Work & Money
Minneapolis clears homeless encampment in Powderhorn Park
Minneapolis Parks Police arrested 20 activists and residents of a homeless encampment on the east side of Powderhorn Park Monday for refusing to leave, after the park superintendent deemed the park too dangerous for habitation and gave residents 72 hours to vacate. “Our focus was on dismantling this particular encampment because it had risen to […]
The rent is coming due. Will Congress offer more relief as it gets back to work?
WASHINGTON — The nation’s political leaders return to the capital this week with their sights on a fifth — and perhaps final — round of COVID-19 relief before the November elections. The stakes are high and the timetable is short: Three weeks remain before Congress is set to adjourn for its August recess — though […]
Minnesota DFL tries to make contraception an election issue after U.S. Supreme Court ruling
Minnesota women’s health advocates and their allies at the State Capitol are pushing legislation to bolster access to contraception. The proposal comes on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court decision last week upholding a Trump Administration order allowing employers to deny health care coverage for birth control on religious or moral grounds. The Protect […]
St. Paul launches $40,000 down payment assistance program for low-income homebuyers
St. Paul is offering $40,000 in down payment assistance to at least 60 low-income households in an effort to shrink the wide racial homeownership gap and prevent people from being displaced from affordable neighborhoods. “With homeownership being one of the key drivers of wealth in our country, it’s really key to our housing strategy,” said […]
Is Tattersall workers’ push for a union the start of a trend at Twin Cities bars, restaurants?
For Tattersall Distillery workers, it began with a baffling memo from management on reopening during the pandemic. “We got a letter saying ‘Hey we need your availability. Here is the plan,” said Krystle D’Alencar, a worker at Tattersall, the upscale cocktail bar and distillery in Northeast Minneapolis. “Every one of us looked at that plan […]
Pandemic, Trump immigration policies wreaking havoc on students — and the U
The pandemic and the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies have created vast uncertainty for international students — and the University of Minnesota’s finances and educational landscape. The University of Minnesota has seen an increasing share of revenue from a growing international student population for the past several years. During the past four years, tuition revenue from Twin […]
Jobs, not jails: Laborers call for $1.5 billion jobs bill, plus police and criminal justice reform
Minnesotans deserve a $1.5 billion infrastructure bill to support local jobs and projects. When lawmakers reconvene for a second special legislative session next week, we expect them to pass that public works bill, known at the Capitol as a “bonding bill” And they must also address the crucial need for criminal justice and police accountability […]
Powderhorn Park residents win reprieve from eviction, for now
Hundreds of people living in Minneapolis parks can stay there for now, as the Park Board ditched a plan that would have limited the number of tents per park to 10. But it’s not clear what happens now — a bevy of government agencies and elected officials agree the parks are not a viable solution […]
U.S. House passes massive infrastructure bill over GOP opposition, but unlikely to become law
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House cleared a massive $1.5 trillion package Wednesday that backers said would not only shore up the nation’s crumbling infrastructure but also create jobs at a time of widespread unemployment, protect the planet from a warming climate and narrow long-standing racial disparities. The bill takes “bold, broad and transformational action to rebuild […]
Due to legislative gridlock, more than $1 billion in construction projects left on the table
Lawmakers left St. Paul with some big-ticket items still in limbo, including a big public works bill that has become an even-year tradition of the Capitol. Known around the Capitol as a “bonding bill,” it allows the Legislature to borrow more than $1 billion for construction and maintenance projects around the state, spending borrowed money […]
Hennepin County Board starts spending federal money; libraries reopening
Commissioners on the Hennepin County Board voted to spend some funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, part of which it has already devoted to emergency housing relief and small business assistance. The board voted to spend: $2 million to feed the hungry. Any of the roughly 150 […]
Emails reveal chaos as meatpacking companies fought health agencies over COVID-19 outbreaks in their plants
For weeks, Rachel Willard, the county health director in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, had watched with alarm as COVID-19 cases rolled in from the Tyson Foods chicken plant in the center of town. Then Tyson hired a private company to take over testing, and the information suddenly slowed to a trickle. Blinded to the burgeoning health […]