to ask voters this fall to approve a tax increase to support schools.  

At the same time, student performance is stuck where it was before the pandemic and proposals from President Donald Trump and from Republicans in Congress would reduce support for public education.   

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the challenges facing public education with St. Paul’s new superintendent, Stacie Stanley.  

Guest:

• Stacie Stanley is the superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, the second largest school district in Minnesota. Prior to joining the district in May, she served three years as the superintendent of Edina Public Schools, as associate superintendent in Eden Prairie Schools and on the leadership team in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District. She’s been a classroom teacher, curriculum math specialist and a principal. She graduated from St. Paul’s Central High School.

What are the benefits of having a friend who’s much older than you ... or a buddy who is much younger than you? MPR News hosts Angela Davis and her guests to talk about the value of intergenerational friendships and how to build them.

Did the election leave you feeling numb? Or maybe you’re hopeful, relieved, angry or feeling something else entirely. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two therapists about our complicated postelection emotions.

The election is over, but rumors, lies and misinformation are here to stay. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the role misinformation played in the election and how we can protect ourselves from it.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about men and how they voted in the 2024 presidential election.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the results of the 2024 election.

Join MPR News host Angela Davis as she talks with political analysts about the 2024 election results.

Are you feeling anxious about the election? You’re not alone.  

Seven in 10 adults said the election was a significant source of stress in their lives, according to an annual survey by the American Psychological Association.

Many voters are feeling a sense of unease and foreboding as we move into the final hours of a presidential election that both candidates have described as a vote on the future of the nation.

The news has been full of stories about election anxiety. Religious groups, college campuses and workplace mental health providers are offering strategies and spaces for people to cope with the uncertainty.

MPR News host Angela Davis talked with guests and listeners about why election anxiety is so pervasive and how to make plans for managing the stress and protecting your mental health as the votes are counted.

Guests:

• Catherine Squires is professor emerita of communication studies and served as associate dean of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Recently she was the senior fellow in residence at the African American Leadership Forum in the Twin Cities. She is a writer and yoga practitioner who uses movement and storytelling to support healing change.   
• Michelle Sherman is a clinical psychologist in private practice. She is board certified in couple and family psychology and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association. She was a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School and also worked with military families through VA Health Care. She has published resources for teenagers and adults with family members living with a mental illness or history of trauma.   

 Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.    

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.     

Gen Z does a good job taking sick days, unlike their older coworkers. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about how the mix of generations in today’s workforce is redefining how we work.

We dare you to listen to the MPR News Arts team’s second annual Halloween special about . . . monsters!

Otherworldly creatures like the Yōkai of Japan, the bigfoots of North American forests, and even Cookie Monster and Count Chocula span all cultures and periods. We explore how monsters reflect the societies and times they are created in. And how they can represent mischief, merriment and self-expression as well as fears, anxieties and historical traumas.

Guests:

• Peter Harle teaches at the University of Minnesota and is an advisor in the art history department. He’s currently teaching “Witches, Ghosts and Evil Clowns: Figures of Fear in Art, Folklore and Popular Culture.” The course explores “figures of fear” across history, art, religion, popular culture and social media.
• The Roe Family Singers is a Minnesota band that plays bluegrass, country and rock. They perform every Monday night at the 331 Club in Minneapolis.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how each of us can learn to recognize signs of depression and be a resource for people struggling with thoughts of ending their own life.

Last week, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a multitrillion dollar bill that advances President Donald Trump’s agenda for his second term.

One issue that will be debated as it moves to the Senate is the bill’s significant changes to Medicaid.  

Medicaid is the public insurance program that covers most health care and long-term care for 83 million low-income and disabled people in the U.S. 

In Minnesota, about a quarter of the population is on the state’s Medicaid program, which is known as Medical Assistance. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a physician and a health policy researcher about what the proposed changes to Medicaid could mean for Minnesotans.  

 Guests:

• Lynn Blewett is a professor of health policy in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. She is also the director of the State Health Access Data Assistance Center, a health policy research center with a focus on state policy. 

• Dr. Tyler Winkelman is a primary care physician and researcher who directs the division of general internal medicine at Hennepin Healthcare. He is also the co-director of the Health, Homelessness, and Criminal Justice Lab. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. 

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guest talk about how domestic violence can happen to anyone at any time and is preventable and treatable. 

Do you have a book in you? MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a book agent and the founder of a small publishing company about changes in the publishing industry and what it takes to get your story in print.

For immigrants to America, so much is new. New culture, new language, new systems, new opportunities.

The learning curve is steep. But eventually, someone pushes through to a new level and becomes the first in their community to achieve a goal. Maybe they become the first in their family to graduate from college, or the first to start a small business. Maybe they are the first to purchase farmland or the first to publish a book that integrates their culture into the American story.

On Oct. 17, MPR News’ North Star Journey Live partnered with Sahan Journal to host a conversation about firsts. What do these trailblazers from immigrant communities have in common? What are the unique rewards and challenges that come with being the first to embark on a new journey?

The celebration was hosted by MPR News’ Nina Moini, who herself is the first American journalist in her immigrant family, and Sahan Journal digital producer Alberto Gomez.

Panelists included Chenue Her, the first Hmong man to become a TV news anchor; Rodrigo Cala, who is the first in his family to buy a farm in the U.S.; Michael Vang, one of the first Hmong soccer players to play professionally in the U.S.; Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, the first person under age 26 to win a seat in the Minnesota Senate; Remona Htoo, one of the first Karen children’s book authors in the U.S.; and Abenezer Merdassa, an Ethiopian-American comic who found his way into the stand-up world thanks to procrastinating his finals.

