Minnesota Now

Boys volleyball is now an official high school sport. And the Twins are about to start their third game in a series against San Diego. We'll hear all the latest from sports guys, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Langfellow is the founder of “Minnesota Score” magazine and the cohost of the "10,000 Takes" sports talk show. Nelson is the other host of "10,000 Takes" and is also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio "Eye on Football.”

Some students will be able to attend public colleges and universities in Minnesota at no cost, under a bill which is on its way to the governor's desk to be signed. We'll get the details from one of our political reporters. And we'll hear from a student leader about how this change would affect his life. The leader behind the scenes of the long-running, statewide television show Almanac, is wrapping up a 40-year career. MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer has worked with Brendan Henehan for 30 of those years. We'll look back on all the stories he's covered and the lessons he's learned. Boys' volleyball is now an official high school sport. And the Twins are about to start their third game in a series against San Diego. We'll hear all the latest from sports guys Wally and Eric.

Brendan Henehan is the brains behind one of the longest-running public affairs shows in the country: “Almanac” on Twin Cities PBS. Very few people understand the immense amount of work it takes to put a live broadcast on the air — radio or TV. The people who do the work, the producers, are folks you never hear or see. Henehan has produced a live television program every week for 40 years. That's unheard of in this business. Gov. Tim Walz has declared Friday Brendan Henehan Day in the State of Minnesota because that night, after about 1,700 shows, Henehan — TPT's managing director of public affairs and Almanac's executive producer — is retiring. Before the show fades to black tomorrow night, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer — who also hosts “Almanac”— sat Henehan down for an exit interview. 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.

A bill is heading to Governor Walz's desk that would provide free tuition to public colleges and universities in Minnesota to students whose families earn less than $80,000 a year. The bill passed in a Senate vote yesterday, 34 to 30. To hear more about what the bill could mean for Minnesota students and their families, MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer talked with MPR News reporter Brian Bakst, and John Runningen, student president of Lead Minnesota.

Lawmakers from the Minnesota House and Senate are scheduled to meet Wednesday afternoon to resolve differences in another pair of big spending bills. Both measures increase funding for transportation across the state, but the chambers disagree on how much money to raise through a metro sales tax increase. Both bills would also create a new program to address safety concerns on buses and rail lines in the metro and allocate funding for a passenger train between Duluth and the Twin Cities. Sam Rockwell, Executive Director of the transportation advocacy group Move Minnesota, joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about the proposed investments in transit systems, bike lanes, safety, and more. 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.

Weather nerds, this one's for you. Minnesota Now is dedicating time to all five of MPR News contributing meteorologists, who have a combined 150 years of forecasting experience. With MPR News host Cathy Wurzer, they looked back at major Minnesota weather events and their favorite parts of meteorology. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to MPR Chief meteorologist Paul Huttner, along with Sven Sundgaard, Ron Trenda, Bill Endersen, and Mark Seeley, retired University of Minnesota climatologist and meteorologist.

Transportation bills are at the capitol Wednesday, and funding for roads, bridges and public transit are on the line. That includes money for safety concerns after several incidents of violence on public transit this year. We'll learn what's inside the bills. Do you remember the "domebuster" blizzard of 2010? How about the Roseville tornado of 1981? We're getting five people in one room with a combined150 years of weather coverage: our MPR meteorologists. We'll talk about their most memorable weather events from the years, and how their jobs have changed over time. You won't want to miss this fun conversation.

Minnesota hospitals and the Mayo Clinic are pressuring lawmakers to back away from two proposals in both the House and Senate versions of a health care package. One provision would create a Health Care Affordability Board that would make recommendations to address rising costs. Another would give nurses more say in hospital staffing levels. Lawmakers still need to resolve differences in the two bills before sending them, as part of an overall health care spending package, to Governer Tim Walz's desk to be signed. With these negotiations in their final stages, lobbying is heating up. Most notably, Mayo Clinic recently threatened to pull billions of dollars of investments from the state if lawmakers don't back off. Rochester Post Bulletin business reporter Jeff Kiger has been following all of this and he joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about it.

