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News & Perspective

AP News: Trump’s $90 Medicare rebate rolls out, but millions aren’t eligible.

Less than one-third of all Medicare recipients are eligible for the payments, which are expected to be sent out this week. Not eligible are roughly 35 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, millions of other people with disabilities and low-income Medicare recipients.
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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.
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DEEP DIVE: How Politics Is, and Is Not, Addressing Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (new resources added 10/8/2026)

In a conversation with U.S Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan last week with members of our young Future Forward editorial board, we talked about how powerful it is for four Minnesota women to be running for the two highest offices in the state — including Governor. We also talked about the obvious misogyny we see in the highest places in U.S. government.
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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.
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COMMENTARY: What a Fentanyl-Free America Means to Me

"What should be prioritized in the fight against fentanyl is youth involvement prevention and education. The involvement of young people is the key to maintaining consistent awareness."
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What Data Says About Violence in Minnesota: A Reflection After the Latest Mass Shooting

“Despite widespread media attention to mass shootings committed by estranged people, the majority of homicides are committed by individuals known to the victims.”
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What I Wish Were Different for Survivors Like Me

The question I wish people would ask is not, "Why did you go back?" It is: "What was missing that would have made it possible for you and your children to stay safely gone?" ... The system fails survivors when it only recognizes danger at the moment of crisis. Safety has to last longer than the emergency.
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Compulsory Safety, Continued: What Black Rural Families Are Building Now

School has begun in Minnesota. For many families, this is…
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Convergence: National Conversations About Defending Democracy Held in Minnesota

National leaders for defending democracy gathered at the Minneapolis convention center August 21 to 23, partly to talk about how Minnesotans organized to protect neighbors from federal agents, and partly to prepare for the next onslaught of federal occupation, likely related to the upcoming November elections. A central message: True power comes from cross-sector collaboration between labor, faith communities, nonprofits, and other community leaders.
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Gloria Steinem, an iconic voice of feminism, dies at 92

"The life and legacy of Gloria Steinem: A woman who changed the landscape in terms of what it meant to think about women’s power and agency, most notably through the written word."
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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."
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In Chile, a Group of Women Embroider to Keep Memory Alive 

The Bordadoras have influenced my thoughts on the politics of memory, the power of textile art, and the significance of the space that a group of people gathered together creates.
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Collective Power Is Key

There are insights in these pages about how collective solidarity builds far more for our health, prosperity, and happiness than any single government agency or corporate structure can provide.
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Commentary: What is the Save Our Bacon Act in the Farm Bill?

The cutesy-named "Save Our Bacon Act" was introduced in Congress in July to support large corporations to strip states of the power to set their own standards for the food sold within their borders, and to nullify laws voters have already passed to protect people and animals.
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Protesting Details at the Appleton Prison

Core Civic will earn a billion dollars from the sale and subsequent contract, while we pay the bill. Not a bad scam if you can get it, likely the biggest fraud this state has ever seen.
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