MPR News AM Update: Maybe we're not so different after all

Morning fog lifts from Alton Lake in the BWCA.
Morning fog lifts from Alton Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on Aug. 24, 2019.
Matt Sepic | MPR News

Good morning and happy Thursday, or Friday Jr., as some of us call it here. Here are 292 words you need to know to power up your day.

Sunny and warmer. Highs in the mid 50s to lower 60s statewide, except near Lake Superior where it’ll be chillier. It should stay mostly clear into the evening in the Twin Cities with some clouds elsewhere. Statewide lows at night in the upper 30s to mid 40s. More on Updraft. | Forecast

Yes, society is polarized today. But it’s not all a divide. The APM Research Lab, a sister company to MPR News, dug into the data. Among their findings: Most Americans back several gun safety measures and abortion isn’t as a dividing an issue as some media portray.

The presidential spotlight shines on Boundary Waters. At least three Democratic contenders, including Elizabeth Warren, are calling attention to our special woods by supporting a moratorium on nearby mining. MinnPost’s Gabe Schneider reports on how all this attention came about.

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Sometimes a parking lot isn’t just a place to keep cars. In Rochester, a proposed parking lot for Mayo Clinic employees at an old Kmart store site is upsetting locals and showing the tension that comes with being a one-industry town. “Making it a parking lot? You call that revitalization?” one local said. “That’s not what the city touted to us.”

“I’m starting not to care that she is brutal to her staff.” That Politico headline is talking about Amy Klobuchar. The website’s piece named the Minnesota senator and Pete Buttigieg its top performers at Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, according to “20 experts, insiders, activists and political professionals” who watched the three-hour affair.

Two more people have died of vaping-linked lung injuries in Minnesota. At least one of the latest people to die had vaped THC, the high-producing compound in marijuana. Health officials say they “cannot guarantee the safety of any vaping products.”

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