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Contributed/Adobe Stock via Minnesota News ConnectionLabor experts monitoring artificial intelligence say the nation's workers are increasingly worried about being displaced, and key industries in Minnesota are vulnerable. -
Chelsey Perkins/KAXEIn the past, The Bridge on 7th closed in the summer months. The Brainerd City Council approved a one-year permit for year-round operations April 6, 2026. -
Contributed/Michelle Griffith / Minnesota ReformerNatalie Hudson was the state’s first Black chief justice. Gov. Tim Walz appointed her as chief justice in 2023. Walz’s office said details about who will succeed Hudson are forthcoming. -
Plus: The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will accept comment on Minnesota Power's proposed transmission line project; and the Minnesota Department of Health updated its guidelines for eating fish from Arrowhead lakes. -
Lorie Shaull/KAXEResidents can receive up to 70 free tree seedlings to reforest their properties starting May 2026, following a windstorm in June 2025 that felled an estimated 9 million trees in the area. -
Lorie Shaull/KAXENew guidelines specific to St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties account for the fact that fish in the region generally have higher mercury concentrations. -
Contributed/GoogleA demolition loan from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic will help clear the site of the former Itasca Farm Co-op. -
Contributed/Minnesota Public Utilities CommissionThe meetings in Grand Rapids, Hermantown, Floodwood and online will cover Minnesota Power's proposed 67.5 miles of transmission line between Grand Rapids and Hermantown. -
The cross-jurisdictional court includes the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and is intended to reduce recidivism among participants in a highly intensive, court-supervised treatment program.
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Plus: The Grand Rapids Economic Development Agency will use state funds to demolish the former Itasca Farm Co-op.
Chelsey Perkins became the News Director in early 2023 and was tasked with building a new local newsroom at the station. She is based in Brainerd and leads a team of two reporters covering communities across Northern Minnesota from the KAXE studio in Grand Rapids and the KBXE studio in Bemidji.
Megan Buffington joined the KAXE newsroom in 2024 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Originally from Pequot Lakes, she is passionate about educating and empowering communities through local reporting.
Larissa Donovan has been in the Bemidji area's local news scene since 2016, joining the KAXE newsroom in 2023 after several years as the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting.
