Minnesota Now for Oct. 4, 2022

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: It's Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Minneapolis may have a new police chief by the end of this week. We'll talk with the head of the city's public safety office about the work moving forward. We know some online influences can be disastrous for young folks, especially people of color. We'll talk about that as well.

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Minnesotans are already voting in this year's midterm elections, and we'll get a look at political forecasts and fundraising. Employers continue to look for workers to fill jobs and one woman who says military veterans are being underestimated and underemployed. We'll hear what she's doing to fix that. And a first-of-its-kind concert by the Minnesota Orchestra this weekend explores the work of Black composers who have historically been overlooked. All of that and more coming up right after the news.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Trading in shares of Twitter was halted. The stock soared on reports that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk plan to move forward with a $44 billion deal to acquire Twitter, this following months of legal battles between Musk and the social media platform. At last glance, we see that shares in Twitter were up 12.6%.

The confirmed hurricane death toll in Florida has reached 100. More than half of the fatalities were in the southwestern region of Lee County. Speaking a short time ago at Fort Myers Beach, Sheriff Carmine Marceno addressed growing frustration over the pace of hurricane recovery.

CARMINE MARCENO: It's going to be time, folks. And I need patience and I need residents to understand, which they have. While their lives have been washed away in some circumstances, we are all in this together.

LAKSHMI SINGH: More than 400,000 people in Florida are still waiting for their electricity to be turned back on, but that figure is far lower than the roughly 2 and 1/2 million people who lost electricity when Hurricane Ian struck nearly a week ago.

Parents affected by the May 24th mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas are still staging a sit-in outside the school district's central office. They're demanding school officers face stronger punishment for the role they played in what was widely criticized as an inexcusable delayed response by law enforcement officers from multiple agencies. Texas Public Radio's Marian Navarro has details.

MARIAN NAVARRO: Brett Cross, the uncle and legal guardian of victim Uziyah Garcia, has camped outside the building since September 27th. He and other victims' families are demanding the district suspend school officers until the end of an investigation. Cross has met with superintendent Hal Harrell and another district official, but no progress has been made.

The district said in a statement last week it is now installing two gates at the central office building. Officials called the protests a, quote, "disruption," and have contacted local and state agencies to find a solution. The school district abruptly canceled a town hall meeting scheduled for yesterday. The board meets again October 10. I'm Marian Navarro in San Antonio.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to never negotiate with Russia so long as Vladimir Putin is president. From Kyiv, NPR'S Julian Hayda has more.

JULIAN HAYDA: Zelenskyy had been asking for a face-to-face meeting with Putin since getting elected in 2019. Even for the first several months of war, that was his top demand. Well, that meeting never happened and for now it won't. After Russia forcibly annexed four Ukrainian regions last week, Ukraine's National Security Council passed a resolution calling diplomacy quote, "impossible." Zelenskyy has now signed a declaration to that effect, arguing peace is only possible with regime change in Russia.

LAKSHMI SINGH: That's Julian Hayda reporting. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow is up more than 700 points. This is NPR.

- Support for NPR comes from Insperity. Providing HR services for 30 plus years, including access to employee benefits and payroll, Insperity's mission is to help businesses succeed so communities prosper. Insperity, HR that makes a difference.

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CATHY WURZER: Around Minnesota right now, skies are partly to mostly cloudy. Highs today, upper 60s to the mid to upper 70s. Enjoy. At noon in Rochester, it's sunny and 68. In Duluth, it's 61. And outside the Hundred Acre Woods Bed and Breakfast in Minnesota, it's cloudy and 58. I'm Cathy Wurza with Minnesota news headlines.

A Chicago man convicted in the road rage shooting death of a young-- of a youth baseball coach while both were driving on Highway 169 in Plymouth will spend at least the next 30 years in prison. Jamal Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years for the July 2021 road rage killing of Jay Boughton.

Several of Boughton's family gave victim impact statements. Smith's attorney called the sentence quote, "cruel and unusual punishment." And in his own statement, Smith called the prosecution a witch hunt. Mental health workers at M Health Fairview have reached a tentative contract deal, details from Tim Nelson.

TIM NELSON: SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa represents about 350 mental health workers at M Health Fairview. They'd threatened to go on strike this week but stayed on the job while contract talks continued and while other mental health workers at Allina Health did follow through on a threatened three-day walkout. Now the union says the M Health Fairview unit has reached an 18-month contract agreement, the first union contract for the workers. The union says it want pay increases, more paid time off, and a procedure to address staffing issues. Union members will need to vote to ratify the agreement.

In the meantime, more than 100 SEIU mental health workers at Allina continue their walkout as they do not have a contract deal. They picketed Monday at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis and at Mercy Hospital's Unity Campus in Fridley. I'm Tim Nelson.

