By Beth Dalby

When Roger and Vicki Henry started renting out the third floor of their Victorian home in 2018, business picked up quickly. Their first two bookings in 2018 went smoothly and a third was already in the calendar. But something was nagging at Roger.

“I was lying in bed just before the third rental,” he said. “I am on the development committee for Open Your Heart and we’re always looking for ways to raise money for hunger and homeless programs.”

He says his thoughts turned to karma....

By Beth Dalby

Eric Ellsworth has been voting in Minnesota since 1980 and following national political races closely enough to feel informed in every presidential and midterm election.

The problem, he says, is what to do about all those other names on the ballot, the ones he barely recognizes — candidates for the Minnesota State Senate and House of Representatives, not to mention all those judicial and municipal races.

“I ask myself if I know who my current state representative or senator is,” he said. “And...

By Beth Dalby

The day I met him, he was still working the room. I was standing in line at the Caribou Coffee in the Baker building skyway and had no idea who he was until, as we said hello, I noticed something vaguely, distantly, familiar about him. 

“Call me Wendy,” he said. 

Slowly, the face in front of me merged with a distant memory of a portrait I’d seen somewhere, a long time ago. Former Democratic Minnesota Gov. Wendell Anderson. This was the man who, decades earlier, had masterminded what became...

By Beth Dalby

Media coverage of Minnesota politics can be bewildering these days, often wrapped in partisan rhetoric and amplified by brinkmanship. The facts you need shouldn’t have to compete with all the political noise.

Here are three techniques to quiet your spirit and steady your mind before you consume the news...

By Beth Dalby | Reporter

Zaynab Mohamed’s phone is rarely silent these days. There are calls for help from worried parents trying to protect their children, frightened family members looking for loved ones who have disappeared after being taken away by masked, armed men in unmarked vehicles.

Mohamed, Minnesota state senator for District 63, said stories like these have grown more frequent and more disturbing since Dec. 2. That was the day Donald Trump characterized Minnesota’s history of welcoming Somali...

By Beth Dalby | Reporter

Courtney Burton stepped up to the microphone. Behind her, a 19-piece band, staged in 1930s style, had just finished warming up the room with a short set of jazz standards. In front of her, dancers who had come to hear her sing quickly reshuffled at their tables, partnered back up, and poured onto the dance floor.

By Beth Dalby | Reporter

When Sabriin Mohamed, a political science major at University of Minnesota, saw the flyer about an MPR Design Sprint competition, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But she knew she was attending. The cash prizes and chance to collaborate directly with MPR were reason enough.

But Mohamed was especially intrigued by the challenge: