Local & State

St. Paul Strong (SPS) is a nonpartisan, community-led group that advocates for open and representative government in Saint Paul by encouraging transparency in public processes at City Hall.

It appears there yet may be change in which we can actually believe, if not in the White House, where, when all is said and done, a great deal more has been said than done, then right here in Minnesota.

On May 18, Burroughs assumes the position of chief inclusion officer for the State of Minnesota, a job newly created by Gov. Mark Dayton to which Burroughs has been appointed by Chief of Staff Jaime Tincher.

Burroughs will, states the governor’s office press release, “oversee…efforts to ensure: that the state’s workforce reflects the rich diversity of Minnesota by increasing economic opportunity for people of color, people with disabilities, and others underrepresented in our workforce; increasing state contracting opportunities for racially diverse businesses; and increasing the state’s civic engagement and partnerships with communities of color and other diverse communities.”

When the announcement came that Minnesota had seen a two billion dollar surplus last year, every segment of Minnesota society added their voices to how the money should be used.

Friday, April 29, is the deadline for all applications for the vacant University of Minnesota athletic director position. Local attorney Lee Hutton submitted his application earlier this month soon after the job was posted on the university’s website.

Both the Minnesota Twins and Minnesota Vikings this week are hosting job fairs, but some ask how many temporary part-time game-day positions will be for local Blacks, low-income and other people of color.

The United Black Legislative Agenda (UBLA) appears to be an idea whose time has not only come, but is also long overdue.

Last week, part one of this story examined the adverse health effects of drug and sentencing policies on individuals, families, and communities of color as reported in a recent Health Impact Assessment by the Minneapolis Council on Crime and Justice (CCJ).

A new Metropolitan Council report reaffirms that the 16-county Twin Cities metro area has the largest disparities across many areas between Whites and people of color in Minnesota.

The third annual forum on Understanding and Responding to Mass Incarceration took place at the Metropolitan State University campus in St. Paul on April 8. The theme this year was “Voices from the Inside.”

Spending the U.S. dollar at a Black-owned business is a rarity local and globally. It is a rarity even in Black communities around the world. This was the topic explored in what Maggie Anderson and her husband, John Anderson, called their “Empowerment Experiment.”

At the State Capitol on April 6 several leaders in the Black community held a press conference to unveil a United Black Legislative Agenda.

In recent years, the disparities between Minnesota communities of color and White Minnesotans has been the subject of much talk in some quarters. Much of the talk describes and explains the disparities, but less talk seems to involve the way to move forward and beyond them.

Tinkering with the rules in women’s college basketball has a long history, and as a result the changes that took place in the now-completed 2015-16 season were nothing new.