Good morning, Minnesota. Happy Friday!

Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day. ☕

WEATHER

🌞 Friday highs across southern Minnesota will push 80 degrees in the south with 70s sliding right up to the greater Twin Cities.

🌨️ A system will bring rain and snow to different areas Saturday into Sunday. In the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota, it will stay as rain but be snow to the north. Snowfall accumulations through Sunday will favor a band of between 2 to more than 6 inches.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

DFLers at Minnesota Capitol rip Musk’s ideas while the GOP wants a closer look

Billionaire and top Trump adviser Elon Musk is reshaping the federal government. In Minnesota, Democrats are increasingly turning Musk mentions into a punching bag. And Republicans say his work could be replicated in St. Paul.

Two Ojibwe artists practice culture and tradition with birchbark

Working with birchbark has been a long tradition for tribes in the Midwest, however, there are concerns that it has become a rarity. For two Ojibwe artists, they share the significance of what birchbark means to them and their art.

NEWS ROUNDUP

⚖️ Amid Feeding Our Future convictions, another nonprofit seeks reinstatement to food program. Of the 70 people charged in the Feeding Our Future case, none worked directly for Partners in Quality Care, which is also known as Partners in Nutrition. But federal investigators say in court filings that PIQC operated in a similarly fraudulent way.

🪩 Black dance festival highlights improvisation as performance, not process. The Black Dance Improvisation Festival in Minneapolis invites artists and audiences to see improvisation not just as a tool, but as a complete performance form rooted in Black cultural traditions.

🚅 Amtrak bringing in replacement rail cars, will resume Borealis train services. A spokesperson said passengers who booked business class tickets will be refunded the difference from the coach class price, because the replacement cars don’t support a business class.

🏥Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis to step down in May. DeCubellis took the lead of the state’s biggest safety net hospital system in early 2020, just weeks before Minnesota confirmed its first cases of COVID-19.

🦝 Raccoon survives encounter with electrical transformer in Rochester. The incident knocked out power to a couple thousand homes and businesses in the northeast part of the city.

🎸 On new album, DIY punk band The Taxpayers seek solace during violent times. DIY punk band The Taxpayers channel personal loss, grief and a search for refuge into their new album “Circle Breaker,” written in the wake of the 2023 Nudieland shooting that killed their friend August Golden.

🪧 Minnesota employee unions threaten job actions after Walz back-to-office directive. Leaders with both the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Minnesota Council 5 want Gov. Tim Walz to rescind his requirement that employees return to the office at least 50 percent of the time.

🏛️ Minnesota lawyers say increased immigration enforcement is filling court rooms. Some of the people who’ve been detained have been charged with DUIs or domestic assaults. However, some in detention have no criminal background at all.

🥚 Egg shortage prompts more backyard chickens, but bird rescuer cautions prospective owners. Chicken Run Rescue is based out of the Twin Cities and says it is the oldest urban chicken rescue in the country. Its founder Mary Britton Clouse joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Thursday and said the birds have a “tough time ahead of them.”

🍄 Foragers want a seat at the rulemaking table as DNR mulls mushroom, berry bag limits. The DNR is considering bag limits on how much food people can take from state-managed lands. Right now, that proposal is a one-gallon maximum for foraging in state parks.

MUST LISTEN

🎧 Appetites: Minnesota sisters dish up simple recipes and Egyptian flavors in debut cookbook. The Elkaffas grew up in Eden Prairie, Minn., but they remember their mom spending hours in the kitchen preparing Egyptian cuisine.

🎧 The Trump administration’s impact on free speech. MPR News host Catharine Richert and her guests talk about who feels free to speak, who feels silenced and whether it’s possible for everyone to be heard. It’s part of the MPR News Talking Sense series helping Minnesotans have hard political conversations … better.

🎧 Thank You, Stranger: ‘Front Row Paul’ gave the Twin Cities music scene his all. This week’s episode of “Thank You Stranger” honors a Twin Cities music scene legend. He was well known by local musicians and show-goers as “Front Row Paul,” or Paul Engebretson. Paul passed away earlier this week after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

🎧 ‘Seoul searching’: Korean adoptee celebrates 50th by raising awareness, funds for travel. David “Chilly” Caufman, a Korean adoptee, has been a part of the Twin Cities music scene for 20 years and is helping to organize a music festival called Heart & Seoul Connection.
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