Rochester Rundown

Looking back at the remarkable life of Igor Vovkovinskiy

A revived Rochester Civic Theatre readies for its next act

What should the Rochester Park Board do with millions in referendum funding?

Can the promise of the Chateau be realized?

Rochester day center faces an uncertain future

Local legislators react to budget deal, special session drama

Rochester program empowers teens to be the next generation of entrepreneurs

A tour through Rochester's burgeoning beer scene

How the Roosters bring 160 years of Rochester baseball full-circle

What can Rochester do to revive retail downtown?

Prior to the pandemic, many of the retail spaces in the downtown area had been filled with bustling small businesses — the kinds that are vital for a thriving destination area. But downtown Rochester, like many other city centers, has seen its restaurant and retail industries decimated by shutdowns and slow foot traffic, as previous trends, including the shift to online commerce and problems in the labor market, accelerated due to Covid-19. The result has been fewer small businesses seeking out ...

These Rochester art teachers are finding creative ways for their students to shine

RPS Board continues discussion on the role of school resource officers

The fight to save the only remaining great blue heron rookery in Olmsted County

Eight Rochester musicians on the rise in 2021

This list goes through the heart of the Rochester music scene — no matter the genre, there is a local artist trying their hand at it. We reached out to local recording studios and music-makers to see who they were excited for, while doing research of our own — scouring DIY music sites like Soundcloud and Bandcamp to see who spent the past year releasing new music, priming themselves for an exciting summer of 2021.

Local youth are turning protests into action with the Rochester Community Initiative

Today on the Rochester Rundown, we check in with the students behind the Rochester Community Initiative. The group came together in the wake of the George Floyd protests last June, and has since grown in size and stature, adding roughly three dozen new members and creating programs for students and the general public alike. Their work revolves around advocating for youth representation and uplifting marginalized voices, and in recent months, their outreach has expanded into RPS classrooms beyond...

Rochester event organizers are preparing for the return of live entertainment

As the proportion of Minnesota residents to receive at least one vaccine dose approaches 25 percent, Gov. Tim Walz released sweeping rollbacks to Covid-19 restrictions Friday morning. Businesses like restaurants, gyms and salons can welcome more people into their shops, but perhaps the biggest changes came for large entertainment venues, which will be able to welcome thousands of people for sporting events and concerts in the near future. And on the local level, the first steps are being taken t...

Four Rochester high schoolers reflect on their experiences in distance learning

We’ve heard from so many voices on the debate over reopening schools: frustrated parents, worried teachers, administrators and board members looking for a solution, but today on the show, we’re giving the spotlight to the students. Specifically, we’ll hear from four RPS high schoolers, who have been in distance learning since last March. We’ll get their thoughts on the district’s re-opening plan and the recent announcement from Gov. Tim Walz that may upend everything, plus how they’ve adapted to...

Sellers holding all the cards in Rochester's 'absolutely crazy' housing market

So, how did things get like this, where a house gets snapped up by a feeding frenzy of buyers within hours of hitting the market? It’s partly thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, but not entirely — more a multitude of factors that have been coalescing since the end of the Great Recession.

Inside Olmsted County's first mass vaccination clinic

Today on the Rochester Rundown, we head to the RCTC Fieldhouse, where things have been quieter than normal thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic — until now. Olmsted County Public Health, with assistance from Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center, has taken over the space for the next two days, with the goal of giving out 2,300 vaccines to some of the last Phase 1A health care workers still waiting on a vaccination. We hear from the person in charge of this weekend's clinic, and find out what his tea...

Annie Mack joins us on the podcast to discuss the release of her new EP, 'Testify'

Plus, we take you inside the two-man workshop building dozens of desks for elementary schoolers, preview another new track from a Rochester artist that released Friday, and check on what the latest Covid-19 case numbers look like.

What to expect from new Rochester City Administrator Allison Zelms

Today on the Rochester Rundown, Isaac sits down for a socially-distanced conversation with new City Administrator Allison Zelms, who assumed office earlier this week. In this week's episode, we hear her thoughts on transitioning the city out of the pandemic and the future of downtown, plus her goals for her first months in the new position.

Think Ahead Olmsted song submissions

On this special holiday edition of the Rochester Rundown, we hear from the 10 local musicians who contributed to the Think Ahead Olmsted song contest, put on by Med City Beat and Olmsted County Public Health.

The story of the medical breakthrough that won two Mayo Clinic researchers a Nobel Prize

According to Matt Dacy, director of Heritage Hall, Mayo Clinic’s museum, the story does not begin and end with two people at a ceremony — in fact, their discovery took the work of dozens of people, over thirty years of research, and as always, a little bit of luck.

Rochester music industry adapts as pandemic puts a pause on live performances

We talk with people from all corners of the industry to see how they think growth can be sustained in Rochester’s creative scene, and what the future of music will look like in this city.

What does a post-pandemic downtown look like?

Nobody knows exactly what the next few months will bring. Good news on the effectiveness of various vaccines brings hope, but a lack of federal aid leaves small businesses without a safety net when they need it the most. Inevitably, some of our favorite businesses will not survive the winter. For the businesses that do get through, though, what world will await them on the other side of the pandemic? How will things change?

Carlson seeks new opportunities for community engagement, collaboration

On today’s episode of the Rochester Rundown, we have a conversation with Brooke Carlson, president-elect of the Rochester City Council. We touch on her top priorities in the first months of her term, plus the advice she received from her late father, Dr. David Ahlquist.

One in three Olmsted County voters have already cast their ballots

In a recent county board meeting, it was reported that the election office expects about half of Olmsted County’s ballots to be cast prior to Election Day — be it through mail-in voting, drop-off balloting, or in-person absentee voting. Katie Smith, Olmsted County’s elections director, says her office has received a ballot from roughly one-third of Olmsted County’s registered voters already — that’s over 30,000 ballots already, and she says that number is still going up fast.

Our debates with the candidates for MN Senate

Fourteen forums, 16 races, 32 candidates — it all Came to an end Thursday evening, with the last two installments of Med City Beat’s online forum series. The three-week lineup concluded with the candidates for Minnesota State Senate, pitting two sitting GOP Senators against ascendant DFL challengers — David Senjem vs. Sara Flick in District 25, and Carla Nelson vs. Aleta Borrud in District 26. Both debates were packed with discussion on the top issues of the day, though for this story, let’s foc...

Do police belong in Rochester schools? The local school board candidates weigh in

On this week’s edition of the Rundown, we continue our coverage of Med City Beat’s town hall debate series. Thursday night, the six candidates vying for a spot on the Rochester School Board joined Sean for a 90-minute forum on topics ranging from distance learning and Covid-19 precautions to racial equity among students and staff members, as well as the future of district-wide public choice schools like Friedell and Lincoln. On the podcast, however, we'll analyze every candidate's answer to one ...

Recapping the four debates with the candidates for Rochester City Council

This week, Med City Beat hosted the first four of sixteen town hall debates in preparation for Election Day — all for the four Rochester City Council seats up for grabs in 2020. On the latest episode of the Rochester Rundown, we'll sift through the debates to bring you the issues where candidates differentiated themselves. Affordable housing, DMC, the upcoming parks referendum... those issues and more are covered in this week's edition of the podcast, presented by Altra Federal Credit Union.