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EXPLAINER: Mining in Minnesota

Minnesota has mined iron for well over a century, and it is still the largest producer of iron ore and taconite in the United States. Now the state is at the center of a bigger question: should it open a second kind of mining, for copper, nickel and other metals, in some of its most water-rich landscapes? This Explainer is part of a series designed to help people understand how the government — and the people we elect to it — serve the common good with the decisions they make about policy and funding priorities that impact the interconnected whole.

Trina Swanson Explains Why She Can Win Pete Stauber’s Congressional Seat

"I went to a farmer's home in Aiken County recently. This man had voted for Trump and Pete Stauber every single time. We had an hour-and-a half–long conversation. He explained all the things he's dismayed about. I explained who I was and why I was running and what I was going to support. I left with a $3,500 check."

Commentary: What to know about the sulfide mine proposed in Minnesota’s headwaters watershed

With Talon’s proposal, Minnesota now has sulfide-mining proposals in all three of its major watersheds: the Mississippi River, Lake Superior, and the Boundary Waters. A public comment period for one of them ends September 14.

Compulsory Safety, Continued: What Black Rural Families Are Building Now

School has begun in Minnesota. For many families, this is…

Insights About Co-Operatives

Policymakers, Indigenous leaders, and Black collective participants discussed the long-time benefits of a collaborative, co-operative system at the Minnesota Cooperative Summit in Duluth. "Community wealth is collective."

The Lineage of a Minnesota 15 Activist

In the late 1930s, after hearing Dorothy Day speak in…

Bridging the Political Divides: Rural Women Running

Rural women running for political office this year gathered in a park near the Mississippi River in central Minnesota. Here is some of what they said. "It is going to be fast, and it is going to be hard, but we can get this done. I am done hearing that women cannot win, because look at us here.”

Commentary: Women, Politics, and the Potluck People’s Party

Although we often hear people say that “women can’t win” in conservative rural areas, strong women have always led the way here. They rally neighbors when someone needs assistance. They activate the phone tree when there’s a threat to safety. They have eyes on everybody’s children. They strategize to fill the gaps left by a government that overlooks rural community concerns.

Planting Seeds in Times of Darkness

Winona LaDuke shares four concepts for a sustainable future. "On a worldwide scale, Indigenous people represent about 5 percent of the world’s population but steward 75 percent of the world’s biodiversity. We are successful in protecting these lands because we are committed to the land, to life, and to moderating our own behavior so that life can continue. That’s how we can hang out in an ecosystem for a thousand years and it’s still healthy. Indigenous knowledge and values help preserve life."

Northern MN: A Fashion Show in the Woods

A fashion show in the woods of northern Minnesota by Annie Humphrey

Attacks on 1916 Immigrant Miner Families in Northern Minnesota

During the height of Operation Metro Surge, my Filipino husband…

EVENT: League of Women Voters Host Discussion About BWCA

In April, the U.S. Senate passed House Join Resolution 140,…