Refugees and 'white male card game': Minnesota stories this week

State House of Representatives
In this 2015 photo legislators debate on the House floor on the last official day of session in St. Paul.
Glen Stubbe | Star Tribune via AP file

It's the end of another busy week. With all that's been going on around the nation, and the world, you may have fallen behind on local news around the state.

Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here are five things you should know about that happened in Minnesota this week.

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1) House DFL leader won't back down from 'white male card game' remarks

The top Minnesota House Democrat, facing criticism from Republicans over a comment invoking race and gender, stood by her remark Tuesday as calling attention to what she saw as disrespectful behavior.

Her comments inadvertently pulled back the veil on the chamber's "retiring room." Former Speaker Steve Sviggum told MPR News what it's like, and not like.

2) City Hall wouldn't pick up trash, so residents deliver it to City Hall

What happened in St. Paul on Sunday is a metaphor for the state of government in Minnesota: Because it can't get out of its own way, it doesn't work, wrote MPR News blogger Bob Collins.

The problem was a pile of filth near 10th and Wacouta streets that nearby residents have been trying to get the authorities to clean up since they kicked out homeless people who had been living at the site near Interstate 94.

3) Cambodian refugees under deportation threat await their fate

Montha Chum rubs her father Phan Khiev's ear.
Montha Chum rubs the ear of her 87-year-old father, Phan Khiev, who suffers from severe depression inside their Rosemount, Minn. home on March 26. Khiev suffers brain injuries related to a car accident, speech delay and severe depression, which has worsened since the detainment of his son, Chamroeun Phan.
Evan Frost | MPR News

The story of eight Cambodian men who were detained in Minnesota last fall illustrates the complicated and nuanced development of U.S. immigration policy, especially as a new administration shifts its focus.

4) Rural Minn. has much to lose in Trump's budget plan

Trump's proposed budget cuts a wide range of federal funding sources, including a water and sewer program that provided more than $200 million to greater Minnesota communities over the last five years.

5) Growing population of homeless seniors worries housing advocates

Alarm bells are going off around the state as homeless shelters and housing organizations witness a troubling rise in the number of seniors looking for help.

Across Minnesota, seniors still constitute a relatively small part of the overall homeless population, but they are the fastest growing segment of homeless people, according to the Wilder Foundation homeless survey.


Bonus — A must listen: Is age nothing but a mindset?

Are the mind and body on separate tracks? Or are they inextricably intertwined?

Psychologist Ellen Langer spoke to MPR News host Kerri Miller about how the way we think influences the way our bodies age.