Social Issues

Is farm-animal abuse the exception or the rule?
An industry spokeswoman says a few "bad actors" abuse animals, but an attorney counters that many people would see routine practice as abusive.
Hundreds of East Side residents in St. Paul packed a church basement and leveled some harsh questions at city officials Thursday night after the shooting death of one man and the severe beating of another.
There's a sense of urgency to the quest for workplace harmony, as baby boomers delay retirement and work side-by-side with people young enough to be their children -- or grandchildren.
Fighting for an American Countryside in Minnesota
This Ground Level project we started almost four years ago has explored rural Minnesota with one guiding quest: Where are people trying to fix things? You would think, after talking to and writing about hundreds of people trying to keep the elderly healthy, extend broadband, ensure cleaner farm run-off, run more efficient local governments, encourage Read more →
Proposed 2nd Seward Co-op site raises concerns
The Seward Co-op in Minneapolis has announced plans to open a second store in the Bryant neighborhood. Opinions in the neighborhood about the co-op proposal vary. Some people are thrilled that it might locate nearby, but others worry that some residents would not be able to afford to shop in a co-op.
Amusement parks and Jim Crow: MLK's son remembers
Most Americans think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a brilliant young minister who was an architect of the civil rights movement, and who was martyred for it in 1968. But to the revered leader's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, the famous man was just "Daddy." And like millions of other daddies, he got pestered by his kids when they wanted something. "We must have passed by Six Flags a hundred times," Martin Luther King III recalls. "Many of those times, we were told, 'You're not able to go now, but Daddy's working on it, and one day we will be able to go.'"
Amusement parks and Jim Crow: MLK's son remembers
Most Americans think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a brilliant young minister who was an architect of the civil rights movement, and who was martyred for it in 1968. But to the revered leader's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, the famous man was just "Daddy." And like millions of other daddies, he got pestered by his kids when they wanted something. "We must have passed by Six Flags a hundred times," Martin Luther King III recalls. "Many of those times, we were told, 'You're not able to go now, but Daddy's working on it, and one day we will be able to go.'"
Research in online porn addiction signals a different approach
The amount of data that can travel in and out of a laptop now is staggering, and a lot of what's coursing over the Internet is, shall we say, for adult viewing only. The dark side of this access is addiction.