FBI Raids Peace Activists’ Homes, Issues Subpoenas For Grand Jury

Obama On Ending Afghanistan War

Hillary Clinton Hosts Afghan President For Dinner

Eleven Year Afghan War Too Much Say Demonstrators

FBI Raid Victims Keep Pushing Back Two Years Later

Obama: Take Tropical Storm Isaac Seriously

Peace Activists Turn Against Obama And His Drone Wars

Peaceful Minnesota NATO Protestors Joined 20,000 In Chicago

Minneapolis May Day March Energized And Disciplined

MN Police Chief Calls Cop’s Action During Occupy Arrests Unnecessary, Disappointing

Coleen Rowley Discusses Afghanistan and Iran Issues

President Obama’s State Of Union Address

The unfinished business of fixing the economy dominated President Obama’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night. He outlined his second-term agenda of proposals designed to create jobs, particularly for the middle class.

Obama Calls for Gun Controls while Gun Shop is Crowded with Buyers: One Day in a Country Obsessed with Guns

President Obama calls for stricter gun laws, but acknowledges that no number of new laws can entirely prevent the death toll produced by guns, estimated at more than 30,000 a year.

Video Replay: Obama Takes Anti-Gun Violence Campaign to Minnesota

In his first road trip to promote his plan to fight gun violence, President Obama visited Minneapolis the site of a recent mass shooting.

Obama Minnesota Visit to Take Aim at Gun Violence

President Obama’s visit to Minneapolis to tout his plan to reduce gun violence comes after the White House releases a photo of him skeet shooting last August.

President Obama Renews Oath For Four More Years

President Barack Obama’s inauguration address touches on climate change, an issue barely mentioned during the 2012 campaign, and gay rights, an issue that the US Supreme Court will likely issue a ruling on this year.

Obama Unveils Sweeping Gun-Control Push in Wake of Newtown School Massacre

President Barack Obama along with Vice President Joe Biden unveil the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades.

Obama: Time To Stop Negotiating With Congress Through Crisis

President Obama holds a press conference to mark the end of his first term and answers questions about the upcoming fight over the debt ceiling with Republicans in Congress and potential legislation or executive orders to prevent gun violence.

Obama On Ending Afghanistan War

Following his meeting with President Hamid Karzai, President Obama used his weekly address to update the American people on how the United States will end the war in Afghanistan.

Hillary Clinton Hosts Afghan President For Dinner

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomes Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai to the Department of State.

President Obama Nominates Jack Lew for Secretary of the Treasury

No surprise as President Obama announces Jack Lew as his nominee to replace Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary.

Thousands March For Immigration Rights in Minnesota, Milwaukee

Thousands of marchers calling for immigration rights for the undocumented marched in Minnesota and Milwaukee on May Day.

Milwaukee Activists March In Immigration Action In Washington

Tweet Tweet More than 50 people attended a rally in front of the Mitchell Park Domes on the South side of Milwaukee Tuesday to send off immigrant activists and allies for a Wednesday march for immigration reform in Washington D.C.. They were part of a total of 200 families, some …

Decision Not To File Charges in Derek Williams Death Outrages Milwaukee Community

No criminal charges will be filed against three Milwaukee police officers found by an inquest jury to have failed to render necessary aid to Williams when he collapsed and died in the back of a squad car on July 6, 2011. The controversial death of Williams, a young father of three, has roiled police-community relations since the incident and community anger exploded after last week’s development.

No Felony In Williams Inquest, But Jury To Decide If Cops Should Face Lesser Charge

A Wisconsin prosecutor conducting an inquest into the controversial 2011 death of Derek Williams while in the custody of Milwaukee police has ruled out the possibility of homicide charges against police. But three officers still face a potential charge of failing to render aid to Williams while he was gasping for breath and begging for help.

Inquest into Death of Milwaukee Man in Police Car Resumes After Week of Clashes

Tweet TweetThe inquest into the death of Derek Williams while in the custody of Milwaukee police resumes today after a week when seven police officers refused to testify and conflicting testimony was taken from medical professionals, family members and eyewitnesses. The inquest into the 2011 death of the 22-year-old father …

Inquest into 2011 Death of Man in Police Custody Awaited by Skeptical Milwaukee Community

Milwaukee community members are skeptical of the police department’s investigation of its own officers in the death of civilian Derek Williams.

Hundreds Oppose Bill Weakening Wisconsin Mining Regulations

The fight against a proposed weakening of Wisconsin mining regulations that would facilitate the construction of a giant open-pit mine in Ashland County continued this week with hundreds of Wisconsin residents, including many representing Native American tribes, traveling to Madison to testify against the bill at a legislative hearing.

American Indians, Evironmentalists Fight Weakened Wisconsin Mining Regulations

More than 350 people gathered in the cold at the Wisconsin State Capitol this week to protest a proposed change in state mining regulations that environmentalists and Native Americans fear will pollute streams and waters near Lake Superior.

Milwaukee Cops Turn Camera On Reporter When Asked For ID

When asked questions they won’t answer, Milwaukee police apparently try to intimidate a reporter and protester by aiming a video camera at them

Cautious Progress In Milwaukee Police Brutality Case

People fighting against police brutality in Milwaukee have been promised a meeting with the city’s mayor to discuss the death of a Derek Williams who died while in police custody.