There's more conflict between Minnesota hospitals and nurses. The Mayo Clinic threatened last week to pull billions of dollars of investments from the state over two health care proposals in the legislature aiming at staffing levels. Old buildings are part of history and it's the end of an era for a special space on the Iron Range. Listen for how a school district is coming together to celebrate its legacy. We wanted to listen back to one of our favorite interviews over the past year, with Duluth's own Daniel Durant. We talked with him after his Oscar win last year as his career was absolutely taking off.

It's the end of an era and the start of a new one for one school system on the Iron Range. On Thursday, the Virginia-Eveleth-Gilbert School system will hold a grand ceremony for its new Rock Ridge Auditorium. Later this month, they'll say goodbye to the former space, the Goodman Auditorium, in a very special way. That old building is a key part of the history of the Iron Range. To hear it's story, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to Aaron Brown, who wrote about it in his weekend column for his news blog “Minnesota Brown: Modern Life in Northern America.”

State senators are about to debate a bill that would create a paid family and medical leave program. We'll talk to one of the bill's authors about how it's different from a House version that passed last week — and how it could change work in Minnesota. Rural newspapers are struggling. We'll dig into what it means for a community when the local paper shuts down, and what solutions might help reverse the decline. And the sun is out, trees are greening up and flowers are beginning to bloom. And you may be wondering what to do with your yard, garden or balcony. The author of a new book has some advice for finding your outside style.

It's finally warm enough to be out on the patio, taking in some sunshine — and maybe noticing your dirty and cobbled together deck furniture needs some work, not to mention the slightly ragged-looking bushes and other landscaping. Ryan McEnaney has some advice for getting started. McEnaney is a Woodbury-based garden designer and author of the book “Field Guide to Outside Style.” He is a fifth-generation family owner at Bailey Nurseries, a 115-year-old nursery headquartered outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. The company has grown (pun intended) to be one of the largest producers of shrubs and trees in the United States. He talked with MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer.

Rural newspapers are struggling. Over the past twenty years, a quarter of Minnesota's local newspapers closed – most of those in greater Minnesota. That's according to a new report from Minnesota's Center for Rural Policy and Development. Reed Anfinson is familiar with the industry's challenges. Anfinson is publisher and owner of the Swift County Monitor-News in Benson, the Grant County Herald in Elbow Lake and the Stevens County Times in Morris. He spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer.

Minnesota State Senators are set to vote today on whether workers and employers would pay a new tax to set up a statewide family and medical leave system. A similar bill passed by a slim margin in the House last week. Under the Senate plan, workers could get up to 20 weeks of combined family and medical leave in one year. MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer spoke with DFL Senator Liz Boldon, who is co-author of the bill.

Kara Goucher has come a long way from running up and down the hills of Duluth, Minnesota as a teenager. Goucher is a two-time Olympian and medal-winning marathoner. Her new book, “The Longest Race,” details her rise from her first race at six years old, to becoming a decorated runner. Goucher is known as much for her elite athleticism as she is for holding powerful people to account in the sports world. She spoke with MPR News host Emily Bright.