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CATHY WURZER: And leading our program, Minneapolis City Council could have a-- the Minneapolis City could have a new police chief by this Thursday. The Minneapolis City Council meets later this week to confirm the nomination of Brian O'Hara as chief. O'Hara has more than 20 years in law enforcement. He was appointed public safety director and eventually deputy mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

If he's approved, Brian O'Hara would work closely with Minneapolis's new community safety commissioner Dr. Cedric Alexander. Alexander started his new job in August. He, too, is a law enforcement veteran with a degree in clinical psychology. Cedric Alexander is on the line. Good afternoon.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Good afternoon. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: I'm good, so far, so good. Thank you. Now, you helped select police chief finalist Brian O'Hara. Why do you think he's the right person for the job?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Well, I think the mayor made a pick based on his experience and having an opportunity to sit down with Mr. O'Hara on a number of occasions. And from my conversations with him, he really was drawn towards his experience. And along with that, I think the conversations where you get to know people more intimately-- and the mayors are very good judge of character, I think sensed in him something that would be a good fit for this city at this time.

So I think that's really most of it. The experience-- very nice experience, humble, young man that I think can be a benefit to this city and to the police department.

CATHY WURZER: How would you rate what he did in Newark, which has a police department with a similar reputation of that of the MPD?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Well, I mean, I really can't rate it. I mean, I don't like to answer those kind of questions because he never worked for me. But if we look at his history, there's evidence to suggest that he did a great job. He was supported by his bosses, the mayor there. And I think the experience that he brings will transfer here and help us through these challenging times that we're going through.

CATHY WURZER: Newark's PD, as I say, has a similar reputation, but the culture is different and the NYPD's culture is different, obviously. I know Mr. O'Hara got an earful at a community meet and greet last week when someone told him the MPD looks at the Black community as combatants, like we're at war. Now, it's a tall order, as you know, to change a culture. Where do you start?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Well, you start wherever you can. I came here. I was sworn in August 8. And certainly, there's a lot going on. But let me acknowledge the fact, though, that, yes, culture's change is needed in a number of systems. But I think the men and women inside Minneapolis Police Department are looking forward to moving forward.

I've attended a number of roll calls, spoken with a lot of them individually. They are committed to the mission of keeping this community safe. And I think you can't ask for any more than that. And certainly, we can never forget what has happened in the past. But as we look forward, it will be Brian O'Hara's responsibility should he get voted in by the council. It will be his responsibility to guide the department to a new place.

And that was what I will be looking for in my evaluation of him because he will be reporting directly to me along with four other police executives from fire and office emergency manage, violence prevention in 9/11. So he had have an opportunity to sit with other senior executives like himself to be able to share new ideas and take on new ventures so that we can have a platform of public safety that will cover this city, utilizing all of the assets that we have.

CATHY WURZER: You say that he's going to report directly to you. He's got this background as a deputy mayor, so I'm thinking he should have some good insight into your role. But do you worry about butting heads at all?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: No, I'm not concerned about butting heads. And I'm not going to go down that road. No, not at all. At the end of the day, everybody knows their place in the organization. I will maintain a position I do as a commission. Those folks will report to me. That is openly clear. So I'm not concerned about that whatsoever. We are a team and we're a team that work together, and we're going to be a team that moves forward.

CATHY WURZER: As you say, I've only been in the job since August, early August. How are you creating a roadmap for your position?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Every day, the number one thing for me, of course, is public safety. And we've implemented a couple of ideas that we put out on the street that's helping to negate some of this crime that we have been dealing with across the city. So for me, it's a day by day.

The other thing is having the responsibility of keeping up the morale and the spirit of 550 officers that we have left in this department. We're down over 200 officers. So one of the key factors of any leader is being able to keep your folks inspired, particularly when you're working with those number of shortages.

So for me, it's about keeping them inspired. It's about knowing that they have leadership in the top that cares about what they do out there on the street and there to support them but also reinforcing the fact that we have a very important role in the history, too, that we must get past with this community over time. And we will. But we have a lot of dedicated men and women who are out there every day at this very moment who are feeling inspired and who are doing the job and getting the job done for us.

CATHY WURZER: You haven't been around long. I know you're just-- you're learning the ropes. Anything surprised you so far?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: No, this is not my first rodeo. So no, I'm not-- it's a new community, but I've been in this kind of position before, just under another title. So this is not new, but, of course, the community is new. And you have a slightly different culture here as you would find in any part of the country that you work in.

So for me, moving from the positions I've had in the past to where I am now is one which for me comes with a great deal of experience. So I don't feel overwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination. My primary focus is to be able to stay focused on this job, help the mayor carry out his mission around public safety. That's what he hired me to do, and that's what I will continue to do.

