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In January of 2020, for only the second time in the history of American labor statistics, women outnumbered men in the American workforce - a headline-making milestone. At the same time, however, another rare but significant story was developing - one that would ultimately lead to the worst job-losses among women in the history of our country. 
The pandemic hit female-dominated industries the hardest: Hospitality, education, health care, and retail. By April of 2020, the pandemic had caused 4.2 million women to exit the labor force.And even as there was a slight rebound in early summer of 2020, losses continued to chip away at any gains made as more women excited the labor force to be caregivers of young children. By early spring of 2021, there was still a 2 million job deficit among women in the labor force. In a speech in April of 2021, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, "Our policymaking has not accounted for the fact that people’s work lives and their personal lives are inextricably linked, and if one suffers so does the other."What can we learn about the real cost of personal and family labor by reflecting on how this pandemic-fueled recession disproportionately affected women? 
Guests: Dr. Sucharita Sinha Mukherjee, Professor of Economics, CSB/SJUChef Madelyn Adamski, Community Member and Small Business Start-Up
Show Notes:
Report: Great Recession, great recovery? Trends from the Current Population Survey 
Article: As the overall job market stumbles back, women still struggle to recover lost employment
Article: Why Some Women Call This Recession a ‘Shecession’
Article: A year from the start of the women’s recession, 2 million women are still out of the workforce
Article: Women outnumber men in the American workforce for only the second time
Report: When Women Lose All the Jobs: Essential Actions for a Gender-Equitable Recovery
Article: St. Cloud business survey: Unemployment benefits hurting hiringArticle: Central Minnesota firms struggle with worker shortages, supply chain issues  
Survey Report: RESULTS OF MAY 2021 SURVEY OF GREATER ST. CLOUD/CENTRAL MINNESOTA ORGANIZATIONS 
Data: Minnesota Unemployment 
Data: Labor Force Participation Rates 
Report: Wage Inequality and the Stagnation of Earnings of Low-Wage Workers: ContributingFactors and Policy Options 
Report: A SLOW CLIMB BACK FROM THE “SHE-CESSION”: HIGH JOBS DEFICIT IN CHILD CARE AND SCHOOL SECTORS CONTINUES 
Report: YOUNG WOMEN WORKERS STILL STRUGGLING A DECADE AFTERTHE GREAT RECESSION: LESSONS FOR THE PANDEMIC RECOVERY 
Article: Women Left Their Jobs To Be Caregivers. A Business Coalition Wants Companies To Help 
Article: After mass closures and too little support, post-pandemic child care options will be scarce
Data: American Time Use Survey 
Press release: Warren, Jones and Colleagues Reintroduce Universal Child Care and Early Learning Act and Call for President Biden to Invest $700 Billion in Child CarePress release: Clark Introduces the Child Care is Infrastructure Act 
Report: Child care in rural Minnesota after 2020 
Data: Minimum-wage rates in Minnesota 
Data: Cost of Child Care in Minnesota 
 
Episode Manager: Malik Stewart
Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
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Featured Songs:Mannerisms - Charles HolmeClockings - Marten MosesEveryday Hustle - Matt LargeI’m Free - DJ DENZ The RoosterJust In Time For Dessert - Trabant 33Labor Life - Giants’ Nest

The pandemic has shone a light on how much we rely on our ability to connect to one another online when we are unable to connect in-person. And, as with many other areas of our infrastructure, it exposed where our communities fall short at connecting the public to businesses, schools, and services across the digital divide. 
Where does Minnesota stand when it comes to providing accessible high speed internet service state-wide? Guests: Diane Wells, Office of Broadband Development 
Show Notes:
Minnesota Office of Broadband Development
A look at Minnesota's digital divide during a pandemic
Minnesota lawmakers agree to spend $70 million on improving broadband access across the state
Governor’s Task Force on Broadband Minnesota Population Trends
Infrastructure Bill Passed by Senate Includes Historic, Bipartisan Broadband Provisions
 
 
Episode Manager: Bruce AndersonBecome a Patron of our show! Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
Music by Epidemic Sound Twitter @MinnCentral
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Featured Songs:Divine Wire - Martin Klem
Digital Dreams - Nylonia
Digital Jungle - Lucention

