🌧️ There will be more heavy rainfall Friday into early Saturday. There’s a moderate risk of excessive rainfall for much of southern Minnesota, which is also in a flood watch until Saturday afternoon. Get the latest weather news on Updraft.
Coming up on Morning Edition
🌊 Rivers around Minnesota are still rising after torrential rains earlier this week. Many are expected to hit major flood stage in the coming days — if they haven't already. In the small town of Cook, homes and businesses are under several feet of water from the Little Fork River. We will look at the evolving situation in northeast Minnesota.
✏️ This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, Rank joins MPR News host Kerri Miller to talk about his new book, “The Random Factor.” He shares how luck and chance play a crucial role in shaping history, the natural world and our everyday lives.
Two of Minnesota’s largest districts implemented widespread cuts and drew from their fund balances during their budgeting processes this year. But leaders in both districts say more cuts are on the horizon next year.
“This is a tough budget cycle, tough decisions and we as a board know that a cut is somebody’s job,” said St. Paul board member Jim Vue, who voted to approve the budget. “A cut is how somebody provides for their family … we don’t lose sight of that.”
Cherry Koch, a Duluth artist awarded a grant for her “Homebody” project, explores themes of identity, trauma and religion through surrealist portraits of friends holding dollhouse-sized structures she builds.
With the series “Trauma Queen,” Koch painted people who appear melancholy, bored and isolated, sometimes tear-streaked or covered in blood. She says she was thinking about toxic positivity and how she often needed to mask her emotions or hide who she was growing up to feel safe.
“In the Midwest, especially I think in the Iron Range, there's a culture of passiveness and avoiding difficult subjects and not talking about the things that need to be talked about,” Koch says.
What else we're watching:
🗳️ Rep. Ilhan Omar works to fend off a second challenge from fellow Democrat Don Samuels. Former Minneapolis City Council Member Don Samuels lost to Rep. Ilhan Omar by just two percentage points in 2022. Omar won the DFL endorsement for a new term in May, but Samuels has pushed ahead to the August primary.
🎭 Honed on the Range: A Minneapolis theater director goes north for an Iron Range story. While the script explores the history of the Range, including its ethnic groups and the mining industry, Mark Valdez also was interested in the area’s future. The final scene shows what the characters can accomplish through community work and ingenuity.
🏫 Carleton alum alleges grooming, sexual assault by campus staffer. According to the complaint, Jane Doe reported the assaults in separate meetings with two different administrators in the spring of 2022 and unsuccessfully sought a restraining order against Don Smith. Four days after Doe told Carleton’s Title IX coordinator about the attack, the college fired Don Smith and banned him from campus.
📜 What's known, and not known, about the partnership agreement signed by Russia and North Korea. Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un say a new strategic partnership is a breakthrough, but what it means for their relationship is still uncertain.
