Need something to do today that isn’t shopping or sleeping? State parks and recreation areas will be free all day, so go outside . And check out our Outside in Minnesota app for outdoor events and ideas. Weather news is on Updraft and your forecast is here.
Or, if you feel like being inside, check out these stories. I’m not working today, so here’s a two-day-old list of some of our best features I think you should read:
Moving to Mexico for love sounded awesome. Then my African uncle called — Jeffrey Bissoy, my friend and recently departed newsroom colleague, just moved to Mexico City to live with his longtime girlfriend. As he eloquently writes on the Sahan Journal, that didn’t seem like an outlandish idea. His Uncle Claude felt differently, asking: “In what world do you think this is OK?”
The decline and resurgence of Minnesota’s freshwater mussels — Kirsti Marohn and Daniel Ackerman produced a three-part written and radio series on a crucial, but endangered, Minnesota species: freshwater mussels. Part one gives an overview of the state of mussels, part two dives into the history; and three explores restoration efforts.
'We're thankful': A family's journey to bring a baby home forever — I plugged this yesterday, but Jiwon Choi’s telling of a family’s adoption story is a great read if you missed it.
Uprooted: The 1950s plan to erase Indian Country — Deep reporting from Max Nesterak via APM Reports. Here’s how he describes the documentary and story: “In the 1950s, the United States government came up with a plan to solve what it called the ‘Indian problem.’ It would assimilate Native Americans by moving them to cities and eliminating reservations. The 20-year campaign failed to destroy Native cultures and tribal sovereignty, but its impact is still felt today.”
It's fading from Minn. households, but lutefisk is still king at Minneapolis' Mindekirken — MPR News journalists and new Minnesotans Christine Nguyen and Megan Burks had never had reconstituted, dried codfish that's been preserved in lye (a.k.a. lutefisk). But as true professionals, they recently tried it for the good of the radio.
This Tom Hanks story will help you feel less bad — OK, this one isn’t from MPR (it’s the New York Times), but Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s profile of a very nice actor did make me feel less bad.
— Cody Nelson, MPR News | 