MPR News with Angela Davis

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's board of directors to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with her guests about how defunding NPR and PBS could affect public radio and TV stations around the country.

Guests:

• Maribel Pérez Wadsworth is the president and CEO of the John S. and James L....

For more than 30 years, AmeriCorps has been a powerful driver of national public service.  

The federally funded program was launched in 1993 under President Bill Clinton with a simple but powerful idea that people of all ages and backgrounds could serve their communities. 

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have joined AmeriCorps to tutor students, support seniors, clean up parks and rivers, assist during...

In a little over three months, federal Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made sweeping changes to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its priorities.

The federal health department oversees agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks about how these changes are affectin...

About 4,500 people are released from Minnesota prisons each year. Many of them have spent years, if not decades, behind bars, separated from friends, family and community.

What happens when they finally return? How do they rebuild their lives during this complex and often precarious transition?

That was the topic at a collaborative Sahan Community Live and North Star Journey Live event recorded on April 24 at the S...

Credit card debt has been rising at one of the fastest rates in history.

The amount Americans owed on credit cards hit an record high of over $1.2 trillion at the end of 2024.

And people are not only spending more on plastic, they’re also paying down less, carrying high balances and shelling out more in interest and also late fees.

A third of Americans now have more credit card debt than emergency savings,...

George Floyd's murder in 2020 led to calls to end police violence and racism. Five years later, advocates say not enough has changed.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Medaria Arradondo, the retired Minneapolis police chief, about his book, “Chief Rondo: Securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd.”

Guest:

• Medaria Arradondo is the former police chief for the city of Minneapolis. He is president an...

If you’re someone with seasonal allergies, you know that spring can be a mixed bag. 

Along with the warm temperatures, sunshine and fresh air comes the sneezing, itchy eyes, congestion and fatigue. 

And if your allergies seem worse than ever this year, you’re not imagining things. Experts say allergy season is starting earlier, hitting harder and lasting longer — largely due to climate change. 

MPR News host An...

Are you about to graduate from college and wondering what to prioritize when searching for work? Or are you in the middle of your career looking for a change or unsure what’s next after a layoff? 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with a philosopher and a psychologist about the purpose of work and its value in our lives.

Angela’s guests say people feel unrealistic pressure to love their work.

Instead, they sugg...

President Donald Trump’s administration said it will soon resume collections on defaulted student loans for the first time in five years. The office of Federal Student Aid may start taking funds out of borrowers' tax refunds, Social Security benefits and — eventually — paychecks.

The Department of Education says borrowers in default should start making monthly payments or enroll in an income-driven repayment plan.

...

When the norms and expectations of the workplace aren’t working for you, what do you do?  

If you’re Alex West Steinman, you create your own workplace.  

In 2017, West Steinman left a career in advertising and communications and joined three colleagues to found The Coven.

Eight years later, The Coven has two coworking sites in the Twin Cities and another five franchise locations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Alo...

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control released new data that shows a continued increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism.

One in every 31 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. That’s up from one in 44 just a few years ago, and it’s a huge increase from the one in every 150 children who received the diagnosis twenty years ago.  

Autism has gotten more national attention ...

For decades, Minnesotans and Canadians have been friends and trading partners. But President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have raised questions about the future of the relationship between Minnesotans and our neighbors to the north.

MPR News host Angela Davis and Chris Farrell, senior economics contributor for MPR News and Marketplace, drove up the North Shore and across the border to talk with Canadians living in Th...

The Trump administration has proposed new executive orders and policies that are changing the lives of millions of immigrants. 

Dozens of international students have had their visas cancelled, birthright citizenship is being challenged and non-citizens — including those with authorization to work in the U.S. — have been removed quickly from the country without a court hearing. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with...

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that is often misunderstood and misdiagnosed.  

Previously known as manic depression, people with bipolar disorder experience intense mood swings that go far beyond the typical highs and lows of life.  

During a mania episode, people feel intense energy. Their thoughts race and they have trouble sleeping. Some people feel like they have superpowers and can do almost any...

Scams are becoming more common and more expensive.

Last year, more than 2.5 million Americans reported that they had been scammed. And that number has been increasing, along with the losses.   

The amount of money lost to scammers in 2024 topped more than 12 billion dollars. That’s up from about $2 billion in 2019, according to the Federal Trade Commission. 

Scammers have also gotten more sophisticated, increas...

There’s been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about the economy and a word that keeps coming up is ... uncertainty.  

President Trump’s changing tariff policies have made it difficult for businesses and consumers to plan. Stock markets here and abroad have plunged and then recovered some ground and then dropped again.

Many of us have questions about what’s happening and how the uncertainty could affect prices...

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated disparities within Minnesota's health care system that have existed for decades. Black, brown and Native Minnesotans died at a higher rate from the virus than their white neighbors, and it took them longer to get vaccinated.  

As a result, health care and community leaders promised to renew their efforts to help all Minnesotans get access to quality, affordable care. 

Five years la...

As of today, over 600 cases of measles have been reported across 22 states — the largest outbreak the U.S. has seen in more than a decade. 

Health experts say a combination of factors is driving the surge: increased international travel, communities with low vaccination rates and misinformation that continues to undermine public trust in vaccines. 

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. It spr...

Weather forecasts and climate research could be threatened by the recent Trump administration job cuts at federal agencies.

The National Weather Service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cut hundreds of jobs in late February.

And NOAA is tasked with cutting an additional 10 percent of its workforce, according to PBS NewsHour. If those cuts move forward, nearly 20 percent o...