Boom Island Park is now the home of a new temporary art exhibit by Franco-Swiss artist Saype called “Beyond Walls.” Saype has painted the massive mural of linked hands in 22 countries, but this is the first time his work is in the U.S. The project debuted Friday afternoon.

The artist said he decided to pick Minneapolis for the project during the federal immigration enforcement surge after seeing neighbors helping each other.

“In the recent events in Minneapolis, even in Europe, we spoke a lot of the recent events this winter and before. I think it’s really revealing of the fracture of the society still going on in the U.S.,” he said. “My project is to connect people more than to divide. So, I thought maybe it’s a great place to start this project for this reason.”

Saype started the mural on Monday. Since beginning, he said he’s felt very welcomed by the people of Minneapolis, with some even bringing him lunch or coffee to express their gratitude.

“I got chills when I speak with the people, some people cry, so it’s very moving and honestly I’m so happy, grateful that people welcome me like that,” he said. “I feel at my right place on Earth today.”

There are celebrations 3 to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday for the opening of the mural with a speech by Saype, a food truck, music and drone photography capturing the art. Guests will also be invited to link arms around the mural at 4 p.m. both days.

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Prince fans can celebrate his life and music this weekend on what would have been his 68th birthday.

The weeklong celebration, culminating on Prince’s June 7 birthday, will include performances, block parties and more to recognize the 10th anniversary of his 2016 death.

Organizers said to come ready to sing — and bring their best purple and sequins. Here’s how you can party like it’s 1999.

Friday

Prince Celebration of Life 10th Year Anniversary Concert

NPG and The Revolution with performers Bilal, Tevin Campbell, Morris Day, Miguel and Kat Graham will perform 8 p.m. at The Armory in Minneapolis. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Tickets start at $94.10. Find more information at The Armory website.

Saturday

Prince’s Downtown walking tour

Join SoundAround's Kristen Zschomler and Sarah Lee on a walking tour of Prince places in downtown Minneapolis.

Learn the in-depth histories, fun stories and deep connections between Prince, the place he called home for most of his life and where his star went supernova. Tickets are limited.

Prince Celebration Block Party and Sing-Along

The block party begins at 2 p.m., with the Sing-Along scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Prince Mural at 101 North 9th St. in Minneapolis.

A 100-voice community choir will sing Prince’s biggest hits, led by musical director Sanford Moore of jazz ensemble Moore By Four.

All ages are welcome and the event is free to attend. The event is hosted by Paisley Park and the City of Minneapolis.

Find more at Paisley Park website.

Let’s Glow Crazy: A Prince-Inspired Candle Making Experience

Inspired by the energy, music, style and cultural impact of Prince, "Let’s Glow Crazy" is an immersive experience from 3 p.m. to 5p.m. at The W Foshay in downtown Minneapolis.

The event includes a soundtrack showdown competition, candle pouring ritual, specialty cocktails and curated bites.

Tickets for the Gold Experience are still available, other levels are currently sold out. Find more information at the Kobi Co. website.

Block Party Celebration with DJ Jake Rudh and DJ Miss Brit

Doors at First Avenue open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are limited and are on sale at the First Avenue website.

Dr. Mambo’s Combo - Forever in my life: A Birthday Tribute to Prince

“Forever In My Life: A Birthday Tribute to Prince” features a diverse collection of songs across the many eras and styles of Prince, including his work with The Revolution and The New Power Generation, as well as songs he wrote for other artists.

The performance is at the Parkway Theater. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the show starting at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door. Find tickets and more information at The Parkway Theater website.

The current band lineup features Julius Collins and Monique Blakey on lead vocals; Sonny Thompson on bass; Brian Ziemniak on keys; Geoff LeCrone on guitar; and Peter Suttman on drums.

Sunday

The People’s Museum for Prince - Opening Day

Opening on Prince’s birthday, the People’s Museum for Prince will honor him through an experimental museum experience featuring your stories and art.

The museum opens across two north Minneapolis venues, a special southside satellite exhibition and presentation at the University of Minnesota.

Learn more about the exhibit, including a free walking tour at noon. All exhibitions and events are open and free to the public.

Exhibitions will be open through June 27. Learn more at the museum website.

All weekend and beyond

Latest Prince album release

As part of Minneapolis’ celebration of Prince's birthday, the musician's estate announced a new compilation record on Thursday featuring 10 songs from his vault.

The record “Timeless” is out at the end of August. One of those songs, “Stone,” was released as a single with the announcement.

Read Prince books

A wide collection of published works explores Prince’s life and work. If you’re more of a book worm, check out some of these titles to discover more.

• “Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years” by music journalist Andrea Swensson

• “The Beautiful Ones” by Prince, published posthumously with work by editor Dan Piepenbring.

• “Prince: A Private View” by photographer Afshin Shahidi

• “This Thing Called Life: Prince’s Odyssey On and Off the Record” by Neal Karlen

The Department of Homeland Security has posted a proposed contract for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use a private prison facility in western Minnesota to hold up to 1,600 immigrant detainees.

The contract was posted on Thursday by the General Services Administration. It says the facility is needed to “increase bed capacity to meet the administration’s interior enforcement and border compression goals.”

The former private prison in Appleton is owned by CoreCivic, which operates about 80 detention centers around the country, including almost a dozen that house ICE detainees. The company runs the Dilley Processing Center, where many Minnesota detainees have been sent after their arrests, including 5-year-old Liam Conejo-Ramos and his father.

The contract summary says the company will provide guards, meals, medical care and transportation. It will serve the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations that’s based in the agency’s St. Paul field office. That office covers Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

ICE detainees are currently held at Whipple Federal Building near Fort Snelling or at county jails in Sherburne, Kandiyohi, Crow Wing and Freeborn counties, which contract with the Department of Homeland Security. It’s commonplace for immigrants detained in Minnesota to quickly be transported to detention facilities as far away as Texas or Louisiana.

“This required geographical area is essential for ERO to accomplish its apprehension and detention, and removal mission in the most cost efficient and timely manner,” according to the contract’s description.

Appleton City Manager John Olinger said the city wasn’t aware of imminent plans for the facility. He said the company and federal government don’t need approval from the city because its use is allowed in zoning.

The Washington Post reported last August that the Appleton facility was being considered for an ICE facility as part of the agency’s plans to double the number of people detained. The former private prison was shuttered in 2010.

Detention centers used by ICE have become focal points for protests, including the one operated by CoreCivic in Dilley, Tex. Federal agents and state police have used chemical munitions and violence on protesters and journalists at a detention center in New Jersey, Immigrants at some detention centers have also protested unhealthy conditions and launched hunger strikes.

The 148-page document is what’s known as a performance work statement, which outlines how a contractor can fulfill a project. It would require CoreCivic to immediately notify ICE about serious incidents including “group demonstrations, food boycotts, work strikes [or] civil disturbances/protests,” as well as any use of force by staff. It also requires the contractor to install security devices on the facility’s perimeter, including fencing “engineered to withstand attempts at cutting, climbing or breaching.”

Detainees at the facility could include both men and women in different security levels. The contractor may also be responsible for transporting “juveniles and family units.”

CoreCivic is continuing to market the property to the government but has no announcements right now, said Ryan Gustin, senior director of public affairs.

“Out of respect for government officials who may have visited or expressed interest in the facility, we suggest that you contact those agencies directly,” Gustin said in an email response to MPR News. ICE did not respond to questions about the facility.

CoreCivic’s website currently lists open positions at the Appleton site for chief of security, chief of unit management and assistant warden.

This is a developing story. Check back for further updates.

“I’m having so much fun!” exclaimed Celeste Moore on a recent May morning as she hiked a section of the Superior Hiking Trail that winds through a lush forest and over rushing creeks that tumble down the steep hillside in western Duluth near Spirit Mountain.

She had driven north from the Twin Cities with her mom, Cynthia Martinson, for a guided hike on the trail with a naturalist.

Martinson marveled at spring ephemeral flowers, bright white trilliums and anemones that blanketed the forest floor. For a few short weeks, they were taking advantage of the lack of forest canopy to soak up the sun.

"This is such an accomplishment,” Martinson said of the trail. The 83-year-old is an avid hiker who has walked a stretch of the Appalachian Trail and several parts of the Superior.

“It's Minnesota, it's home. It's wonderful, and we're so lucky to have this."

The rugged trail spans more than 300 miles atop the steep ridgeline along Lake Superior's North Shore, from an overlook north of Hovland, Minn., near the Canadian border, through Duluth to the far southern terminus near Jay Cooke State Park at the Wisconsin border, where it meets the North Country Trail.

Thousands of hikers flock to the Superior Hiking Trail every year, totaling about 400,000 user visits from May through October.

About three quarters of those hikers are day users. But the trail was first conceived as a long through-hiking trail. There are nearly 100 primitive, backcountry campsites along the route.

The idea for the trail was first floated in the 1970s in outdoor recreation plans from the U.S. Forest Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The thinking was, “How can we have our own mini-Appalachian Trail right here?" said Lisa Luokkala, Executive Director of the Two Harbors-based Superior Hiking Trail Association.

“Backpacking was a thing that was trending in outdoor recreation,” Luokkala said. “People were going out on these bigger expeditions” on the Appalachian, Pacific Crest and other major trails.