Plant-based diets are growing more popular. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the founder of the “Vegan Sexy Cool” podcast and a professor of nutrition about the benefits and challenges of going vegan.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about why fewer Americans spend time with neighbors, why these ties matter and how to make connections with the people who live nearby.

Dream. Ignite. Grow. Those three words drive the mission of Project Success — a Minneapolis nonprofit founded 30 years ago. 

The program helps students connect to a purpose, discover who they are and find out what they want from life after high school.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the founder and leader of Project Success about how they create opportunities for young people to have experiences that build skills and confidence.

According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, young adult men are more likely to be neither employed, in school or in workforce training.

On Thursday, MPR News host Chris Farrell spoke with a masculinity researcher about why some young men don’t have a sense of purpose and say they feel isolated and stuck.  

Guests:  

• Kevin Roy is a professor of family science in the school of public health at the University of Maryland. He is also the co-author of “Nurturing Dads: Social Initiatives for Contemporary Fatherhood.” 

Imagine getting a phone call that changes your life. A phone call that says: “You have breast cancer.” 

One in eight women in the U.S. will get that call at some point. The median age at diagnosis is 62.

But breast cancer diagnoses are on the rise for women under 40. And a cancer diagnosis in your 20s or 30s is typically more aggressive. It’s more likely to come back. You’re more likely to die.

MPR News with Angela Davis revisits a conversation she had earlier this year about breast cancer. The conversation covers the medical discoveries that have made breast cancer increasingly survivable, the mysteries that continue to make it the second-leading cause of cancer death in women and the challenges that come with survivorship.

Guests:

• Laura Gutierrez is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 2021. She lives in Blaine. 

• Melissa Sherman is a medical oncologist and hematologist with Health Partners. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

There aren’t many jobs for people who play viola, let alone top viola jobs. 

The Twin Cities is rare for having two professional orchestras with viola sections. That’s what makes it possible for Maiya Papach and Rebecca Albers to chase their music dreams and create a life together in Minnesota. 

Maiya Papach is principal violist of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. 

Rebecca Albers is the principal violist of the Minnesota Orchestra.  

Coming up at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the latest couple in her Power Pairs series about how to gracefully play a supporting role in music and in marriage.

Leah Lemm, a citizen of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, explores the history and significance of manoomin, or wild rice, a food sacred to her people.

Leah has spent her career making radio, making music and helping tell stories. She’s a mom and spouse who lives in the north woods of Minnesota.

Leah practices her culture in many ways. She’s been slowly learning Ojibwemowin, the Ojibwe language. She helps share Native stories in her work as an MPR News editor who leads our Native News team. She stays active and attends community events. And every couple of years she harvests maple sap for syrup.

But aside from cooking her famous Ojibwe fried rice, Leah didn’t feel connected to the significance of manoomin — a sacred plant revered for its sustenance and deep connection to Indigenous identity and heritage. So, she set out with a film crew to connect with her cultural roots through the tradition of wild rice harvesting.

Join her on her journey as she shares moments from the film, “Finding Manoomin: A Search for the Spirit of Wild Rice.”

This month we’ve seen many special events marking five years since the murder of George Floyd.  

He died on Memorial Day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for more than 9 minutes during an arrest.  

What followed was chaos and many uncomfortable conversations about race. 

In 2021, MPR launched a podcast called Early Risers to help parents talk to kids about race.

It was created in partnership with Little Moments Count, which is a collaborative of organizations working to improve interactions between parents and their children. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the original host of the Early Risers podcast, Dianne Haulcy, and the current host, Andre Dukes.  

She asked them how it’s going, and if we have made progress in engaging children in conversations about race.

Guests:

• Dianne Haulcy hosted Early Risers until 2024. She is now the assistant commissioner of early childhood at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families. 
• Andre Dukes is the current host of Early Risers. He has spent the last decade of his career focused on child development and academic success in north Minneapolis. He is also the vice president of Family and Community Impact at Northside Achievement Zone, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit. 

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS. 

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.      

Recent reports point to a robust economy. But polls continue to show the economy is one of the top issues driving voters’ decisions about their presidential pick.  

Despite good news about wage growth and a lower unemployment rate, many voters are deeply concerned about inflation and how to bring down the cost of living.  

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the signs that point to a solid economy, why voters don’t feel better about it and how the presidential candidates plan to address inflation.

Guests:

• Chris Farrell is MPR’s senior economics contributor.
• Timothy Taylor is an economist and managing editor of the “Journal of Economic Perspectives,” a quarterly academic journal produced at Macalester College and published by the American Economic Association. 

 Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS. 

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.  

MPR News host Angela Davis revisits highlights from recent Wednesday health and wellness conversations.

In a nod to Halloween, she’ll talk with guests about our skeleton. Bone health is important across a lifetime. Learn what kinds of exercise and nutrition can help keep your bones healthy from your teen years to old age.

Plus, she talks with experts about how vaping and nicotine pouches may be contributing to greater nicotine addiction in teens.

Younger adults want news in new, more accessible ways. 

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about Reverb — an MPR reporting team focused on serving younger Minnesotans.

Reverb delivers news content that centers younger adults’ perspectives, answers their questions, celebrates them and explores how they’re impacted by issues in a changing world. And it’s all accessible where they are — on mobile, online and on social media.