About Us

Minnesota Native News is a weekly radio segment covering ideas and events relevant to Minnesota’s Native American communities since 2014. MNN is produced and distributed by AMPERS and airs on tribal and community stations across Minnesota. MNN reaches more than 124,000 listeners each week. The team includes a majority of Native reporters/producers all sharing in the editorial and story-telling duties.

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• Revisiting the Winter Art Market
  This week on Minnesota Native News, we revisit the Winter Artist Market Collaboration between the Native American Community Development Institute’s All My Relations Arts Gallery and the Four Sisters Farmers …
• License Plate Recognizes Missing Indigenous Relatives and Winter Storytelling Season Begins
  This week on Minnesota Native News: how a new license plate helps Minnesota drivers support the families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, and Native people across Minnesota welcome the …

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Minnesota Native News also produces the weekly radio show and podcast Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. Native Lights is a weekly, podcast and radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce — a.k.a. Minnesota — to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community.

• The Gift of Listening: Colleen Baldrica on writing, being guided, and mentoring others
  In this episode, we chat with author and retired school counselor Colleen Baldrica. Colleen, a White Earth Nation citizen, authored the book Tree Spirited Woman in 2006. During the pandemic, she recorded the audio version, so that her grandchildren could have an archive of her voice when they’re older. Colleen shares the experience – central …
• Indigenous lifeways as solutions: Wakinyan LaPointe on staying grounded in the cultural teachings of song and the intelligence of Indigenous youth activists
  In this episode, we chat with human rights advocate, singer, storyteller, and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities American Studies doctoral student Wakinyan LaPointe. Wakinyan, a Sicangu (Burnt Thigh) Lakota citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, focuses his studies on Indigenous rights, human rights, and youth organizing. He describes how his work with Indigenous young people, Indigenous …

Subscribe to Native Lights wherever you get your podcasts

Listen to MN Native News and Native Lights on your local station

If there’s someone you’d like to hear us catch up with or if you have comments about the show, please send us an email at nativelights@ampers.org

Native Lights and Minnesota Native News is produced by Ampers, diverse radio for Minnesota’s communities with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund.