Greater Minnesota

September heat and turning leaves: Where to catch fall colors
The Minnesota DNR’s fall colors map suggests leaves are in the beginning stages of turning colorful across northern Minnesota with the start of notable color in the Iron Range and near North Dakota, as well as a sprinkle along the southern border of Minnesota.
Rural Voice: How rural communities thrive as immigrants put down roots
The final Rural Voice of the 2024 season was in Worthington on Thursday, Sept. 19 to talk about how rural communities can incorporate immigrants in a way that enables everyone to thrive.
Minnesota Power plans to build solar projects in Cohasset and Royalton
A Minnesota Power official called them a “key milestone” in the Duluth-based utility’s shift away from producing electricity by burning coal toward cleaner sources of energy.
St. Cloud asks voters to approve $43.5 million for new fire station
Fire Chief Matthew Love said the new station will add firefighters and equipment to a growing part of St. Cloud and help improve response times throughout the city.
Little fires everywhere: A new arts collective goes on tour to build community in rural Minnesota and beyond
On a September evening at the Turf Club in St. Paul, the new arts collective “Fire in the Village” kicked off a fall tour blending music, upcycled fashion and printmaking to foster community connections and address rural isolation.
Community healing: Groundbreaking honors ‘all lives lost and forever changed’ by 2005 Red Lake shootings
On Saturday, supporters will gather for a groundbreaking ceremony on the Red Lake Nation for a memorial dedicated to those affected by the mass shooting in 2005. Ten people died that day, including the perpetrator.
Gas pipeline approved near pipestone quarry sacred to Indigenous people, with conditions
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved a permit to Magellan Pipeline Company along a route near a pipestone quarry considered sacred by many tribal nations. Tribal input over the past year resulted in the commission requiring the pipeline company to consult with tribes.
Can Winona County turn around its lagging voter turnout? These people are working to do that
Early voting begins Friday across Minnesota. And organizers in Winona County, which has some of the lowest voter turnout in the state, are uniting for one cause: not a specific candidate or political party, but simply registering people to vote.
Rural Voice: How to sustainably grow regenerative agriculture in rural Minnesota
Rural Voice was in Detroit Lakes on Monday, Sept. 9, for a town hall about farming. They discussed everything from how to cultivate a mindset shift in farmers to how to incentivize regenerative practices.
Rural Voice: How to build more civic-minded communities
MPR News host Kerri Miller took her Rural Voice series to Red Wing on Thursday to talk with community members and political scientist Brian Klaas about how to build a new spirit of civic engagement in rural Minnesota.