In April, the Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis premiered an adaptation of a beloved children's film of the 1980s.   “An American Tail” tells the story of Fievel Mousekewitz, a Jewish mouse who faces religious persecution in Russia. Fievel comes to America, where he and his family have been promised there are “no cats.”   It's a story of immigration and community organizing. Tony Award-winner Itamar Moses wrote the new script and lyrics for the show and spoke with MPR News Arts Reporter Jacob Aloi.  This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.   Your work includes plays like ‘Outrage' and TV shows like ‘Boardwalk Empire.' It often has a lot of humor in it. But it also features heavy themes geared towards an adult audience. I'm curious if the approach has been different writing something with families in mind. Yes and no. On the deepest level, you're always just trying to write something that feels truthful. And sort-of soundly constructed, and where the story works, and the thing moves [for] young audiences. And adult audiences both appreciate that.   The other thing is that I'm adapting a film that already has all of these sorts of [young adult] elements built in, you know, it's a fable about anthropomorphized animals, right, it has like a fairytale quality.  That the bar is, if anything, slightly higher, in terms of attention span and things you can hook into, in a way that is accessible. Not dumbing it down because, actually, kids are super smart. They're smarter than we give them credit for. And they like being told the truth, because they're being lied to all the time in their lives by adults. But there's something — it makes you want to lean into the magic and the metaphor a little bit more, I think, than with adults.  The piece that people most know you for is your work on ‘The Band's Visit,' which itself was an adaptation of a film. I'm curious about what goes into adapting a work from a film to a different medium versus an original work.  [In] both “The Band's Visit” and “American Tail,” the first thing I did was sit down with the movie open on my laptop screen, playing it scene-by-scene with a text document open next to it.   And then, just as I went through it, asking myself, okay, what within this piece, will hold just as well translated directly to the stage with no changes, and then you start sort of building it that way. You end up with a bunch of stuff that you can just take directly from the source material. And then there are gaps.   Even though “American Tail” has some songs, it only has three or four. So even if we kept them all, and I think we kept three of the four, you needed to write new ones to fill out a score. “Band's Visit” didn't have songs except [for] the diegetic music that the band performs. So in both cases, then you have this text that you're building the songs up on top of like, this is the foundation? And can we drill down into this moment? Can we cannibalize this moment for it for a song all by myself?  You've talked about how being Jewish has influenced some of your work more explicitly. And I'm curious what it's like working on this show that explores that a little more.  It's funny because it's true that for the first 15 years of my career, I almost never wrote characters who are explicitly Jewish where it seemed relevant to the story. I think I had this instinctive aversion to being pigeonholed as this or that kind of writer. I was like, “Oh, no, my play is universal.”  And then I think, gradually, the longer you do this, you realize more and more that the more hyper-specific something is, there's this paradoxical way in which it feels it feels more universal, first of all, and secondly, that you're actually preventing yourself from going to the deepest places you possibly can, by not mining what's most deeply yours.  “The Band's Visit” was a real turning point for me ... it was close to the first time that something I'd written anything, for instance, set in Israel, that was the first time I'd ever done that. All of my work since then has leaned in one way or another, I think a little bit more strongly into that, sometimes very subtly.  And then sometimes, you know, it just depends [on] what's called for by the piece. Like, not everything is about that. And then it's also made me think more deeply about the specific identity of each character. And sometimes you want that —not to necessarily be part of the script, like, oh, actually, we could cast this in 50 different ways. And it's super interesting to do that. But I think the responsible thing to do is make a choice about which you're doing and why.   Now I feel extra motivated to do that. Because I've been made aware of my Jewishness in sort of a negative way in this country. I haven't felt that overt sort of feeling of antisemitism is anything other than like this fringe thing that existed but didn't impact my life very much at all. That was how it felt for most of my life. And in the last five years, and then even more so in the last year or two, I've suddenly felt it in a new way. And so that's made me, I think, want to double down on that a little bit more,  How has that influenced working on a show like this about Jewish resilience?  It's really a story about immigration, about how America is made up of waves and waves of immigrants. And the choice every wave of immigrants has, once they've sort of established themselves and figured out some zone of safety.   If that indeed happens. Do you turn around and hold that territory? You know, do guard it jealously, and, or do you sort of pay it forward in a different way and try to be more welcoming to the waves that come after you.  So that feels like the core of what this story is … the fact that the Mousekewitzes have to flee Russia because of pogroms is the inciting incident ... but then it's about how that weaves with all of these equivalent stories and analogous in various ways stories that everybody has, or every mouse has.  But, in a subtle way, it has felt like a great outlet for some of the feelings that of having had been having about this stuff generally. To include things like Jewish prayers, like prayers in Hebrew, you know, that are sung because here we are doing this musical and, you know, we slip in. The opening scene as a Hanukkah party, right? So, getting to do that stuff on stage, and put some of that stuff sort of explicitly out there, has felt like a subtle form of defiance.  

