Wet and windy Tuesday for most of Minnesota, with storms possible

Much of Minnesota will see multiple rounds of rain, and potentially even thunderstorms, on Tuesday.

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Wet and windy Tuesday for most of Minnesota, with storms possible

Much of Minnesota will see multiple rounds of rain, and potentially even thunderstorms, on Tuesday.

Don't let the nice weather fool you — it's still too early for some gardening work, experts advise

If you're looking to plant annuals, Laura Mathews with Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis says to be careful right now.

Drought conditions improving thanks to recent rainfall, but concerns remain

Department of Natural Resources Climatologist Pete Boulay says parts of the state are still 10 to 20 inches short of needed moisture.

Eclipse seekers in Texas may get clouds, but New England looks clear

Meteorologists now feel increasingly confident in models that show some parts of the country looking golden for the eclipse on Monday, April 8. Other parts of the country, though, may end up in a cloudy bust.

Meet the WCCO NEXT Weather team

WCCO's NEXT Weather team are always looking for what's next in Minnesota's rapidly-changing weather environments.

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What's the most efficient way to clean your home?

The gorgeous weekend we had was more than just a great time to get outside. For many, it was a chance to get their hands dirty whether they wanted to or not. We wanted to know How can we efficiently clean our homes? Good Question.

MINNEAPOLIS — Investigators say a small vent fire severely damaged a Minneapolis sushi restaurant over the weekend.

Crews responded to a fire at Masu Sushi and Robota located at 330 E. Hennepin Ave. shortly after 3 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Minneapolis Fire Department.

Upon arrival, crews saw heavy smoke from the roof and found a fire in the kitchen fire extinguishment hood system. The fire extended through the vents that went to the roof.

MFD says crews found a small amount of fire in the vents but the fire had not reached the actual roof structure.

MORE NEWS: 102 cats removed from home in Crosby due to neglect, unsafe conditions

Crews say they had to open up three large extinguishment hood vents and the ceiling in the kitchen to reach and put out all the flames.

Due to the damage, the restaurant was deemed uninhabitable by the fire department. The health department has also been notified.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Riley Moser

Riley Fletcher Moser is a digital line producer at wcco.com. At WCCO, she often covers breaking news and feature stories. In 2022, Riley received an honorable mention in sports writing from the Iowa College Media Association.

Clawhammer Mike and his banjo are Stone Arch Bridge fixtures.

When the sun is out, the 51-year-old always sets up the same: white bucket for tips, foldable metal chair one scootch over from a lamp post on the St. Anthony Main side of the bridge, baseball cap on head.

Then, the busker strums, picking quickly, sometimes slower, different Appalachian mountain music tunes. Kids stop, adults stop, the birds and bike wheels seem like part of the soundtrack.

“Sometimes people laugh at me, sometimes people will tell me it’s the best music they’ve ever heard,” he said. “Some people look at it like I’m kind of a bum — and I used to be a bum, so I really don’t have anything against bums. But there’s more to it than that.”

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For the past few years, the bridge has been Clawhammer’s second home. In 2022, he played at the Stone Arch over 100 times. Last year, 75. He’s got familiar faces he loves, even if he doesn’t know their names. He’s taken pictures of marriage proposals and exchanged life stories with people more times than he can count.

But this week, with two-year bridge construction beginning, Clawhammer — aka Mike Sawyer — had to say his temporary goodbye. It was a tough one.

On the final weekend before the bridge closure, his rescue dog Cora was by his side, lapping up water in the heat of an unseasonably warm April day. Clawhammer reflected on the meaning of the bridge, grateful that summer snuck in for a final send-off.

He knows, firsthand, just how magical the bridge can feel when people finally take off their headphones to lock into the present. That’s when the conversations happen.

“Some days people have stories that are really tough to hear, but most days I get home feeling fulfilled by the stuff people tell me,” he said. “And people always stop me on the bridge —especially here — to talk about whatever’s on their mind.”

This weekend, he said a father who had just lost his son came by for company. He remembers a time last year, when a frequent passerby trying to kick his heroin addiction would stop by to listen.

“He would just sit with me, and we talked about it,” he said. “I consider it part of my work down here to talk to people and make real connections.”

Beyond the music, that’s why Clawhammer does what he does. He said community drives everything for him — from busking on the bridge to preserving and sharing old Minnesotan musical traditions through his Minnesota Fiddle Tunes Project and Upper Midwest Folk Fiddlers group.

But he didn’t always have a strong sense of belonging. He said his mom and stepfather were in the bluegrass community, but never fully integrated.

“Really, I was mostly by myself,” he said.

Then, for about three years in his youth, he was homeless and pseudo-homeless, as he put it — living in a former environmental newspaper building he worked at past close and finding spots in Cedar-Riverside and Phillips to stay out of the rain.

Clawhammer said he was fortunate to have resources to help him get out of that spot. Now, he’s living in a house in St. Paul. He has adult children. He quit his 23-year job as a co-op grocery manager a few years back, and has been pursuing his passions of making music, preserving tradition and printmaking.

“What I should have done is, according to the world, made CDs and toured, got my band together. Instead, I chose community,” he said.

Back on the bridge, where he’s one of the last regular buskers, he’s found that in the guy who would bike by and yell “I love banjos!” nearly every day. And in the weekly evening dancers of all ages and backgrounds, grooving to his snug banjo runs and nostalgic voice.

