Social Issues

U of M graduate student workers win vote to unionize
More than 2,400 eligible workers voted in favor of unionization while only 70 voted no in an election this month, according to the union.
Walz signs bills to ban conversion therapy, protect abortion and gender-affirming care
With the governor’s action, Minnesota will become a refuge for people seeking gender affirming care and abortions as other states move to restrict such care. Walz also enacted a law that bans conversion therapy.
Minnesota Senate to vote on legal marijuana bill Friday
The Senate bill has already been discussed in more than a dozen committees. And legislative leaders tend to avoid bringing bills to the floor that might fail, so passage is deemed likely. 
Rod Adams endured years of hardships because of a marijuana conviction. Now, Minnesota could legalize the drug
The marijuana legalization bill on track for passage in the Legislature includes an expungement process that would make it easier for those in similar circumstances to get jobs and housing.
Minnesota House passes marijuana bill, more hurdles ahead
House passage of a bill to make cannabis legal and accessible for adults 21 and up comes ahead of a Senate vote expected later this week. But competing versions must be matched up before final action.
‘It’s simply life-saving,’ says Minnesotan who uses gender-affirming care
The Minnesota legislature has passed a bill that legally protects people who come to the state for gender-affirming care. MPR News host Angela Davis speaks with the author of the bill and a Minnesota physician who provides gender-affirming care to children and teenagers.
They're strangers with a painful shared bond: Robert E. Lee enslaved their ancestors
The descendants of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and those of the people the Lee family enslaved came together for the first time at Arlington House, the national memorial to Lee in Virginia.
This family moved to Minnesota to access gender-affirming care. More might soon
Wes Samuelson and his 11-year-old child Liz moved to Duluth from Wyoming in 2020 after they could not get access to gender-affirming care. “The reality is trans health care saves lives,” Samuelson said.