Stories from December 16, 2025

Finding joy and community in amateur holiday performances
From local Nutcrackers to community choir concerts, ‘tis the season for holiday shows put on by your friends and neighbors. Coming up at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, MPR News guest host Catharine Richert talks about the joy people find in amateur performing groups.
‘Total sadness’: Stewartville High School shooting leaves community grieving
The small town of Stewartville in southeast Minnesota is grieving but trying to pull together in the aftermath of a shooting outside of the high school that left one student in critical condition and the alleged shooter dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.