Minnesota Now - July 20, 2022

CATHY WURZER: It's Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Morris, Minnesota has decided to shut down its police department the mayor tells us how they'll move forward with public safety. There is a 20-year mystery involving a St. John's University student. The creator of a new podcast is unearthing details surrounding the tragic disappearance of Josh Guimond.

Paul is here with weather records and a detailed forecast when might we see some decent rains. He'll have more on that. Minnesota Chippewa tribal officials are counting votes today in a referendum that may lead to big changes for the tribe. One of the hottest sports teams in the state is the Aurora FC women's soccer club. We'll talk to the team's head coach who's just named the league's coach of the year by the way. All that plus the song of the day and the Minnesota Music Minute. All that coming up right after the news.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Roughly 100 million people in dozens of states are under some form of a heat alert today, Massachusetts among them. President Biden is traveling to an old power plant there today to discuss his plans on addressing climate change. Here's NPR's Franco Ordonez.

FRANCO ORDONEZ: The President is not expected to declare a national climate emergency on the trip, but will announce a series of executive actions he plans to take. Those include providing additional funding for FEMA to assist local communities dealing with extreme heat and support for the Department of Health and Human Services, which helps families with energy costs.

The White House says the President will make clear that he sees climate change as an existential threat to the nation and the world, adding that quote, since Congress is not going to act on this emergency, then he will. The White House says more executive actions are to come and will be announced in the coming days. Franco Ordonez, NPR News.

LAKSHMI SINGH: The nation's gun violence epidemic is the focus of another hearing today on Capitol Hill. NPR'S Windsor Johnston reports a Senate Judiciary Committee is examining the access to assault-style weapons that are often used in mass shootings, including the attack on a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois where seven people were killed.

WINDSOR JOHNSTON: Testifying before the committee, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering called for a federal ban on assault-style weapons.

NANCY ROTERING: Less than a minute is all it took for a person with an assault weapon to shoot 83 rounds into a crowd, forever changing so many lives.

WINDSOR JOHNSTON: Committee Chairman Dick Durbin called the inaction of Congress disgraceful.

DICK DURBIN: Why are these killing machines flying off the shelves after they were banned for a decade until 2004? Maybe it's the ads that market the assault weapons. Symbols of independence or the promise that owning an AR-15 style gun will make you more of a man.

WINDSOR JOHNSTON: More than 350 mass shootings have been recorded in the United States so far this year. Windsor Johnston, NPR News.

LAKSHMI SINGH: The first lady of Ukraine is drumming up support in Washington for her people's campaign to defeat Russian invaders. Olena Zelenska addressed Congress today. Here she is through an interpreter.

OLENA ZELENSKA: We want every father and every mother to be able to tell their child, go to sleep peacefully. There will be no more airstrikes. No more missile strikes. Is this too much to wish for?

LAKSHMI SINGH: Zelenska thanked the US for its military aud and asked for more. But the Biden administration is again grappling with questions about whether the US should continue funneling billions of dollars into Ukraine given the former Soviet Republic's history of corruption and government instability. Those concerns resurfaced prominently over the weekend after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired two top security officials five months into Ukraine's defense against Russia. You're listening to NPR News.

AD PRESENTER: Support for NPR comes from NPR stations. Other contributors include C3 AI. C3 AI software enables organizations to use artificial intelligence at enterprise scale, solving previously unsolvable problems. C3 AI is enterprise AI.

CATHY WURZER: Around Minnesota at noon, skies are probably mostly cloudy. Highest today mid 70s to the mid 80s in northeastern Minnesota. Near 90 in the southwestern part of the state. Right now, it's 81 in Appleton, 79 in Austin. And outside the Twig General Store in Twig, Minnesota, it's sunny, and it's 68. I'm Cathy Wurzer with Minnesota News Headlines. Three homes were heavily damaged or destroyed after high winds spread a fire in South Minneapolis early this morning. Tim Nelson has details.

TIM NELSON: Minneapolis firefighters were called about 4:00 AM to a report of a fire in a vacant home on the 2800 block of 14th Avenue South. That's a few blocks EAST of Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Firefighters found the home fully engulfed in flames, spreading to adjacent homes with a steady wind fanning the fire.

The first house to catch fire collapsed, and another vacant home nearby was heavily damaged. A statement from the fire department said two adults in another neighboring home were evacuated safely, but that their home was no longer habitable after the fire. The fire prompted second and third alarms to bring in more personnel and equipment to keep the blaze from spreading even further. No injuries were reported, and the fires were out by 6:00 AM. The cause of the fire is under investigation. I'm Tim Nelson.

CATHY WURZER: The vaccination policy for some state government workers in Minnesota has prompted a federal lawsuit. An employee at the Saint Peter Regional Treatment Center has sued the Department of Human Services. He says unvaccinated workers like him are discriminated against because they don't qualify for enhanced paid leave. Vaccinated employees in health care or congregate living settings can access extra leave if they face an extended quarantine and run out of regular sick time.

Attorney Greg Erickson represents the forensic scientist who sued. He says there's no clear reason to exclude unvaccinated workers.

GREG ERICKSON: Really what they're in the business now of doing is kind of sticking it to the people that held out and didn't get vaccinated.

CATHY WURZER: The agency says it won't comment on pending litigation.

