Joe and Casey dive into the Mankato area news of the week, including the estimated costs of removing the Rapidan Dam, fentanyl and the local justice system, a possible data center in North Mankato and other topics.

On this episode Joe Spear introduces the newest member of The Free Press' reporting team, Ethan Becker.

This week FreepCast digs into the massive showing for the No Kings event that took place in Mankato last weekend. We also discuss the horrific killings of Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the social media food reviewer Tony Cu's recent stroll through Mankato's culinary offerings.

In this episode of FreepCast we discuss the city's decision to add more surveillance cameras to the city's already robust collection of cameras. Also discussed: recent crimes, softball and baseball supremacy and the passing of a Glen Wasicuna (pronounced Wah-shee'-shuh-nuh).

This episode of FreepCast features another new face in the newsroom, University of Minnesota student Owen McDonnell, our summer intern.

Owen hails from Little Canada, and says he visits the Minnesota State Fair several times each year. He runs the podcast desk at the Minnesota Daily, and is eager to be thrown into the fire this summer tackling everything thrown his way.

On this episode of FreepCast, we dispense with the usual format to introduce you to the newest, freshest face in the Free Press newsroom: Leah Call.

Leah graduated form Utah State University and was born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska, and will bring a ton of new energy to our evolving newsroom.

On this episode, Joe and Robb talk baseball, and a great story in the print edition this week by Edie Schmierbach about a rural Minnesota cemetery caretaker.

Recent court cases, an appearance by an award-winning author and ways to have fun with the family this summer were among the topics discussed on the latest episode of FreepCast.