MPR News with Angela Davis Minnesota Public Radio

Marquita Stephens spent her career working to uplift people and communities of color.  

In her past, she’s facilitated conversations around multicultural issues at Roseville Area Schools. She also led the African American Adoption Agency as its CEO.  

In 2017, Stephens joined the Urban League Twin Cities — a branch of the National Urban League, a historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization — and led the institution’s education division.

Over the summer, Stephens was named president and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities, becoming the first woman to lead the organization in its 98-year history.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks to Stephens about her life, her passion for community engagement and how the Urban League Twin Cities has worked to uplift and educate African Americans and build generational wealth. 


Guest:  


Marquita Stephens is the president and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities, a historic civil rights and urban advocacy organization with a 98-year history in Minnesota. Stephens is the first woman to lead the organization.  




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There’s a shift in marriage trends across the country. A new study found Americans are getting married later in life, often waiting until the age of 40.

Marriage also has become less common. The number of people who’ve never married has doubled since 1960. Fewer people are getting divorced and remarrying. There’s a change in attitude about rushing to the altar to tie the knot, but does your age determine whether your marriage will truly succeed?  

Listen to a rebroadcast of MPR News host Angela Davis’ conversation about marriage trends. Researchers are seeing more delayed marriages, a decline in divorce rates and more people going to marriage therapy.


Guests 


Helen Fisher is a biological anthropologist, a senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and chief science advisor to Match.com. Fisher studies the human brain through a scanning process to study the neural systems associated with sex drive, romantic love, attachment, rejection, love addiction, long-term partnership happiness and the biological foundations of human personality. She has also written six books on the evolution and future of human partnerships.

Bill Doherty is a marriage therapist and a professor in the Department of Family Social Science in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. His areas of focus include marriage and divorce.




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

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

If you listen to All Things Considered on MPR News in the afternoon, you’ve probably noticed that host Tom Crann has a passion for talking about food via his weekly Appetites segment.  

And in those conversations, you’ve likely heard Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl’s voice.  

Moskowitz Grumdahl is a nationally respected food writer. She’s a six-time winner of the James Beard Awards — the Oscar of the food world. Her food writing has been published in USA Today, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Bon Appetit and other outlets.  

She’s also explored Minnesota’s culinary scene for decades — from the best “Juicy Lucy” to what’s new to eat at the Minnesota State Fair, from trying to define “northern cuisine” to the hottest Twin Cities restaurants.  

Moskowitz Grumdahl spoke with Crann last week at an MPR News event about her new book, “The Essential Dear Dara: Writings on Local Characters and Memorable Places.” 


Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl and Tom Crann



Guest:   


Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl is an award-winning food writer. Most often, she writes about people and Minnesota’s culinary scene for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.




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

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.  

Runners are gearing up for this weekend’s Twin Cities Marathon.  

Participants have been training for months. They’ve pushed through mental and physical barriers, they’ve hit their strides and they’re chasing a “runner’s high” to the finish line.  

Getting to where you can run a marathon is no easy task, and getting started as a runner can be just as daunting as a 26.2-mile goal. But you don’t have to go at it alone. Running groups and running communities around Minnesota aren’t just helping people run a marathon — they specialize in helping people complete their first mile.  

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with three runners about the joys and pains of running. You’ll hear how to get started and how to join a running community. We’ll also hear from a Twin Cities organization bringing people together through running teams.  


Guests:  


Mishka Vertin is the co-founder and executive director of Mile in My Shoes, an organization that connects runners throughout the Twin Cities with people experiencing homelessness, in recovery or in transition from incarnation or military service through running teams.  

Andrea Haus is the community and marketing manager at Mill City Running in northeast Minneapolis and Saint City Running in St Paul. These two local running shops hosts group runs and other events throughout the Twin Cities. 

Jena Ziegler is a physical therapist and a board-certified lymphedema specialist at Park Nicollet Rehabilitation in Maple Grove, Minn. She’s also an orthopedic clinical specialist.  




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

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.    

Minnesota is known for its lively arts and culture scene, but a strong arts culture doesn’t just happen by accident. It takes loyal audiences and organizations that support the arts. 

One of the key funding organizations for artists in Minnesota is the Jerome Foundation, a private foundation that's been around since the 1960s. Hundreds of Minnesota filmmakers, playwrights, choreographers, poets and other artists got a boost early in their career through a Jerome Foundation grant. 

And while some other private foundations are pulling back from funding the arts, Jerome Foundation is doubling down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic with support for new artists and the organizations that nurture them.   

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the Jerome Foundation’s new CEO and president Eleanor Savage about what the foundation does and its new focus on equity.  

Guests:  


Eleanor Savage is the president and CEO of the Jerome Foundation, a private foundation that supports early career artists in Minnesota and New York City and the nonprofit organizations that support them. She was a program director at the Jerome Foundation for 15 years and worked previously as a freelance video producer, a curator and as director of events and media production at the Walker Arts Center. She’s also a longtime activist for racial and LGBTQ justice and on the board of directors for Grantmakers in the Arts, a national association of grantmaking organizations that fund arts and culture.  





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

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.   

This is Mike Mulcahy’s final week with Minnesota Public Radio. After a 38-year career in public media, Mulcahy is retiring.  

He has been at MPR News on and off — but mostly on — since 1985. Mulcahy has covered everything from a strike at the Hormel factory to Mikhail Gorbachev's one-day visit to Minnesota, from the unexpected death of former Minnesota governor Rudy Perpich to the Minnesota Twins winning the World Series.  


Mulcahy joins MPR News program director Stephanie Curtis to talk about his time at MPR and his storied career.







Politics Friday won’t be the same Longtime MPR News editor Mike Mulcahy to retire





Thank you, Mike! Send well wishes to Mulcahy here!







Guests:  


Mike Mulcahy is a senior editor at MPR News and the host of Politics Friday.  

Brian Bakst is a politics reporter at MPR News.