Our top story. Last night, the small town of Morris, Minnesota authorized the Stephens County Sheriff to hire two new deputies. They'll need those officers based on last week's vote to discontinue the more than 140-year run of Morris's City Police Department at the end of the year because of staffing issues. Morris Mayor Sheldon Giese joins us right now to talk about that decision and what things will look like in Morris going forward. Welcome, Mayor. How are you?

SHELDON GIESE: I'm doing well today.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you for being with us. You know this, of course. Morris isn't exactly a tiny town. You have more than 5,000 residents. You're a college town with U of M Morris campus. You're not going to have a police department. How did that happen?

SHELDON GIESE: You know, it kind of happened over time. But we found ourselves with several officers officers leaving all for different reasons. And our most recent recruitment efforts pretty much came up blank. So it was a really rough decision, but it had to be a timely decision. It wasn't something that we could put on the back burner for a long time.

How many officers are in the department right now? Well, we have a department of eight officers right now. There are five. One is on a medical leave. One is the chief. One is an active officer, patrol officer. One has turned in his resignation next week I guess. And one is in the final phases of getting hired by the sheriff's office.

CATHY WURZER: So really, you just have the chief and one officer. Or you will.

SHELDON GIESE: That's correct. We'll be down to two, yes.

CATHY WURZER: OK. I'm wondering here. Is the county sheriff going to get any funding, support, or new staff to cover you, the city of Morris?

SHELDON GIESE: Absolutely. And that's the reason that we had to act rather timely on this. The Sheriff I think would have to cover Morris anyway. But if we didn't go into a contract with the Sheriff's Department, there would be no increased funding. There would be no increased officers. And over time, it would have really been detrimental to the Sheriff's Department. We have a really active and a really good Sheriff's Department and a great sheriff. And we don't want to hamper their department.

CATHY WURZER: So I'm curious about the role that the University of Minnesota Morris Campus may play in this. I mean, might the university take a role in public safety at all?

SHELDON GIESE: Yes and no. I guess the role that the university police department has is support and local backup. And they'll continue to do that I think. They have a real good police department there, active police department. It really shouldn't affect the university and the people at the university.

CATHY WURZER: Towns across the country, Mayor, are having a tough time finding officers. I understand the profession is in the midst of a 25 year low of new officers entering the field. You have officers retiring and resigning. What does the future of policing look like do you think in small communities like Morris?

CATHY WURZER: Well, more and more, I think, are going toward the police department, or they're cutting back their-- I mean, not the police department. They're contracting with the Sheriff's Department, or they're are making their police departments smaller, offering less services, probably not 24/7 departments. Right now, that's the future. Until the overall, I guess, feelings toward the police departments change, I don't expect a lot of people going into the police profession.

CATHY WURZER: And you're finding the same case in Morris. As you mentioned earlier in the conversation, you had feelers out to hire, but you just didn't get anybody.

SHELDON GIESE: Right. Right. Our last recruitment effort, we had two applicants. One took a job somewhere else before we could even talk to him. And the second one just was not a good fit. They did some background checking and stuff, and he just would not have fit.

CATHY WURZER: So I wonder, what do residents say about this?

SHELDON GIESE: Well, residents are-- I don't know. Some of them are angry about it. Some of them are kind of blindsided by it. They're puzzled. They just don't know what to expect. They should not experience anything different than what's already going on. I mean, the police department is active and is doing whatever they can. And the Sheriff's Department actually has been backing up our police department and taking calls. And the biggest difference for the public is they're going to see an officer in a brown uniform versus a blue uniform.

CATHY WURZER: Now, I don't know if you're a native of Morris, Minnesota. Obviously, you're the mayor. So I mean, how does it feel personally to know that after, what, more than 140 years, Morris won't have its own police department.

SHELDON GIESE: Yeah. That's really tough. I've been mayor for-- this is my 16th year. I've been on the council for 21. This is, I think, our toughest decision that I've had to be involved in. None of us on the council took this lightly. It is a major decision. As I'm sure you know, one of our council members voted against contracting with the Sheriff's Department. And I understand his reasoning. And I go along with his reasoning. But I felt that we had to move forward.

The last thing I wanted to do is hamper what we have left of the police department and hurt the Sheriff's Department in the meantime because of lack of funding and lack of ability to hire more officers to get the job done.

CATHY WURZER: So you did what you had to do.

SHELDON GIESE: Yeah. Basically, that is. That's my thought, is that we did what we had to do. It's happening quite a bit over the state, over the nation. I'm not sure what the answer is, but until there's a better outlook on the police, and the sheriffs, and the law enforcement altogether, I would guess that this just going to continue.

CATHY WURZER: Well, Mayor, I appreciate your time, and we wish you well. Thanks much.

SHELDON GIESE: Yes. Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Morris mayor, Sheldon Giese, has been with us.

CHARLIE ROTH: Well, as a tiny town out in the broken ground. Where the young folks don't hang around too long.

This is Minnesota artist Charlie Roth with his song, Broken Ground. Our Minnesota Music Minute for today. It came to us via fellow musician and Minnesota Now fan who also hails from Western Minnesota, Jim Clark. Jim says Broken Ground is classic Minnesota to him. But Charlie said in an email that ironically, his music has performed best in Europe, where he said the intersect with the interest for Americana is pretty high over there. He toured the UK nine times and Holland three times since this album came out. Thank you for the back story, Charlie. It's a great song.

