Social Issues

Volunteer nation
Nationwide, more than 63 million people volunteered in their community last year, and Minneapolis and St. Paul had the highest rates of volunteer service in the country. Midmorning looks at what makes people volunteer.
Churches meet needs as county shelters fill up
Homelessness has shot up during the recession and its aftermath. The federal government estimates that the number of homeless families has increased by a 30 percent over the past three years.
New mayor brings back interest in contested immigration program in Willmar
Several months after a proposed immigration enforcement program sparked an uproar in Willmar, some residents of the west central Minnesota town worry that officials plan to revisit the issue.
US teen birth rate at all-time low, economy cited
The birth rate for teenagers fell to 39 births per 1,000 girls, ages 15 through 19, according to a government report released Tuesday. It was a 6 percent decline from the previous year, and the lowest rate since health officials started tracking it in 1940.
Live-blogging the unveiling of the census data, which showed Minnesota will not lose any congressional representation.
A weekend fight between a large group of immigrants from Sudan and Liberia is not the first such public altercation between the two groups, but leaders in both the Sudanese and Liberian communities in Fargo-Moorhead deny there is any widespread tension between the groups.