Addiction doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Stress, fear, instability and isolation can shape how people cope and recover. MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how some people living with substance use disorders support others in recovery.

Guests:

• Caddy Frink is the director of programs for Minnesota Recovery Connection, a nonprofit that works to increase access to the support, care and resources needed to achieve long-term recovery from substance use disorders.

• Edward Hovelman is a peer recovery specialist and the director of bilingual programs at the Minnesota Recovery Connection.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. To learn how to get support for mental health, drug or alcohol issues, visit FindSupport.gov. To find a treatment facility or provider go to FindTreatment.gov or call 800-662-HELP (4357).

We think of wildlife as separate from urban life. But there are a lot of wild critters living all around us in the city.

Turkeys have made a remarkable comeback in the last few decades after being driven entirely out of Minnesota. Deer, squirrels, rats and racoons are regular visitors to many people’s back yards. And, a relatively new research project is documenting how coyotes and foxes are vying for territory in city neighborhoods.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about the secret lives of wild animals in our midst and how they interact with each other and with us.

Guests:

• Geoff Miller is a post-doctoral associate in the department of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology at the University of Minnesota, where he works with the Twin Cities Coyote and Fox Project. His research focuses on how coyotes and foxes live in urban areas, and interact with each other and humans.
• Marlene Zuk is a professor in the department of ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Minnesota. Her newest book is “Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us.”

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

When most of us think about 911, we picture flashing lights and first responders arriving on the scene.

But that fast emergency response starts somewhere else — with a person answering the phone.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a 911 call taker, a dispatcher, and the director of Minneapolis’s 911 call center about what happens after the phone rings — how they gather critical details, move information through the system and send help where it’s needed.

Guests:

• Joni Hodne is the director of the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis. She oversees the city’s 911 operations, including staffing and training.
• Lori Patrick is a dispatcher who has been working at the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis for over 30 years. She dispatches first responders in the field, relaying crucial information in real time.
• Ben Jacobs is a call taker for the 911 Emergency Dispatch Center in Minneapolis. He takes emergency calls, gathers critical information and often helps callers stay calm in emergencies.

The Science Museum of Minnesota has wowed generations with its dinosaur fossils, including an 80-foot Diplodocus. And tens of thousands of people have visited its other exhibits explaining everything from outer space to the history of race.

But these days, fewer people are visiting.

Like other cultural institutions across the country, the St. Paul museum has struggled to lure people back after the COVID-19 pandemic. Attendance is half of what it was in 2019, forcing the museum to eliminate summer camps, lay off employees and make other cuts.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about what contributed to the drop in visitors and how the museum is trying to sell more people on its cool collections, current exhibits and educational programming.

Guests:

• Alison Rempel Brown has been the president and CEO of the Science Museum of Minnesota since 2016. She was previously chief of staff at the California Academy of Sciences.
• Colleen Dilenschneider is founder and managing member of IMPACTS Experience, a market research firm that works with cultural organizations, including museums, zoos, aquariums and science centers. She is based in Chicago.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. 

Snow is still on the ground across parts of Minnesota, but it’s not too early to start thinking about spring allergies. Coming up at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two allergists about what’s coming this season and how to get ahead of it.

Guests:

• Dr. Alice Knoedler is an allergist and immunologist at Midwest Allergy and Asthma, which is part Midwest Ear, Nose and Throat Specialists, a group of clinicians based in and around the Twin Cities.
• Dr. Zachary Rubin is a pediatrician and allergist who practices at Oak Brook Allergists in Chicago. He is also author of the recently published book, “All About Allergies: Everything You Need to Know About Asthma, Food Allergies, Hay Fever, and More.”

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

Foundations play a big role in supporting nonprofit work in Minnesota.

One of the most prominent is the Bush Foundation. Founded in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife Edyth, the foundation gives grants in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the 23 Native nations sharing that geography.

Its funding is helping train Ojibwe language teachers, create a loan pool for Black homebuyers and launch Latina child care businesses.

It’s supported everything from duck habitat restoration in South Dakota to programs for entrepreneurs in rural Minnesota. And it invests in emerging leaders through its longstanding Bush Fellowship program.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the president of the Bush Foundation, Jen Ford Reedy, about how philanthropy is changing, how it shapes a community and how the Bush Foundation has responded to community upheavals, including the recent immigration enforcement surge and the murder of George Floyd.

Guest:

• Jen Ford Reedy has been president of the Bush Foundation since 2012. Reedy was previously chief of staff and vice president of strategy for the St. Paul and Minnesota Foundation, where she led the creation of GiveMN.org and Give to the Max Day. She has also worked as a consultant with McKinsey and Company and directed the Itasca Project, a CEO-led regional civic initiative in the Twin Cities. She sits on the board of the Council on Foundations.

Editor’s note: MPR has received funding from The Bush Foundation.

This is a time of real uncertainty for agriculture in Minnesota.

Crop prices are fluctuating, the cost of fuel and fertilizer remains high, and tariffs and global trade uncertainty are adding another layer of pressure on farmers trying to make a profit.

As spring planting season begins, farmers need to make some big decisions — facing a lot of unknowns.

For many families, farming is not just tied to income, but to identity, tradition, and generations of work. So when things feel unstable, the impact goes far beyond the farm.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about how Minnesota farmers are managing the challenges.

Guests:

• Thom Petersen is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Before being appointed commissioner, he was the director of government relations for the Minnesota Farmers Union. He has spent most of his life working for a horse and farm business.
• Megan Horsager is a farmer in Chippewa County. She works on Stevens farms with her family, where they raise sugar beets, corn, soybeans, alfalfa and silage.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.   

What’s it like to be married for 34 years to someone who wrote a book called “What Happy Couples Do.”

That’s the lucky situation in which Brian Bruess finds himself.

He is president of the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University and the first president to lead both schools. His wife, Carol Bruess, is nationally known for her research on relationships and communication and is the schools’ scholar-in-residence for relationships and dialogue.

MPR News host Angela Davis continues her Power Pairs series talking with Carol and Brian about how they’ve supported each other in marriage, careers and creating community on campus.

Guests:

• Brian J. Bruess is the president of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University outside of St. Cloud, Minn. He started in July of 2022 and is the first person to serve as the joint president for both schools. He was previously president of St. Norbert College in eastern Wisconsin. Before that he worked for over two decades in administration at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn.
• Carol Bruess is scholar in residence for relationships and dialogue at the College of St. Benedict and Saint John’s University and professor emerita of communication and family study at the University of St. Thomas. She researches, speaks and writes about how to create healthy relationships. She’s the author of five books, including “What Happy Couples Do,” and “Family Communication in the Age of Digital and Social Media.”

Do you know a Power Pair?

“Power Pairs” is a series featuring prominent Minnesotans in a close relationship. You may know of them separately but they reveal a new side of themselves when they sit down together. Listen to past interviews here and submit your idea for a future Power Pair here.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.