Social Issues

The CDC is helping states address gun injuries after years of political roadblocks
A grant program gives states a path around a 1996 federal rule that prohibits the CDC from advocating gun control — a rule critics say has had a chilling effect on studying who has been shot and how.
Moorhead prepares to raise a monument to a long forgotten soldier
Later this summer historians in Moorhead will install a statue on a city corner to honor a Black Civil War veteran. Moorhead might seem like an odd place for such a memorial, but the idea is to recognize a long-forgotten piece of history.
Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham is on a mission to tackle racial health disparities 
MPR News host Angela Davis talks with Minnesota Health Commissioner Dr. Brooke Cunningham. She’s a sociologist, a primary care doctor and has big ideas for improving equity in health care.
Hennepin Healthcare makes its case for more equity, inclusion training
The Minneapolis hospital now requires doctors and other health professionals to undergo equity and inclusion training. The program is atypical in the health field, but one that hospital leaders say is crucial in their mission to serve the entire city. Here’s how it works.
Critics slam DeSantis campaign for sharing an anti-Trump ad targeting LGBTQ rights
DeSantis’ campaign shared a video that attacked Trump for his support of LGBTQ rights, prompting widespread backlash. Both candidates have rolled back protections for trans and gay people in office.
This Chaska children’s store feels community support ahead of drag queen story time    
The owner of Little Roos says they have received more love than hate after posting a TikTok of an angry visitor who threatened to call police to stop an upcoming drag queen reading event.   
'Very big cases': U law professor on the Supreme Court's latest rulings
“Some people call this the ‘you only live once’ court — the idea being that the six-justice majority has the votes and are really not shy about using that power while they have it,” University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday told MPR News Monday.
The Dutch king apologizes for his country's role in slavery on 150th anniversary of abolition
The Netherlands’ often brutal colonial history has come under renewed and critical scrutiny in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, and the Black Lives Matter movement.
France is roiled by protests after police killed a teenager. Here's why
More than 1,300 arrests were made in a fourth night of rioting around the country. Nahel M.'s killing is a rallying call, similar to how George Floyd's murder in Minneapolis sparked intense protests.