The EPA is rolling back PFAS regulations even as Minnesota, birthplace of the chemicals, enforces some of the strongest protections in the world under Amara’s Law. Contributing writer Anya Armentrout examines the growing gap between federal and state action.
Anya Armentrout
Anya Armentrout is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
Posted inEducation
Catalyst for Systems Change celebrates a year of youth-driven policy wins
Catalyst for Systems Change celebrated a year of youth-led legislative victories, from exposing state-wide PSEO compliance gaps to passing critical school health safety bills.
Posted inNational
National parks charge foreign visitors more, and history gets a harder look
A year after Trump announced a $100-per-person surcharge for foreign visitors at national parks, questions remain about enforcement, alongside removed MLK Day and Juneteenth fee-free days and a Trump portrait now replacing a photo contest winner on the America the Beautiful pass. Contributing writer Anya Armentrout breaks down what’s changed.
Posted inEducation
Black Teens Lead in AI Use for Schoolwork. But at What Cost?
Black teens use AI chatbots for schoolwork at three times the rate of white teens, according to new Pew data. Contributing writer Anya Armentrout reports on what that means for learning, cheating and emotional support.
Posted inLocal & State
Coalition calls on Twin Cities Pride to cut corporate ties
The Taking Back Pride Coalition held a press conference calling for Twin Cities Pride to drop corporate sponsors including Delta, United Health Group and 3M and remove police presence, marking the coalition’s tenth year organizing around anti-corporate, anti-police Pride demands.
Posted inPolitics
Federal bill could gut state protections for kids on social media
Contributing writer Anya Armentrout examines how social media harms Black youth disproportionately, why Minnesota’s new Stop the Harms Act matters and why advocates fear the federal KIDS Act would gut state-level protections that actually have teeth.
Posted inEducation
Macalester professor traces Jesse Jackson’s civil rights legacy at Hamline Symposium
Hamline University Social Justice Symposium opens with civil rights scholar Walter Greason connecting Jesse Jackson’s legacy of universal human dignity to today’s movements for justice.
Posted inArts + Culture
How Twin Cities murals are telling nature’s story
Twin Cities nature murals across Minneapolis and St. Paul use art to connect urban communities to ecosystems, migration and the living world around them.
Posted inLocal & State
Food deserts persist, but local organizations are fighting back
Food deserts in the Twin Cities affect nearly 900,000 Minnesotans. Here is how community organizations are working to restore grocery access in underserved neighborhoods.
Posted inEducation
Macalester athletic director named Athletic Director of the Year
Donnie Brooks of Macalester College has been named Division III Athletic Director of the Year by NACDA for seven years of competitive excellence and student leadership development.
Posted inLocal & State
Twin Cities parks plans aim to close equity gaps
Minneapolis parks equity plan is ahead of schedule with 46 capital projects completed and every neighborhood park on track for renovation by 2036.
Posted inEducation
Professor examines lives of enslaved people in Spain, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico
A Macalester lecture on transatlantic bondage explored the lives of enslaved Africans in Spain, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico through new historical research.
Posted inHealth + Wellness
Second annual make hunger history summit
The Second Harvest Make Hunger History Summit brought together hunger relief leaders working to reduce food insecurity across Minnesota.
Posted inLocal & State
Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota
The Minnesota gender pay gap remains largely unchanged, with women earning about 81 cents for every dollar earned by men, according to a new statewide report.
Posted inLocal & State
St. Paul’s Frogtown hopes Capitol Commons can reverse decline
Capitol Commons Rice Street opens in Frogtown as a partnership focused on safety, outreach, and reconnecting the neighborhood with resources near the State Capitol.
Posted inLocal & State
Mac historian traces Trumpism’s roots to nation’s founding
The Gerald Horne Macalester lecture brought together students and community members to examine how centuries-long historical forces shaped today’s political crisis.