Stories from May 26, 2022

Gun control is shaping up as a campaign issue in Minnesota following Texas massacre, and schools respond to worried parents in Minnesota. This is an evening update from MPR News, hosted by Tim Nelson. Music by Gary Meister.
Warm and humid with a few storms this weekend
Highs in the 80s and a couple of passing storms this weekend. A few storms could be strong to severe.
Standstill persists over special session, gun laws
Prospects are murky for a special legislative session to finalize plans for tax cuts and new spending from Minnesota’s big budget surplus. Meanwhile, there is no expectation of major state gun law changes in the aftermath of the Texas school shooting.
Publisher plans to give his small town paper free to the right successor
Lee Zion wants to help in Ukraine, but won’t go until he finds the right person to take over and run the Lafayette-Nicollet Ledger in southwest Minnesota. He’s offering the profitable publication free of charge, but only to someone ready to invest the long hours it takes to run a small town newspaper.
Author Marie Myung-Ok Lee on her new novel 'The Evening Hero'
Minnesota-born Marie Myung-Ok Lee mines her own history for a wry new novel about a northern Minnesota doctor who learns his hospital is being closed by the corporation that bought it. That decision upends a previously quiet and controlled life. On this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas, host Kerri Miller talks with Lee about her new novel, “The Evening Hero.”
Memorial Day weekend weather: Summery; a few thunderstorms at times
This will be a summery Memorial Day weekend. There will be some scattered thunderstorms at times, but we’ll have many more dry minutes than wet over the three-day holiday weekend.
Breastfeeding isn’t easy. How can lactation support help?
The baby formula shortage has put many parents in dire situations. And breastfeeding isn’t the easy answer some may think. MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the race and class disparities in who breastfeeds, and efforts to close that gap.
State probe: 3M mismanaged waste at Cottage Grove plant for over 2 decades
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on Thursday slammed 3M for years of hazardous waste violations at the company’s facility in Cottage Grove in St. Paul’s eastern suburbs. Regulators ordered the Maplewood-based company to pay $2.8 million.
Slow clearing Thursday; warmer this weekend
Low clouds will hang on most of the day in southeast Minnesota but the northwest will see sun. Everyone sees sun Friday with much warmer temperatures.
Will Congress act on guns after Sandy Hook, Buffalo, Uvalde?
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has quickly set in motion a pair of firearms background check bills in response to the school massacre in Texas. But the Democrat acknowledged Wednesday the refusal for years of Congress to pass any legislation aiming to curb a national epidemic of gun violence.
U.S. moves to make antiviral drug more available against COVID
The White House has announced more steps to make the antiviral treatment Paxlovid more accessible across the U.S. as it projects COVID-19 infections will continue to spread over the summer travel season.
Hundreds of people gathered in Minneapolis last night to honor George Floyd, two years after a police officer killed him outside a corner store. This is a morning update from MPR News, hosted by Cathy Wurzer. Music by Gary Meister.
Decreasing clouds; much warmer heading into the weekend
Clouds will linger much of Thursday in eastern Minnesota while northwest Minnesota sees more sun. Sunshine will prevail statewide Friday with much warmer temperatures.
Holiday weekend campsites in short supply — but not entirely booked — at Minnesota state parks
If warmer weather in the forecast has you thinking about a spur-of-the-moment holiday weekend camping trip to a Minnesota state park, you're not completely out of luck — but you'll have to do some searching to find an open site.
What to say to kids about school shootings to ease their stress
The death of children, shot at school, is hard to comprehend. It can be even harder for kids. Counselors say parents should take cues from their kids, listen to their fears and answer their questions.
At a Minnesota evangelical school, Black students sought racial reckoning, then felt the pushback
Some students of color at the University of Northwestern say there's a pattern of casual racism on campus, rooted in its history. The current president says the suburban Twin Cities school is working on change but concedes not everyone agrees change is needed, and “we’re never going to reach utopia.”
Onlookers urged police to charge into Texas school
A father whose fourth-grade daughter was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school and raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders.