The Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar

As students head back to school, their safety is paramount for administrators, lawmakers, and teachers Analysis from Blois Olson on The WCCO Morning news.

Bringing music to the WCCO Radio stage in the final hour on this Labor Day morning was the Cellar Dwellers!

One final day of fun at the Great Minnesota Get Together - we talked to the CEO of the Minnesota State Fair LIVE on the WCCO Radio veranda! We chatted with her about the perfect weather this year at the Fair, some of the hot new vendors people have been visiting, the off-season of the Fair and much more!

Big win for the Twins on Sunday where the team won their series against the Padres and it was a historic game for Byron Buxton at the plate and Joe Ryan had a really impressive outing as well!

Its always amazing when teens are leading the way in their community and we talked to someone who is doing just that - Maisie Adams joins Vineeta LIVE on the WCCO Radio veranda - she is being crowned Miss Minnesota Teen USA and this Fall will represent Minnesota in the Miss Teen USA competition we talked about that - we spotlight her work with Best Buddies helping raise over $40,000 towards students with developmental and intellectual disabilities and also her placement in DECA!

It is the day before many go back to school so we give a well-deserved Sawkar Salute to the teachers and staff that make the school year possible as many return to their routines tomorrow back to school!

Big series win against the Padres this weekend, taking two of three in the series at home - we chat with Dan Hayes of The Athletic about the big outing for Joe Ryan, Byron Buxton making history and look ahead to this week's AL Central matchup with the White Sox!

Labor Day for many, marks the true end to summer as school is back in session so we play some clips from this past weekend as we look ahead to a new school year with safety at the forefront in the aftermath of the tragic Annunciation school shooting last Wednesday and the unfolding details since!

Washington DC is amidst its longest stretch without murders in recent history under federal intervention ordered by Donald Trump as he wonders aloud if San Francisco, Chicago and other big cities will be next, and many raise questions over his firing of a member of the Federal Reserve.

Pete Najarian breaks down what is happening on Wall Street and on the football field from The Great Minnesota Get Together.

Dave, Mike and Pete take over Twins First Pitch. They do some Minnesota Twins Trivia and tell some stories of Twins legends. We also get a surprise visit from Sweet Martha herself.

WCCO Radio Legends Dave Lee and Mike Lynch broadcast from the WCCO building at the State Fair. Pete Najarian joins the conversation to talk Gophers Football. We talk sports, weather and tell old stories from the porch as well as updates on what they have been up to these days.

MilesPerHour is a music producer and DJ from Minnesota. He has supported Steve Aoki at the Armory and performed at North Coast Music Festival in Chicago amongst many other shows. He explains his career and what it takes to make a song a success.

The University of Minnesota Football teamed had their first game of the season last night. Henry breaks down the highlights. Plus the Lynx lose their latest game and the Twins are getting ready for a home series against the Padres.

After a week of temperatures that have been nearly perfect, a cold front is coming around Labor Day. Chris shares the details of what we can expect in the coming days.

Former State Senators Amy Koch and Jeff Hayden are live from the fair. We discuss the shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis, as well as the growing questions over whether Governor Tim Walz will seek a third term in office.

It was around 8:55 Wednesday morning when news began to break of a school shooting in South Minneapolis - we recap the events as they unfolded with Adam and Jordana who had to pivot into a different mode to provide the latest developments - we get their perspective on how that went down!

For today's First Pitch we had the host of Minnesota Twins pregame and postgame coverage - Mark Genosky joined Vineeta LIVE on the stage - talking Twins-Toronto, we do a little Twins trivia and Geno shares his experience so far as the host so far and his love for Minnesota sports

It is our daily segment at the Fair, where we set down the mics and munch on some food so we tried out the Croissant Beignet Bites and tried out some wine selections!

What is better than one Blois Olson segment? a double cup of Blois Olson for your morning take! He joined Vineeta LIVE on the stage to talk about what he thinks the way forward is, the changes in policy, the details we still await with this situation and also where does Blois sit among the current political landscape of the left and right!

School is almost in session and public safety is top of mind for many including University of Saint Thomas President Rob Vischer who joined Vineeta LIVE on the State Fair stage to talk about a new initiative that he is aiming for at St. Thomas with the ‘Claritas Initiative', public safety into the new semester and also the bright, shiny new arena for St. Thomas!

Big news yesterday amid the chaos and heartbreak was the return of Adam Thielen to Minnesota, we talked to Henry Lake about that, the tough blown game by the Twins and Napheesa Collier's impact since her return!