But the trail didn't get off the ground until 1986, when Lee Schar, a Superior National Forest ranger, wrote a feasibility study for the trail that became its guiding framework. That same year, business and resort owners and other North Shore residents joined with county, state and federal land managers to form the Superior Hiking Trail Association to oversee its development.

Trail construction began in earnest the following year when the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources kicked in nearly $400,000.

By 1989, 100 miles of the trail were complete, marked with blue blazes on trees along the path. Minnesota and Youth Conservation Corps members constructed many of those early trail miles. Laid-off workers from the taconite plant in Silver Bay were also hired.

"They were just great,” recalled Tricia Ryan, the trail association's first paid director, hired in 1991. “They were a bunch of hard-working Finnish guys who had fun and were very, very skilled at their jobs."

A Minnesota DNR staffer named Tom Peterson laid out much of the trail route, “way back before Google Maps,” said Ryan. He used topographic maps, a compass and pencil to locate prime overlooks along the contour lines.

Then he'd bushwhack through the woods, tying pink ribbons on trees to mark where the trail should be built, linking those spots together. The result is a sometimes rough footpath that climbs up and down steep slopes, connecting scenic vistas of Lake Superior with stunning waterfalls.

"Tom Peterson would come to every board meeting and say the same thing at every single one of them. He'd say, 'That trail section we built last week is the best one yet,'" recalled Rudi Hargesheimer, an early trail association board member who's written two books on the trail.

Hargesheimer would then take the next day off to hike it.

"So my claim to fame — If it's true or not, I don't know — is that I'm the first person to hike 90 percent of the Superior Hiking Trail."

More than 40 miles of trail were added through Duluth’s urban wilderness in the early 2000s. The last section of trail that ends at the Wisconsin border was completed 10 years ago.

But work on a trail like this one is never done, said Luokkala. There's a lot of ongoing maintenance, almost all of which is completed by a small army of 600 volunteers. Last year alone, they donated about 10,000 hours of work.

"If you reflect back on 40 years, thinking of the collective impact and investment of our community in this trail, it's just an astronomical investment and really, truly a gift back to our community,” said Loukkala.

There are other challenges, including maintaining what Luokkala calls the trail’s "Instagram-famous locations" — most notably the trail to the overlook of Bean and Bear lakes above Silver Bay.

Two years ago, crews repaired damage to the trail from severe erosion and years of heavy use.

The trail association is also constantly seeking to protect the scenic beauty that surrounds the trail as the North Shore becomes more and more popular, as well as the current alignment of the trail, which travels across terrain owned by many different private landowners.

"We have some sections as we get further north where we have large sections of trail, that if we were to lose one parcel, one land owner” the cascading effect could affect miles and miles of the trail, explained Luokkala. “It could be pretty crippling.”

To celebrate 40 years of the Superior Hiking Trail on June 6, National Trails Day, organizers are asking hikers to sign up to hike a section of the trail. The goal is to have hikers trod every inch of the more than 300 mile trail.

Birthday parties are scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. at Voyageur Brewing Company in Grand Marais, Bluefin Bay Resort in Tofte, Castle Danger Brewery in Two Harbors, and Ursa Minor Brewing in Duluth.

As part of Minneapolis’ celebration of Prince's birthday, the musician's estate announced a new compilation record on Thursday featuring 10 songs from his vault.

The record "Timeless" is out at the end of August. One of those songs, “Stone,” was released with the announcement as a single.

MPR News host Clay Masters spoke with music journalist Andrea Swensson about the release and what to expect from the upcoming album.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Three Minnesota literary organizations are among the first recipients nationwide of new grants aimed at closing a gap in arts funding.

The Literary Arts Fund announced Thursday that the Loft Literary Center, Graywolf Press and the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop are among 40 recipients that will share $7.7 million.

Traditionally in the arts world, literary arts organizations receive the least philanthropic funding — dramatically so. Of the roughly $5 billion given privately to arts and culture groups in the U.S., only 1.9 percent went to fund literary endeavors in the past five years.

That finding was cited by the Literary Arts Fund, a partnership of seven philanthropic organizations which formed in October 2025 to address that issue.

The grant recipients will receive unrestricted funds for general operations over the next five years.

Arleta Little, executive and artistic director of the Loft, called general operating funds like that “the most critical type of lifeblood support that nonprofit and arts organizations need to pay staff to support programming, especially programs that are not covered by other grant funding or earned revenue.”

The Loft offers workshops and space in downtown Minneapolis that support writers at all levels of their craft. Little said the $300,000 in flexible funding supports their ability to be an “incubator for creatives.”

Another recipient, Graywolf Press in Minneapolis, punches above its weight class as a literary press, publishing fiction and poetry that routinely get nods for national literary awards. Executive Director Carmen Giménez said in a statement that “Graywolf’s nonprofit status allows our editors to acquire and edit books that speak to the human condition while taking creative risks.”

Each organization varies in size, as does their grant. For the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, which offers creative writing classes and support in all adult prisons in the state, the $150,000 grant accounts for five to 10 percent of their operating budget over the next five years, according to Executive Director Mike Alberti.

“There’s still a really high demand for the kind of programming that we provide in Minnesota prisons. Post-COVID, the demand for the pro-social, in-person classes that are really our specialty has just continued to be very high,” Alberti said. “This [funding] will really help us to continue to scale up to meet the demand.”

The funding comes at a challenging time for the arts in general. Organizations that were still rebounding after the COVID shutdown have in some cases lost funding due to disruptions at the National Endowment for the Arts over the past year.

In addition to the seven national foundations that comprise the Literary Arts Fund, the Minnesota-based Jerome Foundation and McKnight Foundation are contributing members to the fund.

Little said she’s been in conversation with local funders to ask whether this national support will cause Minnesota funders to step back.

“I have heard from funders that ... they have no intentions of doing that,” Little said. “I hope that that is true, and that this will be as it is intended to be — something that addresses a gap, not something that supplants existing sources of support.”

Only New York and California had more Literary Arts Fund grant recipients than Minnesota, which was tied with Texas.

Deb Jenkins has lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area for more than 50 years. Through that time, Jenkins has witnessed all the changes this place has gone through. She’s also changed it in more ways than one — as a nurse, chef, and community member. But many may have known her first as a musician.

We talked to Deb about what’s kept her in the Fargo-Moorhead area after all these years and how she’s found new ways to make it a more vibrant place.

She also performed an original song called “Leaves” and a cover of “The Hunter” with her husband Mike on the keyboard for our live Minnesota Now show at the Moorhead Public Library.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

In the heat of late spring in western Minnesota, insects buzz around and green sprouts push up from rich, dark soil. This means it’s go-time for farmers like Noreen Thomas.

Thomas and her family produce vegetables, flowers, grains, eggs and seeds on Doubting Thomas farms near Moorhead. They sell to regional grocers, bakeries, and breweries as well as award-winning restaurants around the country.

The farm also makes space for other producers raising honeybees, grazing cattle and harvesting herbs and Thomas mentors other women in agriculture. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini in front of a live audience at the Moorhead Public Library to talk about her journey into farming and her community-centered approach to agriculture.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Fowzia Adde is the founder and executive director of the Immigrant Development Center in Moorhead. It’s an organization that helps immigrants and refugees navigate everything from higher education to entrepreneurship and small business loans.

Adde is also leading an ambitious effort to create a cultural mall in downtown Moorhead, a project she hopes will become a hub for immigrant-owned businesses and community gathering.

She talked to MPR News host Nina Moini in front of an audience at the Moorhead Public Library about her own experience coming to the United States more than 20 years ago. At that time, she learned that her nursing credentials did not transfer to the professional world in the Red River Valley. That experience sparked her passion to help others settle in the region.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Minnesota Now with Nina Moini recently recorded a program at the brand new Moorhead Public Library. The building is a cornerstone of a downtown that is currently being built up.

Moorhead Mayor Shelly Carlson joined the program in front of a live audience to talk about how the city is looking to distinguish itself and to become a destination.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

Minnesota Now went to Moorhead’s new public library for a special edition of the show. It was recorded in front of a live audience.

MPR News host Nina Moini talked with community leaders from the Fargo-Moorhead area:

Shelly Carlson, Mayor of Moorhead.

Fowzia Adde, an immigrant advocate who is helping newcomers navigate life in the area.

Noreen Thomas, a farmer who’s planting seeds on the land and in her community.

Deb Jenkins, a musician who has witnessed the region evolve and contributed to its vibrancy over the last five decades.

Plus, Tadeo Ruiz-Sandoval and Harshawn Ratanpal shared reporting from Fargo-Moorhead and asked audience members for their takes on life in the region.

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Officials with the Superior National Forest are temporarily banning campfires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, amid ongoing dry conditions in northeast Minnesota.

That order goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and is set to run through June 30. It covers campfires and any stoves or grills fueled by wood or charcoal. BWCAW visitors can still use gas and propane cook stoves — but the Forest Service is asking people to use caution.

“The potential for wildfire is high across… northern Minnesota at this time. It is extremely important that people are careful with any sources of ignition,” the Superior National Forest reported in a news release Thursday.

The temporary campfire ban could be extended if the dry weather continues over the coming weeks — or could be rescinded if there’s plentiful rain.

Similar bans were put in place in the Boundary Waters in 2023, and again in 2024.

Rainfall deficits in recent weeks have increased the fire danger in northeast Minnesota, including the Boundary Waters.

