How St. Paul Became The Twin Cities’ Leader On Justice Reform Although Minneapolis has garnered media attention since the George Floyd uprising, St. Paul may be the Twin City making the most strides toward transformative justice. But Sheriff Bob Fletcher’s actions may undo positive steps in Ramsey County. Hibah Ansari, Anna Simonton
Climate Justice Is Central to Kate Knuth’s Bid for Minneapolis Mayor The former state legislator and resilience officer sees progressive economic policies as part and parcel of curbing climate change. Cinnamon Janzer
Report Sheds Light On The Pattern Of Over-Policing That Led Cops To Pull Over Daunte Wright The criminal legal system “relies heavily on collecting money from the very people targeted by the system,” in the process incentivizing police to punish as many people as possible, the authors of the ACLU report write. Samantha Schuyler
After Daunte Wright’s Death, Advocates Press Leaders to Get Police Out of Traffic Enforcement Cities across the country must rethink the role of law enforcement, as police continue to brutalize and kill Black men and women during traffic stops, advocates say. Joshua Vaughn
Minneapolis Activists Could Put Police Reform Directly on the Ballot Yes 4 Minneapolis, a coalition of advocacy organizations, is on track to place a proposed charter amendment on November’s ballot that would fundamentally change policing and public safety in the city. Joshua Vaughn
How George Floyd’s Death Is Pushing Minneapolis to Rethink Public Safety The police killing has accelerated a years-long effort by advocates and lawmakers to shift resources and money away from law enforcement. Joshua Vaughn
Esther Agbaje, Fighting For Affordable Housing And Prison Reform, Becomes Minnesota’s First Nigerian-American Legislator “I have always had a focus on public service, always a desire to make sure that I’m using my skills and talents to help people and to make the community around me a little bit better,” she said. Dawn R. Wolfe
Athena Hollins Wins Seat In Minnesota State House, Pledging To Fight For Broad Police Reforms Hollins’s ‘very personal’ decision to run was sparked in part by the Trump administration ‘catching everything on fire.’ Now she wants to advocate for subsidized child care, police reform, and more. Dawn R. Wolfe
Omar Fateh Wins Chance to Bring ‘People Power’ to Minnesota’s State Senate Minnesotans, Fateh said, “should be able to access the folks that are representing us and make sure that they’re partnering with the community.” Dawn R. Wolfe
Omar Fateh is Running to Bring a ‘Working-Class Agenda’ to Minnesota’s State Senate The current Democratic state senator, Jeff Hayden, lacks the progressive vision that Minnesotans seek, Fateh says. Dawn R. Wolfe
Esther Agbaje Wants to Solve ‘The Million Dollar Question’ of Racial Disparities Across Minnesota If she wins at the ballot box in November, Agbaje would become the state’s first Nigerian American state legislator. Dawn R. Wolfe
Athena Hollins Takes On Public Safety, Housing, And Affordable Child Care In Her Run For The Minnesota House When it comes to public safety, Hollins doesn’t want to stop with reallocating police funding. She’d like her state to track both proven and alleged instances of police misconduct. Dawn R. Wolfe
Defund the Police Now More training, more equipment, and more officers will not stop police from killing Black people. Justin Brooks
Yes, Amy Klobuchar Is To Blame For Myon Burrell’s Unjust Conviction Prosecutors in Hennepin County, Minnesota, used jailhouse informants and an unreliable gang expert, and ignored evidence of innocence to send a Black teenager to prison for life. Kyle C. Barry
The Struggle to Be Trans in Minnesota’s Sex Offender Program Four transgender women say clinicians and staff deny them gender-affirming care and see their identity as in conflict with sex offender treatment. Sessi Kuwabara Blanchard
A Prison Strike in Minnesota Actually Got Results Most prison strikes are met with retaliation and abuse, but one recent work stoppage is starting to pay off. Raven Rakia
Immigrant Who Fled Gangs and Torture Challenges ICE Detainers Attorneys for a Honduran woman are suing over the widespread jailhouse practice of honoring ICE requests to hold incarcerated immigrants for pickup. Debbie Nathan