The numbers are stark: Native Americans make up only 1 percent of the Minnesota's population but 9 percent of missing and murdered women and girls. And Black women are murdered at a rate three times higher than white women in Minnesota. Behind each of these numbers are the lives of loved ones. As part of a national awareness day Friday, advocates will gather in Bemidji, Duluth, and on the Capitol lawn. MPR News Host Emily Bright talked with Nicole Matthews, executive director of the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition, which is organizing the event in Saint Paul.

Shortages of several essential medications are putting Minnesotans in a serious bind. We'll take a look at the reasons behind the shortages, the impact on patients, and how Minnesota's medical industry is handling it. Minnesotans are raising awareness for missing and murdered indigenous and black women at a state capitol event tomorrow. Listen for how a partnership between several communities is fighting for change.

In the 1986 animated children's movie "An American Tail," the Mousekewicz family, who are mice, flee religious persecution in Russia and come to America. It's a story of immigration and community organizing—and it's now a timely new musical playing at the Minnesota Children's Theater Company in Minneapolis through June 18th. MPR Arts Reporter Jacob Aloi sat down with the show's playwright, Itamar Moses, who also won a Tony Award for the musical "The Band's Visit," to ask about turning a film into a stage show. MPR News host Emily Bright followed that conversation with a discussion with Temple Israel's Senior Rabbi, Marcia Zimmerman, about the impact of having explicitly Jewish characters in children's stories.

The Minnesota House has approved a paid family and medical leave bill. Our senior political reporter Dana Ferguson gives us the details. Lawmakers are also considering new gun bills. We'll take a closer look at what's known about the efficacy of what are called "red flag" laws. Cinco de Mayo is Friday. We'll hear from the owners of a landmark restaurant in St. Paul's District del Sol. We'll hear an episode of an award-winning podcast from the North Shore that may get you thinking differently about the history of the North Shore. Chief meteorologist Paul Huttner will tell us whether milder temperatures will prevail, explain this spring's record CO2 reading, and more. And the question on every gardener's mind: is it safe to plant? We'll ask an expert. 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.   

It took a while, but blossoms and new leaves are sprouting up everywhere. Maybe your seasonal allergies are even acting up. Our resident full-time gardener Meg Cowden is author of the book called “Plant, Grown, Harvest Repeat.” She's back and ready to share what's new in her garden as the warm weather has arrived.

Cinco de Mayo is coming up this Friday — which means big business for El Burrito Mercado. The traditional Mexican marketplace and restaurant is located on St. Paul's West Side in the Mexican-American commercial district known as the District del Sol. MPR News producer Britt Aamodt spoke to co-owner Milissa Silva about the history behind this neighborhood food destination. 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.

That wind has finally died down — and the weather is actually looking pretty mild today! We're crossing our fingers for more good news from MPR News' Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. He gave host Cathy Wurzer the lowdown.

If you visited Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior 50 years ago, the story you heard about what makes this place special would have left out quite a bit — specifically, the sites' connections to Ojibwe people, past and present. We heard about that history in a past episode of the award-winning podcast, “It Happens Here,” by WTIP North Shore Community Radio. In this next episode, producers Staci Drouillard and Leah Lemm explain how the Grand Portage Band of Superior Chippewa and allies in the National Park Service worked to rectify the erasure of Ojibwe people from the National Park.

It was a close vote, but the Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday night that would create a state-run paid family and medical leave program. The vote was 68 to 64. Political reporter Dana Ferguson joined MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer to talk more about the issue and how the plan would work.

