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Ecolution

Deep Dive: How the Attorney General’s Office Impacts Affordability, Housing, and Healthcare

At a recent campaign rally for Attorney General Keith Ellison, Sen. Tina Smith, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and Ellison talked about several key issues impacting voters this season. Following are excerpts of the discussion, including Ellison's talking points about the economics of daily living, healthcare, housing, and other details related to how affordability is tied up in government policy and enforcement.

A Conversation About Priorities with U.S. Senate Candidate Peggy Flanagan

Two of our Future Forward editorial board members — a board of women under the age of 25 — had a chance to talk with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running for U.S. Senate. Here is some of the conversation.

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.

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50 Years of Successful Senior Housing

With only 28 job openings across the four-state operation, the Mary T companies seem to have escaped the staffing challenges in senior care — except during last winter, when the federal government had an immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

AFL-CIO Convention Builds Strategy Around a United Movement

The U.S. government is using billions in taxpayer money to round up members of the workforce and put them in detention centers. CEOs who run the 100 companies with the lowest median wage are making 632 times more than their employees. It is not surprising that the recent national AFL-CIO convention held in Minneapolis focused on building solidarity at a pre-conference civil rights unity summit and global symposium.

EVENT: League of Women Voters Host Discussion About BWCA

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

An Historical Lesson in Economic and Union Policies: The Hormel Strike of 1985

When the seven-year wage freeze finally expired in 1984, employees expected negotiations to focus on raises that would compensate for years of sacrifice. Instead, Hormel proposed a 23 percent wage cut.

Q&A With Bernie Burnham: Solidarity Goals of Minnesota’s AFL-CIO

"My mom was an Irish immigrant. This country was founded on immigrants, and we took this land from the people who were here. Nobody really belongs here, unless you are an Indigenous person. In my heart, it's important to show up and be there for everybody — working class people, children, immigrants, women, LGBTQ+, anyone who has been othered or put down because of who they are, their religion. Whatever it is, I'm going to stand up. That's the right thing to do."

NEWS: Rise Up Center for Workforce Training Breaks Ground in Uptown Minneapolis

"In the labor movement, we believe that all work has dignity and that every worker, no matter where they come from, what they look like, or what they do for a living, deserves access to a stable, sustaining job and the necessary training for advancement."

MayDay March on Lake Street: Photo Gallery and Montage

Images, quoted, and a short audio-video montage of the MayDay march on Lake Street in Minneapolis.

How My Sister and I Are Building Houses in Grand Marais

"We don’t build for new people moving into the community, but for the ones already here who are struggling to stay due to costs growing out of their reach. Many people we know have already left due to lack of affordable housing."

Co-op Real Estate: A Collective Solution

Frustrated with how traditional developers were mismanaging neighborhood properties and ignoring community needs, Leslie Watson and her neighbors decided that they needed to act.

Readers Recommend: Which ICE-Impacted Businesses Do You Support?

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We are sharing recommendations by readers in this space of immigrant-owned businesses you recommend and why.

Q&A With Friendly Vang-Johnson: Farming Advocate

"We are protectors of our community. We’re stronger together. We are trying to assert there is a different way of being. We can be a collective."

Earth Day Rally Reiterates Need for Data Center Moratorium

Across all testimony, a consistent theme emerged: Minnesota is moving faster than its policies can manage. Speakers did not uniformly oppose data centers outright, but insisted that without a pause, the state risks long-term environmental, social, and economic harm. The call was clear: slow down, study the impacts, and ensure communities — not just corporations — shape the future.