CHARLIE ROTH: Town in the broken ground. Town in a broken ground.

CATHY WURZER: You know, it's been 20 years since 20-year-old Josh Guimond disappeared from the campus of St. John's University near Collegeville Minnesota. On November the 9th, 2002, Josh had been playing cards and drinking with friends at an on campus apartment. He started walking home around midnight, and he was never seen again.

Now, a new podcast from Josh Newville, a local civil rights lawyer, claims to be turning up new leads in the long, unsolved case. The podcast is called Simply Vanished.

REPORTER 1: A student at a Minnesota Catholic college vanished in the middle of the night.

REPORTER 2: A popular college student who simply vanished.

REPORTER 3: A standout student, the 20-year-old had a bright future ahead.

REPORTER 4: Class president of his maple Lake High school, voted most likely to succeed by his peers, and planning for a future in politics and law.

JOSH NEWVILLE: From Trembling Leaf Media in Minneapolis, this is Simply Vanished.

CATHY WURZER: Joining us right now is Josh Newville. Josh, welcome to Minnesota Now.

JOSH NEWVILLE: Hi, Cathy. Thank you so much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for being here. I am really curious about what got you interested in this case.

JOSH NEWVILLE: You know, I really identify with Josh Guimond. We were about the same age. We had similar interests. I was my class president and voted most likely to succeed and so was Josh. And we both were into politics and poli science and then went on to go on to law school. And he just really, I felt very similar. And I couldn't fathom how he had been gone for so long. And there just hadn't been any explanation, I mean, really any real leads at all in so many years. So I just started digging.

CATHY WURZER: I'm assuming you've been in touch with the Guimond family. What did you have to do to gain their trust to tell their story?

JOSH NEWVILLE: Yeah. Well, for me, I'm going to be doing multiple seasons of this podcast. And the first season is focused on Josh's case. But one driving principle here is that I don't want to investigate a case without the family's consent. And so I did take some time on the front end to introduce myself, and to get to know them, and work with them in terms of getting material, investigative material and kind of get pointed in the right direction. And it's been really nice getting to not just his mom and dad, but his extended family. Driving all over Minnesota and understanding who Josh was largely by getting to know them and hearing their stories. It's been great.

CATHY WURZER: It's been about 20 years since I've talked to Josh's family after he disappeared. How are they doing?

JOSH NEWVILLE: Well, you know, I think each of them sort of have handled the last 20 years and handle each ongoing day slightly differently. It's tough. You lose your only child. I can't even imagine what it's like. And I'm just so impressed with how they've persevered. It's tough for them though. They've really been desperate for answers for a long time.

CATHY WURZER: Like Jacob Wetterling before him, there have been many individuals, both amateur and professional, who have tried to solve this case over the past 20 years. What's a bit different from your investigation?

JOSH NEWVILLE: I think that the biggest difference in this case is just the lack of leads and the lack of really any real information. The public has known so little about Josh's case and what may have happened to him in 20 years. We've only released now three, four, depending on how you count them, episodes. And we've already, just in the first episode alone, released way more information than the public has ever known about Josh's case. And so that's the big piece I think, is just the lack of publicly known information previously.

CATHY WURZER: For folks who may remember this story, the theory was that Josh drowned. That there is a pond, a lake on campus. And you found that not to be true.

JOSH NEWVILLE: Well, not only have I found that to be extremely unlikely, but even investigators at this point are acknowledging that that is unlikely and haven't been pursuing that direction in a long time. Frankly, there wasn't really a lot of good evidence for it other than the fact that there had been some other drownings in both Minnesota and other parts of the country. And that's not really great evidence. So there are other leads that do have really solid evidence, and that's what we're really focused on right now.

CATHY WURZER: Are you focused on any specific theory?

JOSH NEWVILLE: Well, two theories that we are heavily pursuing at the moment. The first that we've already discussed on the podcast is there were a series of attacks and stockings, attempted abductions of college men in the area, not just in November of 2002, the same month that Josh went missing, but really in the years surrounding that as well.

And so we are continuing to receive leads related to this theory. I received frankly a pretty bombshell lead last night that I am currently working on running down and figuring out how to pursue that. But it does seem much more likely than we I think we previously thought that this may have been an abduction. And that's quite frightening. It's kind of the stuff of your nightmares frankly.

CATHY WURZER: Have you been in touch with the Stearns County Sheriff's Office?

JOSH NEWVILLE: Oh, gosh. Yes. Prior to launching the podcast, that was another thing that was important to me. I want to collaborate as much as possible. And I want to make sure I'm not interfering in the official investigation. In fact, our primary goal is to help advance the official investigation and to also, sort of corollary to that, bring attention to Josh's case.

And so I am certainly in touch with them. I've sat down and provided them a ton of information in terms of both my findings. And then I've been working with another guy named Justin Thole who's an independent filmmaker, and he's been investigating the case too. And so we really teamed up, and both of us have presented our findings to investigators. And honestly, they've been pretty great to deal with.

CATHY WURZER: What's your opinion of the work done so far by the Stearns County Sheriff's Office? Was something amiss at the beginning? Did they not take it seriously? Why are we to this point?