While campfires are still allowed outside the wilderness, the Forest Service asked campers to “consider if the conditions are right and if you need a fire. Be sure to keep your campfire small and put it out cold to the touch whenever you leave it.”

Birch Bay wildfire update

The announcement of the campfire ban came as crews continue working to contain the 35-acre Birch Bay wildfire.

That fire started Monday near the North Arm of Burntside Lake, about eight miles northwest of Ely.

U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday that the fire is now 30 percent contained. About 100 people are working to contain the fire on the ground and from the air.

Several seasonal cabins in the area were evacuated earlier this week, but those evacuation orders were lifted on Thursday.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Antonio Brown's high school journey has been a roller coaster ride. And earlier this year, it looked like the 18-year-old senior at Denfeld High School in Duluth might go off the tracks.

Brown struggled early in high school. He skipped class, and he admits he didn’t apply himself. But as he grew more serious about playing basketball and football, he knew he had to keep his grades up.

“It started to become a pride thing, where, like, ‘Oh, I'm not gonna miss a game because of my grades,’" he said of his effort to remain academically eligible to play. As Brown got more serious about school, he began to thrive. He made the honor roll and he was looking at colleges.

But then in February, his dad was nearly killed in a car accident. He's still recovering in a Twin Cities medical facility.

Antonio’s mom died when he was in grade school, and with his father still recovering, that left it up to Brown to take care of himself and his 17-year-old brother Carter.

He had to figure out how to pay the rent and utility bills, how to shop for groceries and how to cook meals, all in the middle of basketball season and while he tried to navigate his way through senior year of high school.

"I really have been forced into this position where I'm just trying to get all this stuff figured out, like how to be an adult,” Brown said.

But after his dad’s car accident, Brown’s grades started to slip. That’s when his basketball coach, Phill Homere, stepped in to help. He organized a GoFundMe for Antonio and Carter Brown that raised nearly $30,000. Even rival teams donated.

But the brothers told Homere they needed someone to help manage the money. They didn’t have a family member they trusted to do it for them.

Homere offered to help. He handles the bills. And he talks to the boys every day to make sure they're getting what they need.

"My dad passed away when I was at a young age, so I know how tough it is for people not to grow up with a two-adult household,” Homere said. He said helping the Browns became a “calling.”

“I already have kids of my own; but my basketball players, I look at them as my kids,” Homere added. “They need to know that they’ve got loved ones that care about them.”

Building relationships

It's a prime example of what Denfeld Principal Tom Tusken says is the common theme in his school's efforts to raise graduation rates.

"It is 100 percent driven by relationships,” Tusken said. “[That’s] the key that unlocks the door to everything else that follows."

For years, fewer than half of Native American students at Denfeld graduated. That number started to rise a few years ago, and this school year, it jumped 12 points to 74 percent. That’s well ahead of the statewide average for Native students. Native students make up 13 percent of Denfeld’s student body.

For students of two or more races, like Brown — his mom was Native American; his dad is Black — the rate jumped 15 points to 88 percent.

Tusken attributes those gains to a number of interventions the school has adopted. Each one, he says, plugs another hole in the bucket, preventing students from falling through.

One is called “Check and Connect,” developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota. Students in the program are assigned a mentor who acts as a case manager, monitoring their progress and consistently checking in with them.

“They’re problem solving for those kids all the time,” said Tusken. “They're strong advocates."

Without his mentor and other teachers and school staff with whom he’s become close, Brown doesn't think he'd be graduating. He said they’re the reason he plans to go into education after college.

“They’re so inspirational to me,” Brown said.

Jayden Wise is another graduating senior who credits school staff for keeping him on track.

They “helped a lot with managing work” and gave him somebody he could always talk to, Wise said.

But Wise mostly credits his mom. He said she spent hours helping him study when he struggled with certain subjects, especially math. She convinced him to keep playing football when he wanted to quit. It got to the point where he didn't want to let her down.

"That was probably one of the biggest motivators,” Wise acknowledged. “She's put a lot of time and effort into helping me graduate.”

Next year, Wise plans to attend Crown College in the Twin Cities to play football and to follow his Mom’s career path by pursuing a degree in nursing.

Antonio Brown plans to attend Mesabi Range College on the Iron Range, where he hopes to play basketball and football while studying education. He just learned that he’s earned a local scholarship to help cover tuition and many of his school costs.

‘One kid at a time’

JP Rennquist, who works with American Indian students across Duluth public schools, has known Wise and Brown since they were young boys. "It's beautiful seeing what you've done,” he tells them.

Rennquist says their success motivates him to keep working to help other students. Because despite the recent major gains in Native American graduation rates at Denfeld High School, a quarter of Native students there still are not receiving diplomas.

“I keep a list of the people who aren't graduating,” Rennquist said. “Every one of those kids breaks my heart."

Many of those students face major challenges outside the classroom. Some, like Brown, don’t have one or both parents. Nearly half of Denfeld students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Many face trauma at home stemming from mental health and other issues.

“This is literally a battle, one kid at a time, to get them across the stage,” Tusken said.

Graduation is a life-changing event for many of his students. Some are first generation high school graduates. The hope is that a high school diploma will become the expectation for their children, he said.

“But as much as we know that graduation changes the trajectory of lives for our kids that walk that stage, we also know there's a change in the trajectory of lives for kids that do not,” said Tusken.

Denfeld High School has also launched programs geared specifically toward Native American students. A new Indigenous cohort weaves cultural activities into the curriculum. The school posts signs in the Ojibwe language and also flies the flag of the nearby Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

"We are trying to represent their culture around them,” said Tusken. “I want kids to come into this building” and see that “somebody cares enough to have that Fond du Lac flag displayed next to a U.S. and Minnesota flag."

Last week, Duluth schools held a banquet to honor Native American graduates. Loved ones wrapped blankets around their graduating seniors.

"I am so proud of him,” said Jamie Wise, Jayden’s mom, after helping place a blanket around her son’s broad shoulders. “He's an amazing role model for his siblings and his friends,” some of whom she said have struggled to stay in school. “He has pushed them to show up,” she said.

More efforts like that will be needed to keep Denfeld’s graduation rates pushing upwards, school officials say.

Duluth schools, like many across the state, are facing a serious financial shortfall. Officials have proposed $4.2 million in budget cuts for the next school year. Denfeld will likely lose 17 staff positions, Tusken said, including a counselor and one of their Check and Connect mentors.

“We feel like we finally are turning a corner, and now we're faced with significant budget reductions,” Tusken said.

“That's the challenge, is how are we going to do as good and better, with less.”

To get to a recent live show in Moorhead, the Minnesota Now team took scenic Highway 10 from St. Paul to learn more about the state from the road.

We made a series of audio postcards from notable roadside attractions, including a piece of one of Minnesota's oldest and most recognizable landscapes: tallgrass prairie.

The Nature Conservancy recently acquired nearly 2,000 acres of prairieland to protect in Clay County. Their goal is to conserve the plants and create habitat for prairie chickens and pollinators. The site is one of just a few slivers of prairie in a state that used to be covered in tallgrass.

Nearby is another of those slivers: the Bluestem Prairie Scientific and Natural Area, which is also protected by the Nature Conservancy. Liz Beery, the group’s associate director of grasslands, joined MPR News host Nina Moini for a walk there.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

The Minnesota Star Tribune announced Tuesday that it plans to cut about 15 percent of its staff through buyouts and layoffs.

Publisher Steve Grove also said the Star Tribune is exploring a new ownership model — potentially placing the state’s largest news organization, a for-profit newsroom, under the ownership of a nonprofit foundation.

In a message to the Star Tribune’s staff, Grove called the planned job cuts a “very difficult” decision.

“The colleagues leaving us have dedicated years, and in some cases decades, to help build this institution. We’re deeply grateful for their contributions to the Minnesota Star Tribune and to journalism in Minnesota. We would not be where we are today without them,” Grove wrote. “We’re making this decision because it is necessary to position us for growth as a digital media company.

“The business model and organizational footprint that has sustained local news for generations is undergoing its biggest disruption ever. Because we are now a digital media company, our structure and size need to change to reflect that reality, and give us opportunities for more digital growth, which our future depends on,” Grove wrote.

The Star Tribune reported that it employs nearly 500 people, including close to 200 in the newsroom. Grove said the buyouts and layoffs will affect all parts of the company, including the newsroom — but will not include reporters, photographers or videographers.

The news comes just under a month after the Star Tribune staff won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for their coverage of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis.

Late last year, the Star Tribune closed its printing facility in Minneapolis — outsourcing that work to a facility in Iowa, resulting in about 125 workers losing their jobs.

The Star Tribune Guild, the union representing newsroom employees, issued a statement saying it will fight the cuts announced Tuesday.

“The argument made by Star Tribune management that these layoffs are going to improve our company in any way, shape or form lacks any foundation in reality,” the union wrote. “This is a direct attack on the staff that just won a Pulitzer Prize for our work and has been widely praised — including by management — for its efforts.”

In addition to announcing the job cuts, Grove’s message to staff said Star Tribune leadership has been working with owner Glen Taylor “on a long-term plan for the stewardship of this organization.”

Taylor has owned the Star Tribune since 2014.

“The intention is to explore placing the Minnesota Star Tribune under foundation ownership, similar to other for-profit newsrooms owned by foundations, to expand opportunities for philanthropic donations to support the core business,” Grove wrote. “In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with Glen and our board on building that model that creates new ways for others to join Glen in his commitments to our future.”

