MPR News with Angela Davis

Universal basic income and many of its derivatives have gained traction over the last few years. Guest host Chris Farrell will talk with two experts about the benefits of these programs, challenges, and lessons learned. 

Guests:

• Amy B. Castro, assistant professor of social policy and practice and the co-founder and director of the Center for Guaranteed Income Research at the University of Pennsylvania. 

• Darrick Hamilton is the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and the founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification and Political Economy at The New School.

Two years ago, important business corridors in the Twin Cities were damaged by civil unrest that followed the police killing of George Floyd — most notably, Lake Street in Minneapolis.

Many of these businesses were owned by immigrants and people of color. Some of them were completely burned to the ground.

Today, many businesses have reopened, and Lake Street is on its way to recovery from the damage and the setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with nonprofit leaders and business owners about the efforts to rebuild and revitalize businesses on Lake Street.

Guests:

• Allison Sharkey is the executive director of Lake Street Council.


• David Nicholson is the Vibrant and Equitable Communities program director at the McKnight Foundation.

Monkeypox is in Minnesota. There are 38 confirmed cases in the state as of Tuesday.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization declared that monkeypox is a global public health emergency. And this week, California and Illinois joined New York state to call the virus a public health emergency.

The virus is spread through close contact, and can cause fever, headaches and a rash.

“People getting sick so far have mainly been men who have sex with men, though health officials note that the virus can infect anyone,” according to the Associated Press.

About 5,800 cases of monkeypox have been reported nationwide, including 1,400 in New York, 800 in California and 500 in Illinois.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with two infectious disease doctors about monkeypox, how it’s spread, who is most at risk and how to prevent it.

Guests:

• Dr. Nick Lehnertz is the medical adviser for the Minnesota Department of Health infectious disease division.


• Dr. Rebecca Wurtz is an associate professor and infectious disease physician at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Native American students are just a tiny fraction of all the college students in the United States. And each student comes with different histories, confronting an education system once used to erase their languages and cultures.

MPR News with Angela Davis is sharing a new documentary from American Public Media, “Standing in Two Worlds: Native American College Diaries.” Meet three Indigenous college students with Minnesota ties. They are using a college education to support their communities, and themselves, without losing sight of who they are.

• Archie Yellow: Archie is a member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and studies Ojibwe at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College.


• Nevaeh Nez: Nevaeh is a Hopi and Navajo student at the University of Minnesota-Rochester who's planning to go to medical school.


• Reuben Kitto Stately: Reuben is Dakhóta from the Santee Sioux Nation and a tribal member of Red Lake Nation who majored in American Indian Studies at Augsburg University.

Use the audio player above to listen to the show that aired on MPR stations. See portraits of the students, read their words and listen to an unedited version of the documentary here .

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

After two years of pandemic uncertainty, movie goers have returned to theaters. Blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Jurassic World Dominion” have done well at the box office, and raked in millions.

MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with two movie critics about their favorite summer movies, the state of movie theaters and their recommendations on what to watch. Plus, she talked with MPR Cube Critics Aron Woldeslassie and Samantha Matsumoto.

Guests:

• Ruth Maramis is a film critic for the blog FlixChatter. She is based in the Twin Cities.


• Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic and senior culture reporter at Vox.


• Aron Woldeslassie is an associate producer at MPR News, and co-host of the MPR Cube Critics.


• Samantha Matsumoto is an associate producer at MPR News, and co-host of the MPR Cube Critics.