Social Issues

Minneapolis school district officials say early literacy interventions are helping many students of color catch up to their white classmates. A new report shows significant gains by African-American, American Indian and Latino students enrolled in all-day kindergarten, compared to those in half-day classes.

Each day, some 1,500 World War II veterans die in the United States. That's filling up veterans' cemeteries across the country and here in Minnesota. Officials hope an expansion at the state cemetery, at Camp Ripley in central Minnesota, will take some of the pressure off Ft. Snelling.

About 25 people began retracing the steps of their Dakota Indian ancestors Thursday morning in southern Minnesota. In 1862, federal soldiers marched more than 1,000 along the same route. That march began 140 years ago, and led to the eventual exile of the Indians from Minnesota.

The Environmental Protection Agency says recent tests show cancer-causing agents are still at unsafe levels at the St. Regis Superfund site on the Leech Lake reservation. Local residents worry the contamination has already caused chronic health problems in the Cass Lake community.

The 2000 census shows South Dakota's Buffalo County is the poorest in the nation. There are more poor kids in that county than anywhere else. Schools in Buffalo County want to work with the children to break the poverty cycle.

The tensions between Minneapolis police and the city's minority residents have eased little in the 10 years since Jerry Haaf was killed, even though crime is down in some neighborhoods.

Rankings by the U.S. Census Bureau show members of some immigrant groups in Minnesota remain mired in poverty. The ranking also confirms the widely-held belief that there are more Somalis in Minnesota than anywhere else in the U.S.

Minneapolis makes strides against gangs, falters on race relations in the 10 years since police officer Jerry Haaf's murder.

Rankings by the U.S. Census Bureau show members of some immigrant groups in Minnesota remain mired in poverty. The ranking also confirms the widely-held belief that there are more Somalis in Minnesota than anywhere else in the U.S.

Children of immigrants often have trouble fitting into North American culture. Language is at the heart of the problem. Some children of immigrants reject their native language and culture in hopes of fitting in.