Other for-profit news outlets that exist under nonprofit ownership include the Philadelphia Inquirer, Salt Lake Tribune and Tampa Bay Times.

Editor’s note: Star Tribune owner Glen Taylor is the father of Jean Taylor, president and CEO of American Public Media Group — the parent company of MPR News.

Press play above to listen to a conversation between MPR’s All Things Considered host Clay Masters, a journalism professor and a Star Tribune union representative about the layoffs and possible nonprofit move.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has appointed members to a new state council tasked with documenting the impact of the federal immigration enforcement surge in the state.

Walz appointed 13 people, including retired Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill, who will chair the panel.

Cahill was appointed to the bench by former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and presided over the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2021. Cahill served as a judge from 2007 until his retirement in 2024.

Other appointees include several professors and organizers, the head of the Minnesota Farmers Union, a police chief and a public school superintendent:

• Ana Pottratz Acosta

• Kate Beane

• Jenna Chernega

• Abdulahi Farah

• Pakou Hang

• Liliana Letran-Garcia

• Kathleen Miller

• Fionnuala Ni Aolain

• Roger New

• Jose Pablo Obregon

• Zena Stenvik

• Gary Wertish

“Documenting history requires trusted leaders who are committed to listening, preserving people’s experiences, and ensuring that Minnesota’s story is not forgotten,” Walz said in a news release. “These council members bring deep expertise, lived experience, and a shared commitment to the truth. Their work will help create a lasting public record of both the harm endured and the resilience Minnesotans demonstrated during this difficult chapter in our state’s history.”

The governor’s office said the panel will gather evidence and testimony about the effects of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and enforcement surge — “both the harm endured and the generosity and resilience demonstrated by Minnesotans.”

Members will also issue recommendations to help the state recover and prevent potential harm in the future.

A plan for a new development in George Floyd Square is facing an uncertain path forward, after a committee of the Minneapolis City Council voted to deny it.

A team of city staff had recommended a partnership with Minnesota Agape Movement to redevelop the People’s Way, a defunct Speedway gas station on the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. The committee voted 4-2 against the plan.

The proposal will now go on to a vote by the full city council. If the council denies it, city staff can make a new recommendation — or restart the process of finding a community development partner.

The proposal arose from a city search for a community organization to lead development at the site, which is currently owned by the city and used by local residents and activists as a meeting place at the center of the square. Agape was chosen from among four groups that applied.

But some council members and local residents said Agape wasn’t the right group for the job. They pointed to a city survey conducted last year, which asked residents which of the applicants they preferred; results showed higher approval for a different group’s proposal.

At a meeting of the council’s business, housing and zoning committee Tuesday, council member Soren Stevenson urged his fellow council members to deny the partnership with Agape.

“We cannot ignore what constituents are clearly asking for,” Stevenson said. “This project will not be successful without the support and input of the residents who live, work and build community and care for George Floyd Square.”

The community survey showed the most support for a group called Rise and Remember: 58 percent of survey respondents said they agreed with Rise and Remember’s proposal, compared to 36 percent who agreed with Agape’s.

Rise and Remember currently oversees memorial preservation in the square.

Stevenson and council member Jason Chavez — who each represent portions of George Floyd Square — said they did not see the results of the city’s survey until after city staff had selected Agape as the developer.

Council members also raised concerns about Agape’s development experience. The group does violence intervention work, led by several former gang members, with a goal of steering young people away from violence. But council members noted that the group has never led a development project.

At Tuesday’s council committee meeting, city planners said Agape has assembled a team with more experience to help, including local developer VY Management and architectural firm HGA.

“City staff believe that Agape has put together a team with relevant experience,” said Miles Mercer, manager of business development with the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development department.

In Agape’s proposal submitted to the city, they suggested a six-story building for the People’s Way site, with space for a local business, a museum and a gift shop. Council members opposing the plan said that was too ambitious for a group with no development experience.

City staff clarified that the group would spend at least two more years finalizing a plan, which would not necessarily match that proposal.

“They have already realized the feasibility challenges of such a building and are scaling back,” Mercer said. “Agape will need to do more analysis and community engagement to formulate a viable development concept.”

Council member Aurin Chowdhury voted to deny the plan. She said her vote wasn’t a reflection of Agape’s experience or the scale of the proposal, but of the community’s preference. She said opting for the most popular group in the community survey would be a way to build trust, after contentious years of debate over street construction in the square, which angered some community members and activists.

“We lost that trust in that community a long time ago collectively, and here's our opportunity to repair it,” Chowdhury said. “We have to go with a group that does have that trust built in, because we can't supplement it.”

Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement that he wants a plan to move ahead soon.

“Voting down the selection and returning to the drawing board is the council’s prerogative. My goal is to stop the delay and achieve forward progress at George Floyd Square,” Frey said.

Some council members blamed Frey and city staff for a slower-than-expected timeline on the People’s Way project, after the team announced last year that it would have a decision by May 2025. The decision came a year later.

Even once a community partner is approved for the project, years of work still remain. The city plans to offer the community partner a two-year pre-development period, with the option to extend it by a year. The city would then sell the site to the partner, and construction could start.

In the meantime, the city will keep up maintenance of the property, which costs about $40,000 last year. Agape would take the time to fundraise for the project.

The full council is expected to vote on the proposed partnership with Agape next Thursday.

Rural health care facilities in Minnesota are grappling with the implications of the failure of state legislation last month that was meant to strengthen a critical discount drug program, and they now fear that the pharmaceutical industry will further erode the program.

In the final days of this year’s legislative session, a bipartisan bill that appeared on track to pass, failed to get called for a vote. It was a big win for the pharmaceutical industry, which had run an aggressive ad campaign opposing the measure.

The controversial program, called 340B, has changed in scope over the past few decades, and critics accuse large, affluent hospital systems across the country of taking advantage of a program that was never intended to serve them. The pharmaceutical industry argues that the program is desperately in need of reform by Congress, not by individual states, to better serve critical access hospitals and community clinics.

But multiple rural, critical access hospital leaders told MPR News that while imperfect, 340B has become a lifeline. These facilities serve a large percentage of patients on Medicaid and Medicare, which pay low reimbursements to hospitals, making it difficult for them to break even. The revenue earned under 340B allows them to keep the lights on and preserve the full slate of medical services for the communities they serve.

“Every one of us would be out of business without 340B,” said Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Winona Health.

What is 340B and how does it work?

Congress created the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program in 1992 to allow safety-net providers to purchase drugs at steep discounts from pharmaceutical companies.

Sayeh Nikpay, a public health professor at the University of Minnesota who researches the drug program, said the program began with a very narrow scope. It was meant to help community clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers that primarily serve low income patients who were seeing their drug costs soar.

The idea was that these clinics and some public hospitals would have access to cheaper drugs through the new program. But 340B’s parameters expanded under the Affordable Care Act, when Congress voted to include nonprofit hospitals that met eligibility factors like serving rural populations.

“Today we are in a situation where instead of being a narrowly focused program targeted to public health service act clinics and 200 hospitals, we have a program in which almost two-thirds of nonprofit hospitals are participating here in Minnesota,” Nikpay said. “I don't think that policymakers could have envisioned that we would be where we are today.”

How 340B works depends on the type of provider.

Federally Qualified Health Centers, dedicated to serving uninsured patients and those on Medicaid, can buy 340B eligible drugs at a substantial discount, which they then pass onto patients. Or, those patients can buy their medicine from a contract pharmacy and receive a similar discount.

Dr. Cynthia Woods, the medical director of Community Health Services, Inc, a network of federally qualified health centers across Minnesota and North Dakota, says the program is invaluable. An expensive blood thinner medication could cost $600 a month, but with the 340B program, a patient can buy the drug for $60.

“In the rural communities, as you can imagine, there are a lot of people that work on farms, are independently employed, so they pay for their office visits on the sliding scale, and then they really rely on the discount program,” Woods said.

Hospitals, on the other hand, can purchase drugs at a substantial discount from the pharmaceutical manufacturer but then charge the patient’s insurance full price and use the extra revenue to help fund hospital operations or to provide financial assistance to patients.

But the pharmaceutical industry alleges that some larger, more affluent hospitals use the program to pad their budgets to the tune of millions of dollars and are essentially profiting off of 340B, which was intended to support community health clinics and critical access public hospitals.

‘A hospital markup program’

A 2022 Wall Street Journal Investigation found that Cleveland Clinic, one of the top hospitals in the country, earned $1.35 billion in 340B profits in 2021 by classifying itself as a “rural referral center.”

According to Minnesota’s latest 340B Covered Entity Report, large urban hospitals in the state received a disproportionate share of the funds in 2024.

M Health Fairview’s University of Minnesota Medical Campus in Minneapolis earned $335 million in 2024, more than any other hospital in the state and a whopping 26 percent of the total revenue Minnesota hospitals generated from the program. Abbot Northwestern Hospital, also in the Twin Cities, brought in nearly $154 million.

Jessica Lynch, the Midwest state policy director for PhRMA, the trade group for the nation’s drug manufacturers, argued that the program often doesn’t lower the costs of medications for patients and instead drives up the cost of employer health plans and for taxpayers because the hospital bills them for the full cost of the drug.

