MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a brother and sister who are both award-winning storytellers. They talk about their work and how they support each other as part of our MPR News Power Pairs series.

Guests:

• Daniel Bergin is a filmmaker, executive producer and director of history at Twin Cities PBS, where he was hired more than 30 years ago as a production assistant. He has won more than 20 regional Emmy Awards for his films covering diverse topics rooted in Minnesota history, including “Jim Crow of the North,” “North Star: Minnesota’s Black Pioneers,” and “Out North: MNLGBTQ History.”
• Lea B. Olsen is a veteran TV analyst covering her 15th season with the Minnesota Lynx and is a sideline reporter for the Minnesota Timberwolves. She also covers both the boys’ and girls’ state high school basketball tournaments. Beyond the court, Lea is a professional speaker and the founder of Rethink the Win — a platform that challenges athletes, coaches and parents to see sports as a powerful tool for growth, connection and lifelong impact.

Check out Angela’s previous Power Pair conversations.

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More than 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Researchers continue to search for ways to prevent and treat it. And last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about the latest research and how to support people who live with dementia and their caregivers.

Guests:

• Dr. Dongming Cai is a professor of neurology and director of the Center for Memory Research and Care at the University of Minnesota.
• Jenna Fink is the associate director for community services at the Minnesota — North Dakota Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.

The Alzheimer’s Association’s 24/7 Helpline is 800-272-3900.

The association’s Minnesota-North Dakota chapter also provides local, no-cost education classes and support groups for people with dementia and their caregivers.

Dementia Friends Minnesota offers sessions to help people understand dementia and find out how to make communities dementia friendly.

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.    

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.    

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.

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. 

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.      

It was Memorial Day weekend, five years ago, when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Bystanders recorded the nine-plus minutes that Chauvin calmly kneeled on Floyd’s neck, as the Black man pleaded for help and air. That video rocketed from phone to phone, from media to media and sparked worldwide protests against police brutality.

But for the Black community in Minneapolis, Floyd’s murder was just a chapter in a much longer story.

Long before 2020, people had been organizing, creating and demanding change.

Certainly, in the immediate aftermath of Floyd’s death and Chauvin’s 2021 conviction, progress was made. Businesses and institutions promised to invest in racial equity, to develop new community practices, to reckon with systems of harm.

But in the neighborhood where Floyd lived and died, has that change taken root?

That was the question at the center of a North Star Journey Live event hosted by MPR News host Angela Davis earlier this month. On May 6, a cross section of Black community leaders came together at Pillsbury House Theatre to talk about real change, deep healing and defiant hope. The conversation was candid, often surprising and ultimately inspiring.

Panelists:

• Angela Harrelson, George Floyd’s aunt and registered nurse
• Anthony Taylor, community development lead for the Cultural Wellness Center and outdoor educator-activist
• Jeanelle Austin, founder of the Racial Agency Initiative and a board member for the George Floyd Global Memorial
• Jerome Richardson, cofounder of the youth-led Minnesota Teen Activists
• Signe Harriday, artistic producing director at Pillsbury House + Theatre and lead local organizer for the Million Artist Movement
• Tabitha Montgomery, executive director of the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association

Special guests:

• Junauda Petrus, creative activist and current poet laureate for Minneapolis
• Elder Atum Azzahir, founder and executive director of the Cultural Wellness Center

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