And we're gracefully moving along a little bit at a time. And we understand that this is certainly a challenge at this time in this community. But you know what? I'll tell you. You got people in this community from neighborhoods to business community, inside your police department, all across this city and all across this region who are in great support of this city and want to see this city do well. And we're moving in that direction of doing well.

And I truly have to applaud people from North Minneapolis, South Minneapolis, downtown, across the city, our business community, our corporate community. Everyone is jumping in and lending a hand and doing what needs to be done to keep a safe community here in this city.

CATHY WURZER: I have about a minute left here, sir. So I'm curious. If Mr. O'Hara is confirmed by the Minneapolis City Council as police chief, what are your first marching orders for him?

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Well, I think it's important and, certainly, I had chiefed two departments in the past and had someone I had to report to. But I think for anybody that's coming in to an organization, you have to allow them time, one, to get to know the space that they're in, to get to know people in the community, the men and women inside the organization, get a sense and a feel of where they are, and allow them an opportunity to make their own observations, their own decisions about who they want in a variety of different positions that may come about because they will soon assume responsibility of those persons.

And I want to be there to support each one of my department heads, and the [INAUDIBLE] chief is just one of the five. But I want to support all of them equally, allow them an opportunity to do their jobs, hold them accountable to do their jobs because there will be a great deal of accountability attached to this. And so we all are looking forward to the next chief being confirmed in this city so that we can continue to move forward in our efforts.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Cedric Alexander, thank you for your time.

CEDRIC ALEXANDER: Thank you very much for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Cedric Alexander is Minneapolis's new commissioner of community safety.

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This is our Minnesota Music Minute. It's Violence by Minneapolis Band Police of their fifth studio album Madness released just this summer.

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12:16 here in Minnesota Now from MPR news. Glad to have you aboard here on this Tuesday. Since the start of the pandemic, the mental health of young people has been a major point of discussion for parents, teachers, and elected officials. They're worried about isolation and all that time that young folks are spending on screens.

Dr. Brendesha Tynes is a former teacher who studies the toll the digital media takes on young people of color especially. She was in town last week to give a lecture at the annual Nobel Conference. She talked with NPR reporter Cat Richert about the online lives of Black adolescents and the less talked about ways it relates to mental health.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Thank you for joining us today, Dr. Tynes.

BRENDESHA TYNES: Thank you for having me. This is wonderful.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So first question here, what motivated you to focus on the mental health of Black youth?

BRENDESHA TYNES: Wow, so when I started doing this work in 2001, I would go into chat rooms, and I'm trying to understand the nature of the race-related experiences that people are exposed to, that young people are exposed to in chat rooms. And as I'm going through the transcripts, as I'm looking at the conversations, I see a young Latina girl saying that she's having heart palpitations. And this was after about a half hour of someone spewing racist messages at her.

And so I thought, I need to focus on how these messages are impacting young people's mental health. And because the experiences were mostly happening to Black and Brown young people, most of my work has tended to include those two groups.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Sure. So how do the lives of Black adolescents differ from those of their white peers?

BRENDESHA TYNES: It's vastly different. Let's just focus on the online aspects of their lives.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Sure.

BRENDESHA TYNES: So 56% of Black kids say they're online almost constantly while there are just over 30% of white youth. Once they are interacting in these spaces, they're more likely to experience online racial discrimination. They're likely to experience these, what we call, traumatic events online and, essentially, police racial violence, police detainments, beatings, and killings of unarmed Black people.

And so Black kids are having to see the death of people who look like them, a person who could be their uncle, a person who could be their cousin or their sister being killed or beaten every day. A recent study that we did that I presented at the Nobel Conference shows that they have these experiences almost 1 and 1/2 times per day. And so that's important.

Then, also, on top of that, they might experience algorithmic bias. That includes doing a search and getting biased search results. Or we also include beauty filters that make people look more European when they apply them. And so we found that these experiences that I mentioned are associated with anxiety and depression. And that's except the traumatic events online which are only associated with anxiety. And we found that to be fairly interesting.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Yeah. Talk to me a little bit more about how that might play itself out in their day-to-day lives. And are they able to seek help or are they seeking help for depression and anxiety stemming from some of this online victimization?

BRENDESHA TYNES: So that's been a major concern when we talk about equity and mental health because the access is still-- we need to expand it, essentially. And so-- even before the pandemic, we had problems with people not having access to qualified mental health professionals who are culturally competent, anti-racist.

And so when you would see a mental health professional, they aren't able to help them. They could actually cause harm during the sessions. And so a lot of times, people just are not interested in seeing mental health professionals.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Yeah, so it sounds like the system is not necessarily set up to help kids with-- who are struggling through this. So, Dr. Tynes, tell me about your theory of Black thriving.

