News
First day of session starts with motion to adjourn for year by Drazkowski
Expectations are quite tempered around the Capitol for what might be accomplished during this short legislative session in an off-budget, election year. But state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, seems to think that’s reason enough to just call it a day on the Legislature’s work this year. On Tuesday, he trolled his fellow members by making […]
Refugees from 32 countries resettled in Minnesota in 2018. Where do they live?
More than 800 refugees settled across 20 Minnesota counties in 2019 — continuing a sharply downward trend since the election of President Donald Trump, according to the most recent available data from Minnesota Department of Human Services. Beltrami County made national headlines in January when it became the first county in the state to vote […]
St. Paul teachers to vote on strike next week
St. Paul teachers will vote Feb. 20 on whether to strike against St. Paul Public Schools, according to the union representing St. Paul educators, assistants and community service workers. The St. Paul Federation of Educators executive board agreed Monday night to authorize a strike vote next week, the union wrote in a statement. “We did […]
Native-led effort brings nighttime help to homeless
Close to midnight one Saturday, a couple dozen nurses, police officers, EMTs and social workers circled up in an empty break room on East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis to plan their night helping the homeless. It was only the second night this group, with 17 different organizations represented, was meeting to coordinate their outreach efforts […]
Legislators try to make it Daylight Saving Time year-round, again
Wouldn’t it be nice if it didn’t get dark at 4 p.m. in the winter? That could be a reality, if the Minnesota Legislature votes to extend Daylight Saving Time for the entire year (and the federal government approves.) So, no more springing forward or falling back. It’d be summer time, year-round! The bill gets […]
Minnesota students speak nearly 300 different languages at home
More than 143,000 Minnesota students speak a language other than English at home, according to 2018-19 data from the Minnesota Department of Education. Families here communicate in nearly 300 different languages, from American Sign Language to Indigenous languages like Ojibwa and Dakota to those originating in other continents, such as Arabic, Yoruba and Portuguese. At […]
Anti-vaccine movement finding allies among Minnesota GOP lawmakers
The small but vocal group of parents propagating fringe views about the safety and effectiveness of childhood immunizations have found unlikely allies — Minnesota lawmakers. Through personal and official Republican Senate media channels on Facebook, as well as appearances at an anti-vaccination rally last year at the Capitol, more than a dozen state legislators in […]
Map: Minnesota counties with limited access to opioid addiction treatment
Opioid addiction treatment remains out of reach for many Minnesotans. In 43 of Minnesota’s 87 counties, there are no doctors who can prescribe a drug proven to be safe and effective in treating opioid addiction, according to 2018 data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. To prescribe buprenorphine, doctors are required under […]
1,800 HealthPartners workers vote in favor of week-long strike
The strike is on. More than 1,800 nurses, physicians assistants and other health care workers at HealthPartners won’t show up for work at some 30 clinics across the Twin Cities Feb. 19 unless a deal is reached before then. Workers, represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, announced they filed a 10-day strike notice Friday morning in […]
8,000 Twin Cities janitors and security guards schedule strike vote
Some 8,000 janitors, security guards, window washers and other workers at office buildings in downtown St. Paul, Minneapolis and at the MSP airport will vote Saturday on authorizing a strike. If approved, Service Employees International Union Local 26 could call a strike at any time as they negotiate seven contracts with 17 employers. The sticking […]
Some big shots want to amend the Minnesota constitution to prioritize schools. Can it work?
A pair of prominent Minnesota leaders want to harness the power of words to address some of the nation’s worst racial disparities in education. Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari and retired state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page — the latter a Democrat, the former a Republican — have launched a campaign to amend the state’s […]
Mpls council member hits speed bump on path to housing authority
It may not be a quick transition from Minneapolis City Council to the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority for Abdi Warsame. Warsame, the 6th Ward council member who was picked to be the executive director of the city’s housing agency, needs a waiver from the federal government — or must wait an entire year before taking […]