“PhRMA strongly supports the original intent of the 340B program, which, from our position, is to ensure that low-income and vulnerable patients can access medicines when they need to,” Lynch said. “However, we feel that over the course of time, the 340B program has evolved into something else that looks more like a hospital markup program and is no longer serving the patients that it is intended to.”

Nikpay agrees. While these large hospitals aren’t doing anything illegal, she said some don’t appear to be in line with the spirit of the program.

“I would say that the rules are not very clear, and so it’s difficult to say what is and what is not allowed, given the ambiguity,” Nikpay said.

An imperfect lifeline

While acknowledging flaws in the 340B program, multiple rural hospital leaders told MPR News that it is essential to balancing their budgets and that ending it could cripple their operations. They say that while patients may not pocket the savings firsthand, the program is the reason their hospital is able to stay open and continue providing services to the community.

“[Patients see] the savings when the ambulance picks them up at their house to bring them to our ER that is staffed,” said Lisa Bjerga, CEO of Lakewood Health Systems in Staples, a rural community about an hour northwest of St. Cloud. “We don't pass it on to the patient, but we pass it on in the form of access.”

Because Medicaid’s reimbursement rate to hospitals is so low, Bjerga said they’re providing many medical services at a deficit. Labor and delivery, for example, is famously expensive to staff because it requires around-the-clock coverage; but in rural areas, there aren’t enough births to cover the entire cost.

According to the Minnesota Hospital Association, 31 hospitals in Minnesota — nearly a quarter of all hospitals in the state — are financially distressed. But Bjerga said that the revenue her hospital makes from 340B allows them to stretch their scarce resources.

Hospitals, in turn, accuse the pharmaceutical industry of undercutting and circumventing the program by removing some medications from the list of those covered by 340B.

Bills introduced into the Minnesota legislature this year would have addressed that by authorizing the state attorney general’s office to enforce the law to ensure pharmaceutical companies comply. The legislation also would have extended a provision, which otherwise sunsets next summer, that allows hospitals to qualify for the discount at a wide range of contract pharmacies. Since the bills failed, starting in July 2027, manufacturers will be able to limit which pharmacies hospitals can use to qualify for a discount.

The pharmaceutical industry opposed the legislation, even funding TV and social media ads in a campaign aimed at persuading Minnesota lawmakers to forgo the changes.

Bjerga, of the hospital in Staples, said she’s disappointed that better protections for rural hospitals are not in place.

“340B is a federal designation, so what was up for discussion wasn't the program itself, it was the ability for it to have some teeth in making pharmaceuticals follow what's put in place, because individual hospitals just can't do it,” Bjerga said. “We can't go to bat against them. I mean, they have pockets deeper than anyone.”

What’s next for rural hospitals

Legislation to protect the 340B program will likely be reintroduced in next year’s legislative session, but the pharmaceutical industry is primed to keep fighting back and will keep pushing for federal changes instead of state protections.

Multiple hospital leaders told MPR News they’re concerned the pharmaceutical industry will continue to find ways to chip away at and limit the program until it’s no longer effective, with the goal of ultimately ending the program.

“What I believe to be true is that this is slowly going to be eating the elephant one bite at a time,” explained Rick Ash, CEO of United Hospital District in Blue Earth. “Eventually, they want to get rid of 340B.”

The U’s public health expert Nikpay said she doesn’t believe the program will go away, but she said there could be legal challenges down the road, which could ratchet down the amount of money hospitals can generate from the program.

In the meantime, Nikpay said she hopes large hospital systems that have profited the most from this program will take actions to preserve the original intent of the program. Instead of using 340B revenue to renovate a surgery wing, the funds should be used to make essential medications more affordable to those in need.

“Sharing some of those discounts with the patients who really are struggling to pay would certainly help to alleviate some of the financial strain that Minnesotans are feeling,” Nikpay said.

Clarification (June 3, 2026): This story has been updated to indicate that the pharmaceutical industry broadly funded ads opposing Minnesota's 340B legislation. The ads were not funded by its trade group, PhRMA.

The steeple of St. Anthony Catholic Church rises tall above the tiny town that bears its name.

Built in the 1800s, the stately brick church is the centerpiece of this Stearns County farming community with about 90 residents. Beyond a handful of homes, a bar and a cemetery, there isn’t much else in town.

On most Sundays, the pews are at least two-thirds full, said lifelong parishioner Jerry Breth, whose grandparents are buried in the cemetery. Many worshippers linger long after Mass to catch up with their neighbors, he said.

But under a reorganization plan by the Diocese of St. Cloud, St. Anthony would host Sunday Mass only once a month. Breth worries many parishioners will stop coming altogether.

"A lot of people are going to quit church,” he said. “They won't even join another church. They will flat-out quit."

The change is part of the diocese's plan to consolidate its 131 parishes into just 48, a dramatic reshuffling of religious and community life in this historically Catholic region of central Minnesota.

Church officials say a declining Catholic population, lower Mass attendance and a shortage of priests leave them little choice.

The plan is still being rolled out. But it’s expected that some church buildings will close. Others will remain open, but host Masses only occasionally.

Breth said parishioners at St. Anthony will have to drive elsewhere on most Sundays.

"If the church would close, they'd really wreck the community, because we have nothing left,” Breth said. “Because this is it, other than the bar. And I'd rather see the bar close than a church.”

The Diocese of St. Cloud stretches across 16 counties, from Minnesota’s western border to the northern edge of the Twin Cities metro area.

Diocese officials began work on the parish merger plan — dubbed “All Things New” — more than a year ago, driven in part by a shrinking number of clergy.

Three decades ago, the diocese had 97 priests serving 140 parishes. Today, it has about 62 priests for its 131 parishes.

That means priests are stretched thin, often rushing to serve multiple churches, said Brenda Kresky, the diocese’s director of pastoral planning.

"They're ordained to build relationships and be with the people,” Kresky said. “And it's really difficult when you are celebrating Mass and you've got to be at the next location, which is 20 miles away, and you're looking at your clock.”

Currently, each parish operates as its own corporation, with separate finance councils. Combining parishes will help reduce some of the administrative work that priests have to do on a regular basis, Kresky said.

Although many churches will no longer host Mass on a regular basis after the restructuring, Kresky said not all will be closed. Some might be used only for occasional Masses, weddings and funerals, or repurposed into something else, such as an education center. Those decisions will be made separately in coming months and years, she said.

Fewer Catholics attending church less often

The changes also reflect broader religious trends in Minnesota and the U.S.

Across the country, Catholic dioceses are grappling with similar challenges. According to the Pew Research Center, about 40 percent of U.S. Catholics seldom or never attend Mass.

While the population within the St. Cloud Diocese has grown by about 7 percent since 2010, the number of Catholics has fallen from 22 percent to 16 percent, according to diocesan figures. During the same period, Mass attendance has declined by one-third.

Some churches are less than half full on Sundays, Kresky said. At the same time, insurance, maintenance and operating costs continue to rise, she said. And some churches in the diocese are just a few miles or even a few blocks apart.

“We would probably not build the churches in the same places that they are right now, just because of demographics, because we are much more mobile than we were 50 years ago even,” Kresky said.

Some parts of the country are seeing renewed interest in Catholicism. But Kresky said that growth is largely concentrated in the South and West.

"In the Midwest and in the East Coast, you're seeing decline,” she said. “You're seeing restructuring, you're seeing mergers, you're seeing multiple closures."

The Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the dioceses of Duluth and New Ulm have undergone downsizing of parishes in recent years.

‘Sacred spaces’ at risk

For some congregations in central Minnesota, the changes are painful and difficult to accept.

Some parishioners say not all of the churches targeted for closure or reductions are struggling to fill pews or the collection plate.

Karen Pundsack is the pastoral associate at Harvest of Hope Area Catholic Community, which will have a new name — Parish of the Transfiguration — in July. It includes St. Anthony and three other churches.

Pundsack said none of the churches is in financial trouble, and St. Anthony was renovated within the last five years.

“It's not falling down,” she said. “This is a very well-maintained building, and a very well-loved building.”

Many churches in Stearns County were founded by immigrant communities, including German, Polish, Irish and Slovenian settlers who built parishes that reflected their language, culture and identity.

The churches were founded before people living in the area spoke English, so Masses were often said in the immigrants’ native languages, Pundsack said.

Although the churches in Harvest of Hope aren’t far apart geographically, parishioners didn’t want to see any of them shuttered, she said.

“We recognize that there’s real value in the smaller, tight-knit communities in building people’s faith, and we want to continue to maintain that as much as we can,” Pundsack said.

Opposition to plan

Some Catholic parishioners have formed a group that’s pushing back on the plan to merge parishes.

“They've existed for a long time as faithful or sacred spaces where community comes together and shares their faith and their values,” said Jamie Heurung, a parishioner of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Opole, about 20 miles northwest of St. Cloud. It's on the list of churches that will be used infrequently.

If rural churches close, many people likely will choose another denomination or not go to church at all, rather than travel to a larger parish farther away, Heurung said.

"The desire has been to be close knit for many of us — family centered, friendly, welcoming, and allow us to use our talents, time and treasure as we see fit,” she said. “That's what parish life is."

Some opponents of the diocese’s plan have consulted Philip Gray, a canon lawyer and president of the nonprofit St. Joseph Foundation, which advocates for Catholic parishioners’ rights.

Gray said the Vatican has directed that a scarcity of priests or a temporary financial downturn are not sufficient reasons on their own for a diocese to merge a parish.