BRENDESHA TYNES: Oh, wow. Thanks for asking about that. So it's not published yet, but we are using Afrofuturism as well as African-American psychology, developmental psychology, education theories to help us think about what Black survival would look like across school, community, online, and work contexts.

And we basically describe some of the conditions that would need to be in place. And first, we think that we have to center the experiences of Black kids and think deeply about the strengths that they have, the fact that they come to school with this spiritual force that-- and their ancestors wielded this spiritual force that it sort of keeps them going from day to day, despite having consistent threats, despite being demeaned in school settings, despite all of the major challenges that are put in their way.

They're still able to get up in the morning, still able to be excited about school and excited about life and just thrive in their community settings in most cases. And so we think if we could ensure that everybody who is working with Black children actually has the training that they need to support them-- they have an understanding of their history, an understanding of their culture. They have an understanding of their development, and they're able to love them.

When they feel loved, they're better able to get what you are trying to give them. Learn what you're trying to teach. And in mental health settings, get the care that you're trying to give them when you have the training to be able to provide that care.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Yeah. So, Dr. Tynes, what safeguards or changes are needed to ensure young people of color can lead safe and thriving online lives?

BRENDESHA TYNES: So there are actually a host of safeguards. One, the fact that we don't have people who are qualified to serve them in schools and communities. The spaces that they're interacting in online, the policies that are in place essentially aren't protecting them from the experiences that we mentioned.

And so we need more people who are working at these tech companies to be able to understand Black children's histories, cultures, and development. We need more people of color, more Black folks at the table who are able to create the algorithms that essentially inform the experiences that Black people have online.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Yeah, the system needs to look like the people they're serving and understand where the people they're serving are coming from. Fantastic.

BRENDESHA TYNES: Absolutely. We should be thinking about mental health not as an individual problem but as a problem with communities and also that it's actually a social justice issue. And I also try to make the case that we need to center the experiences of Black youth in any discussion of equity. That's the only way we'll be able to reach equity, especially for Black youth. Absolutely.

CATHARINE RICHERT: That was Dr. Brendesha Tynes. She studies the toll digital media takes on young people of color. Thank you for being with us.

BRENDESHA TYNES: Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: And thank you, Cat Richert, for that conversation.

- Support comes from SFM, workers' comp programs dedicated to helping business owners save time and money. To learn more, ask your independent insurance agent or sfmworkerscomp.com. SFM, the work comp experts.

- Support comes from the Minnesota Orchestra presenting Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, in concert, conducted by Sarah Hicks. Watch the film and hear the score performed live to picture October 28 and 29. Tickets at minnesotaorchestra.org.

CATHY WURZER: OK, show of hands, who among us plans to go up North to see the fall colors? Of course, right. So if you plan to drive Scenic 61, old Highway 61 between Duluth and Two Harbors, good luck. They're going to close it down starting next Tuesday, October 11. Why? It's because-- and I actually have seen this because, as you all know, I've got family there on the North Shore.

The road's falling into the lake, pretty much. Yeah, I know. It's got some serious erosion problems near the shoreline. So the damage is from New Scenic Café between Duluth and Two Harbors, where that road runs right near the shoreline there. It's high above the water, but it's got some serious problems. So they're going to shut it down. Scenic 61 traffic detoured for about, they say, five weeks. So good luck.

Coming up, we're going to take a quick break here for news with Mr. John Wanamaker. Around the region at this hour in beautiful Two Harbors, it is partly sunny and 62 degrees by the Edna G. In Duluth over the hill, it's partly sunny and 65. Saint Cloud, 69 degrees. It's sunny in Brainerd where it's 72. 72 in Austin and Albert Lea under sunshine. In Worthington, it's cloudy and 65. And the Twin Cities, cloudy and 72. John, what's in the news today?

JOHN WANAMAKER: Well, Cathy, trading in shares of Twitter was halted, actually, twice today after the stock spiked on reports that Elon Musk would proceed with his $44 billion deal to buy the company after months of legal battles. That news was first reported by Bloomberg News. And shares were up at one point by 13%. They're up nearly 12% right now.

Musk, in according to the report from Bloomberg, sent a letter to Twitter offering to complete the deal, which already has shareholder approval at the original price. The trial seeking to compel Musk to buy Twitter is set to start October 17. A Michigan judge dismissed charges today against seven people in the Flint water scandal including two former state health officials blamed for deaths from Legionnaire's disease.

Judge Elizabeth Kelly took action three months after the Michigan Supreme Court said a one-judge grand jury had no authority to issue indictments. Kelly rejected efforts by the attorney general's office to send the cases to Flint District Court and turn them into criminal complaints. That is the typical path to filing felony charges in Michigan.

Kelly's decision does not affect former Governor Rick Snyder. That's only, though, because he was charged with misdemeanors and his case is being handled by a judge in a different Flint court. But he, too, was indicted in a process that was declared invalid by the Supreme Court.

