"Nothing is normal": Climate change front and center as Canadian wildfires keep on burning
WCCO's Jonah Kaplan reports from his experience traveling to Canada and talking to the people on the frontlines of the country's wildfire defense.
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Jonah Kaplan is an award-winning correspondent and investigative journalist who has built a strong reputation for his balanced reporting, thoughtful interviews, and deeply researched coverage of high-impact issues affecting the communities across the country. Based in Minneapolis, his work appears on all of CBS News' programs and platforms, including the CBS Evening News, CBS Mornings and CBS 24/7.
There isn't much Jonah hasn't covered in his 20+ year career: he's interviewed U.S. Presidents and scores of top government officials, he's flown with the U.S. Air Force Hurricane Hunters, and was showered with confetti at the NBA Finals, among other memorable assignments. At CBS News, Jonah's reported on a wide range of stories around the Midwest, including the $1B Minnesota COVID Fraud scandal, and the mass shooting at Annunciation Church, and the federal immigration crackdown; Jonah's also contributed to CBS News' ongoing coverage of the Iran War and has broken multiple exclusive stories related to injured U.S. troops and the death of six American soldiers in Kuwait.
Prior to joining CBS News in February 2026, Jonah spent four years as an investigative reporter at WCCO-TV, the CBS-owned station in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. At WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham, Jonah led the market with his political reporting in the deeply purple state of North Carolina from 2016-2022. His other stops included WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, WI, KSPR-TV in Springfield, MO, and KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls, TX, where Jonah made his first appearance on CBS Evening News in 2009 during a historic Christmas Eve snowstorm.
Jonah has also spent time working on Capitol Hill, at NBC News London, as well as positions in sports broadcasting at ESPN and New York's YES Network. He graduated with honors from Boston University's College of Communication.
Jonah has earned and received dozens of national and regional awards for his reporting, including multiple Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow award, as well as sweeping top categories from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) of the Carolinas, the Kansas City Press Club, and the Missouri Broadcasters Association. In 2013, he won the Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council for his series Journey to Jerusalem.
Outside the newsroom, you can find Jonah still cheering on his hometown Philadelphia sports teams, playing tennis and ice hockey, or chanting and song leading with his guitar at area synagogues (he's a son of two rabbis!). He and his wife are the proud parents to three daughters.
WCCO's Jonah Kaplan reports from his experience traveling to Canada and talking to the people on the frontlines of the country's wildfire defense.
Dozens of Minnesotans are heading to Canada to help contain the historic wildfire season, which of course is also affecting Minnesotans.
There are new discoveries about the impact of Canadian wildfire smoke that's polluting our skies and threatening our health.
What the smoke is doing, where it's going and how long it will be there is the new focus for this team of meteorologists at Winnipeg's National Storm Prediction Center, one of seven such offices across Canada.
More than 5,000 fires have raged since May across Canada, tearing through at least 29 million acres of land — and counting.
More than 5,000 fires have raged since May across Canada, tearing through at least 29 million acres of land – and counting.
Crews right now in Manitoba, as stretched thin as they are, say their only option is to watch and wait as the provinces's 200th wildfire of the season starts rages on.
After more than a dozen families were displaced by a fire in St. Paul last week, generous Minnesotans are coming through to help.
The former Minneapolis police officer who caused a fatal high-speed crash that killed Leneal Frazier in 2021 has been sentenced to nine months in the Hennepin County Workhouse and three years of probation.
Investigators say they recovered the stolen SUV on Tuesday afternoon that contained a wheelchair belonging to Kyle Schultz, a 26-year-old who lives with ALS.
Ridership on Metro Transit light rail is up 23% this year, and the new police chief says that's in large part to several changes on the ground.
The Minneapolis Police Federation says Chief Brian O'Hara knew about an officer's controversial past history before that officer was hired.
June was the third warmest and second driest on record. State climatologists warn this might only be the start.
Holiday revelers left behind spent fireworks, empty cans, and bottles across city beaches and parks. But there was a group determined to clean up the mess on Wednesday morning.
Delano's Fourth of July celebration might be known as Minnesota's oldest. But there's something new that's really catching everyone's attention – and something they want to capture for themselves.