JOSH NEWVILLE: I have made a very conscious effort to keep this podcast focused on finding Josh. And so I think there's some good, very legitimate criticism of the early work of Stearns County Sheriff's Office. I don't think it's really relevant to our current goal of finding Josh. And so I'm trying to stay focused on finding him and working with the new investigators now in a collaborative way.

CATHY WURZER: So I understand there was a letter to the editor in the St. Joseph, Minnesota newspaper, hometown of Jacob Wetterling, where Jacob's mom Patty wrote about a renewed call for finding Josh and mentioned your podcast by name. Have you been in touch with the Wetterlings?

JOSH NEWVILLE: You know, I've talked with Patty. Yes, she is phenomenal. I am blown away at how much empathy and continued involvement she has despite everything she and her family have been through over the years.

CATHY WURZER: You know, with your efforts, I'm thinking about Jodi Huisentrit, another Minnesota native who was an Iowa TV anchor who disappeared while on her way to work. She's never been found. There are independent efforts to sift through leads, and billboards are up, and those working on the case have been quite vocal. What are you hoping your podcast does for the Guimond case?

JOSH NEWVILLE: I've certainly been inspired by the work of the Find Jodi team. Caroline Lowe is another person I've taken advice from. She's amazing as well. And I would like to do something similar in the sense that I'd like to present the evidence, present the information in a way that isn't really putting a thumb on it.

I'm not trying to advocate or trying to convince anyone that a particular thing happened. I'm really just trying to get all the information out there to, so that the public can really help detectives move this case forward. We are digging in doing a lot of investigative work ourselves, but then figuring out strategically what information to push out and how to get feedback from the public on various leads that we're working on.

I mentioned the abduction theory. There are others. And the second really big one is that Josh may have met up with someone that night. We have decent evidence to suggest that is a strong possibility. And so as we continue to explore these various leads, we're going to continue to ask the public for help. But first, we're going to give them information to help them help us.

CATHY WURZER: If there's a perpetrator in this case, do you think that person is still around?

JOSH NEWVILLE: I do. Yes.

CATHY WURZER: Do you have a good idea of who that might be?

JOSH NEWVILLE: If it's OK with you, I'd rather not comment on that at the moment.

CATHY WURZER: Sure.

JOSH NEWVILLE: This is an active and ongoing investigation, and I want to respect in the investigators as well.

CATHY WURZER: You mentioned that you're working on Josh's case. Will there be other cases do you think?

JOSH NEWVILLE: Oh, definitely. So this is our first season. I very much would like to see this case closed. However, we will move on to a second season at some point. I will never close out a season though until the person has been found. And so I want to do it right. So we're not going to be producing episodes all the time and seasons constantly. But we will try to help out in other cases after this one.

CATHY WURZER: I wish you well, Josh. Thank you for your work. We'll see what happens obviously. We'll keep listening.

JOSH NEWVILLE: Wonderful. Thank you very much. And I just want to thank the public for all the tips we've already received. We're just making tremendous progress, and we've barely begun.

CATHY WURZER: Josh Newville is a Twin Cities civil rights lawyer and the creator of the podcast, Simply Vanished.

AD PRESENTER: Programming is supported by Carlson Capital Management, an integrated wealth management firm offering clients a disciplined investment approach and financial planning to help weather market volatility. Connect with the fiduciary advisor at carlsoncap.com.

CATHY WURZER: Last week, we talked about the new state law that allows the sale of THC edibles and THC-infused beverages. Because there isn't a lot of state guidance regarding who can sell the edibles, a number of Minnesota cities are temporarily banning them. St. Joseph and Marshall approved moratoriums that stop the manufacturing and sales of hemp-derived edibles. Stillwater officials implemented a one year moratorium last year. Waite Park and Pryor Lake are also considering moratoriums. We talked to the lead counsel for the League of Minnesota Cities last week about this. You can check out our conversation by getting the Minnesota Now podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

And I am so glad that the Star Tribune has created a list of the most charming lake towns in the state. It's nice to see Nisswa on the list, a classic lake town, including the Wednesday afternoon turtle races downtown. You've ever seen that? You've got to go up if you've never seen turtle races.

Bemidji is on that list, Detroit Lakes, Alexandria. But the queen of quaint lake towns is on the greatest of all the lakes, Lake Superior. Grand Marais made the list. Good for Grand Marais. Coming up next, a look at the news. Here's John Wanamaker. John.

JOHN WANAMAKER: Cathy, Britain's record-breaking heat wave has created wildfires and on Tuesday, created the busiest day for London firefighters since the bombings of World War II. The country got a break Wednesday from the dry hot weather as cooler air moved in from the west. The country hit a record high of over 104 degrees Fahrenheit Tuesday in Eastern England. Despite a break in the heat, travel was disrupted for a third day as rail operators repaired damage, and firefighters mopped up hot spots at the scene of Tuesday's fires.

Democrat Elaine Luria of Virginia and Republican Adam Kinzinger of Illinois will lead questioning in the closing summer hearing of the House's January 6 committee tomorrow night. The two are from different parties but agree emphatically that the investigation into the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol is worth sacrificing their political careers. Kinzinger has already decided not to seek re-election after facing the prospect of taking on another Republican incumbent in a newly drawn district.

