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North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live is a daily, five-minute newscast that shines a spotlight on the stories and perspectives of Minnesota’s diverse communities, including Black, Latine, Asian American, East African individuals, people living with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+ residents, laborers, veterans, and those from Greater Minnesota.
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HOST: This is North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live. Today in Minnesota:
ANCHOR: Federal cuts may affect the state's solar energy program. Then, part two of the impact of federal funding on public media. And, Minnesota announces a new director for its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office.
I'm Gracie J.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is pushing back against a federal move to cut clean energy funding. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to terminate Minnesota's $62 million Solar for All grant, a program meant to lower energy bills and expand solar access. State officials say canceling the program would raise costs for more than 11,000 low-income households, eliminate clean energy jobs, and stall Minnesota's progress toward reliable, affordable power. Commerce leaders say they're preparing legal action to protect the funds.
Ahead, in part two of our special report looking at the effects of federal funding on public media in our state, Xan Holston tells us about the impact on Minnesota Public Radio and the state's public television stations.
Xan Holston: For Jeff Hanks, CEO of Bemidji's Lakeland Public Television, the station's news program is its crown jewel.
Nat sound/Lakeland: Lakeland PBS is proud to present Lakeland news at 10.
Jeff Hanks: That's a nightly live half hour news broadcast that we've aired for 27 years now, everywhere from Warroad down to Wadena, Deer River, you name it. We're covering stories in those regions.
Xan Holston: Hank says the program started because commercial stations in Northern Minnesota pulled back decades ago. Now, with Congress defunding the CPB, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, communities in the region, could be left without dedicated local TV news. Lakeland Public Television is losing 37% of its budget, about $1 million, money that helped pay for staff, equipment and the basic operations that allowed them to grow member support.
Jeff Hanks: So that's why those federal dollars were important, you know, to leverage that local support and provide that service that is so valued here, that local newscast.
Xan Holston: Other public TV stations in the state are facing major losses as well. In St Paul, Twin Cities Public Television is losing more than $4 million in funding, while stations serving Austin, Duluth and Granite Falls, are all losing about a million dollars each. That means free, locally-focused programming serving those communities is at risk.
Jeff Hanks: As you hear a lot, you know, everything is on the table at this point. It's going to mean the loss of services to some degree.
Nat Sound/MPR: It's time now for the morning announcements on MPR news.
Xan Holston: The situation looks a little different for MPR and its parent company, American Public Media, or APM. CPB funding made up just 6% of its budget. But that still adds up to more than $5 million.
Duchesne Drew: Six percent sounds like a small number. It's a significant number to an organization of our size and complexity.
Xan Holston: Duchesne Drew, president of MPR and Senior Vice President of APM, says the group has already laid off 30 people.
Duchesne Drew: It's people. It's work, right? It's not a rounding error. It's meaningful to us.
Xan Holston: The loss also creates a domino effect. Smaller stations across the country buy APM shows like Marketplace. If those stations can't afford them, APM's revenue drops further. While the cuts will hurt MPR, it's still better positioned than many community broadcasters. With a statewide network and large donor base, MPR is separate from Minnesota's public TV stations. And both are independent from the state's 17 community radio outlets, stations that rely much more heavily on CPB funds and are now scrambling for new support.
Back up north, at Lakeland Public Television, Hanks said they had some reserve money to float their operations for now. But long term, the loss of federal funding puts their signature program and the communities it serves in jeopardy.
Jeff Hanks: Pretty much all of our discretionary spending goes towards Lakeland News and providing that service. And that service, on a daily basis, Monday through Friday, that impacts so many people.
Xan Holston: For North Star Stories, I'm Xan Holston.
ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.
There's a new face heading up the state's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives or M-M-I-R Office. Guadalope Lopez, a nationally respected advocate and coalition-builder with deep ties to Minnesota's Indigenous communities, is now serving as the department's new director. Before being appointed as the MMIR Director, Lopez served for four years as the executive director for Violence Free Minnesota, a statewide coalition to end relationship abuse. Governor Tim Walz created the MMIR office in 2021 to address the disproportionate rates of violence, disappearance and murder impacting Minnesota's Indigenous communities.
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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.