On hot days, it’s not unusual to find folks in the Eastern half of Central Minnesota taking refuge beneath the cooling canopy of our largely maple and oak deciduous forests. We hike the winding trails, enjoy the shaded swimming holes, and camp within the shelter of these forests. The state parks and trails have been crowded this summer, in spite of the unusually hot June, because the people of Minnesota love the outdoors.  And while the state Legislature finally agreed on a deal that will not force the closure of State Parks this July, as we step into the middle of our Minnesota summer, we find ourselves along with roughly half the nation in a worsening state of drought. Prairie grasses and lawns have been bleached pale. Fallen forest debris stands dry like a bed of kindling among struggling trees. The State has already lost 35,000 acres to a higher than average number of fires this year, and is bracing for more.  What do these prolonged periods of severe drought mean for the future of our forests, and what can we do to take an active part in their preservation?Guest: Dr. Lee Frelich, Director of The University of Minnesota Center for Forest EcologyShow Notes:US Drought Monitor 
In fast-warming Minnesota, scientists are trying to plant the forests of the future
Carbon cycle of forests
Nature Conservancy in Minnesota 
Using plants to control buckthorn

Episode Manager: Bruce AndersonBecome a Patron of our show!
Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
Music by Epidemic Sound Twitter @MinnCentral
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Featured Songs:Fever Trees - Martin ClemOak Trees - Likeminds

Season 1 is done! This is the first rebroadcast of our holiday season break. Thought this episode in particular would be useful right now...-----
As the 2021 holiday season approaches, many of us are looking forward to seeing our beloved family and friends gather around the table together once again after a long time apart. Many  of us are also dreading the possibility of having hard conversations at these gatherings.How can we prepare to have hard conversations with people we genuinely care about?Guests: Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Conference panelists:
Wendy Bjorklund, St. Cloud State University
 
Pam Secklin, St. Cloud State University
 
Jennifer Senchea, St. Cloud State University
 
Suzanne Stangl-Erkens, St. Cloud State University
 
Scott Wells, St. Cloud State University
Show Notes:Book: Talking across the divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World  
Bridge Alliance
More in Common
Common Ground Committee
Episode Manager: Scott WellsBecome a Patron of our show! Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
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Featured Songs:I'm Still Listening - Justnormal
Meet You There - Eric Feinberg

There has been a lot of news lately about the presence of microplastics in everything from our food and water to our bodies. How did this even happen?Guests: Mary Kosuth, Research Assistant and PhD student at the U of M School of Public HealthEpisode sponsor: Susie Osaki Holm - thank you for your generous support!Show Notes: 
Mary Kosuth’s paper: Anthropogenic contamination of tap water, beer, and sea saltMicroplastics: What are they and why should we care?  
The World’s Plastic Pollution Crisis, Explained
Waste Land - an episode of Planet Money
​​Plastic Pollution is Killing Sea Turtles
Your Laundry Sheds Harmful Microfibers. Here’s What You Can Do About It
What Companies Are Behind the Global Surge in Single-Use Plastic
Loop’s Revolutionary Reusable Packaging System - Coming to Some Big Stores
Bottle Bill States and How They Work
Oregon Bottle Deposit ($ .10) and Bottle Drop Redemption Centers
Oregon Governor Signs Country’s Second EPR Law For Packaging 
The Race to Develop Plastic-Eating Bacteria
 

Episode Managers: Susie Osaki Holm and Bruce AndersonBecome a Patron of our show! Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
Music by Epidemic Sound Twitter @MinnCentral
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Featured Songs:Hollow Inside - Daxten
Ocean Flow - West & Zander

This year’s United Nations Climate Conference, COP 26, will - for the first time - center the impact of climate change on human health. From the very urgent severe weather crisis that has seen an uptick in storms and wildfires to the more long-term effects of climate impacts on our food systems, there is a lot to discuss.
Today, however, we want to know: How is climate change affecting the health of our youth here in Central Minnesota?Guest: Cathy Kulus, MD, FAAP, Pediatrician and Medical Director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine Program at the St. Cloud HospitalShow Notes:
TedxStCloud Presentation by Kathy Kulus, MD and John Mahowald, MD., Oct. 30, 2020
How climate change impacts health
Young People Are Anxious About Climate Change And Say Governments Are Failing Them 
Climate Changes Children’s Health
Climate change and child health: a scoping review and an expanded conceptual framework
Episode Managers: Eve and Gary WallingaBecome a Patron of our show! Produced by Riverside Productions LLC
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Featured Songs:I Need Nature - Alex OraPlayground Fun - Alex Ora