Minnesota receives more than $100 million every year from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help people pay home heating costs. About 107,000 Minnesota households, including both homeowners and renters, have received help this winter paying utility bills.

Minnesota has distributed about $10 million a year to counties for aquatic invasive species prevention for the past decade. Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed budget reduced that amount by 50 percent and some lake advocates worry cutting the funding could potentially lead to more infested waters.

Several organizations in St. Cloud led by people of color are working to address local housing needs. A recent study found the city will need 17,000 new housing units over the next decade and a half to meet anticipated demand.

"Ick" factor aside, it was interesting to look back at the rapid development of this scientific process during the COVID pandemic, and how it could help alert scientists to new disease outbreaks in the future.

Attorney General Keith Ellison filed charges in Beltrami County on Friday against Michelle Skroch, a former nurse at the county jail. Skroch was the director of nursing for MEnD Correctional Care, the former healthcare provider at the jail, at the time of Hardel Sherrell's death.

The COVID-19 pandemic upended life in Minnesota and across the country in March 2020. Schools and businesses closed. Hospitals nearly reached a breaking point as deaths and hospitalizations leaped. Five charts show different ways in which the pandemic shaped us.

Every winter, thousands of people fish on Minnesota’s frozen lakes. Some leave trash, an unsightly problem that can affect a lake’s health. Lake advocates say a recent Minnesota law targeting litter left on the ice is helping curb the problem.

Completed in 1961, the striking Abbey Church is the flagship of St. John’s, and a heralded example of modern architecture.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Council on Monday issued a joint statement stating that they’ve started to study replacing those Northstar trains through the northwest Twin Cities metro area with buses.

Rahima Frogh is grateful her family is safe, and now living in St. Cloud. But she worries about the relatives she left behind.

Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, said the signs detract from the state's natural scenic beauty, and pose a safety concern for motorists. He authored a bill that would impose a statewide moratorium on new billboards. www.mprnews.org/story/2025/0...

Latest in Getting to Green, from Dan Kraker: "Virtual" power plants -- known as non-wires alternatives -- could play an increasingly important role in meeting Minnesota's clean energy goals.

Many data centers use water — sometimes in large amounts — to cool their equipment. That’s raising some concerns about their impacts on the state’s groundwater supplies.

Speaking to a full house of contractors who work in Stearns County shoreland areas about the @mprnews.org series “Trouble by the water.” These are folks doing real work, with the capacity to make a difference in how lakeshore is developed. They were a great audience.

Owls that live in the boreal forest in Canada, hundreds of miles away, have flown south to northeastern Minnesota in search of their preferred food, small rodents called voles. Several owls have been killed and injured by vehicles.

Story by @msepic.bsky.social on a central Minnesota dairy farmer facing felony wage theft and racketeering charges over allegations that he underpaid and mistreated his immigrant workers.

A new report shows Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emissions rebounded after falling sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's not clear whether the state is on track to meet its goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2025, or reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Environmental groups are suing two state agencies over nitrate contamination in southeast Minnesota. The lawsuit alleges the agencies have failed to protect water resources from farm-related nitrate pollution, and asks them to reopen state rules that govern animal manure and commercial fertilizer.

A plan to build a 180-mile high-voltage transmission line from the Iron Range to Benton/Sherburne counties cleared a major hurdle. Minnesota Power and Great River Energy say it's needed to help maintain a reliable power grid, as they transition away from fossil fuel plants and add solar and wind.

University of Minnesota researchers have been working to develop winter crops that can be made into biofuels -- including sustainable aviation fuel -- plus have other environmental benefits. Their work is getting renewed attention and now, a financial boost.

Harmful chemicals in sewage sludge spread on pasture as fertilizer pose a risk to people who regularly consume milk, beef and other products from those farms, in some cases raising cancer risk “several orders of magnitude” above what the EPA considers acceptable, federal officials announced Tuesday.

The U of M is launching a project to track how avian influenza, or H5N1, is affecting the state’s wildlife. Gov. Tim Walz recently approved more than $1.2 million for the fast-tracked project from the state’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, from money set aside for emerging issues.

The NRC has authorized Xcel Energy to continue operating its nuclear power plant in Monticello for until 2050. Xcel has said continuing to operate its two MN nuclear plants is critical to its transition to carbon-free electricity. But some critics have raised safety concerns about the aging plant.

I love working with colleagues who love to read. Here are some of the best books MPR staffers read this year.

The number of Minnesotans who lost their heat or electricity this year because they didn’t pay their bills hit a 10-year high this year, as more people struggle with inflation and rising energy costs.

A Little Falls business owner celebrated by the federal government just a year ago could be headed to prison after pleading guilty to defrauding two lenders. Wild story by @msepic.bsky.social.

Ooooh I love the “Most Memorable Stories” week at @mprnews.org. These aren’t necessarily the most read, the hardest to get or the stories that made the biggest headlines. These are the stories we most enjoyed reporting, reminded us why we love our jobs ;) www.mprnews.org/story/2024/1...

When the Blue Earth River created a new channel around the Rapidan Dam, it unleashed more than a century’s worth of sediment downstream. The surrounding community is still coming to terms with the damage and its longer term implications.

I've covered this case for a while, and it's finally reaching an end. Anyone who's lost property to tax forfeiture since June 2016 (or Aug 2012 in Hennepin Co) should submit a claim now. Average payments will be in the tens of thousands, with some in the 6 figures. www.mprnews.org/story/2024/1...

The class was led by Evan Larson, who required the gingerbread architects to sketch a blueprint of their house and apply for a building permit. He checked each design before stamping it. Then, the builders got to work constructing their houses.

Hudda Ibrahim’s appointment is a sign of the growing political clout of St. Cloud’s Somali American community, which has grown significantly over the past two decades.