Jerry Hammer is the CEO of the Minnesota State Fair, he’s been working at the Fair since a teenager and knows all the inside information including how to have a new food, new concept and politics at the Fair. Discover more at TalkNorth.com ..read more

Blois sits down and shares a drink in St. Paul with Andrea Yoch, Twin Cities businesswoman and now President and Co-founder of the Minnesota Women's Soccer league, the Minnesota Aurora ..read more

Blois shares a drink with the president & CEO of the Minnesota Twins, Dave St. Peter, at the Freehouse in Minneapolis.  ..read more

Blois shares a cold one at The Lexington with former World Cup Soccer and professional soccer player Tony Sanneh, who now leads the Sanneh Foundation which helps thousands of kids throughout Minnesota. Listen and subscribe here: https://share.transistor.fm/s/b0ecfb8e or listen on your favorite podcast app ..read more

Not only is Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey running for re-election, he’s also dealing with twin crises after one of the most difficult years in the city’s history. Frey joins as the first guest in the new season of ‘Beers with Blois,’ focused on candidates in the 2021 Minneapolis election, to discuss the ongoing public safety debate and divide, rent and housing, preserving downtown, the “strong mayor” government structure proposal floated by the Charter Commission, having a kid during amidst a tumultuous first term, and so much more ..read more

Newly-elected Representative John Thompson has long been driven to help his East Saint Paul community by speaking at committee hearings for years, especially empowered by the police killing of his friend Philando Castile, with whom he worked for Saint Paul Public Schools. On this episode, Rep. Thompson discusses his diverse community’s educational needs, legislators’ perception of him as an “activist,” takeaways from his campaign controversy in Hugo, and much more. Plus, listen to the end to hear the Chicago Cubs fan’s favorite cold one stop in his district ..read more

After transitioning from the state house to the upper chamber, Senator Mary Kunesh of Columbia Heights wasted no time in getting to work. On the latest episode of the new legislator season, listen to Kunesh, a teacher herself, discuss necessary changes to education policy and equity during and after the pandemic, and hear more about the legislator’s path from working three jobs as a single mother of three to being an impressive figure in Minnesota politics ..read more

On this week's Sunday Take with WCCO political analyst Blois Olson, he catches up with AJ Awed who is running for Mayor of Minneapolis.  Plus majority leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives Ryan Winkler, and Minnesota Senator Karin Housley both discuss the potential special session on COVID frontline worker relief.   ..read more

Not only was Rep. Bjorn Olson the mayor of Walter Mondale’s hometown of Ellmore in southwestern Minnesota, but he also still lives in the former vice president’s former house backyard where Mondale announced his 1984 presidential candidacy. Hear Olson, a social studies teacher, farmer, and U.S. Army Reserve Captain recount past encounters with Mondale and Governor Walz, and hear him discuss how his rural, agricultural roots inform serving as a southwestern Minnesotan representative ..read more

This week, WCCO political analyst Blois Olson talks to Steve Simon, Minnesota's Secretary of State who announced he will run for re-election, Steve Hunegs the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, and with this week's media roundtable with TPT's Mary LaHammer and Laura McCallum the Star Tribune's Politics and Government Editor.   ..read more