Uvalde's top school official has recommended the firing of the school district police chief who was central to the botched law enforcement response to the shooting nearly two months ago that killed two teachers and 19 students. The Uvalde school board announced Wednesday that it will consider firing Chief Pete Arredondo. At a special meeting Saturday, Arredondo has been accused by state officials of making several critical mistakes during the May 24th mass shooting at Robb Elementary School.

High diesel prices are driving up the cost of pretty much everything from groceries, to Amazon orders, to furniture. Truckers are turning down hauling jobs in the states with the most expensive diesel. They're choosing lighter loads, and in some cases, working longer hours to make up for the money lost on fuel.

Farmers harvesting hay and planting corn with diesel fire tractors are also taking a hit, amounting in some cases to thousands of per week. Many of these high costs are being passed down to consumers. On Wall Street, stocks are mixed right now. The Dow off just under 1/10 of 1%. The S&P up one quarter of 1%. The NASDAQ up just over 1%. This is MPR News.

CATHY WURZER: Thank you, John. 12:29. You think it's hot here? Well, try the record breaking 104 degrees in Eastern England. Sizzling weather there and nearly everywhere is a concern thanks to climate change. Here with more on the weather is MPR's chief meteorologist, Paul Huttner. Welcome back, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, great to talk with you as always, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. I was talking to my cousins in Austria early this morning. And they just cannot get over the heat wave that's in Europe. I'm kind of curious. What records were set not only in the UK, but elsewhere in Europe?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. There were a lot. You mentioned 104 at London Heathrow Airport. That's the all time UK heat record temperature. And 29 other cities by the way in the UK also set their all time records. Dozens of locations in the rest of Europe set all time highs. Talking Spain, Portugal, many countries. And Cathy, those records weren't just broken by a little bit. They were smashed by 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a lot with climate records. And we're over 1,000 deaths and counting in parts of Spain and Portugal.

And you mentioned climate change. You know, here's the bottom line on climate change and heat waves in the context of climate change. The big picture is pretty simple. When you change the chemistry of the atmosphere like we have by pumping more carbon dioxide in faster in the last 150 years than in what scientists think is three million years, you change the physical response of the atmosphere.

So it's easier to get to these extreme heat events. There's a couple of good analogies I like. It's like moving the climate goalpost toward these events. Think of a football analogy, where they get the ball on the 35-yard line after a kickoff. Well, this is now our new climate, like the ball's on the 50. And it's easier to get to that far end zone.

Another one I like, the wet weather dice are loaded. Instead of having a one through six, you take off the one. You put on a second six. So you roll the dice for daily weather, you're still getting two, three, four, five a lot, but there's a much higher chance you're going to hit six and get these extreme weather events, Cathy. So climate change is making the extreme cold less likely and these extreme heat events far more likely. And their frequency, intensity, and duration is increasing.

CATHY WURZER: I am wondering here about our weather, what we're seeing here when it comes to the number of 90-degree days in Minnesota. Have we surpassed what we normally have at this point of the summer?

PAUL HUTTNER: We're right on average for the year. We've got lots of worser weather this year. You're getting your share for sure. 91 yesterday, Cathy. That was day 13 at Twin Cities Airport at or above 90. And we still have half the summer ahead. So we're at average. 13 is an average for the entire year. We're there already. We still have about half of meteorological summer ahead. So very interesting. We had two in May, eight in June, and three so far in July in terms of 90-degree days. Our next chance is Friday.

CATHY WURZER: Well, joy I guess. But I mean, that's also just a climate signature, right? I mean, the fact that we are hotter, we are hotter too.

PAUL HUTTNER: In Minnesota, it's really been our winters that have warmed more significantly than our summers. That's kind of interesting. I think Lake Superior might have something to do with that in the upper midwest. And also the heavier rainfall localized. Those have been the two biggest climate signals in Minnesota.

CATHY WURZER: I'm getting a little worried about the dry weather. Should I be?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. I think you should be, especially for parts of Minnesota. You know, first of all, we've got some relief with the forecast here in terms of humidity. It's 85 now with that dew point 57. That's comfortable in the Twin Cities. That's down from low 70s last evening. So we're in the 80s today, tomorrow. Again, low 90s Friday, and 80s it looks like for the weekend. Chance of rain Friday, Saturday.

But it doesn't look widespread, Cathy. And as you pointed out, many areas of Minnesota are getting dry, especially from the Twin Cities, kind of west through the Highway 212, 7, and Highway 12 corridors. That area is about 2 to 5 inches below average on rainfall over the past 60 days here during the growing season. It's been wetter in Southern Minnesota. They got some really good rains from I-94, also from Fargo, north of I-94 towards Saint Cloud and Little Falls the last few days. So that's been beneficial.

But we're in moderate drought in the southeast half of the Twin Cities. Pre-drought kind of abnormally dry in that area west and northwest of the Twin Cities. So yeah, we're concerned. We'd like to get some more rain in here. And right now, the only chances I see look spotty and on Friday. And just one quick thing, Cathy, before we go because I travel up north a lot. And I did that again the end of last month. And I thought of you when I was up there. And so I brought you back a little surprise. Take a listen.

Hey Z, it's Paul Huttner here up on the shore of Lake Superior, est of Grand Marais a little bit on a beautiful stony, rocky beach. Blue sky, a few puffy white cumulus clouds. 77 degrees. A glorious late June day. And I just thought you and our Minnesota Now audience might enjoy a little moment of zen with some waves on Lake Superior. Enjoy.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, I so love that sound. I so love that sound. Thank you, Paul Huttner. That was lovely.