North Korea has conducted its longest ever weapons test, a nuclear capable ballistic missile that flew over Japan and could reach the US Pacific territory of Guam and beyond. The launch early today forced the Japanese government to issue evacuation alerts and to halt trains. It was the most provocative weapons demonstration by North Korea this year as it pushes to develop a fully fledged nuclear arsenal. The United Nations strongly condemned what it described as North Korea's dangerous and reckless decision to launch the missile over Japan.

And we've been this morning, Loretta Lynn, a pillar of country music has died. Lynn's family said she died today at her home in Tennessee. She was 90 years old. Loretta Lynn's music spanned issues from her upbringing in the hills of Kentucky to the rights of women and access to birth control. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography was made into a movie with Sissy Spacek, winning an Oscar for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn. This is MPR News.

CATHY WURZER: Glad you're with us here on Minnesota Now from MPR News. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Now, here on the program, we've talked about the problem of Minnesota facing a very tight job market. Businesses are looking at a number of creative solutions to find and hire more employees. Amy Johnson believes an underappreciated source for workers is Minnesota's military community.

Veterans face a number of challenges transitioning into the civilian workforce even when companies are eager to hire them. Amy is a 15-year military spouse and the founder and president of a workforce solutions business for greater Minnesota called Cardinal Consulting Solutions. Amy, welcome to the program.

AMY JOHNSON: Thank you, Cathy, for having me.

CATHY WURZER: There's always a personal story behind everything. I'd like to start with yours. I know your husband transitioned into the civilian workforce about 10 years ago. Tell me how that went for your family.

AMY JOHNSON: That is true and that was not an easy road for us. So when one member in our family is broken, it really does affect the entire family. And so my husband and I have three boys. And at the time, we had two and they were little. And so thankfully, it didn't have long-term effects on them necessarily, but it was definitely a learning experience.

We had to start over in a new life, but this is different than just starting over. A military family is used to starting over each time they change duty stations. But each time they have the support of the military throughout that process, the military will help with finding housing. The needs are met easily. And, of course, you already have work lined up when you get to your next duty station. You're given a built-in community that lives the same life as you and there's a lot more predictability.

And when you transition out of the military, you've officially exited. And you lose access to those things that would have otherwise made a move much easier. And another thing is the network that's created while in the military is suddenly gone upon an exit. So it's now incredibly difficult to find people that understand the life that we've lived.

CATHY WURZER: It sounds as if you were almost unmoored in your life. Does that make sense?

AMY JOHNSON: Yeah, even reconnecting to family and friends. You would think that is the reason that we did return. We wanted to get back to our family and make sure that our children knew their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins because we come from a large family.

But we came back different people because of the experiences that we went through. Granted, I'm not a veteran. I'm a military spouse. But I had a five-year crash course and it changed who I was and who we were. So it seemed that people expected us to return as the same person we were when we left and that just isn't how it was. And that's a hard adjustment.

CATHY WURZER: And so you changed, as you say, because of your experiences in and around the military. You come back home, and I would presume that you've lost that military identity, right? Did that make it tough to get a job?

AMY JOHNSON: My husband, the soldier, most definitely, and it was very hard to watch him through that experience. So as a soldier in the army in his case from his personal experience, he's earned his rank that he's respected for in the army. It's a level of respect that he has for service every day that he went to work and reported to his job.

He had a structured routine, organizational awareness. So he knew his place in the army and was respected for it and knew what he was going to go do every day and what his objectives were. And then pride, where he stood in the army. And then once he got out, thinking about what he left and really missing the camaraderie that he had just days prior.

CATHY WURZER: I know your husband has some very unique skills. Can you run them down a little bit for us here in terms of those skills and what other skills veterans bring to the workforce?

AMY JOHNSON: What's interesting and what I'd like to start with is typically the bias. I come from the world of human resources, 20 years. And so a lot of military-related resumes has come over my desk. And so listening to hiring managers and leaders, they see a resume that speaks veteran and they say, yes, hire them. They'll show up. They'll be on time. They're reliable and they're a hard worker.

And so I feel like that's putting our veterans in a box. And the truth is though veterans may have those traits, they're all still human and they each have their own story. They're their own person. And not all veterans walked the same path or saw the same things. And in our case, the experience that my husband went through gave him a renewed appreciation for life and reinforced his work ethic.

CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering, because there are so many different jobs in the military, how do some of those skills translate into a civilian workforce?

AMY JOHNSON: So there are a lot of resources that do exist that help employers and service members with that transition, like translating resumes from military language to civilian language and trying to skill match in the civilian world. So my husband, as a soldier, he had never interviewed. So seven years in the military and he joined the military later after-- not directly out of high school.

