Sept. 11 is now known as Patriot Day and a lot of eyes will be on Manhattan as you see here from One World Trade Center, along with Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. There are many opportunities to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks 25 years ago. 

The country is acknowledging a somber anniversary: 25 years ago, America suffered its worst terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001.

Friday at noon, MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst explores how that event hit home in Minnesota with former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, whose first ballot-box victory came the same day as the attack. We’ll also look at whether the lessons from the attack endured and how that day changed the country in many ways.

Later, one last — brief — trip to the Great Minnesota Get Together.

The Minnesota State Fair was a hotbed of political activity with people sizing up candidates in between stops at attractions and food booths. We’ll hear from an underdog congressional candidate and what is on the minds of some voters with an election that’s less than two months away.

Guests:

• R.T. Rybak is the former mayor of Minneapolis and the president and CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation.

• Doug Chapin, a Democrat, is the congressional candidate for Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.

• Dana Ferguson is a politics correspondent for MPR News.

• Laura McCallum is an editor and previous politics reporter for MPR News.

Subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

ST. PAUL (WJON News) — Violent crime in Minnesota dropped across several categories in 2025.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has released the 2025 Uniform Crime Report.

Violent crime in the seven-county Twin Cities Metro Area decreased by 14 percent; in greater Minnesota, it decreased by 9 percent.

There were 130 murders in 2025 in Minnesota compared with 172 in 2024.  Aggravated assaults were 11 percent lower, rapes decreased by 1.9 percent, motor vehicle theft decreased 22.4 percent, carjacking incidents decreased 31 percent, and the incidents of larceny were the lowest number in 57 years.  Law enforcement officers were assaulted in 981 incidents in 2025, a 1.3 percent decrease from 2024.

The report says Minnesota’s violent crime rate dropped to 226 per 100,000 population in 2025.  This is the lowest violent crime rate since 2019.