Morning Edition

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Morning Edition, with Cathy Wurzer in St. Paul and NPR hosts in Washington and Los Angeles, brings you all the news from overnight and the information you need to start your day. Listen from 4 to 9 a.m. every weekday.

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A number of local executives will be advising the White House in the coming weeks on how to restart the economy, while protecting people’s health. They're part of a 219-member panel named by the Trump Administration Tuesday. Among the names on the list is Life Time Fitness Founder and CEO Bahram Akradi. Akradi spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer Thursday morning.
Local farmers, reliant on shuttered schools and restaurants, find new markets
Thousands of Minnesota farms grow food that supply schools, restaurants and families with everything from meat to vegetables to flour. The coronavirus pandemic has turned many of those markets upside down.
Smithfield Foods closes plants in Wisconsin, Missouri
Smithfield Foods will temporarily close its plants in Cudahy, Wis., and Martin City, Mo., because of the coronavirus pandemic. Smithfield said a small number of employees at both plants have tested positive for COVID-19. The company’s Sioux Falls, S.D., plant is closed indefinitely after an outbreak there.
Gov. Tim Walz coined the phrase “Minnesota moonshot” to refer to his goal for COVID-19 testing in the coming weeks. Professor Rebecca Wurtz at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health spoke with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about some of the logistics of how this expanded testing might work.
Portraits of Valor: Dan Cylkowski, 94, Army
The son of a World War I veteran and with a brother in the Air Corps, he was proud to join the Army: “…I’m going there to serve my country.”
State officials expect virus to take greater toll on racial minorities
COVID-19 is more deadly for African Americans than it is for whites, according to early data from several states and major metropolitan areas. So far, Minnesota has not detected racial differences in deaths from the virus. But given the state’s well-documented disparities in health and access to health care, experts suspect the pandemic will hurt people of color the most.
As unity wanes, Minnesota lawmakers advance new COVID-19 bill
The Minnesota Legislature muscled through additional bills to respond to COVID-19, but the harmony seen earlier in the state’s fight with the coronavirus pandemic has eroded.