Minnesota Now

Emergency medical services might get their own state agency. The DFL proposal passed the House, and supporters say it will address problems with rural EMS response. However, fifty representatives voted no, including a volunteer EMT. We’ll get the Mother’s Day forecast from our chief meteorologist and an update on tornado season. After being abused in Catholic school, she became a nun. 70 years later, she shared her wisdom with senior contributor Chris Farrell. And you might have heard about the young Twins fan whose signed ball was stolen from him at a game. We’ll hear the happy ending in this week’s Thank You, Stranger.

Sam Cleveland and his son Camden are big Twins fans. They moved to Maryland awhile ago, but they still catch Twins games as often as they can. The pair were at a game a couple of weeks ago when Byron Buxton signed a ball for Camden. But before he could even have it, someone grabbed it from the usher and ran away. His story went viral, and the Twins came back and gave Camden much more than a signed baseball. Thank You, Stranger is our series about unexpected kindness in our lives.

We've had some back-and-forth between rain and shine these past few days, but at least the flowers are blooming. Lots of Minnesotans will be hoping the weekend will stay dry for the fishing opener and for Mother’s Day. MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to tell us what we can expect for the rest of the week.

Sister Mary Bernadette Newton joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1953. The order, founded in France around 1650, came to the U.S. in 1836. The order spread to several communities in the U.S., and four sisters arrived in St. Paul in 1851. The nuns are called to social justice and, according to the Orders website, they serve as educators, nurses, administrators, artists, musicians and poets, cooks and gardeners, spiritual directors and social activists. In our series Connect the Dots, we’re asking community elders to share their wisdom and lessons learned about what really matters in life. MPR’s senior economics contributor Chris Farrell recently met with Sister Bernadette.

The state of Minnesota could get a new office to regulate ambulance and other emergency medical services. That’s if the state Senate and Governor agree on a DFL proposal that passed the state House on Tuesday. Supporters of the bill say it will help address a range of problems that are plaguing EMS, especially in rural areas of the state. An audit of the existing board that regulates these services found the state needs to plug holes in staffing, funding and oversight to make sure Minnesotans can count on getting emergency help when they call for it. Republican Representative Jeff Backer is a volunteer EMT and a member of a task force dedicated to resolving these issues. He voted against the bill, saying it ties up too much money in government bureaucracy instead of funding services. “We heard on the house floor today, we need an agency because we can trust them. We could probably spend four, five hours on listing all the agencies that have not been good stewards of taxpayers’ money,” said Rep. Backer. A separate bipartisan proposal would help fund rural EMS services. Joining MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the bill that passed the House Monday was its lead author, DFL Representative John Huot of Rosemount, who also is a former EMT.

A DFL plan designed to boost pay for rideshare drivers in Minnesota without driving away Uber and Lyft got its first public airing Tuesday at the Capitol. While drivers applauded the bill, Uber and Lyft said it still won’t work for them. The plan would set both Minneapolis and statewide wages for drivers at $1.27 per mile and $0.49 per minute. Those rates are lower than those approved as part of a new Minneapolis city ordinance. City officials, though, backed the proposed compromise, and a Minnesota House committee advanced the proposal with members voting along party lines. Even as the plan moved forward, officials with Uber and Lyft said the companies still expect to leave the Twin Cities region on July 1. The disagreement leaves about two weeks before the Legislature’s adjournment to refine the proposal or see if Uber and Lyft follow through with threats to leave the Twin Cities.

In the basements of homes around the country are old pinball machines, relics of a pastime that is seeing a resurgence. Winona Area Learning Center teacher Matthew Wagner was thinking about all of those old, maybe broken down, pinball machines when he started a new club for his students. It’s called the Pinhawk Club and its members restore broken pinball machines to working order. They plan to auction off their first fully-restored machine Saturday for funds to keep the club going. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with Wagner along with a student member of the Pinhawks club, high school junior Corey Duncan.

A bill that aims to better compensate Uber and Lyft drivers is moving through the state legislature, although the companies say the plan doesn’t work for them. A state senate ethics committee will hear ethics complaints against two sitting senators. A new high school club in Winona is fixing old pinball machines. Get ready for some fun! Plus, we heard from a group that is pushing to convert a stretch of I-94 into a thoroughfare street. They say it will be better for the Twin Cities’ health, economy and environment.

In a public hearing Tuesday afternoon, a Minnesota Senate ethics committee planned to weigh complaints against two sitting senators, including one who was arrested for felony burglary last month, State Senator Nicole Mitchell. MPR politics reporter Dana Ferguson joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer before the hearing to explain.

Representatives from the state and Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils sent a letter to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) Tuesday morning asking it to incorporate recommendations to deconstruct a part of I-94. The request was led by OurStreets, an alternative transportation advocacy group. They put out a report last month detailing a proposal to make a seven-and-a-half mile portion of I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul a thoroughfare boulevard with more room for parks, houses and businesses. Alex Burns is leading the charge with OurStreets. He joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to explain the proposal.

