Lifestyle

Girl Scouts brought to safety after lightning strike in Boundary Waters
A group of Girl Scouts was back at base camp and checking in with their families Saturday morning after a harrowing night in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
A field guide to Minnesota's iconic animals
Minnesota is proud of its wildlife — even the state’s professional basketball teams are named after lynx and wolves. But spotting these cats and dogs in the wild isn’t as simple as catching a game at the Target Center. Naturalist Dave Schmidt offers tips for those on the trail of five of the state’s iconic creatures.
‘Just crazy’: Boys haul monster sturgeon from Minnehaha Creek
Two Edina boys tubing down the west metro creek on a July afternoon hauled the catch of a lifetime, lassoing the beast and dragging it onto the bank without wetting a hook. And it’s all captured on YouTube.
The trail less traveled: Where to find Minnesota parks that are off the beaten path
If you've ever tried to book a campsite in the summer at one of Minnesota's popular parks like Gooseberry Falls or Tettegouche you likely encountered limited availability if anything. Here are a few state parks around Minnesota that tend to have fewer visitors and more availability largey due to their distance from population centers.
Diversifying the outdoors
For communities of color, lack of accessibility and historical trauma can be barriers to enjoying the thrills of nature. MPR News host Kerri Miller explored how to diversify the outdoors.
On the North Shore, many hands work to help a dying forest
Insects, invasives and hotter temps are laying waste to Minnesota’s northeastern forests. People are working now to rebuild the North Woods, making them more resilient to climate change without losing the grandeur Minnesotans know and love.
Rattlesnake squad comes to the rescue — of the snakes
When temperatures soar in southeastern Minnesota, homeowners tend to have more run-ins with the typically shy, and threatened, timber rattlesnake. When that happens, the rattlesnake responders are called in.
'Lager Queen' author was tired of caricatures of Midwestern women
J. Ryan Stradal wasn't seeing the strong, Midwestern women who raised him reflected well in contemporary fiction. So he decided to write those characters himself in “The Lager Queen of Minnesota.”
Broadening the circle of competitive swimming
Against a backdrop of drowning disparities, swimmers of color are embracing the sport while making it more inclusive.