News
Marvin Manypenny was a hell raiser for American Indian sovereignty and treaty rights
In 1998, as a candidate for White Earth tribal secretary-treasurer, Marvin Manypenny wrote on the front of a campaign pamphlet: “Tribal sovereignty is vital to the preservation of the White Earth Anishinabeg Ojibway Nation.” On the back: “The rights to govern ourselves is completely and indisputably ours.” Manypenny didn’t win that election — though his […]
Minnesota school choice advocates look to landmark SCOTUS case
A United States Supreme Court case could boost Minnesota’s school choice movement after years of failed legislative attempts to create state grants, tax credits and tuition programs for families whose children attend private schools. Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue is a landmark case with the potential to upend school funding across the United States […]
Mayor Frey aims to rein in off-duty police work, creates task force
When former police officer Mohamed Noor clocked in for his 10-hour police shift on the July night he shot and killed Justine Ruszczyk in south Minneapolis, he had just come from a seven-hour shift moonlighting as a security guard. More than two years later, Mayor Jacob Frey plans to create a task force to examine […]
Minnesota gets top rating in LGBTQ equality report
Minnesota received the highest ranking in an annual assessment of state policies affecting LGBTQ people, released today by the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization. The state is one of 17 categorized as “working toward innovative equality” by the State Equality Index, which takes into account each state’s nondiscrimination, criminal justice, health and safety […]
Former Woodbury Mayor Mary Guiliani Stephens to challenge DFL Sen. Susan Kent in swing district
State Sen. Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, is facing a new Republican opponent for her senate district seat: former Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens. Kent, who is two days away from challenging DFL Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk for caucus leader, now faces a formidable opponent in a swing district she won by fewer than 400 votes […]
Women mayors twice as likely than men to face online abuse, threats of violence
Former Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, the first woman in the city’s history to hold the post in the era of social media, recalls clearly the shift in criticism she received when she went from city councilwoman to city executive. “The number of times I was told I should get raped was extraordinary,” she said in […]
Minneapolis council member to lead housing authority
Minneapolis City Council Member Abdi Warsame got the job at the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority. The Sahan Journal reports Warsame was tapped to be the next CEO/Executive Director of MPHA, which serves some 26,000 people through managing the city’s public housing and administering the Housing Choice “Section 8” Voucher Program. It was announced Wednesday at […]
Who are the popular kids? Klobuchar tops Trump, Walz, Smith
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, whose presidential campaign is sprinting to the finish ahead of the Iowa caucus next week, continues to be the state’s most popular politician, according to public-opinion polls aggregated by APM Research Lab and Minnesota Public Radio. A mixture of 2019 polls by Morning Consult, Kaiser Family Foundation/Cook Political Report and the […]
Nearly 40% of Minneapolis schools segregated by race
This year, nearly 40% of Minneapolis Public Schools fall into the category of more than about 86% white or students of color. That’s 25 of the district’s 63 schools that are at least roughly 86% white or students of color, according to Minneapolis Public Schools enrollment data. Minneapolis Public Schools released several plans this month […]
3,000 HealthPartners workers prepared to strike over their own health care
More than 1,800 nurses and other medical care workers at HealthPartners could vote to strike next week if they don’t reach a new contract agreement by Friday at midnight. The workers say they are standing firm against a company effort to cut employee health benefits. HealthPartners, which has 26,000 employees and more than $7 billion […]
About 500 children are using cannabis as medicine in Minnesota. Here’s a breakdown.
Some Minnesotans whose sick children depend on CBD and other cannabinoids for medical use are pushing for schools to allow those products on their campuses, according to the Star Tribune. State law bans medical cannabis from school property but says nothing about CBD, the Star Tribune reported. Many schools have banned the products, meaning some […]
What happens in Minnesota if Obamacare gets struck down by the courts?
At least 300,000 Minnesotans may lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is overturned, which is the entirely possible outcome of a lawsuit winding its way through the courts. The 2018 election hinged on the largely successful Democratic message that they would keep in place protections afforded by the Affordable Care Act, sometimes known […]