PAUL HUTTNER: You are welcome. I know you love that big lake. We are so lucky to have it as a resource. So I just thought I'd bring you back a little audio zen stuff.

CATHY WURZER: I appreciate it. I needed that today too, my friend. Thank you. We'll talk to you again this afternoon with Tom Crann.

PAUL HUTTNER: Sounds good. Thanks.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks, Paul. Paul Huttner is MPR's chief meteorologist.

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CATHY WURZER: 12:40 here on Minnesota Now. I'm Kathy Wurzer. Today, Minnesota Chippewa tribal officials are counting the votes in a referendum that could dramatically change who can be an enrolled member of the tribe. The tribe includes six native bands. Mille Lacs, Leech Lake, White Earth, Bois Forte, Grand Portage, and Fond Du Lac. MPR reporter Dan Kraker has been following the story. He's here to give us some details. Hey, Dan.

DAN KRAKER: Hey, Cathy, good to be here.

CATHY WURZER: Likewise. I'm glad you're here. This is a fascinating story, but a little esoteric to many people. What drew you to this story?

DAN KRAKER: Well, I've covered Native American issues up here for several years now. And it's always struck me when I've interviewed people for stories, and I asked them what band they're a member of. And so often, people have answered, well, I'm a descendant of such and such a band. And it's always struck me as this kind of artificial distinction when these people are often so deeply connected to the tribal communities that I'm reporting on. So I've always been interested in exploring that. And then with this vote occurring now within the tribe, it just seemed like the perfect opportunity.

CATHY WURZER: Now you had a report that aired this morning on Morning Edition. I want folks to take a listen to that. And then it kind of sets it up for us. Let's listen.

DAN KRAKER: Like a lot of Americans, Sara Agaton Howes' family is, as she puts it, mixed from all over the place. Her mom's family is from Norway. Her dad is a member of the Fond Du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa and so is she. But she also has relatives from the Red Cliff and Bad River Ojibwe bands in Wisconsin and the Muscogee Nation in Oklahoma. And her husband is Filipino.

SARA AGATON HOWES: And so my kids can't be enrolled here. And so what that means for them is that even though they're raised here, they grow up in our culture, that they aren't going to be able to vote or feel a part of our community in the same way.

DAN KRAKER: Tribal members have cards that show their certified degree of Indian blood. Howes is 25%. But because her kids dad is non-native, they have only 1/8 Minnesota Chippewa tribe blood. So they can't be enrolled tribal members.

SARA AGATON HOWES: Our family, our kids have clans. They have names. And so I know who they are. And they know who they are. And the only one that doesn't know who they are is the enrollment office.

DAN KRAKER: Blood quantum is a relatively new idea, a race-based policy imposed by the federal government. Beginning in the 1930s, the government pressured many tribes into adopting tribal constitutions including blood quantum to decide membership. In Minnesota it was used by White settlers to acquire tribal land. Federal law only allowed Native people who had, quote unquote, mixed blood to sell their land.

Jill Doerfler, chair of the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth, wrote a book on blood quantum. She says it's a made up construct. There was no way for federal officials to accurately determine what percentage of Native blood someone had.

JILL DOERFLER: So they did some scratch tests on people's chests.

DAN KRAKER: In which they would look at the color of someone's skin after they scratched it.

JILL DOERFLER: They took some hair samples. They did some head measurements. That was the basis for blood quantum. And then later, even judges would sort of see people before them and say, yes, mixed blood. No, full blood.

DAN KRAKER: Under pressure from the federal government, the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe adopted the 25% blood quantum in the early 1960s. Since then, the tribe's population has slowly dwindled as tribal members married non-tribal members. Doerfler calls it mathematical termination. Today, out of a total population of around 40,000 among the six bands, fewer than 20% are children.

CATHY CHAVERS: If something isn't done, tribes will eventually be gone. The population could dwindle to the point of non-existence.

DAN KRAKER: Cathy Chavers is chairwoman of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. She's also the current president of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. In early June, the tribe sent out ballots to its roughly 33,000 eligible voters. They asked two questions. Should the tribe eliminate the blood quantum, and should the tribe's six member bands be allowed to determine their own tribal enrollment criteria? The vote is only advisory, but Chavers says it will play a key role in guiding the tribe as it considers reforming its constitution. Chavers says she often hears from tribal members who want their kids and grandkids to also be enrolled.

CATHY CHAVERS: They feel like they're Native. They want to be Native. Their heart says they're Native, but the blood quantum says they're not.

DAN KRAKER: But she says members of some tribes that distribute Casino revenues to tribal citizens through monthly per capita payments don't want enrollment expanded. And more tribal members could stretch already limited resources even further.

CATHY CHAVERS: It'll take away some of the services because more tribal members may be eligible for services, but we don't get increases in funding.

DAN KRAKER: According to Sarah Howes from the Fond Du Lac band, it's a painful argument that divides families.

SARAH HOWES: My thing is like I think what would our ancestors think of us if they were looking at us and we're saying, oh, we don't include these kids because we're worried about our $400. I mean, I think they would be ashamed of us.