“The young Muslim women wearing the hijabs come out and they dance every time I’m playing,” he said. “And there’s a group of the youngsters coming by. They dance and they dance passionately … it only lasts ten minutes or so, but it’s always a really special thing.”

He’s going to miss the regulars, he said, but there’s something lovely about relationships that exist in such a liminal space. He remembers one woman who would routinely stop by last year to chat for 15 minutes — oftentimes 20, sometimes 30.

“And she’s not here this year at all. I never saw her outside the bridge, so I don’t know if she’s in town, if she’s away,” he said. “There’s a lot of these things I don’t take for granted. I know they’re special connections I have here, but they might not last more than somebody’s commute through this area.”

He’s feeling apprehensive about the future of the bridge — “a lot can happen in two years. Am I still gonna be here?” he pondered aloud.

“Is it gonna be cool with half the bridge shut down? Will the vibe be the same? Is it gonna be one of those places that kind of dies after unuse for a long time?”

Still, he said, he’ll find a new spot on the downtown side. He’s hoping he can hold on to some of the same magic over there.

“It’s rare you can get some real interactions anymore in this world, especially in the city,” he said. “Everybody’s plugged into their phone. It’s important to make real connections with people.”

He knows, personally, just how meaningful that can be.

“It’s my nature to be closed off and I really had to work hard on it,” he said. “Being up here with people has been the most therapeutic thing in my life … I can play my music, I can just be with the people. They’re doing their thing. I’m doing my thing. The birds are doing their thing. The sky turns beautiful every night.”

As the sun softened over the bridge Saturday evening, Clawhammer loaded up his wagon, packing up his banjo and dog Cora’s water bowl. Holding her leash, he stopped to listen to a band play New Orleans style jazz — a swelling goodbye.

The sun would set soon. He stood in the middle of a small crowd. In two days, no one would be able to stand on that end of the bridge for a while. He’ll be on the other side.

ON THE AIR TUESDAY

BASEBALL TIME TV RADIO

AL: Texas at Detroit Noon MLBN

Class AAA: Saints at Indianapolis 5 pm 96.7 FM

College: Kansas State at Connecticut 5 pm CBSSN

AL: Twins at Baltimore 5:30 pm BSN 102.9/830

College: Georgia Tech at Auburn 6 pm SECN

Interleague: Atlanta at Houston 7 pm TBS

College: Texas Tech at Arkansas 7 pm ESPN2

NL: Wash. at L.A. Dodgers (joined in prog.) 10 pm MLBN

BASKETBALL

NBA play-in: Lakers at New Orleans 6:30 pm TNT, truTV

NBA play-in: Golden St. at Sacramento 9 pm TNT, truTV

BOWLING

PBA: Scorpion Championship 6 pm FS1

GOLF

College: Western Intercollegiate 6 pm GOLF

HOCKEY

NHL: Toronto at Florida 6:30 pm ESPN

NHL: Calgary at Vancouver 9 pm Hulu, *ESPN+

NHL: Chicago at Vegas 9 pm Hulu, *ESPN+

SOCCER

UEFA: Paris-Saint Germain at Barcelona 2 pm CBS

SOFTBALL

College: Illinois at Northwestern 4 pm BTN

College: Michigan State at Michigan 6 pm BTN

* web-stream broadcast (requires subscription)

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University of St. Thomas sports livestreams are here.

Timberwolves app on iHeart

Twins app on Audacy

Livestreams of high school sporting events in the metro area are available for purchase from Neighborhood Sports Network. Tap here for a link to the schedule. Other games throughout the state are available for a fee through the NFHS network

Area college sports livestreams are here: MIAC | NSIC | UMAC

In addition to sports listed above, more games are available from these web services: ESPN3 | ESPN+ | BIG+ | Peacock | Stadium | FOX Sports

MINNEAPOLIS — Sunday was a perfect day to get outside and do some yard prep for spring and summer.

The nice weather can be misleading though; there's still some gardening work it's too early in the year for.

Carolyn and Mark Muchow have been tending to their home in Minneapolis for decades. They were busy working on Sunday.

"I'm going to lay some grass seed on the bare spots," Carolyn said. "Trying to do that and clean up the leaves and cut back because I've got some new peonies here that I planted last year."

Muchow says she mostly sticks to perennials.

READ MORE: 102 cats removed from home in Crosby due to neglect, unsafe conditions

If you're looking to plant annuals, Laura Mathews with Tangletown Gardens in Minneapolis says to be careful right now.

"You don't want to plant any of those warm-weather annuals that can't take a freeze," she said. "So it's not time for tomatoes or basil or petunias or anything like that because those things are not ready for our temperatures."

Mathews says now is the time to assess your yard and make a plan.

"If you have any shrubs that need to be pruned or any trees, this is your last chance to do some pruning before they're finally leafing out," she said. "It's a great time to put down seed while the weather's still cool to fill in spots in your lawn as well."

Mathews says it's safe to plant pansies, violas, kales and grasses. She also recommends planting trees now before it gets too hot.

David Schuman

David joined the WCCO team in April 2020, previously working at CBS 58 in Milwaukee. Prior to that, he worked in Las Vegas. While there, David covered several stories in the national spotlight, including the October 1 mass shooting and political visits from President Barack Obama and candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

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