Many teachers will tell you that teaching is like planting seeds, even if you don't always get to see those seeds bloom. Mike Bazzett is a poet and translator who teaches high school English at the Blake School in Minneapolis. Recently, he reconnected with a student he had 18 years ago who has just published a memoir. The former student's name is John West, and his book "Lessons and Carols" comes out Tuesday. As part of a new Minnesota Now series celebrating the mentors in our lives, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer passed the mic to them.

The last legal case in the death of George Floyd at the hands of several former Minneapolis police officers has been settled. Listen for the details. A special United Nations effort created after Floyd's death has come to the Twin Cities. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke to a guest who explained what they're learning- and teaching- while they're in town. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We'll talk about how isolation and being lonely can affect mental health. The mentor-mentee relationship is a special one. We'll highlight a pair who offer insight into how their relationship launched the career of one of them.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared loneliness as an epidemic in the country. The Surgeon General issued an advisory laying out the medical and mental consequences of being lonely and he outlined a series of actions that Americans can take to address the growing issue. The advisory comes at a good time. May is Mental Health Awareness month, and since the pandemic began more than three years ago, we've been made more aware of how isolation and loneliness can lead to struggles with mental health. MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with Dr. Jay Sheree Allen of the Mayo Clinic about stress and mental health in Minnesota. 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.

A United Nations effort that was created after the murder of George Floyd arrived in Minneapolis Tuesday. Three human rights experts appointed by the UN spent the morning hearing from people affected by systemic racism in policing and prisons. The UN panel is spending two weeks in the United States and making similar stops in cities including Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin is faculty director of the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota and a UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to make sense of the project.

Minneapolis has a new community commission on police oversight. Fifteen people — one from each ward and two selected by Mayor Jacob Frey — will serve on a rotating basis to review allegations of police misconduct. The new appointees were approved last week. The commission replaces the city's long-criticized police civilian review process. So there are lots of eyes on this new board. Big expectations to live up to. And a good number of skeptics. So what makes this board different from any that came before it? MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with Rachel Moran, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. 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.

National Poetry Month is officially over, but we couldn't get too far into May without hearing from one more poet who is a finalist for this year's Minnesota Book Award. The winners will be announced on Tuesday. John Lee Clark is the author of the poetry collection How to Communicate and he lives in Saint Paul. He is DeafBlind and a leader in the Protactile movement – it centers on a language that uses touch. Clark spoke with host Cathy Wurzer. In this conversation, you'll be hearing the voice of interpreter Halene Anderson.

It's the 25th anniversary of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival. Venues ranging from the DECC, the big arena on the waterfront, to small distilleries and cafes are hosting local bands all week long. The event that started as a two-night birthday party of Duluth musician Scott “Starfire” Lunt has swelled to eight days. But while the music scene has expanded dramatically, the ticket price — and the compensation to the artists who make it great — has not. Here to dive into that is Duluth News Tribune reporter Jay Gabler.

Minnesota is home for a large number of refugees from all over the world. In 2018, our state welcomed the most refugees per capita in the US. And today, one in twelve Minnesotans are immigrants or refugees. Their journeys to the U.S. and experiences once they get here are all unique. Green Card Voices is an immigrant-led, nonprofit publishing organization based in Minneapolis. It uses the art of storytelling to share personal narratives of immigrants and refugees. The newest book they've helped publish is a graphic novel for kids, “Voice for Refuge: Our Stories Carried Us Here.” The author, and subject, of the book, Zaynab Abdi, talked with host Cathy Wurzer.

Tonight, legislators at the Minnesota house and senate will vote on new regents to govern the University of Minnesota board of regents. There are four spots to be filled with candidates being vetted by the regent candidate advisory council. However, lawmakers don't have to approve the selected candidates and can offer up names from the floor tonight. Regent Candidate Advisory Council Chair and former Senator Greg Clausen talked with host Cathy Wurzer about the nomination and voting process.