DAN KRAKER: Howes says she would gladly return her per capita payments if it meant her kids could harvest wild rice, spear fish, and exercise treaty rights that her ancestors secured for future generations. Dan Kraker, MPR News, Duluth.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. So interesting. So OK, Dan, I'm curious. Her kids can't do any of the traditional activities that are open to tribal members. Is that right?

DAN KRAKER: Yeah. So when it comes to something like spearing or netting fish as part of tribe's treaty rights, so those were reserved and treaties fought for in the courts. But that's only open to enrolled tribal members, not to descendants of a tribe.

CATHY WURZER: Seems like a really high cost.

DAN KRAKER: Yeah. I talked with several folks who expressed real hurt over these rules. So one person I want you to meet is Melissa Walls. She's a descendant of the Bois Forte band of Ojibwe. She's not officially a member because she doesn't meet the blood quantum requirements. And here's what she has to say about how it affects her.

MELISSA WALLS: What I feel personally as a non-enrolled descendant who should be enrolled based on our family's story, not based on the government story, is left out. I feel sometimes shameful and ashamed that I'm not an enrolled person. I will have to correct elders in my own community when they say she's our band member. And I have to say, actually, I'm not enrolled. And correct them multiple times, and they keep saying it.

I will have community members introduce me to others as a band member. And I have to correct-- and it's horrible. It puts me back into being a little girl being treated like somebody who didn't belong. And it really hurts. I have told people I don't care about any benefits that White people think we're going to get if I get enrolled or that other community members think I might get. Keep the benefits. Just make me a member because I want to fully belong.

CATHY WURZER: I know, Dan, that the conversation about changing blood quantum rules has been going on for a while, and not every tribal member wants to change the rules. So what's the argument to keep things the way they are?

DAN KRAKER: Yeah. That's a good question. To help answer that, I talked with Jill Doerfler. And she chairs the American Indian Studies Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She's also written a book on blood quantum. And she's a descendant of the White Earth nation. And here's what she had to say.

JILL DOERFLER: Some people have made choices in their life very specifically for blood quantum, and they might feel some resentment for people who haven't made those choices. And then they say, oh, well, now we're going to let these other people in, whereas I very carefully calculated my blood quantum and calculated the blood quantum of the person I chose to have a child with. There's lots of people who have done that, they did the math.

But I think for a lot of people today, unfortunately, there is an association with resources. The concern is that tribes who have limited resources, say, we already have a wait list on housing. If we change enrollment, what's going to happen?

CATHY WURZER: So Dan, there was the referendum. And they're counting the votes today. What happens when the results come in?

DAN KRAKER: Right. So again, this is an advisory vote. It's meant to guide the tribe as they decide how to move forward. So officials are going to count the ballots today, likely tomorrow as well. Then the tribe's Constitution Reform Committee will prepare a report that's going to be given to the Tribal Executive Committee. But tribal president Cathy Chavers told me that probably won't happen until their next meeting in October. So it could be a while before we learn the results of the vote and then what action, if any, the tribe takes because of it.

CATHY WURZER: And you'll be following the story.

DAN KRAKER: I will be.

CATHY WURZER: All right, Dan. Good job. Thank you so much.

DAN KRAKER: Appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Dan Kraker is our reporter based in Duluth. Now, I'll add here that the Red Lake Nation is an Ojibwe band in Minnesota, but not part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. In 2019, they changed their blood quantum rules. It was pretty controversial too. Many opposed it. As a result, more than 1,000 descendants applied to become official tribal citizens at Red Lake.

Glad you're with us here on Minnesota Now from MPR News. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Minnesota Aurora women's soccer team is wrapping up their remarkable first ever season this week. And so far, they are undefeated. And they're playing for the championship. The championship game will be Saturday against Tormenta FC based out of Georgia.

Nicole Lukic is coach of the new team. She joins us right now. She also just won the USL Women's League Coach of the Year Award. Coach Nicole, welcome and congratulations.

NICOLE LUKIC: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on again.

CATHY WURZER: Let's talk about for a few minutes. The team is gelling nicely. What's your role in creating the atmosphere that's leading to success?

NICOLE LUKIC: Honestly, it's really just giving women the freedom to be themselves and creating a safe space, an environment where they can do that.

CATHY WURZER: To be a teacher and a coach is certainly a teacher. To be a teacher, one must also be a student. And I'm curious, as a coach, how much self-improvement do you do to be a top coach?

NICOLE LUKIC: A lot goes into coaching probably more than people think. Most recently, I just finished my US Soccer A license this past summer, which was about an 11-month course and probably more work than my master's degree was. So coaches are always trying to improve themselves and be the best version of themselves that they can be for their players.

CATHY WURZER: Let's talk about the team. When you and I talked, oh, gosh, before the first game I believe. You knew. You said you had the beginnings of this team. You thought, there could be something here. As I say, you were starting to gel. You were kind of wondering where this was going to go. And really no one expected this first year pre-professional women's team to raise as much money as you did to get started. You're consistently selling out the Vikings Training Center Stadium. There's supports from fans. How would you describe this opening season for the Aurora?

NICOLE LUKIC: It's really been a dream come true. So many people have put so much time and energy into Minnesota Aurora and making it what it is today. And for us to be able to get the results on the field as well and drive more people into the stadium to watch us play, it's just honestly been a dream. And if we can finish it off and win this game on Saturday, it truly is a dream come true.

