Civil Rights
In new collaborations, tribes become stewards of parks and monuments
In a rural area of Michigan’s Thumb region, a small state park preserves a collection of sandstone carvings that date back many hundreds of years. One of the carvings, a figure with a bow and arrow, symbolizes ancestors shooting their knowledge ahead seven generations. Some might say that arrow landed in 2019. That year, descendants […]
DFL leadership shuts down special session talk, will revisit police in schools issue next year
DFL legislative leadership on Thursday said it’s committed to holding hearings about school resource officers and a ban on prone restraints in Minnesota schools when the 2024 legislative session starts in February — effectively shutting down further discussion of a special legislative session regarding the law this year. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and […]
Minneapolis transfers land back to Red Lake Nation, which will build treatment center, community garden
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced plans to transfer city-owned land in south Minneapolis to the Red Lake Nation Thursday. The land, consisting of a single-story building and a small outdoor space, is set to become a treatment center and community garden for Natives suffering the effects of the opioid epidemic. Cheri Goodwin, executive director of […]
Wayzata white supremacists draw attention to hate in Minnesota
There are few things more pathetic than a Wayzata white supremacist. But last weekend several such people — hiding behind masks —gathered on a pedestrian bridge over Highway 12. They unfurled banners with slogans like “end white genocide,” “white unity is strength” and “diversity means anti-white.” Wayzata is in Hennepin County, which has a longstanding […]
Brooklyn Park inpatient facility gets 30 new beds amid mental health crisis
PrairieCare, a psychiatric health system with nine Minnesota locations, unveiled the expansion of its inpatient care facility in Brooklyn Park on Wednesday, providing some much-needed relief to an overwhelmed mental health system. With legislative approval, the expansion added 30 new beds for adolescent psychiatric patients. Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, said lawmakers backed up […]
Judge dismisses remaining Line 3 charges against Indigenous activists, citing longstanding government mistreatment
A Minnesota judge has dismissed misdemeanor criminal charges against Anishinaabeg activist Winona LaDuke and two others accused of disrupting construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project in 2021 while offering a powerful indictment of the prosecution. The decision was accompanied by an impassioned memo from Judge Leslie Metzen citing longstanding concerns over government mistreatment […]
Strike! United Auto Workers declares historic strike against Detroit Three automakers.
The United Auto Workers declared a strike at midnight Thursday after negotiations for a new contract failed with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. This is the first time in the union’s history it has gone on strike against all three automakers. UAW President Shawn Fain told members at the picket line at the Ford-owned Michigan […]
MN Supreme Court: Weed odor alone doesn’t justify a vehicle search
The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that the odor of marijuana, on its own, does not establish probable cause for police officers to search a car. The ruling came in the case of a 2021 traffic stop in Meeker County where Adam Torgerson was pulled over by Litchfield police for having too many auxiliary lights […]
A men’s movement takes reins in a nationwide quest to end abortion
Wendell Shrock doesn’t believe in condoms. “We should leave the uterus to God,” the street preacher from Tennessee tells States Newsroom, in front of an abortion clinic outside of Atlanta, mid-morning in late July. Sweat drips from his cowboy hat into his salt-and-pepper beard that stretches halfway down his red-plaid shirt. The retired police officer […]
Conservative group challenges legality of Minnesota’s new election misinformation law
The Minnesota Voters Alliance is suing the state over a new law barring people from distributing misinformation in the run-up to elections.
U.S. Senate hearing on book bans probes censorship attempts in local libraries
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators at a committee hearing Tuesday discussed the consequences of book bans and parents’ desire to control what their kids read — though they also acknowledged it’s not an issue for Congress to settle. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony about book bans, focusing on how censorship limits liberty and literature. The […]
Federal court blocks Alabama’s congressional map, orders new lines drawn
A three-judge federal panel Tuesday ruled that a new Alabama congressional map failed to address Voting Rights Act violations and ordered a third party to draw new lines. In a 217-page opinion in the case, known as Allen v. Milligan, U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus and U.S. District Judges Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer sharply […]