Law Allowing Day Care Workers to Unionize Passes After Ugly Debate

The house passes a contentious bill that would allow state subsidized child care workers and personal care attendants the right to form a union.

Hungering For a Driver’s License: Effort by Undocumented Comes Close, But Not This Year

A handful of Latino activists went on hunger strike to get Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s to support a bill allowing undocumented citizens in the state to obtain a legal right to drive.

Mom, Student, Tireless Community Voice…An UpTake Leadership Profile: Chanida Phaengdara Potter

This story about Chanida Phaengdara Potter is the latest continuing series of UpTake profiles on men and women whose names may not be widely familiar but whose leadership makes our neighborhoods, our cities and our states better places.

FREE AT LAST: Same-Sex Marriage Celebrations Rock St. Paul, Not To Mention Church & State

The Three Amigos: Church, Military, State. With scorching sermons from the pulpit, with speeches of denunciation on the floors of the Legislature, with the arbitrary and cruel ending of careers and removals from the ranks — the great powers of our society strove for decades to keep Tuesday’s ceremony and celebration from happening.

You May Now Kiss The Bride(s)

Jane Leonard and Lori Lippert have been together 31 years and plan to marry soon after the new same-sex marriage law takes effect August 1.

Gov. Mark Dayton Signs Same-Sex Marriage Law

A large crowd is expected on the south steps of the Capitol to watch Governor Dayton sign same-sex marriage into law.

LOVE IS THE LAW: Minnesota Finally Gets Marriage Equality. For Everyone.

Opponents of same-sex marriage in Minnesota warned that legalizing marriage for all would have “unintended consequences.” It turns out they were right: Minnesota has changed, fundamentally for the better.

Minnesota Senate Approves Same-Sex Marriage; Capitol Throng Celebrates Historic Victory

The Minnesota State Senate has voted to legalize same-sex marriage, approving on a 37-30 vote the measure that passed the House of Representatives last week. Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill into law on Tuesday.

A New Day In Minnesota: In the Name of Love

“It’s not time to pour the champagne yet,” Rep. Steve Simon told a raucous throng celebrating after the vote in the Capitol Rotunda. “But it (the champagne) is chilling!!”

Photo/Video Blog of the Same-Sex Marriage Victory At The Capitol

Tweet TweetThe UpTake team (Jason Barnett, Nick Coleman, Allison Herrera, Hlee Lee, Analiese Miller and Mike McIntee) was place to cover today’s historic Senate vote on same-sex marriage. Or see each photo individually CLICK ON EACH PHOTO TO SEE FULL SIZE!!! John Helmberger from Minnesota for Marriage talks with the …

Ernest Wabasha: The Burden of Minnesota’s History

Tweet TweetI was 30 years old, a journalist with a passing knowledge of Indian history. Yet it had never occurred to me, until I came across the name of Ernest Wabasha one day, that people still lived among us who were connected to the terrible events of 1862-63, the time …

Dakota Spoken Here: Mni Sota’s Dakota Indian Heritage

Tweet TweetEditor’s note: “Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota,” was the winner in the Minnesota category of the 2013 Minnesota Book Awards, which were announced Saturday. Congratulations to authors Gwen Westerman and Bruce White. — updated Sunday, April 14 at 8:07 a.m. One hundred and fifty years after …

150 Years After America’s Largest Mass Execution: Minnesota and its Dakota Indians Still Search for Healing

A two-week journey from South Dakota ends in Mankato, Minnesota to mark the 150th anniversary of the largest execution in the United States where 38 Dakota (Sioux) Indian men were hanged for their involvement in the Dakota-US War of 1862.

“We Are Here:” Native American Artists Explore Pain of the Dakota War of 1862

According to tradition, “We Are Here” is what each of the 38 Dakota Indian warriors who were hanged on the day after Christmas in 1862 said as the nooses were placed around their necks. “We Are Here” is also the title of an exhibit on view at the historic James J. Hill House in St. Paul, Minnesota. Native American artists comment on the events and aftermath of the U.S-Dakota War in the form of contemporary painting, sculpture and traditional works.

Descendants of Exiled Dakota Indians Remember Minnesota’s “Trail of Tears”

Minnesota’s Dakota tribe commemorates the 150th anniversary of their 150-mile “trail of tears” forced march out of their ancestral land in 1862.

Healing Minnesota’s Deepest Wound: Pardoning a Dakota Warrior

After the US-Dakota War of 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in the largest mass execution in US history. Many believe the execution was also one of the largest miscarriages of justice in the nation’s history. Today, Representative Dean Urdahl hopes to “rub a little salve in the wound” by seeking a pardon for one of the executed warriors. His name was Chaska.

MN “Concentration Camp” Survivors’ Relatives Remember 150 Years Later

150 years after the Dakota War, the war remains a wound that has yet to heal. We watch a special ceremony remembering the many Dakota women and children who did not survive the winter of 1862-63 at the Fort Snelling “concentration camp”.