A change to Minnesota’s constitution is heading for a House floor vote. It’s the Equal Rights Amendment and it would include some of the most expansive protections of abortion and LGBTQ+ rights in the nation. We get the details on the proposal. We’re checking in with a roundtable of Gen Z voters about this year’s presidential election — how college protests and top issues like abortion are influencing their votes. And shopping malls have a significant footprint around the state, but many are emptying out of visitors and stores. Another model could fill up these spaces again. We learn about the growing role of cultural malls in Minnesota.

Over the past couple weeks, protests at universities here in Minnesota and around the country have dominated headlines. Students who are involved want their institutions to cut financial ties to Israel or meet other demands related to bringing an end to the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Both candidates for President have spoken out about the protests. President Joe Biden said in remarks that he values free speech but said "dissent must never lead to disorder." Former President Donald Trump praised the police response in New York. For more on the political importance of the protests and other top issues, MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer turned to two young voters who follow politics closely. Maddie Christensen is a former leader of the College Democrats chapter at Hamline University in St. Paul. And Ruth Hailey is president of the College Republicans at St. Olaf in Northfield.

As you probably know, Minnesota was home to the first indoor shopping mall and is now a retail hub in the United States. But as shopping malls and big box stores shutter, Minnesota is now paving the way for a new type of mall, cultural malls. Last week the developer of Asia Mall in Eden Prairie announced plans for Asia Village in Northtown Mall in Blaine. The Sears in St. Paul has plans to be an Asian community hub, there will soon be an Asian-themed food hall in Burnsville Center, and a strip mall in Brooklyn Center will become a space for African immigrant entrepreneurs. Michael Bui is a developer of Asia Mall and Asia Village. Bruce Nustad is the president of the Minnesota Retailers Association. Both joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to explain this new trend of cultural malls.

Minneapolis band Red Thread joined the Minnesota Now arts takeover to celebrate their recent album release. The album is called Immigrantke, which means “female immigrant” in Yiddish. The songs are a mix of originals and traditional, sung in English, Serbian and Yiddish. MPR News arts editor Max Sparber reviewed the band’s album and invited them into the studio to perform songs live for the show. Red Thread is made up of Sarah Larsson on banjo and lead vocals, Erika Lantz providing harmony vocals, Pat O’Keefe on clarinet and Dex Wolfe on guitar. Red Thread will perform Saturday, May 4 at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis as part of a celebration of a Serbian sculptor. The event begins at 7 p.m.

It’s a special episode of Minnesota Now — the MPR News Arts team is taking over with a full hour of arts coverage. They took a look at the story of a set of theater seats the arts team purchased at the beginning of the year, and the rabbit hole it sent them down to track the seats’ decades-long journey. Senior arts reporter and critic Alex V. Cipolle took a trip down to Winona with her latest installment of Art Friend, as she examined old landscape paintings in a new way. Minnesota band Red Thread stopped by with some insights into what inspires their performance of folk music and original songs. The band also performed a few of their latest songs. Celebrity Chef Katie Chin, daughter of restaurateur Leeann Chin joined the show to talk about growing up in Minnesota and the play she wrote about her mom.

In this “What’s for Lunch?” segment, MPR News guest host Jacob Aloi talked to celebrity chef and food writer Katie Chin. Her mother is the founder of a favorite Midwest Chinese chain Leeann Chin. Katie Chin wrote and is performing a one-woman play about the restauranteur Leeann Chin’s life. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

The proposal seeks to create an elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission that could hire and fire officers, including the police chief. The commission would also investigate complaints against officers and publicly release the findings.

Here in Minnesota, we love our local music scene. With the release of Popsikal, we get 11 great local artists in one album: 26 Bats, Ariesfirebomb, Chad Atkin, d.notiv, Jane October, KKthainfamous, Maddie Lives, NatanYael, Scraps, shadingthesun and SYM1. SYM1 is featured on the album, but she’s also the president of producing label Freeze Pop Records. Popsikal will be its first album when it’s released on May 31. SYM1 joined MPR News guest host Nina Moini to preview the new album that has local music fanatics on the edge of their seats.

Minnesota is home to the largest Karen community in the country. Many are refugees from Burma, now called Myanmar, and cultural differences and language barriers make it exceptionally difficult to navigate the American health care system — which is complicated enough on its own. To bridge the gap for Karen immigrants and other groups, health care organizations hire professionals who come from the same communities they are helping to find health care and other services. M Health Fairview in the Twin Cities has six of these cultural brokers who represent the Hmong, Karen, African American, Native American and Latine communities. Lah Tha Pwee recently joined them as an additional cultural broker working with the Karen community. She is an immigrant from Thailand and joined MPR News guest host Nina Moini to talk about her role.

Police reform advocates in Minneapolis have collected more than 9,000 signatures in favor of setting up an all-elected accountability board. The existing board has had a rocky start. MPR News senior reporter Jon Collins joined with the details. We talked with someone who is guiding members of the growing Karen community through Minnesota’s healthcare system. The Minneapolis American Indian Center is reopening Wednesday. We spoke with a reporter live from the celebrations. A local hyperpop artist joined us to share details about an upcoming album that celebrates up-and-coming pop musicians in Minneapolis. And do you have any superstitions? MPR News senior producer Aleesa Kuznetsov solved the mystery of the Minnesota Twins’ lucky sausage.