🌧️ We’ll have some lingering clouds and showers early Thursday, but clouds will decrease in the wake of an incoming cool front. Friday will see highs just in the 50s and 60s — the coolest such readings for many since May. Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

Coming upon Morning Edition

🏫 It’s the first day of preschool and Kindergarten for many little Minnesotans out there. That means new routines and new people, which can cause a little anxiety for both parents and kids. MPR News' early childhood reporter Kyra Miles tells us about school separation anxiety and how to work through it.

💰 For three-plus decades, Minnesota has siphoned off part of its state lottery funds for conservation, clean water and environmental projects. Now, it’s up to voters this fall whether to stay the course. MPR News political reporter Dana Ferguson brings us the story.

🪻 Have you noticed any lilacs blooming in your yard or neighborhood this week? Several of us in the newsroom have spotted some purple buds that normally appear in May. One colleague even saw a daffodil flowering — and we're officially in meteorological fall. So what's causing spring flowers to bloom right now? A researcher in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota, joins us with answers.

Coming up at 9 a.m.

😡 On Thursday, MPR News reporter and Talking Sense lead correspondent Catharine Richert explores how people can stay connected with family and friends, even when they disagree about politics.

🗣️ Richert talks with two therapists and a married couple who have worked hard to stay curious, respectful and loving after they voted for different presidential candidates in the 2020 election.

Ojibwe-translated children’s books are headed to immersion classrooms

“Amikogaabawiikwe” (“Beaver Bev”) is one of the 16 children’s book titles recently translated into the Ojibwe language. The books will be introduced into kindergarten and first-grade Ojibwe-immersion classrooms this fall. The translated books cover topics ranging from community helpers, such as firefighters and doctors, to stories with a common theme like the fall season.

Preschoolers, parents and first separations: How to work through it

Separation anxiety is a feeling of excessive fear or anxiety when being separated from a loved one. It can look like difficulty sleeping, excessive worry, nightmares or bed wetting. Kids feel separation anxiety around back-to-school season because of new locations, new activities and different routines — but it can also be a feeling that they may be misunderstood.

What else we're watching:

📚 Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks invites children to honor ancestral Native land in her new book. Minnesota-born Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks had her first book published on Aug. 27. The book is for children and is titled “This Land.” It invites kids to trace the history of their home and honor the Native people who lived on the land.

🎭 Art Hounds: A Fringe favorite returns. With students returning to school, this week's Art Hounds features artists returning to their alma maters to exhibit their photography and perform shows, plus a review of indie music venue Cloudland.

🛶 Group of wild ricers find human remains on the shores of Leech Lake. The specific location where the remains were located is not being disclosed at this time, though it is located within a known cultural site near Gould Township.

🛜 Verizon buying Frontier in $20B deal to strengthen its fiber network. The price tag for Frontier, based in Dallas, is sizeable given its 2.2 million fiber subscribers across 25 states. Verizon has approximately 7.4 million Fios connections in nine states and Washington, D.C.

⛪ JD Vance’s Catholicism helped shape his views. So did this little-known group of Catholic thinkers. Vance’s religious journey began in a family that rarely went to church when he was young. Catholicism provided him a new way of looking at the addictions, family breakdowns and other social ills he described in his 2016 bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

🏈 Vikings-Giants pits Darnold vs. Jones to open another prove-it season for once-heralded QBs. Sam Darnold, in his first year with Minnesota after backing up Brock Purdy for the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers last season, was the third overall pick by the New York Jets out of Southern California in 2018.

— Sam Stroozas and Anna Haecherl, MPR News