“They can't choose to close any parish, even one that's struggling but maintaining itself, just for the sake of the diocese taking their money and using it to get out of debt,” he said.

Gray said bishops across the U.S. are arguing that they need to decrease the number of parishes to become leaner, or build a large church to house people from several parishes. But historically, “the church has always gone to where the people were,” Gray said.

“You may have a single priest who was on horseback doing a 600-mile circuit visiting a dozen different places that were erected as parishes,” he said. “There may only be 50 people there, and he might see them once every six weeks, but he would go to them.”

There is a process for people to appeal the diocese's decisions, first by petitioning the bishop, then appealing to the Vatican. St. Anthony parishioners have already taken the first step.

Kresky said church leaders knew there would be opposition to the plan, and they understand that some people are struggling with the changes.

"In some cases, there are people who, their entire lives, that's where they've gone to church,” she said. “That's where they've met God, that's where their milestones in life have been, their baptisms, their wedding, their funerals. You can't take that lightly."

In many central Minnesota communities, the Catholic church is less of a presence than it used to be, Kresky said. Still, she said, “the presence of Christ is still there.”

“It might have to look different, but that's not gone,” she said.

Hamline University closed its St. Paul campus Tuesday afternoon after a school bus traveling south on Snelling Avenue crashed into the Robbins Science Center.

The St. Paul Police Department said about a dozen children were on board the bus when it ran into the building. Three children were transported to Children’s Minnesota and the driver was taken to Regions Hospital, all with minor injuries.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said.

Hamline spokesperson Amy Pak said no faculty, staff or students were injured.

Hamline University urged people to avoid the area while emergency responders assess the situation and damage.

Several streets near the crash site have been temporarily closed while police investigate.

In 1982, the first person was diagnosed with AIDS in Minnesota. Bruce Brockway was a gay activist who helped start the Minnesota AIDS Project and was publisher of the Twin Cities’ first LGBTQ+ newspaper. He died from an AIDS-related brain lymphoma in 1984.

He is among the many whose loved ones honored with a panel of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The entire quilt, which is housed at the National Aids Memorial in San Francisco, has roughly 50,000 panels dedicated to more than 110,000 people who died from AIDS-related complications. The idea was conceived in 1985 by activist Cleve Jones and first sewed in 1987. It is regarded as the largest folk art project in the world.

Through June 14, two panels will be on display at Queermunity in Minneapolis, an LGTBQ+ community space in Uptown. The panels have several quilts dedicated to Minnesotans. Community volunteers will sit daily with the panels to answer questions from the public.

Reece Gray is on the development team for the Aliveness Project. He said it has always been a dream for the Aliveness community to bring part of the quilt home, and, considering the Trump administration recently proposed cutting funding for HIV prevention, it was key to remind people about the AIDS crisis.

In February, Minnesota sued the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after they cut millions to public health grants here, including to HIV prevention.

“I think right now it is important to remember how not long ago these panels were made,” Gray said. “This is still such a present loss, and we can find ourselves in a position where we will need to make panels again if we lose this money at the hands of the Trump administration.”

Hilary Otey, one of the co-founders for Queermunity, said they are hoping residents sit with the quilt and learn more about local and national LGBTQ+ history.

Some of the quilts on display are dedicated to Matt Vanderwall, Bert Henningson and several members of the Minnesota AIDS Project, including Brockway. The Aliveness Project requested panels with the most Minnesotans on them.

Vanderwall’s quilt was made by his partner Randy Hornstine in Minneapolis and has a long stem rose and a quote at the bottom: “I Can — You Can.”

Henningson’s quilt was also made by his partner, Dick Hanson, and features pieces of wheat with “Minnesota” in rainbow letters. The couple were featured in the prominent St. Paul Pioneer Press series in 1987 “AIDS in the Heartland,” which reported at the time that they both had AIDS and lived on a farm south of Glenwood.

State Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, remembers being at the first showing of the quilt at the National Mall in Washington D.C. in 1987. Dibble helped make several quilts, having friends who had died from AIDS-related complications. He said he regularly participated in protests and advocated with the DFL for better healthcare for LGBTQ+ people before being elected to serve as senator.

“We knew that what was killing us was homophobia and the closet. It was easy to marginalize us and demean us and blame us for what we were experiencing. So we knew we had to come out. We knew we had to stand up for ourselves, provide for ourselves but demand better of our democracy, of our governmental political leaders and of our institutions,” he said.

Dibble was also at the Metrodome when the AIDS quilt came to Minnesota in 1988 for a 20-city tour. Over 1,000 volunteers worked for two days to display 109 quilts representing 3,488 people.

“It was just an incredible time, and a really beautiful thing,” Dibble said about working on the quilt. “I mean, I am fighting off tears right now, because I can remember just being completely devastated, at the same time affirmed and edified by the experience of seeing the quilts on the mall and in our own hometown.”

Queermunity is open for those who want to view the quilt on Mondays and Tuesdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesdays through Fridays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Minnesota Now team recently recorded a live show at the new public library in Moorhead. To get there, the team took scenic Highway 10 from St. Paul to learn more about the state from the road.

The Moorhead show will air Thursday, and each day until then, we will make a stop along the way, with audio postcards from notable roadside attractions.

This time, we visit Barefoot Frida, an enormous wooden troll that lives in the Ortenstone Gardens and Sculpture Park in Detroit Lakes. We were guided by Amy Stearns, executive director of Project 412, who says the trolls are part of a larger effort to make Detroit Lakes a more vibrant place.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

A wildfire that started Monday afternoon in hot, dry conditions near Burntside Lake about eight miles northwest of Ely had burned an estimated 30 to 35 acres as of Tuesday afternoon.

The Birch Bay Fire was detected at about 3 p.m. Monday about a half mile from the North Arm of Burntside Lake. It’s burning in thick forest, fueled by hot, dry conditions and dead trees. It grew from three acres when it was first detected to an estimated 30 acres by sunset.

Fire crews have been aided by light winds that have pushed the blaze away from cabins and toward the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Nine seasonal cabins were evacuated along the southern-most part of North Arm Road, near Lindskog Road. The fire burned to within a quarter mile of the road, St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay said. The cause of the blaze remains under investigation.

Two water scooping aircraft that were stationed in Duluth were able to quickly respond to the fire Monday, along with two helicopters carrying buckets, to keep the blaze in check.

The aircraft skim the surface of the water, scooping up several hundred gallons of water at a time. Because the fire is burning so close to Burntside Lake, “they can have a really fast turnaround” time, explained Tim Engrav, a public information officer with the Superior National Forest.

The planes and helicopters “drop that water where it’s needed on the fire’s edge, and then make another turn and just keep scooping water,” Engrav added.

Several agencies responded to the fire, including local crews from nearby fire departments and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Additional out-of-state firefighting crews that had been brought in to Minnesota to assist during the spring wildfire season are also helping fight the fire. 65 personnel are now working to control the blaze.

Those crews have to contend with rugged terrain and a thick forest that in some areas is choked with dead and dying balsam fir trees that can quickly increase the scale and intensity of a fire, Engrav said.

The Birch Bay Fire is burning near areas where the Superior National Forest has conducted recent prescribed burns to clear out undergrowth and improve forest health. It also burned into an area where the Forest Service was preparing to conduct another planned burn called the Geraldine prescribed fire.

Those prescribed fires were designed to reduce fuel loads to help reduce the intensity of a potential wildfire that might start in the Boundary Waters and move toward homes on Burntside Lake. The aim is to create “protective blocks between public forest land and private homes,” Engrav said.

Burntside Lake is a large, popular lake studded with dozens of islands and lined by cabins and homes. Two popular YMCA camps, Camp Du Nord and Camp Widjiwagan, are located near the fire along the North Arm of the lake. Neither camp is in danger, Ramsay said.

Camp du Nord posted on social media Monday evening that its staff members are “currently midway through staff training. The staff, along with a few volunteers, are safe and will remain on site until given further instructions from the USFS. We’ll continue to follow our safety plans and protocols to respond to the situation. The wildfire suppression system has been activated, dampening the area around buildings.”

While campfires are allowed, officials encourage people to be careful and to follow burning restrictions that are in place around much of the state.

“Across all of northern Minnesota, it's really dry, and we need some rain,” Engrav said. “And if you're done with your campfire, make sure it's cold and out before you leave it.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has named an interim police chief as the city looks to replace Brian O’Hara, who resigned last week.

Frey announced Tuesday that Bill Peterson, the current 1st Precinct inspector and a 30-plus-year veteran of the department, will fill that role. The First Precinct includes downtown Minneapolis and the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.

Over his career with MPD, Peterson has held leadership roles in emergency response to major incidents, and in implementing new training for officers.

Frey said Peterson’s experience makes him the right choice to serve in the interim role.

“He’s spent three decades serving Minneapolis, he’s earned the respect of officers across the department, and he understands that trust with the people of Minneapolis is paramount,” Frey said in a statement. “Bill understands that trust is earned, and he has established a reputation of working every day to earn it.”

Peterson said he aims to bring stability to the position.

“We are a department in transition, however, the foundation of our department is strong,” Peterson said. “We have great people, we have great leaders, and we are a fully functioning police department that is still moving forward.”

Peterson said he lived within city limits for 25 years. He said he’ll bring relationships he’s built with community members to bear during his time as interim chief.

