Many businesses run by and catering to Minnesota’s immigrant communities have seen decreased traffic as some customers are staying home. Sahan Journal reports on Minnesota’s Somali community: “Somali immigrants have overcome displacement in war and long years spent building new lives in the United States. But the fear and disruption of recent weeks feels unlike anything they have faced in their new home, many say.”
Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove, “is facing criticism that she withheld allegations from the state that known fraudsters were receiving reimbursements from Minnesota’s Medicaid program,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. Robbins, who is a Republican candidate for governor, “said during a hearing of the House fraud committee, which she chairs, that she had shared the information with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota but not the Minnesota Department of Human Services or Attorney General’s Office.”
Target’s rollback of its DEI initiatives has had negative consequences for Black-owned media, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder reports. The decision “cut short corporate support programs designed to uplift Black-owned media outlets. … [T]he rollback sends a dangerous signal about accountability and the fragility of corporate diversity commitments.”
A researcher at the University of Minnesota is encouraging families to focus on creating a “strong family culture through quality time” instead of focusing on consumerism this holiday season, MPR News reports. With money tight for many Minnesotans, creating traditions is a low-cost way to “help children build a sense of belonging in their families.”
If you’re looking to save a buck, Racket is back with their Freeloader Friday, which details 129 free things to do this weekend, including a Christmas market in each of the Twin Cities (although Cityscape columnist Bill Lindeke says the St. Paul market is better).
