At one Twin Cities elementary school, kids are channeling their inner Jedi. WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3Z5MlvA
Six Minnesota teachers are among 200 who quarterfinalists for the GRAMMY Museum’s Music Educator of the Year award. LIST: https://fluence-media.co/4k3pBo7
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FREE AND LOW-COST FAMILY FUN: The beloved Flint Hills Family Festival is celebrating 25 years in downtown Saint Paul May 30-31. This year’s festival, presented by the Ordway and Flint Hills Resources, welcomes outstanding headliners, including Grammy winners Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band and Ada Twist, Scientist, as well as the returning NOOMA, an Opera for Babies. Bring kids of all ages to enjoy free outdoor entertainment and activities, visit food trucks and take in an indoor show where tickets start at just $8. GET TICKETS: Flint Hills Family Festival (SPONSORED: Flint Hills Resources)
All Fluence tipsheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
PULITZER: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “Minnesota poet Danez Smith was announced Monday as a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. They received the recognition for their poetry book ‘Bluff,’ published by Graywolf Press in Minneapolis.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Z2VmFG
STORIES: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “This year marks 50 years of Hmong refugee resettlement and immigration to Minnesota. In 1975, after the Vietnam War and after Communists took over Laos, many Hmong people had to flee their homelands. Hmong families resettled as refugees across the world, including in Minnesota. This experience is one of the stories Kao Kalia Yang describes in her writing: her memoirs, fiction, opera, public speaking and teaching. Born in Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in Thailand, Yang was 6 years old when she arrived in St. Paul with her parents and older sister.” Q&A: https://fluence-media.co/4335aRp
EXHIBIT: Via Sahan Journal, VERBATIM: “Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, five feminist and queer artists from the Vietnamese diaspora transform St. Paul’s Xia Gallery and Cafe into a space blurring the lines between an exhibition and a site of mourning, memory and imagined return. Through video, photography, sculpture and mixed-media installations, ‘Re/Homing: Walk-ins Welcome’ confronts the instability of ‘home’ for refugees.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3SkxsSi
UKRAINE: Via WCCO-TV, VERBATIM: “A Minnetonka doctor isn't wavering in his commitment to help Ukrainian soldiers injured during the war with Russia. Dr. Greg Ekbom visited Ukraine last month for the fifth time since Russia invaded in 2022. ‘The passion that I still have at age 75 is strong,’ he said. ‘It's burning brightly.’ Through his nonprofit, LimbFit, Ekbom's provided prosthetics to dozens of Ukrainian amputees. The majority of them are soldiers, but LimbFit's worked with civilians, too.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4jFRfaW
BASEBALL: Via KARE-TV, VERBATIM: “The community of Randolph will celebrate the love of baseball and the life of a young player this weekend in the first ‘Baseball Across Minnesota’ event. The Randolph High Rockets will play the Caledonia Warriors on Friday. Proceeds will go to a local nonprofit called Tayven's Pursuit, named after 17-year-old Tayven Geiger who died in a car crash in 2023.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4jGjS7R
TWINS: Via Minnesota News Network, VERBATIM: “Continuing to deliver upon an organization-wide commitment to build a better tomorrow, from the Twin Cities to the Dominican Republic and beyond, the Minnesota Twins and the club’s six minor league affiliates today announced plans for the fourth annual ‘Minnesota Twins Week of Service,’ to be held from May 7-14.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44rCi7I
GRANT: Via Lakeland PBS, VERBATIM: “Central Lakes College recently announced it has received a grant from Age-Friendly Minnesota to support two key initiatives designed to engage and connect older adults in the Brainerd Lakes Area. The grant award is just over $52,000 and will fund a series of four community based listening sessions for adults aged 55 and older, as well as an expansion of Chatty Hour, a structured social program that reduces isolation and strengths community ties.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/44ppZZJ
TEACHER: Via WCCO-Radio, VERBATIM: “Eden Prairie high school English teacher Linda Wallenberg has been named the 2025 Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Wallenberg is now in her 49th year of teaching and has been a finalist for the award twice, including this year and back in 2005.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3RQ24Lq
PRINCIPAL: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “An elementary school principal in Plymouth has been selected for a prestigious honor. Birchview Elementary Principal Ashley Farrington was named the 2025 National Distinguished Principal (NDP) from Minnesota by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GJ2r89
BIO GIRLS: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “Missy Heilman stands in front of a couple dozen young girls sitting cross-legged on the floor in a Fargo church. Dressed in a T-shirt, shorts and neon green running shoes, she asks the girls, ‘What have you been nervous about in the last week?’ . . . That kind of conversation sits at the core of the curriculum for BIO Girls, the nonprofit Heilman founded in 2013 to boost the mental health of adolescent girls. BIO stands for Beautiful Inside and Out.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4k6nCQ1
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep. Kari Rehrauer
Rep. Wayne Johnson
Rep. Julie Greene
Rep. Keith Allen
Rep. Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
POSTERS: Via The Minneapolis Egotist, VERBATIM: “Announcing the 10th annual Posters for Parks show! Are you a local artist, designer, or illustrator who loves Minneapolis Parks?” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42I19Tx APPLY: https://fluence-media.co/4d0tBDy
MUSICAL: Via CCX Media, VERBATIM: “On the local theater scene, a popular fantasy adventure is making its way to the stage. Stages Theatre Co. is performing its version of ‘The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.’” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3GVE2fy
FOUNDATION: Via Red Wing Republican Eagle, VERBATIM: “Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) this week announced the appointment of Benya Kraus as its next president and CEO, effective June 16. Kraus succeeds Tim Penny, who has served the foundation with distinction for nearly two decades.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jDE7mF
TOPLINE: Via news release from Maple Grove-based TopLine, VERBATIM: “TopLine Financial Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based member-owned financial services cooperative, was named winner of the Desjardins Financial Education Award.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4m3A0lu
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