Comedian Stef Dag shared her amazement when she found out that the TV show she was watching was actually filmed inside her apartment.

Billary Squintin used AI to vividly re-create scenes from Mad Max: Fury Road with Muppets in place of the actual actors.

"The Boy & The Octopus" is a touching holiday short about a tiny octopus who latches onto a young beachgoer and refuses to let go.

Filmmaker Daren Jannace compiled and animated 10,946 doodles that he made on sticky notes, starting with 30 sticky notes per day in 2016.

Fire crews are battling small wildfires across the Northeast U.S. A blaze in New York and New Jersey killed a parks employee over the weekend and postponed Veterans Day plans. A quarter-inch of rain fell overnight from Sunday into Monday, giving a slight respite to firefighters. 

General Manager Clare Duwelius is headed to Unrivaled, the new women’s three-on-three basketball league started by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. And associate head coach Katie Smith is headed to Ohio State, where she’ll be the assistant coach for the women’s basketball team.

John Robinson, the veteran football coach who enjoyed many years of success at the University of Southern California and with the Los Angeles Rams, has died. He was 89.

Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell of Minnesota are now both members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, as part of the 2024 inductees in the player category on Monday night.

Lucas Bellamy had been in jail for three days in July 2022 when he died of an infection after suffering a perforated intestine. A lawsuit filed in January said jail staff were deliberately indifferent to his son's obviously-worsening symptoms.

The Minnesota Twins will promote Derek Falvey to president of baseball and business operations and Jeremy Zoll to general manager as part of a front office succession plan initiated by current club president Dave St. Peter’s move into a strategic adviser role. 

Investigators say they believe a Wisconsin kayaker missing since mid-August faked his death before fleeing to Europe. 

A Minnesota man who served nearly 20 years in prison before his murder conviction was vacated last year has filed a claim for nearly $2 million from the state.

Denzel Washington is retiring after his next few projects, he said in a recent interview.

Robert Williams and Jerami Grant each scored 19 points to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 122-108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Naz Reid led Minnesota with 28 points in the loss while star guard Anthony Edwards pitched in 26 points.

Donald Trump has been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Tell us what questions you have about how a second Trump presidency might affect Minnesota.

After a tension filled day following an incident Sunday near the Mankato Islamic Center initially feared as an arson attack, the police have a more benign explanation, but anger remains.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said deer harvest numbers are up from last year, despite some poor weather on the second day.

Wrestler Gable Steveson, who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, is coming out of retirement. Steveson will compete for the University of Minnesota for a fifth and final season. 

Edgar Barrientos-Quintana was wrongly convicted in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 2008 murder of Jesse Mickelson in Minneapolis. 

Cyrell Boyd is headed to treatment at the Red Wing juvenile facility for his role in the Nudieland shooting in August 2023. At a hearing Tuesday, victims spoke to him about the shooting’s impact.

Up until Tuesday evening, 50 Cent held the distinction of throwing the worst first pitch in the history of all ceremony.

Here are the stories, topics, and guests you'll hear today on MPR News.

Paul Tosto applauded, supported, defended, and created a fair amount of the material that found its way onto these pages, and he did so without getting or needing attention. At least until today.

NewsCut was born from an idea that started with a hurricane. We knew he'd be great -- as long as no one called him a blogger.

Here's what it's like to fly with Bob Collins in a plane he built.

Collins vowed to not write a goodbye post. We're not sure if's staying true to that, so here comes old friend Tom Weber "to sing a little on behalf of a friend who’s made immeasurable contributions to MPR and Minnesota."

Collins came in every day and made stuff that people wanted – really wanted – to read. That’s the best compliment anyone could ever get as a writer and reporter. He delivered the goods to the audience online and on the air.

Being a member of the MPR News staff for a little over a year, and located outside of the St. Paul office, I’ve only had the privilege to observe the NewsCut magic as many readers have, with interactions through emails and reading Bob Collins’ words. But the one time I got to meet Bob in…

Running out of things to say (along with health issues) was one of the reasons I gave when I informed people last year that I would retire on my 65th birthday. Today is my 65th birthday. And this is the 17,071st, and last, NewsCut post.

Deca Durabolin is an injectable ester of Nandrolone- a potent, reasonably mild anabolic steroid. It's especially noted for promoting massive gains in strength and muscle mass as it has a very strong binding affinity to the androgen receptor which stimulates protein synthesis as well as nitrogen retention.Deca has been demonstrated to be effective at doses as low as 100mg per week at promoting these effects, although 200-300mg/week is more common. However, Deca should not be run by women due to t [...]

