News Quiz: Drama in beauty and cheese-curd industries, and other Minnesota stories

Wigs sit on mannequin heads inside Bella Beauty and Hair.
Wigs made of human hair sit on mannequin heads inside Bella Beauty and Hair in Brooklyn Park, Minn., on March 30.
Evan Frost | MPR News

This week in Minnesota news, we saw several different struggles for control:

A Minnesota entrepreneur attempting to navigate the black beauty industry, where Korean businesses hold all the power. The family that ran the original cheese curd stand at the Minnesota State Fair fighting eviction as they plan their retirement. And the unusual move by Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges to block the promotion of a police lieutenant, hours after her police chief announced it.

To learn more about these ongoing battles of business and politics, check out the stories below. If you're already feeling pretty well-informed, why not test your knowledge with our news quiz?

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Hodges, Harteau public spat has some wondering: who's in charge?

The strange optics of Mayor Hodges' blocking of a major promotion by her police chief has confused some in Minneapolis.

Many share Minneapolis NAACP president Jason Sole's reaction to how it all played out in public: "I would think some conversation would have taken place between the chief and her before the appointment. It seems reasonable to believe."

Roots of tension: race, hair, competition and black beauty stores

A Minnesota entrepreneur discovers that opening a beauty supply business means navigating a multibillion-dollar industry for black hair products that's run largely from Asia and doesn't cede power without a fight.

Fair's cheese curd pioneers fight eviction

The family that ran the original cheese curd stand at the Minnesota State Fair isn't giving up, even though the State Fair Board has given their space away to a bacon vendor.

Opioids killed 35 Minnesotans in April 2016. Only 1 was named Prince

Photos of Josh Thompson with family members are displayed on boards.
Photos of Josh Thompson with family members are displayed on boards, but relatives were too distraught immediately after his death last year to have a formal memorial service.
Courtney Perry for MPR News

The Minnesota music icon's death last year shocked the world. But opioids cost dozens of other Minnesotans their lives that same month. Their stories are equally compelling, and sad.

Minn. power plant that burns turkey poop faces closure

Benson Power, formerly known as Fibrominn, was a pioneer in biomass energy when it went online 10 years ago. Now it's struggling to compete with natural gas, wind and solar.

Bonus — a must listen: Brave New Workshop's Dudley Riggs remembers when improv was considered 'shameful'

In his new memoir, "Flying Funny: My Life Without a Net," the improv theater pioneer recounts his early days as a trapeze artist in the circus, to fighting naysayers who said improv theater was a slap in the face to great playwrights.