MPR News AM Update
 
☀️ Our pesky cloud cover showed a clearing trend overnight. That will set us up for increased sunshine Tuesday and Wednesday as a bubble of high pressure builds over the Great Lakes. Get the latest on Updraft.

🎧  Coming up at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, MPR News host Angela Davis speaks with one of the authors of Minnesota’s trans refuge bill and a physician who provides gender-affirming care to children and teenagers. Plus, we hear from transgender Minnesotan teens about why the gender-affirming care bill matters to them.

We want to hear from you, too. Have you sought out or received gender-affirming care? Or do you have a young person in your life who has? What does the passage of this bill mean to you?

Call us at 651-227-6000 or 800-242-2828 during the 9 a.m. hour of our show or send Angela a message on Facebook.
 
One mile at a time, outdoor enthusiasts create new Driftless Area hiking trail

Nestled in a Fillmore County valley is a 200-acre farm that will soon become part of a 100-mile hiking trail from Chatfield, Minn., to the southernmost tip of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. 

“It is some of the most beautiful land in the county,” said Marty Walsh, who is spearheading a volunteer effort to establish the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail.

A creek gurgles nearby, the ridgelines feel protective. The region's karst topography creates these deep valleys, steep cliffs and stunning vistas that make the area distinctive, said Walsh.

“That's part of the magic of the Driftless Area. You get to these little winding creek valleys and it's easy to imagine that there's nobody for 50 miles,” said Walsh.
 
What else we're watching:
Minnesota House near passage of marijuana bill; Senate to vote Friday. Minnesota’s foray into legal marijuana neared its first major decision point as the state House moved to the brink of passing a bill that establishes a seed-to-sale program and streamlines a process for clearing prior criminal offenses off records. The House debated the bill for nearly three hours Monday night but delayed a final vote until Tuesday.

Minnesota graduation rates inch back toward pre-pandemic highs. The class of 2022 graduated at 83.6 percent, up from 83.3 percent for the prior year’s class and close to the historic high of 83.8 percent in 2020, the Minnesota Department of Education said Tuesday. 

Muslim leaders seek public help to stop attacks on Minnesota mosques. The Minneapolis Police Department is partnering with the FBI to investigate a possible bias motive behind an arson attempt at a Minneapolis mosque on Sunday evening.

Off-farm landowners share their families' stories of transition. Approximately half of Minnesota’s land area is used for agriculture. A large chunk of the state’s farmland — about 35 percent — is rented from owners who do not farm. We talked farmland transitions and the roles of heirs and renters in Minnesota farm country.

- Sam Stroozas, MPR News digital producer
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Minnesota Public Radio and the Star Tribune are taking Talking Volumes on the road with two special events in Greater Minnesota this May. These special Talking Volumes pop-up events will be hosted by award-winning journalist Kerri Miller.
 
Join us on May 6 at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester as Kerri sits down with author and illustrator of the "CatStronauts" series and "Waffles and Pancake" series, Drew Brockington. 
Get tickets today!
 
We will head north to Duluth for our second spring Talking Volumes event where Kerri will interview William Kent Krueger at Mitchell Auditorium at the College of St. Scholastica on May 18. 
Get tickets today!

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