CATHY WURZER: I know you're busy on the sidelines coaching. But I'm curious, what does it feel like from the sidelines when it comes to the fan support and the energy in the stadium?

NICOLE LUKIC: It's incredible. It's unmatched. Ever since the first home game, you kind of have to pinch yourself and remind yourself you're not a professional coach. You're a pre-professional coach who's living in this environment that feels so professional. Our fans are just incredible. They have chants for our players. They really drive the energy. Our players feed off of it. We look forward to playing in front of the fans at every opportunity that we've gotten. And so to be able to earn this championship game at home, it just means so much to us. And we're excited to share it with the community on Saturday.

CATHY WURZER: How are your players feeling going into the final match of the season and the championship no less?

NICOLE LUKIC: They're excited. We've been talking about July 23rd since we met them in January and February and March. And talking about getting to this moment. So for it to finally be here, we're prepared. We're ready. And we're going to do the best that we can.

CATHY WURZER: So when you and I first talked, we were talking about some of the folks that were going to be the anchors on the team. Did that turn out to be the case, or were there some surprise anchors for the team, surprise leaders?

NICOLE LUKIC: You'd probably have to remind me what I said. But to be honest, every single player on this team has had an incredible role in building us and who we are today. We've gotten to play every single player on the field, which can't be said by every team. So that's really special. We've had over 13 goal scorers on the team. We're not just relying on one player to get the job done. Our defense has been incredible.

Sarah Fuller in the net has secured shutouts. And we have four goalkeepers on the team. And all four of them have earned respectable minutes in different moments of the season. So everyone's really doing their part. And we're super proud of every single player on this team.

CATHY WURZER: I know you're concentrating on the championship game. But I'm kind of curious, do you think the team will look about the same next season?

NICOLE LUKIC: Probably not, to be honest. We always hope to return as many players as we can, especially with such a incredibly successful year. But we have a lot of players on this team that have big goals of playing professional. So we're a stepping stone for them. And we hope that we can help them get to that next level of where they want to be.

CATHY WURZER: So the offseason will be pretty busy I'm assuming, huh?

NICOLE LUKIC: The work is never done. I mean, we've built an incredible foundation here in year one. And now, we have to go back and work even harder to try to raise the bar for year two. So how can fans that are so rabid about the Aurora, when you're offseason, can they keep up with the team? How can they do that? Any other women's soccer they should follow while Aurora is offseason perhaps?

NICOLE LUKIC: Oh, definitely. Majority of our players play NCAA collegiate soccer in the fall. So they could follow their favorite player and watch their games in person. A lot of college games these days are live streamed. And I'm sure our social media team will be doing a good job of I'm putting out there where everyone's playing, and what their games are, and things like that.

CATHY WURZER: I should say that the Aurora games have streamed on major sports outlets, which is fantastic. Have you gained unexpected fans because of that?

NICOLE LUKIC: I think so. Just sports in general. Anytime you have a platform, your reach is just so much wider. So for our games to be on TV and to be streamed. And we have community owners in 48 states, eight different countries. I like to think that Aurora is being watched all over the place.

CATHY WURZER: And before you go, so you are trying to get your team to where they need to be for this championship, to get their heads and everything in the right direction. How are you preparing yourself for this championship game as head coach?

NICOLE LUKIC: I'm just taking one day at a time. And we've done a good job of having that be our mindset up until this point. So I'm not going to change it now. Just making sure we're doing the right things and training every day leading up to the championship. Making sure we're doing the right things, scouting gameplan-wise. Getting players healthy. So continuing to stay the course from the rest of the season. And hopefully, we can finish it out.

CATHY WURZER: I wish you well. I hope you can win and bring the championship back home for-- what an inaugural season that will be to cap that off if that happens. Good luck.

NICOLE LUKIC: Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Nicole Lukic has been with us. She is the coach of the Aurora, the Minnesota Aurora women's pre-professional soccer team. She's also the USL Women's League Coach of the Yeah. Congratulations. And while we're talking soccer, you probably know this if you're a Minnesota United fan. They're playing an exhibition game against a team from England tonight. The Loons are hosting the English Premier League's Everton in St. Paul. Loons coach Adrian Heath played six seasons for Everton, helping the team win the two first division titles. They'll resume MLS play on Saturday against Houston.

It is, well, another kind of crispy day with temperatures in the 80s. 86 in the Twin Cities. 79 in Worthington. It's quite windy too. Sunny, but windy. Winds around 25, 30, 35, 40 miles an hour. Windy day today. It's going to be dry too. We'll check your local forecast. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now here on MPR news.

Support for Minnesota Now comes from TruStone Financial Credit Union, dedicated to giving back to the community since 1939. Full service banking is available at 23 locations and online at trustone.org. TruStone is an equal housing opportunity lender insured by NCUA. I mentioned it's 86 degrees here at MPR News 91.1 KNOW Minneapolis, St. Paul.

Well, we're going to top out at around 88 or so. So not as hot today. But if you do like sweaty weather, hang on because it'll return on Friday. And the best chance of rain comes over the weekend too. Saturday according to our meteorologists Paul Huttner, Sven Sundgaard. So 88 for a high today. Windy, clear overnight. A low of 68. Tomorrow's high 88. Friday, we get to that lower 90 reading. A little more humid on Friday too.