State lawmakers have just a few weeks to settle on major legislation on taxes, education, health care, and more. More from the capitol. Then tonight, lawmakers will vote to fill four open spots on the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents. We'll talk about how today's vote could affect the U. Minneapolis recently announced the members of its new police oversight commission. We'll talk with a law professor about what it takes for this type of civilian oversight to work. We'll hear from the fifth poet nominated for the Minnesota Book Award and the author of a new graphic novel. And we'll check in on this year's Homegrown Music Festival in Duluth.

Have you ever fantasized about quitting your job and starting a farm? For most people, land would be the biggest obstacle. A handful of organizations in Minnesota try to help aspiring farmers climb over that hurdle by providing plots, training and other resources. Last year, Khalid Elhassan began working outside his full-time engineering job to start a farming collective near the Food Group's warehouse in New Hope. Khalid Elhassen, founder of the Sudanese Farming Group, talked with MPR News Host Emily Bright about the effort.

How much will you pay in taxes next year? That's on the docket at the Minnesota House today. The wide-ranging tax package has rebates, social security exemptions and expanded child tax credits. Land is the biggest hurdle for aspiring farmers in Minnesota -- but a handful of organizations are helping new farmers climb that hurdle. And it's Minnesota fashion week. Hmong art and fashion is thriving in Minnesota, and a fashion show this weekend showcases Hmong designers from Thailand. Sports guys Wally and Eric are back to help us work through that season-ending Timberwolves' loss and give their take on whether we'll see the Wild in the playoffs this season.

This month has been packed with news to keep fans of the Wild, ‘Wolves, and Twins on their toes. And the Vikings are preparing for the NFL Draft. Sports experts Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson joined MPR News Host Emily Bright with all the latest. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score magazine and the cohost of "Ten-Thousand Takes" sports talk show. Eric is the other host of "Ten-Thousand Takes" and is also the Minnesota Vikings reporter for CBS Sports Radio "Eye on Football."

Happy Minnesota Fashion Week to those who celebrate! An organization that has been showcasing Hmong designers for more than a decade is doing something new this spring. Six Hmong designers from Thailand will have their designs walk the runway in Saint Paul this Saturday. The Center for Hmong Arts and Talent is hosting the fashion show, and Executive Director Steve Thao joined MPR News Host Emily Bright to talk about it.

We have been talking with people who are trying to make a difference through their land. But not everyone has the same ideas about what it means to have land, or to own it. This episode of the award-winning podcast, “It Happens Here: The Roots of Racial Inequity on the North Shore contrasts traditional Ojibwe views about land with the U.S. government's approach. Producers Leah Lemm and Staci Drouillard explore how the disconnect has played an important role in the ongoing history of treaties and tribal sovereignty.

Thursday afternoon, the Minnesota House is expected to debate a wide-ranging tax package. The bill contains rebates, additional exemptions for Social Security income, expanded child tax credits, and aid to local and tribal governments. It also would raise some taxes on top earners and corporations. MPR Political reporter Brian Bakst broke it all down with MPR News Host Emily Bright.

It's a waterlogged spring after a snowy winter, but the growing season is almost upon us. It's a busy time of year for farmers like David Wise, who is juggling quite a few projects, including reintroducing bison and Ojibwe horses to his farm in Northern Minnesota. He is a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Superior Chippewa and the founder of Native Wise farm, which produces wild rice, maple syrup, CBD, and vegetables. David Wise joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer to talk about all things his Minnesota farm. He said it has always been a dream of his to bring the bison back because his great-grandfather was Chief Buffalo. When Wise was finally able to bring them back, he said it was like welcoming a relative home again. Before they arrived, Wise did some research that found his fields had not had animals on them for many years and the soil health was not strong. With the new residents, he hopes that more native plants pop up and soil health improves. Besides bison, Wise is also raising Ojibwe horses. He is working with colleagues to bring back a breeding program as they are close to extinction. “We're really just trying to help bring them back. It's an honor to have them here on the farm again,” he said. Wise said it is important to him that they keep the land healthy and productive into the future. He considers himself a steward of the land, a value that was passed down to him from Ojibwe culture. “We look at the Earth as our mother,” he said. 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.