You would think that when you're interviewing somebody in their late 20s or early 30s, they've done this before. And in many cases, when you're interviewing a veteran, they've never been in an interview. And so this is a first for them. And not only have they never been in an interview, but they have no idea that they're about to be misunderstood by the person that's interviewing them.

They've spoken this military language for however many years. This is something that we talk about in the workshop that I do now. It literally is a different language. And if you talk to somebody in any branch-- every branch, all six branches even have their own language. So sitting across the table from somebody that has never lived that life, they won't understand. And so that's the life that this individual knows. And so that creates a language barrier immediately in the interview, which then allows the interviewer to lose their confidence.

And so it's a really difficult situation. So when my husband was interviewing, I helped him the best he could to translate that resume as well. But it just doesn't seem like it's ever enough because they do so much in the military. My husband-- actually, he was in logistics. And he actually won an award for the best warehouse in the United States Army while he was in because of his performance [INAUDIBLE].

And so telling that to somebody across the table as an example of maybe your greatest achievement, I mean, it's hard to understand or fathom what that really means. But yet he went through the resources that he was provided and was told that he needed to be on a forklift. And he wouldn't get a greater job than that, and he needed to start over in the civilian world. So that really hurt his pride as well because of the identity that we spoke of earlier.

CATHY WURZER: Because of all you've experienced, you went and you started your own business, which is so interesting. How are you trying to match the skills and the passions of veterans with businesses looking to hire someone? How's it working for you?

AMY JOHNSON: It was during the pandemic that I started my business, taking a leap of faith, deciding I think I can help solve these workforce issues, at least by helping employers identify new talent pools that are underappreciated. We kind of take a reverse effect, and we teach the employer.

So we teach the employers where to find the veterans, but not only where to find them, but when they find them, how to understand them and appreciate them for the culture, the skills, and the value that they bring to the table. And then we also help create inclusive workplaces for those veterans.

CATHY WURZER: How's it going?

AMY JOHNSON: Really good. So I would love to help every veteran that transitions to Minnesota. I'm in greater Minnesota. And so just helping them find the quality of life that they're looking for but that group is so protected. They're very hard to reach. I live in Ashby, Minnesota, which is a town of 400 people. It's pretty small. I serve West Central Minnesota and most of greater Minnesota as well. And one thing that I wish was easier is that we can find each other.

When my family transitioned, I visited numerous veteran community organizations to try and find other military families so that we could share our stories and we could create that missing network. I never did. And I was told that we wouldn't get the help that we were looking for unless my husband was disabled. And technically, my husband does have a service-connected disability, but it isn't had enough to get the help that we were looking for.

And so 10 years later, I'm sitting at a baseball game next to another mom. And come to find out, her husband is in the guards. He was deployed for a year recently, and she lives one mile from me. And I couldn't help her. We couldn't help each other. And so I just wish-- I wish it was easier to find each other.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Amy, thank you so much for the conversation. We wish you all the best.

AMY JOHNSON: Thank you so much, Cathy, for the opportunity.

CATHY WURZER: That was Amy Johnson, founder and president of Cardinal Consulting Solutions. You can learn more about Amy's business at ccsworkforce.com.

- Support comes from Anderson Realty, a boutique brokerage with a 60-year legacy and tradition of working hard and putting people first. Anderson Realty, on a mission to help connect you with your next home or cabin, andersonrealtymn.com. Support comes from the American Swedish Institute's fall concert series, featuring Swedish folk quintet, Jaerv, and local string duo, The OK Factor, performing together in an evening of pop-infused folk music that's both familiar and fresh, October 7, asimn.org.

CATHY WURZER: There is an election in just over a month from now. And we have been checking in with our colleagues at the APM Research Lab on the Minnesota poll watch feature they put together for us to help track what's going on with several key races in Minnesota. Craig Helmstetter is the managing partner of APM Research Lab, and he is back. How are you doing?

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: Good, how are you?

CATHY WURZER: Good, so far, so good. Now, yesterday, you were kind enough to catch us up on some recent political polling and election forecasts. We got cut short on the fundraising. So I know that new numbers were released last week. What do they tell us?

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: Yeah, well, let's do this as a little quiz to keep things interesting for the listeners. So we got new fundraising data for four statewide offices-- governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and state auditor. So out of those four offices, they're held by DFLers. Incumbents usually have a fundraising edge. And so for the most recent period of fundraising, how many of those incumbents outraised their challengers, do we think?

And I'll let your listeners answer that in their heads. We got four offices. Did incumbents fundraise their challengers? Well, interestingly, what do you think, Cathy? Did you want to answer it? Do you want to take a--

CATHY WURZER: I'm assuming that an incumbent would probably outraise the challenger. But I think in this case, at least I know the governor's race. I think Scott Jensen is a little bit more compared to Governor Walz in this most recent round, right?