The past couple of weeks have been weird. Daily life changed gradually, then all at once. We now find ourselves at home practicing our best “social distancing” protocols. Incredible technology allows us to stay connected, and that’s fantastic. But it’s ok to put the phone down. It’s ok to turn down the news from time to time, and take a long walk outside in nature. This week, I took my own advice. Amidst the simple beauty of nature, I draw one deep breath… and then another. In the forest, I glimpse a furtive movement - beyond the shoulder of the rural, dirt road. One handsome squirrel sits perched on a fallen log, slowly twirling a hemlock cone in its forepaws. In the warm morning sunlight, he yawns…unimpressed with my presence. In his narrow economy, it’s spring and the kitchen larder of conifer cone seeds is running low. Above me, a March wind coaxes a flock of bluebirds to an open, sodden pasture. Springtime arrives this year, just as the bluebirds do– hopeful, tentative, uncertain.

We know…we’ve been remiss, and it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Something Wild, as you know, is a chance to take a closer look at the wildlife, ecosystems and marvelous phenomena you can find in and around New Hampshire. But over the years there is one species in New Hampshire that we haven’t spent much time examining. A species, I think that has been conspicuous in its absence. Humans. So we’re grabbing the bull by the horns and digging in to a complex species that is an important part of the ecosystem. And we thought we’d start with a particular trait that’s been with us almost since the beginning: olfaction.

This Something Wild segment was produced by the amazing Andrew Parrella. You may be familiar with hoarders (not the TV show, but same idea). In nature, a hoarder will hide food in one place. Everything it gathers will be stored in a single tree or den. But for some animals one food cache isn't enough. We call them scatter hoarders. A "scatter hoarder" hides food in a bunch of different places within its territory. The gray squirrel is a classic example, gathering acorns and burying them in trees or in the ground. Not all squirrels are hoarders. Red squirrels are "larder hoarders." If you've ever been walking through the woods and a red squirrel starts screaming at you, it's defending its one and only stash. The same goes for chipmunks and white-footed mice. The gray squirrel isn't alone in the practice of scatter hoarding. Blue jays and gray jays will spend the summer accosting hikers, filling itself with as much granola or fruit as it can. They bring their bounty back into the forest

It's late August, and the leaves are already starting to change. And that flush of red you’re seeing likely comes from the red maple , also known as “swamp” or “soft maple”. It's an adaptable tree renowned for signaling an impending autumn, and has even earned the dubious nickname: “Judas Tree” – for betraying these late summer days. Red maples are common in New Hampshire’s young forests, especially in areas prone to natural disturbances such as flooding in wetlands, along rivers -- and by human disturbances, too. A nd while forest ecologists believe these trees are increasing as a percentage of our forests, red maples are still considered a minority species, adding diversity to overall forest composition.

This episode of Something Wild was produced by Andrew Parrella: The number of acorns a tree produces in a given year has to do with masting. Not mast like on tall ships, but mast as in masticate, or to chew and it refers to the fruit, seeds or nuts that trees produce and are in turn fodder for animals. Especially in New Hampshire, oak mast follows a boom or bust cycle, which means the amount of acorns varies from year to year. Over time, evolution has favored the oak trees that demonstrate this boom or bust cycle. This keeps seed consumers off balance and that's actually a good thing. If there were the same amount of acorns every year, there would be just enough mice and turkey and deer and others to consume every single acorn. However, by producing very few acorns a couple of years running, they starve the animals and the populations of seed predators crash. Then, the oak has a boom year and there aren't enough animals to eat them all, which allows some of those acorn to become trees.

Standing dead trees (often called snags) are common in our forests, and it’s hard to overstate just how vital a role they play in a healthy ecosystem. These gray ghosts provide food and shelter for a whole heap of forest critters; a total of 43 species of birds and mammals are specially adapted to nesting or denning inside tree cavities. But before a dead tree becomes a high-rise condo for a long list of species, it first undergoes a remarkable transformation. In fact, snags undergo a series of changes, from the time they begin to die until they finally collapse, and each stage of decay has particular value to a whole host of different animals with unique needs. First things first: decaying wood is perfect for fungi -- molds, mildews and mushrooms -- decomposers that soften wood enough for insects to start to gnaw their way in. Next, termites, beetles, and ants all begin to chew apart and break down the cellulose and lignin that gives wood its normally rigid structure. And once you

By the time the cold weather months hit us, three of New Hampshire’s eight species of bats have already migrated to warmer places in the South and Mid-Atlantic regions. The bat that DO overwinter in New Hampshire have relocated out of their preferred summer roosts in trees (and Dave's chimney), and into winter hibernacula like caves, mine shafts, and abandoned military bunkers where the microclimate is just right. These cozy shelters provide stable temperatures, higher humidity, and protection from predators. But they also provide the perfect climate for Psedogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes White-nose Syndrome in bats. According to Sandi Houghton, a wildlife biologist for New Hampshire Fish and Game / Non-game and Endangered Wildlife Division, as many as 99% of New Hampshire’s little brown bats were wiped out because of this fungus-- found in the very places bats take winter refuge. In fact most of what’s left of the little brown bat population in New Hampshire may be

