MPR News Presents

For Labor Day, we broadcast an episode of the MinneCulture podcast about restaurateur, labor organizer, and civil rights pioneer Anthony Brutus Cassius. The program is hosted by Minnesota chef and food writer Mecca Bos.

During a year already vexed by a global pandemic, residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana, suffered two hurricanes, an ice storm, and a devastating flood — a level of catastrophe that portends our nation’s disastrous climate future and reveals the insufficient safety nets available to the most vulnerable. This documentary chronicles the effects of these disasters over the course of a year, starting with Hurricane Laura in August, 2020.

Even before the pandemic, campus counselling services were reporting a marked uptick in the number of students with anxiety, clinical depression and other serious psychiatric problems. College administrators are feeling pressure to do more to retain students whose mental health issues might otherwise lead them to drop out – and to ensure that students don’t harm themselves or others.

Schools around the country are struggling to find enough teachers. Many quit after a short time on the job, creating a constant struggle to replace them. Each year, there are close to 300,000 first-year teachers in the nation’s classrooms. At the same time, enrollment in teacher training programs at colleges and universities is plummeting, and schools are looking to other sources to fill teaching positions.

This hour explores a sea change in the number of foreign students attending U.S. colleges, which have typically attracted more than a million international students a year. The pandemic, visa restrictions, rising tuition, and a perception of safety issues in America have driven new international student enrollment down by a jaw-dropping 72 percent.

A debate from the Intelligence Squared series: “Can employers and schools require vaccines?”

Yale University historian David Blight speaks at the Aspen Ideas Festival about his book “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.”

Retired NPR reporter Tom Gjelten speaks at the College of St. Scholastica about his book, “A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story.”

A short radio play by Jeffrey Hatcher called “All the Way with LBJ,” followed by discussion with former Vice President Walter Mondale, former Minnesota Attorney General Hubert “Skip” Humphrey and historian Hy Berman.

Award-winning journalist Ray Suarez speaks in St. Paul about the future of religion in America.