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: Yeah, even when you-- you were out for a little bit, and you were still paying attention to this stuff.

CATHY WURZER: There you go.

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: Yeah, yeah, so you're very right. So in three out of the four cases, the Republican challengers out fundraised the Democrat incumbent. So you're right, Scott Jensen outraised Walz. Jim Schultz outraised Ellison by a little bit. Republican Ryan Wilson outraised Julie Blaha in the auditor's race. And so the exception was Secretary of State Steve Simon.

Interestingly, this pattern was reversed. One important number out of this is, well, so that's that. What we were just talking about was fundraising in the last quarter that was covered by this report. But who has more cash on hand left to spend going into the final days of the race? And in that case, the things were flipped.

So even though Republicans outraised Democrats in three out of those four offices in that most recent term with more-- when we look at the cash on hand picture, DFLers actually had more cash on hand. Walz has more cash on hand than Jensen and so on down the line. So it's an interesting reversal when we look at cash on hand. But as you know, a lot of that money is being spent on election ads right now.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, no kidding. So I mentioned in the intro that the election is about a month away. But technically, it's already underway with early voting. Any idea how many Minnesotans are taking advantage of early voting so far?

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: Yeah, just a new little clip that we put at the top of the poll watch feature is to track this early voting. And as of now, the latest data from the secretary of state's office that's from the end of September, they're reporting that 286,000 voters have requested mail in or absentee voters ballots and that 11,000 have already been returned.

So about 8% have requested-- 8% of all voters have requested these ballots. And just a tiny fraction, 0.3%, have already voted. And of course, we'll be tracking how that continues to mount up over the coming days and weeks.

CATHY WURZER: You do a good job. Thank you, Craig.

CRAIG HELMSTETTER: OK, thank you. Have a good day.

CATHY WURZER: You, too. You can find the poll watch page right at the top of the election 2022 page that's at nprnews.org.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

This is Minnesota Now on MPR News. I'm Cathy Wurzer. Thanks for joining us. A concert from the Minnesota Orchestra will spotlight rarely heard music by Black composers dubbed The Listening Project. The performance is this Friday, October 7. It will include works from composers, both contemporary, like Hale Smith, and historic, like Margaret Bonds.

Louise Toppin is here right now to share more about the project. She's a performer, scholar, and professor and host of Friday's performance. Louise, I'm so happy you're here. Thanks for joining us.

LOUISE TOPPIN: I appreciate being here.

CATHY WURZER: So I'm wondering, how were the composers and the songs selected?

LOUISE TOPPIN: So I founded a database, and I have a co-conductor, James Blachly, who helped. But we're also looking at composers who have been influential in the whole narrative of African-American composition, from the historic, the first African-American woman who's internationally recognized, Florence Price, and her protege, Margaret Bonds.

You have Hailstork, who is one of the most important symphonic composers today. And you Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who brings in a perspective from Europe and influences the work of early African-American composers. So working together, it's really telling you quite a beautiful story about these composers who fought to have their works recognized but were also activists in their own way.

CATHY WURZER: Let's talk a little bit about some of these composers. I know the show is going to open with a work from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. I want to play some of his music here. This specifically is Four African Dances No. 3.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Oh, that is beautiful. That is beautiful. Wasn't he a British composer?

LOUISE TOPPIN: He was. He was Afro-British. His father was British. His mother was African. So he grew up in England, studying music, and became one of their most celebrated composers.

CATHY WURZER: And how would you characterize his music?

LOUISE TOPPIN: Oh, his music is lyrical. It's beautiful melodies. But he also was so important coming to the United States. He had an encounter with the Fisk Jubilee Singers while he was in England. They toured there, and he learned about spirituals. And he began to really enjoy spiritual melodies. And then he also met Paul Laurence Dunbar who visits in England and the two of them become close friends. They actually wrote one opera together. But more importantly, it allowed him to find a space to explore his Blackness.

And so he began to use things such as writing Negro folk melodies or African-American or African music with those titles at a time that people weren't really talking about or celebrating being a Black composer. And when he comes to the United States, he is the one that influences that early generation, including Burleigh, to say, your music of spirituals, this is the music we should be celebrating.

CATHY WURZER: Another important figure, as I mentioned in the intro and you also touched on her, is Margaret Bonds. For folks who don't know, she was one of the first Black composers to receive critical recognition in the United States. Now, this is one of her most famous compositions. We're listening to Troubled Water.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

That has a little flavor of a spiritual, doesn't it?

LOUISE TOPPIN: It actually is. It's based on the spiritual weight in the water. And the piano piece that you just played is actually a part of a suite that for many years, that movement was the only one that we knew existed. And then more recently, I found the other two movements. It's actually-- one about The Bells and Dry Bones are the three movements.

