As part of MPR News’ Winter Play series, reporter Dan Kraker tried ice climbing for the first time on a cliff north of Two Harbors, an experience he found challenging, rewarding and — when it was over, at least — fun.

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign the CROWN Act, which bans discrimination against people based on their natural hair texture and style. But some say the fight to destigmatize hair is far from over.

Minnesota legislators began reviewing a bill that protects access to health care for trans youth, a move that the author says is a historic first. At the Tuesday hearing, several parents of trans youth spoke in support of the bill.

The measure putting the right to abortion and other reproductive options in state law was a top priority for Democrats at the Capitol, and health care providers celebrated its enactment on Tuesday.

Newly empowered House Republicans are preparing to oust Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans want to remove the African-born Black lawmaker from the panel over comments she has made critical of Israel.

Durenberger served 16 years in the U.S. Senate, earning a reputation as an expert on health care and environmental policy. “He was a counterintuitive policymaker who didn’t follow the usual partisan cookbooks,” said former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, once a Durenberger intern.

A defense attorney says a former Minneapolis police officer who held back bystanders while his colleagues restrained a dying George Floyd is innocent of criminal wrongdoing and should be acquitted. But prosecutors argue Tou Thao “acted without courage and displayed no compassion” even though he could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away.

The annual celebration started out in 1926 as Negro History Week and expanded to Black History Month in the 1970s. This year's theme is "Black Resistance."

The Rev. Al Sharpton will deliver the eulogy, and Vice President Kamala Harris is set to attend at the invitation of Nichols' family.

As the marketing of soda and fast food ramps up around the world, the companies involved forge partnerships to help the poor. The new book 'Junk Food Politics' casts a critical eye at their efforts.

Now in control of the House, Republicans will hold hearings on border policy and pandemic relief spending.

President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet Wednesday to discuss, among other things, how to avoid a default on the U.S. debt.

During the time that deaths from addiction and suicide among white Americans rose by about 9 percent, deaths among Native Americans shot up by about 30 percent, a new study shows.

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols, who died three days after he was beaten by Memphis police officers just minutes from his home, the White House said Tuesday.

Transportation remains Minnesota’s biggest source of greenhouse gases, followed by agriculture. Emissions from electricity generation continued to fall as utilities shuttered coal plants and relied more on wind and solar energy.

A Twin Cities favorite: Bad Bad Hats are not shy to embrace the nostalgia of their early recordings. So much so that the “It Hurts (10th Anniversary Edition)” EP includes demo tracks laced with kazoos, happy-go-lucky whistling, never-heard-before verses and ultra-scratchy guitar tracks.

No other injured people were immediately found. Officers received multiple 911 calls Tuesday afternoon and arrived within minutes. Evidence suggests the man fired rounds before he was shot by officers, but it wasn't immediately known if he fired at anybody.

Born, a candy company executive known as the "Father of Peeps" for mechanizing the process to make marshmallow chicks, has died. He was 98.