“I'm known within our police department and, again, I have been involved in a variety of major incidents over the course of my 30 years,” Peterson said. “I've proven leadership within our department, and I believe that in and of itself will give our membership confidence going forward.”

Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette said he’s known and trusted Peterson since Barnette served as chief judge in Hennepin County.

“We have a really good relationship, and I believe that relationship will serve the city well as we continue down this road the next couple of months,” Barnette said. “I'm confident in his experience and leadership, and I truly want to thank him for stepping up and answering the call.”

Barnette said he expects the search for a new chief to take about six months and that he’s open to internal candidates.

Peterson said he’s not interested in applying for the permanent chief position. Peterson said he doesn’t yet have specific plans for his tenure, but is focused immediately on preparing for big summer events like the Pride Parade.

"These jobs are extremely demanding,” Peterson said. “I understand the demands of it, but I'm at a point in my career where I still love to lead, but the constant public scrutiny is something that at this point I just don't want to have to deal with."

Communities United Against Police Brutality President Michelle Gross said she'd like to see community members be allowed to interview candidates early in the selection process. She's skeptical internal candidates will bring the necessary reforms to the department, which is subject to a court-enforceable agreement on policing with the state Department of Human Rights.

"What we really need in this department is a change of culture,” Gross said. “That can't happen with people that are so steeped in the culture we have now."

Communities United Against Police Brutality said Peterson is the subject of 16 complaints during his tenure on the force, although he wasn’t disciplined for any.

The Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis released a statement that congratulates Peterson and says he’s widely respected by the rank-and-file of the department: “Minneapolis continues to face public safety challenges, and we believe Chief Peterson’s experience, credibility and dedication to this city position him well to lead the department through this transition.”

Peterson takes over from Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell, who had been serving as acting chief in the immediate wake of O’Hara’s resignation.

Attorneys for the family of George Floyd are calling on Minnesota Republican Party leaders to apologize for a moment of silence held at the party convention for the former police officer convicted in Floyd’s murder.

At last weekend’s GOP convention in Duluth, a delegate made a motion for a moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, who is alive and serving a lengthy prison sentence. The convention’s presiding officer on Saturday morning put it to a voice vote of those in attendance, who supported the motion — and the moment of silence was observed, lasting about 10 seconds.

The Floyd family’s attorneys, including civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, issued a statement Tuesday saying they are “sickened by this lack of respect.”

“The audacity of the Minnesota Republican Party to honor an individual who has both been convicted by a jury of his peers for the murder of a fellow human being, while at the same time violated a professional oath to protect and serve his community, is disgusting,” the statement read.

The attorneys said they “urge all who planned and participated in this tribute to deeply reflect on the rule of law.”

Among others condemning the moment of silence, Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison — whose office prosecuted Chauvin following the killing of Floyd in 2020 — issued a statement saying he was “heartbroken and frankly shocked.”

“George Floyd’s children lost their father. His siblings lost their brother. His community lost a neighbor and friend. That loss is permanent and irreparable. The jury heard all the evidence. The appeals courts reviewed every claim. Justice was rendered according to our system of law,” Ellison wrote.

“To honor the man convicted of murdering George Floyd — days after the very anniversary of that terrible day — is an act of profound cruelty to the Floyd family and to every Minnesotan who believes in accountability under law.”

In a statement to KARE 11, Minnesota Republican Party officials called what happened Saturday “a spontaneous motion brought forward from the convention floor.”

“A moment of silent prayer should not be mischaracterized as an official policy position, platform statement, or message from the Republican Party of Minnesota. It was a floor action taken by delegates, not leadership,” the statement read.

Republican-endorsed Minnesota governor candidate Kendall Qualls said he was not involved in the motion — and he said he was surprised by it.

Qualls said he would have recommended a broader moment of silence to support law enforcement officers.

“They’ve been made to be scapegoats for the last eight to 10 years, and I would have had a moment of silence for officers that have fallen on duty,” he said. “There are some concerns that people have about the Chauvin case. I don’t know if that was the best venue to do that.”

House Speaker Lisa Demuth, who is running in the Republican governor primary, said she wasn’t in the room when the Chauvin matter arose. Like Qualls, she said she would have preferred a moment of silence for fallen officers instead.

She declined to say if she would support pardoning Chauvin, an issue that could come before the three-member pardons board that a Minnesota governor chairs.

“There’s a lot that goes into any type of decision,” Demuth said.

House Speaker Lisa Demuth will run in an August primary election for the Republican Party nomination for governor, reversing course from an earlier pledge to leave the race if not endorsed.

Demuth filed her paperwork with the secretary of state’s office then held a rally on the Capitol steps, surrounded by supporters waving signs and wearing big-letter “DEMUTH” hats.

“Minnesotans are really welcoming this opportunity, though unexpected, to have a voice in the process,” she said, describing how fielded messages urging her to go forward.

“We will win that primary,” she said. “Our eyes are on November.”

Tuesday’s announcement comes days after GOP delegates endorsed businessman Kendall Qualls at the party’s convention in Duluth. On Monday, Republican Party Chair Alex Plechash released Republican candidates for governor from prior pledges after the party experienced technical issues and hourslong delays with voting in the race.

Qualls accused her of putting herself ahead of the party’s well being.

“She is putting vanity and political ambitions ahead of giving Republicans their best chance in decades to elect a conservative governor,” Qualls said in a written statement.

Demuth made her announcement on the final day of candidate filing.

Her entry into the primary creates more uncertainty for Republicans as they vie for an open governor’s office — one they haven’t held since early 2011. Qualls and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are already on the primary ballot along with a few other lesser-known candidates.

Demuth said encouragement from donors, pleading by supporters and a permission slip from the state party chair contributed to her decision to remain in the governor's race. In the most-recent campaign finance reports, she had the most money of any GOP candidate and there’s an outside group called Restore Sanity that has been airing comic book-themed commercials on her behalf, casting her as a state government superhero.

“We are well positioned to defeat the DFL machine here in the state of Minnesota, much more well positioned financially and going forward than any other candidate,” Demuth said.

In giving unendorsed candidates a pass to carry on, Plechash said it was “because of the unusual circumstances and the confusion caused by the disruption” over voting devices that were called into question.

“Those candidates may make their own decision about whether to continue their campaign to a primary,” he said in a written statement. But, he added, “Only our endorsed candidate for governor, Kendall Qualls, will receive the full support, resources and organizational backing of the state party.”

Qualls said he feels confident about prevailing in August. But he slammed Demuth for reneging on the endorsement pledge.

“The sad part is that when we win in August, we will have wasted time and money fighting amongst ourselves to come to the same conclusion: victory for our campaign,” he said.

Former Minnesota Republican Party Chair Ron Carey told MPR News’ Morning Edition that Demuth’s entry into the race could “muddy the waters” but likely wouldn’t knock out the value of the endorsement. Republican primary voters in Minnesota have historically stood by the candidate that delegates endorsed.

“We fought very diligently to make sure that endorsement was the gold standard that candidates would fight for that, and we wouldn't have these battles dragging out into August for the primary,” Carey said of his time as chair from 2005 to 2009. “I would hope that we could have a situation where we could start having unity, because it's going to be an uphill battle to take on Amy Klobuchar in November, and we need to have all Republicans pulling in the same direction.”

Former state Sen. Dave Osmek said the endorsement couldn’t be trusted due to issues with electronic voting devices used at the convention.

“This endorsement process was absolutely, positively corrupted,” Osmek, a former campaign adviser to Qualls, said. “The fruit, which is the endorsed candidate, is coming from a poison tree. I'm not mincing words.”

Osmek said Demuth could buck the trend among GOP voters and win the party’s nomination.

“People who understand that experience and leadership, proven leadership matters, are going to go with Lisa Demuth,” he said.

Klobuchar, a U.S. senator, won the DFL Party’s endorsement at the state convention in Rochester. There is also a cluster of candidates with minor campaign operations running in the DFL primary.

Gov. Tim Walz dropped his bid for a third term in January.

DFLers have won the past four governor’s races in Minnesota. Tim Pawlenty was the last Republican to hold the office and won his second term in 2006 — marking the last time the GOP won a statewide race in Minnesota.

Minnesota sports journalist Larry Fitzgerald Sr., whose decades-long career included the distinction of being the first reporter to cover their son playing in the Super Bowl, has died.

Fitzgerald’s family said he died Monday afternoon, surrounded by loved ones. He was 71. No cause of death was given.

“My father was a man of strength, love and encouragement. He opened countless doors for me and my brother. He believed in us and pushed us to pursue every opportunity with conviction, he was the rock of our family,” Fitzgerald’s son Larry Jr. posted on social media.

“He taught us that perseverance, hard work, and unwavering commitment are the foundations of a meaningful life and personal success. I will carry his love, words, and wisdom with me always.”

Larry Fitzgerald Sr. chronicled local and national sports for decades for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and other outlets. That included the career of Larry Jr., who went on to play for the Arizona Cardinals, and who’ll be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.

When the Cardinals reached the Super Bowl in 2009, father and son made a pact to not talk in the week leading up to the game.

“We’ve shook hands a couple of times, and but we have not been communicating this week because of the situation that we’re both in,” Fitzgerald Sr. told MPR News ahead of that game. “He’s got a job to do, he’s focused on trying to help his team win the Super Bowl. I’ve got a job to do, in working for the people that I’m working for, and making sure that I’m accountable and not crossing any lines.”