We briefly recap the chaos of Wednesday on the WCCO Radio and TV side of things and then WCCO TV Chief Meteorologist Chris Shaffer tries to bright up our moods with some good weather news as we still see cool fall temps into the weekend!

Yesterday the CDC Director departed after just two weeks on the job amid disagreements with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s panel changes we asked Representative Kelly Morrison about her level of concern about this. We also gather her thoughts on what needs to be done to prevent the tragedy of Wednesday morning from happening again!

School is right around the corner for many colleges and universities - one being Hamline and we had the chance to talk to the new President of Hamline University Mayme Hostetter about the importance of public safety in wake of yesterday's events, what we can expect with her as the new president and more!

Where does politics and policy come into play with tragic events such as yesterday - Blois chatted with us about this, the importance of checking on people, and the overall social media reception from around the country.

An exciting event coming to Minnesota next year - the Special Olympics - David Booth, the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games Board Member and Special Olympics Minnesota Athlete joins Vineeta on WCCO Radio veranda LIVE to preview this amazing event!

For today's Twins First Pitch we feature Matt Wallner, who played a huge role in Minnesota Twins late game heroics on Tuesday night in Toronto - his sits down with Kris Atteberry postgame to discuss the resilience

Around 8:35 everyday at the Fair - we get to munch on some delicious Fair food - we had Whitney Fraleigh bring some of the donut selections from Fluffy's Donuts!

A lot of great musical acts both free and paid at the ‘Great Minnesota Get Together!' - Todd Walker, ‘Todd About Town' joins Vineeta LIVE on the stage to talk some of the performances at the Minnesota State Fair and even some entertainment and music for those that aren't fair people such as the Renaissance Festival!

It is always a festive time when the Klondike Kates join us on the WCCO Radio veranda to share the passion and tradition of being a Klondike Kate and even gave us a preview of their performance at the Frontier Bar from noon to 3 at the Fair!

It is the fifth year of business for Tameka Jones of Lip Esteem and she joins Vineeta to share some of the new products her team has available which fairgoers can find on the 2nd floor of the Grandstand!

It was a resilient outing for the Twins offense last night and we recapped what went right, more on Gasper overcoming some early mistakes, Max Brosmer making the cut for the Vikings, and of course - the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement!

It is not often we see temperatures as cool as this for the Minnesota State Fair - WCCO TV Chief Meteorologist joins to let us know just how long these cool temps will stick around as we creep toward the end of the Fair and into fall!

We have a governors race coming up and one of many names in the hat so far is Kendall Qualls - he joins Vineeta LIVE on the WCCO Radio veranda to talk about the upcoming race and what areas such as crime in Minneapolis and other spots he feels Governor Tim Walz has failed in that he looks to fix if elected governor!

Not too many surprises from Tuesday district voting - we talked to Blois Olson about this, the potential of the Democratic Committee Meetings factoring into the Israel-Hamas conflict, the motive and story behind the ‘Walz Lies' State Fair booth.

Since it is Military Appreciation Day at the Minnesota State Fair - there is a special Garden Ceremony where Russ Hanes who serves as the VP of Invisible Wounds Project, a non profit organization and his team are hosting this event to honor those who served and those who struggle with PTSD!

While the ballclub might not be doing great, the Minnesota Twins broadcast crew is always at work - Drew Halverson who leads the way with Twins broadcasts on both the television and radio stopped by to talk more about this huge MLB deal with ESPN - what that means for viewers of Twins games going forward, where would he like to add new features to the element of Twins broadcasts and a little Twins trivia as well for today's Twins First Pitch!

Today we had to feature another food item on the stage - it was courtesy of Molly Hanten of Shanghai Henri's who brought some Pimento Cheese Puffs to share with the crew!

A lot of uncertainty with the housing market right now we try to break it all down with the man himself John Schuster joining Vineeta LIVE on the WCCO Radio stage! We also ask how the Fed cuts could impact mortgage rates, renovation recommendations and more!

Today at the Minnesota State Fair - it is Military Appreciation Day at the Fair! We chatted with John Walker, State Commander with DAV of Minnesota - who has been a huge part of helping those who have and currently do serve in the military! They are celebrating 100 years of serving and have helped raise over $4.5 million in giving to military members and families and John talks more about this mission of the team at DAV of Minnesota!

Another tough outing for Minnesota Twins ace Joe Ryan, we get Henry Lake's reaction to the loss, some of the struggles Joe Ryan are facing, no postgame interactions with the media amid the frustrations and some Vikings talk as well!