Nation Apr 08 Minneapolis-based Children’s Theatre Company debuts play about race and policing Prosecutors this week declined to charge a white Minneapolis police officer in the fatal shooting of a Black man, Amir Locke. It comes nearly two years after the murder of George Floyd. Those killings have forced parents to grapple with…
Nation Mar 22 Northern U.S. border experiences alarming influx of refugee crossings The conflict in Ukraine has only highlighted the crisis of displaced people seeking safe haven, now at 82 million according to the U.N. refugee agency. While much of the focus in the U.S. has been on immigration enforcement along the…
Nation Feb 21 Remembering Paul Farmer, a giant in the world of public health Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician, anthropologist and founder of a leading global health organization, died Monday at the age of 62. The group he co-founded, Partners in Health, said he died in his sleep. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro…
Nation Feb 18 Former Minneapolis police officer Kim Potter sentenced for killing Daunte Wright Kim Potter, the former Minneapolis police officer who killed Daunte Wright, was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison. That was far less than the standard manslaughter sentence of around seven years. Potter fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black…
Nation Feb 15 As Minnesota’s Black population grows, African Americans and African immigrants unite Three high profile police killings of Black men in the past two years have led to ongoing conversations about racial justice in Minnesota. There’s also been noticeable solidarity between the state’s African American and African immigrant populations. Special correspondent Fred…
Nation Feb 07 How a Kansas town became one of the nation’s first majority-Black farming communities The wave of migration across the U.S. in the mid-1800's included people looking to live in open spaces, with land to grow crops and the opportunity to have a better life. After the Civil War, that included freed slaves and…
Arts Jan 26 The Holocaust’s quiet heroes, survivors honored in new book for children, teens People across Europe, Israel, and the world are preparing to mark international Holocaust Remembrance Day Thursday, commemorating millions of European Jews killed by Nazi Germany. The day was created in 2005 by the United Nations to sustain public awareness, which…
Nation Dec 08 As ex-officer faces trial in Daunte Wright killing, many worry systemic change unlikely Lawyers presented opening arguments Wednesday in the trial of former Minnesota police officer Kim Potter. Last April, she fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb. Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro…
Agents for Change Dec 07 Historically denied ‘pivotal’ loans, Black farmers still struggle to get support For decades, Black farmers have been excluded from federal farm programs — a systematic pattern of discrimination that the U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledged decades ago. Yet proposals to compensate farmers for past wrongs have languished in controversy and red…
Agents for Change Dec 01 India extends door-to-door vaccine campaign as omicron variant worries officials The trajectory of omicron infections is being watched closely in India, where the official death toll from COVID-19 is approaching half a million. The true toll is likely much higher. Memories are still fresh of the devastation caused by the…