Fitzgerald Sr. was known around the NFL from his decades of coverage of the league, and the Super Bowl. The Minnesota Vikings issued a statement noting that beyond his work as a journalist, he was “a dedicated father and a community leader who cared deeply about the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“Our hearts are with Larry Jr., Marcus and the entire Fitzgerald family, as well as Larry’s friends and colleagues as they mourn his loss.”

Other local sports teams also shared condolences — including the Minnesota Twins, who shared an image of flowers and a framed photo of Fitzgerald in the Target Field press box on Monday night, with a message reading: “Pioneer. Storyteller. Leader. Legend. RIP Larry Fitzgerald Sr.”

As the candidate filing period comes to a close, the race to fill an open state Senate seat in Rochester is shaping up to become a critical battleground as both of Minnesota’s major political parties fight for control of a divided Legislature.

The GOP incumbent, Sen. Carla Nelson, is retiring. At least three fellow Republicans have filed to run for the seat, including Chuck Bradford, Dan Sepeda and former State House Rep. Nels Pierson.

Pierson represented the area from 2015 until 2023 and, more recently, has worked in real estate. In a statement announcing his candidacy, he said his previous service in the Minnesota House has well prepared him for the role.

“I’ve enjoyed bringing people together to find lasting solutions,” he said. “It was an honor to represent our neighbors in the Minnesota House for eight years, and I hope to continue that work in the State Senate by applying the same strong work ethic and problem-solving approach.”

Nelson announced earlier this year that she would retire at the end of this term after representing Rochester in the House and then the Senate for nearly two decades.

“Serving the people of Rochester and southeastern Minnesota has been a great privilege and responsibility,” Sen. Nelson said in a statement announcing her retirement. “For many years, the people of this district have given me their trust, and that is a gift I will carry with me. I look forward to new ways to serve.”

Nelson has been the lone Republican representing Rochester for several years. While she’s handily beat Democrats in previous elections, Rochester is increasingly blue. A big factor is Rochester’s demographic growth, particularly as more people with advanced degrees flock to Mayo Clinic and related businesses for work.

Those transplants tend to be more liberal on social issues, including abortion, racial and gender equality, and safety net programs.

DFL party chair Richard Carlbom said Rochester’s demographic shifts represent a real opportunity for Democrats to flip the seat from red to blue.

He said the party plans to put significant resources behind the campaign of DFLer Simon Glaser, who has the party endorsement and is the only DFLer who has filed to run for Nelson’s seat so far.

"Now that [Nelson] has decided to retire, Simon Glaser, a public school teacher from Rochester, is going to win that seat,” Carlbom said. “He's going to knock on 17,000 doors. He has a plan to reach out to voters, have one-on-one conversations ... and I'm really excited about our chances in that district."

A hospital building in Rochester known for life-saving medical treatment is also home to some fierce airborne predators: Peregrine falcons who live in a rooftop nest, where four fluffy feathered chicks hatched just a few weeks ago.

To welcome the falcon hatchlings, hundreds of patients, staff and friends of the Mayo Clinic community gathered recently in Mayo’s Geffen Auditorium, where member of the peregrine falcon recovery team brought the four fledgling birds from their nesting box atop the Mayo building in downtown Rochester.

Members of the audience selected names for the three-week-old fluffy white chicks. The chicks were then inspected by biologists to make sure they’re in good health.

Biologists also attached small metal identification bands to their feet so Mayo’s falcon team can track them once they leave the nest.

At the end of the ceremony, the siblings — propped up side by side facing the crowd — received a round of applause with the announcement:

“This is your class of 2026: Belle, Vega, Zephyr and Mylo.”

For almost four decades, the Mayo Clinic has raised peregrine falcons. The world-renowned hospital was first approached by the Peregrine Falcon Recovery Program in the 1980s as a potential release site for young captively-raised birds. Mayo Clinic agreed and, within a few years, the birds had started to return to nest on the roof of the hospital.

The species had been nearly decimated due to widespread use of the pesticide DDT. The toxic chemicals built up in the bird’s bodies, impairing the ability of female falcons to lay healthy eggs. The eggs lacked calcium, making the egg shells too thin and weak for embryos to develop properly.

So few falcon eggs were able to survive until hatching that by the mid 1960s, “peregrines were completely gone east of the Rockies,” said Jackie Fallon, a naturalist and biologist with Mayo Clinic’s falcon program.

Recovery efforts began earnestly in the early 1970s, when an ornithology professor at Cornell University founded the Peregrine Fund, which began successfully breeding the falcons in captivity before releasing the birds of prey into the wild.

“We started releasing them in the early 70s out on the East Coast, and then here in the Midwest in the early 80s,” said Fallon. ”And by 1999, they were fully recovered at a population six to 10 times higher than it was before they even became endangered.”

Although the birds are no longer endangered, the peregrine falcon program at Mayo Clinic is widely beloved by staff, patients and the wider falcon-loving community. There is a 24-hour live web cam set up to watch parental falcons Hattie and Orton raise their young, and televisions all around Mayo Clinic’s campus broadcast the live stream for patients and staff.

Fallon said the video cam has drawn fans from across the world, including many in the United Kingdom and the Middle East. One video clip she posted of the falcons yelling at each other has nearly one million views.

Every time she’s on campus, Fallon said she hears from patients about how meaningful the program is. Some even schedule their appointments to align with the falcon's nesting period.

“A big part of it is, usually, if [a patient is] on campus, it can be a very challenging time,” Fallon said, “but watching the camera takes their mind off a test result, especially if they're long-term patients — waiting for a transplant or [have a] long recovery time. They will sit and watch that camera 24/7. We have patients I've met that come every year and take a redo photo with the live falcon I bring on campus.”

Hattie and Orton are the current resident falcons at the Mayo Clinic, having defended their territory in Rochester from competing falcons since 2016. The Mayo community watched Hattie lay four eggs this year via the live stream and watched the chicks hatch about five weeks later.

At this point, the fledglings are still too young to leave the nest, but in about three weeks, they’ll take their first flight. When old enough and strong enough, the four young falcons will leave the hospital’s rooftop and probably won’t return to Rochester, as falcons are known to migrate thousands of miles.

Nearly 200 people, most with Jewish ancestry, packed a north Minneapolis Pentecostal church on Sunday afternoon.

The building, 100 years old this year, has significance to both Jewish and Black history in the area.

Constructed in 1926 as Tifereth B'nai Jacob Synagogue, the building at 810 Elwood Avenue North was purchased by an African American Pentecostal congregation and rechristened as the First God of Church in Christ — Graham Temple in 1957.

The church hosted a centennial event with Jewish religious leaders and historians Sunday afternoon, with exhibits and talks exploring the building’s past and present.

For many, it was like coming home.

David Sussman, a 77-year-old from Minnetonka, recalled visiting the synagogue during High Holidays with his grandparents who lived on the northside. He never thought he’d return.

“It kind of makes me feel good knowing that the old neighborhood is still here and it’s vibrant and it’s functioning,” Sussman said.

Jewish art still adorns the interior of the unassuming church atop a small hill. The church preserved much of its original art and architecture.

Paintings with trompe l’oeil motifs and zodiac images line its walls. The ceiling features stars and a night sky against a blue background. A wooden Torah ark — an ornamental structure to hold sacred texts — sits at the sanctuary’s center.

Enough of the original building, both outside and inside, remained to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places in 2024, a designation that could help the building’s current inhabitants raise funds to support their home and preserve its history.

“It's exciting for both of our narratives and our stories,” said Tierre Webster, senior pastor at the First Church of God in Christ, in a September interview. “They so much mirror each other in this community.”

Webster hopes historical designation will also allow the church to create a museum telling the story of Jewish and African American plight in the neighborhood.

“It's a wonderful example of Jewish and Black cooperation,” said Marilyn Chiat, an art and architectural historian who helped apply for the building’s historical designation. “It's a positive story. We don't get too many of those these days.”

A former synagogue, now a church

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The building marks the second synagogue in Minnesota to receive historical designation, according to Chiat. It’s also the third African American congregation in the state to be recognized.

Chiat said the building is “representative of a time” and the “role of community on the northside.”

She described north Minneapolis in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a slum with cheap housing that became a landing place for both Orthodox Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution by the Russian Empire and African Americans moving north as Reconstruction ended in the South and Jim Crow laws became the norm.

Chiat said Minneapolis at the time was notorious for its antisemitism and racism.

“There were housing covenants restricting both Jews and Blacks as to where they could live,” Chiat said, referring to what are now approximately the Near North and Willard-Hay neighborhoods of north Minneapolis. “It was far more difficult for African Americans than for Jews, but it was difficult for both of them, and that is how the northside began.”

Chiat said the two communities lived and worked closely together. Tifereth B'nai Jacob Synagogue founders had socialist leanings and fundraised for local causes like the Phyllis Wheatley House, she said. Chiat figures that relationship made it easier for Graham Temple to purchase the building in 1957.

Three couples from the Tulsa, Okla., area founded the Christian congregation in 1923 and moved to Minnesota during the Great Migration. First God of Church in Christ – Graham Temple marked the denomination’s first house of worship in the state.

North Minneapolis resident Jerome Nunn said his family attended the church when he was growing up and it held a critical role in the neighborhood.

“It was a gathering place for people to support one another, for families to support one another and to just establish their footing as a lot of people migrated to the North,” Nunn said.