As we hunker down for the winter weather, we’re frequently too preoccupied with what is in our front yards that we tend not to notice what isn’t there. And short of finding a postcard in your mailbox from a warm exotic location, signed by your friendly neighborhood phoebe, you probably haven’t thought much about the birds that flitted through your yard just months ago. We love to admire the birds when they’re here with us, but we’ve accepted that school-age aphorism that birds fly south for the winter. As if there was some avian Sandals resort, at which birds congregate, sipping margaritas and playing beach volleyball until it’s time to come home. But these birds are not on vacation. New Hampshire is too cold and offers too little food, so most have moved to more hospitable places in order to survive. However, migration is not one-size-fits-all. Different species practice different forms of migration. Ospreys are large raptors that feed almost exclusively on fish. Since the ice that

This time of year, you're likely to see cars and pickup trucks heading home on the highways with fresh-cut Christmas trees tied to roofs or in the truck beds. Fraser firs, Korean firs, Balsam firs, and Spruce (ouch!)... So today on Something Wild we take a look at Christmas tree farms, and the important habitats they provide for New Hampshire wildlife. You might be heartened to know that tree farms are a unique land use, and serve as early successional habitat, one that is neither residential neighborhood, cropland, nor deep forest. It's a landscape that was far more common a century ago, before small family farms began to vanish. Early successional habitats are an incubator: warm, sunny, scrubby zones with a variety of foods...like grasses, weeds and sometimes fruit-bearing shrubs or vines…raspberries, blackberries and grapes. Anything sun-loving, including fast-growing tree seedling and saplings. Tree farms provide ample food and shelter to a wide variety of disturbance-adapted

Sometimes called a Marsh Hawk, the northern harrier is currently one the rarest birds of prey nesting in the Granite State. Unlike many of our more common hawks, harriers shun the forest, opting instead to hunt in wide-open spaces like fields, brushy areas -- even in marshes. And get this --they build their nests on the ground . Peculiar preferences indeed, and ones that have made it a challenge for them to survive here. ___________________________ Flying under the radar is the modus operandi for harriers, both literally AND figuratively. They hunt for voles, snakes, and small birds by skimming the landscape, gliding low over the ground, zipping just above North Country hayfields during the summer, and slipping in and out of coastal salt marshes in the winter. Figuratively speaking, Northern harriers have largely stayed out of sight, and out of mind of wildlife managers...even though their populations across New England have been on the decline for decades. So much so, that harriers

Each year, bird enthusiasts across North America eagerly await the Winter Finch Forecast. Published every fall since 1999, the Winter Finch Forecast predicts when and where, and even IF fan-favorite finches like Evening Grosbeaks and Common Redpolls will grace our backyard bird-feeders, or make an appearance on a brisk mid-winter hike. It’s a big deal for birders. So much so that enthusiastic birders have been known to base winter birding plans on this forecast, even driving hundreds of miles to spots deemed favorable for seeing White-winged Crossbills or Pine Grosbeaks. But who makes these predictions, and what are these finch forecasts based on? Enter Tyler Hoar, a freelance biologist and ecologist from Oshawa, Ontario. He’s recently taken the reins in predicting finch winter migration patterns from the legendary Ron Pittaway -- who started this citizen science project some 20 years ago. According to Tyler; "Ron set up this network, getting various birders, naturalists , foresters,

February in New Hampshire can be a bitter time, weather-wise. In some places, layers of ice and snow still weigh heavily on conifer limbs, and on the souls of even the heartiest of New Englanders. But at last, the days are noticeably longer. So take heart winter-weary friends. The first pulses of springtime arrive in the smallest of signs.

About this time one year ago life in New Hampshire and across the world changed drastically. In this week's Something Wild, we re-visit musings from Dave Anderson in how to find solace in nature-- even during the most stressful of times.

It’s an unmistakable sound. One that elicits memories, sights and scents of events long ago. It recalls the joy of youth, the possibility of a spring evening. But it can also incite insomnia and the blind rage that accompanies it.

We know…we’ve been remiss, and it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Something Wild, as you know, is a chance to take a closer look at the wildlife, ecosystems and marvelous phenomena you can find in and around New Hampshire. But over the years there is one species in New Hampshire that we haven’t spent much time examining. A species, I think that has been conspicuous in its absence. Humans.

DFL Rep. Brad Tabke leads GOP challenger Aaron Paul by just 14 votes out of about 22,000 cast. That's one more vote than his lead was earlier in the week.

Republican Kelly Ayotte's victory in New Hampshire will bring the total number of women holding governor’s offices to 13 — surpassing the previous high of 12 set in 2023.

President-elect Donald Trump won the election by flipping Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin after President Biden won them in 2020. Looking at how Democratic counties voted explains how he did it.

Since the start of the #MeToo movement, many accused abusers have filed defamation charges against their accusers in retaliation, advocates say. Law professor Victoria Burke wants to change that.