News Day

1700 onion sets and 40 pounds of blue potatoes — such is the stuff that springtime dreams are made of! Continue reading →

A Native American group says the Sandpiper crude oil pipeline will endanger land protected by treaties. Will the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and, ultimately, state and federal courts consider the treaty claims? Continue reading →

Rents go up, long-term unemployment persists, and hard work is “just not enough” to get out of poverty. Continue reading →

276 girls kidnapped from their school in Nigeria. Oromo students shot down by police in Ethiopia. What do these tragedies have to do with Minnesota? Continue reading →

Want to get slower internet service? Want to let two or three big corporations control what you can find on the internet? No? Then you need to care about net neutrality. Continue reading →

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Eight years ago, I began writing a book about immigration. I wanted to explain, in very simple terms, the way that U.S. immigration laws worked, how they failed to work, how they hurt people, and what needed to change. Some people asked my why I would work on such a book, when “everything is going to change next year with immigration reform.” Continue reading →

Abera Slyoum’s story could break your heart. Gail Rosenblum told his story in the Star Tribune this week. Thank you, Gail. We need more such storytelling.  Continue reading →

UPDATED 5/7/2014 – Remember that oil train that exploded into a giant fireball in Casselton, North Dakota on New Year’s Eve? No? How about the one that crashed and blew up an entire town in Lac Megantic, Quebec, Canada last July 6, killing 46 people? These explosions should make us very worried, right here in the Twin Cities. Here’s why: Continue reading →

The Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to vote on Friday April 25 on a proposal to change that October holiday from Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day. Here are five reasons they should vote yes:

(UPDATE: They voted yes!) Continue reading →

Fungus, rodents, bats, exposed wiring and other hazards in a converted, metal-clad pole barn: that’s the high school for Native American students in Minnesota’ Leech Lake Indian Reservation, according to testimony to the House Interior Appropriations Committee by the school’s superintendent, Crystal Redgrave on April 8. Continue reading →