Social Issues

Can Minnesota schools do better at teaching kids to read?  
Many children have a hard time reading because the way they've been taught failed them. MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Minnesota educators about reading instruction and the response to APM's investigative podcast Sold a Story. 
Report: Black women and girls disproportionately targeted for violence
According to a report from the state’s Missing and Murdered African American Women Task Force, Black women make up seven percent of the state population and make up 40 percent of domestic violence victims in Minnesota.
Cast of Santas at Mall of America gets more diverse
The Santa Experience at the Mall of America has expanded the variety of Santas — an Asian American Santa who speaks in Cantonese and English; a St. Nick who speaks Spanish and they have two African American Santas — one of whom communicates in sign language.
Gifting a DNA test? You might reveal a life-changing family secret
DNA tests can tell you a lot about your family history, but they can also lead to some unintended holiday stress. MPR News host Angela Davis spoke with a family therapist who’s witnessed family secrets revealed and a writer who discovered an unknown relative.
Minnesota opioid treatment clinics overwhelmed as needs rise, staffs shrink
Many of the state’s 16 opioid treatment programs are struggling to hire and retain licensed drug counselors as demand rises, but staff burnout is high. “We have people dying who are sitting on our waiting list, trying to get in,” one program director says.
Future of Us: How the pandemic has and hasn’t changed the ‘Land of 20,000 Nonprofits’
Minnesota foundations are giving nonprofits more money and more grace when it comes to jumping through hoops for it. But McKnight Foundation President Tonya Allen says it’s just the beginning of a deeper transformation.
FBI: Minnesota man was making arsenal, revered Colorado Springs mass shooter
A 20-year-old Savage, Minn. man who said he idolized the shooter who killed five people at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs and was building an arsenal of automatic weapons to use against police was arrested this week as he tried to buy grenades from an FBI informant, according to charges filed this week.