Greater Minnesota

New court documents suggest Connor Bowman, a former Mayo Clinic resident now charged with fatally poisoning his wife, was previously investigated for mistreatment of a patient.
EPA says 'further actions' needed to protect human health from nitrate in southeast Minnesota
Environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, saying nitrate in the groundwater in southeast Minnesota’s karst region — largely from fertilizer and manure applied to crop land — poses an imminent danger to human health.
Authorities still seeking answers seven years after Minnesota hunter was fatally shot
On Nov. 7, 2016, Terry Brisk was deer hunting on his parents’ property in Morrison County, east of Little Falls, Minn., when he was shot and killed. Investigators said they believe he was killed with his own rifle, which they found the following spring.
Rural Voice: How to educate and attract the next generation of rural workers
Can remote work reverse the rural brain drain? Maybe. But there’s still work to be done to educate and engage the next generation of workers for small towns in the Upper Midwest, as MPR News host Kerri Miller heard when she hosted a Rural Voice town hall in River Falls, Wis., last month.
The battle over land use: Farm crops versus solar farms
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates the U.S. will need 10 million acres of solar panels by 2050 to meet the nation’s net zero-carbon goals. That means acreage currently used for farmland will become solar farms.
Duluthians to choose in hotly contested mayoral race
Duluth voters are heading to the polls today to decide between incumbent Emily Larson, who is seeking a third term, and former city councilor and state legislator Roger Reinert, in the city’s most hotly contested mayoral election in 15 years.
 Mixing solar and farming could be key to clean energy future
As Minnesota and the nation shift to cleaner energy, there’s a growing demand for land for new solar farms. At the same time there’s growing interest in what’s known as agrivoltaics.