Good morning, Minnesota. Happy Wednesday!

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

WEATHER

☀️ Wednesday will be briefly warmer thanks to southeast winds ahead of the next chance at snow. Highs will be in the upper 20s across southern Minnesota.

❄️ Snow develops Wednesday afternoon and evening into Wednesday night with higher totals once again favoring northern Minnesota. There could be a mixture of freezing drizzle and snow in southern Minnesota.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

Reporter’s notebook: Minneapolis police, Black men find common ground in Alabama’s past

A group of Minneapolis police officers and Black residents explored history museums and historic sights in Alabama detailing the horrors of slavery and the terror enforced against Black people. They invited MPR News host Angela Davis to come along. Here’s what she saw.

Long before RFK Jr., Brainerd fought bitter legal battle over fluoride in its water supply

The topic of whether to fluoridate drinking water is back in the public sphere again, in part because of the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary. It’s an issue that caused a decades long debate in the central Minnesota town of Brainerd, which is looking back on that period with an original show, “Fluoride, the Musical.”

NEWS ROUNDUP

🌐 Trump says he wants the U.S. to take ownership of the Gaza Strip President Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday at the White House where Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking ownership of the Gaza Strip and redeveloping the territory.

🏛️ ‘We’re not just playing defense’: Minnesota elected leaders push back on federal rush to end DEI. President Donald Trump has moved swiftly to erase diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in federal agencies and programs. However, elected leaders in Minnesota say they won’t scale back similar policies at the moment.

🏫 Trump administration launches investigation into U of M on antisemitism reports. The U of M was one of the first universities to negotiate an agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters to end protest encampments on campus — raising the profile of the school.

🧊 Before barges start moving, crews head out to measure Lake Pepin ice. Shipping companies use the measurements to plan for when towboats and barges will be able to start breaking their way through the ice to begin the commercial navigation season to and from the Twin Cities.

⚖️ Alleged mistreatment of migrant workers nets felony charges for Minnesota farmer. In a criminal complaint filed Monday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison alleges that Keith Lawrence Schaefer of Richmond, Minn., routinely withheld pay, including overtime, from at least 18 workers in violation of the state’s 2019 wage theft law.

🌿 Cannabis business license applications to open in February. People looking to grow, sell and transport cannabis products can submit business applications from Feb. 18 to March 14. Those applications will go into lotteries for a capped number of licenses.

🚜 Minnesota Farm Bureau president on tariffs, Trump agriculture secretary pick. Dairy, corn, soybean and alfalfa farmer Dan Glessing, who serves as president of the Minnesota Farm Bureau’s board of directors, told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, negotiated during the first Trump administration, was a “nice template” for free trade.

MUST LISTEN

🎧 Sioux Chef Sean Sherman traces ancestry on PBS show ‘Finding Your Roots.’ Hosted by historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., the program does deep genealogical research into two celebrity guests each week.

🎧 David Brancaccio on rebuilding after the Los Angeles fires. Last month, wildfires swept down from the hills around Los Angeles and blazed through entire city neighborhoods. Neary 17,000 buildings were destroyed, including the home of David Brancaccio.

🎧 Minnesota nonprofits at risk after Trump threatens foreign aid cuts. The website for the U.S. Agency for International Development is out of service Tuesday. And one Minnesota agency, Alight, that provides humanitarian support for refugees is scrambling and says it may need to shut down programs.

🎧 Listen to today's headlines on our Minnesota Today podcast.