And so it takes on a different connotation if you realize these other two spirituals lead up to that spiritual, instead of it's just this standalone spiritual virtuosic, though it is. It's a complete set that Margaret Bonds put together.

CATHY WURZER: And she had frequent collaborations with Langston Hughes. Now, that is a powerful combination.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Absolutely. She found a Langston Hughes poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers, when she was a grad student at Northwestern and having a lot of trouble in her life because of segregation. And so she goes to the public library, which is the only place she could study, and she finds this poem that he had written many years earlier. And she always said that that poem is what got her through those difficult times.

And then when she met him so many years later, her mother Estella Bonds had a home that featured lots of famous artists and poets. And so she met Langston Hughes. They become fast friends, and they collaborate on musical theater, on art song, on a myriad of works.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, if you're tuning in, we are talking about The Listening Project. This is going to be a performance this coming Friday, October 7 with the Minnesota Orchestra. Louise Toppin is with me right now. The program is going to conclude with Florence Price. We want to listen to a little of her most famous composition, which is Symphony No. 1.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Now, miss Price was a pioneer because didn't-- isn't she one of the first or the first Black woman to have her music played by a major symphony orchestra?

LOUISE TOPPIN: She was, and she was the first to have international recognition. Price goes on to have her work premiered by the Chicago Symphony. The tragedy in her life is that she tried to get other orchestras to perform the work in her lifetime and she was unsuccessful.

CATHY WURZER: My gosh. Say, I know that some of these works have never been recorded. I'm wondering about the impact of recording them now.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Well, I think it's hugely important. And you asked me at the beginning why these pieces, that was also a part of the criteria, was looking for works that have not been previously recorded. And in the case of all of these composers, they're well-documented and well-known composers. But when you look at the number of recordings that they have had, it's pretty small.

And if we have recorded them, it also makes it possible for other orchestras across the country and across the globe can hear the sounds and can program. People don't program repertoire if they can't hear it. This project is doing a huge service to the field by making these available in recorded form.

CATHY WURZER: So this next question of mine is an offshoot of what you just said. The Minnesota Orchestra says it's been working toward including more historically underrepresented composers of color. But as you know, the classical music world pretty much centers around white and European artists. What needs to happen for that to shift?

LOUISE TOPPIN: Well, for that to shift is part of what I just said is having the recordings but also having scores available. So the publishing industry has to begin to catch up so that once they hear them, there's music available. But also, we have to have a mind shift that programming does not mean we are taking away composers that we've known and loved, but it is making space for other American composers that we haven't heard from of all ethnicities.

CATHY WURZER: You sound like you're really excited about this effort.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Oh, I am so passionate. I've spent 32 years working on convincing people that there are more stories that are worth being told and being heard. I'm thrilled that my organization is partnering with the Minnesota Orchestra to do this work.

CATHY WURZER: Well, we look forward to the performance. Thank you so much for giving us a little taste of what to expect.

LOUISE TOPPIN: Thank you, appreciate it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Louise Toppin is a performer and scholar and host of the Minnesota Orchestra's performance this Friday. She's also the founder of the African Diaspora Music Project. Tickets for Friday's performance, by the way, are available at minnesotaorchestra.org. You can also listen live, 8:00 PM on your classical Minnesota Public Radio 99.5 FM in the Twin Cities. That was a fun conversation. Hey, by the way, thank you so much for joining us here on Minnesota Now. Today was kind of a busy show, a lot that we talked about.

One final note here and it is adorable. This little girl is so cute. Como Zoo just today said that the baby zebra born on the first full day of fall has a very fitting name. They've decided to name the baby Autumn. The zookeepers, the visitors, social media agreed on the name for that little female foal. She is adorable. You can see her along with her parents, Thelma and Ulysses, in Como zebra herd. They're out there right now along with Minnie and Aurora. They can be seen daily 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Check her out. She is so cute.

Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now right here on MPR News, 91.1 KNOW Minneapolis, Saint Paul. Support for Minnesota Now comes from TruStone Financial Credit Union, dedicated to giving back to the community since 1939. Full-service banking is available at 23 locations and online at trustone.org. TruStone is an equal housing opportunity lender insured by NCUA.

72 degrees here in the Twin Cities, up several from last hour. It's a beautiful day. Enjoy the warmer weather because it's Minnesota. It's going to change in the blink of an eye. Actually, it's going to start to change by tomorrow. Today, clouds for the most part, 75, as I mentioned. 40% chance of rain tonight. A 40% chance for rain showers tomorrow afternoon with a high of 68 tomorrow. That cold front blows through tomorrow, on Thursday, I should say. Upper 40s for a high on Thursday. It's going to be windy and cooler on Thursday. Friday, highs only of around 48. Friday night, some frost is possible.