While answering the phones at St. Paul’s Legal Aid office in the early 1970s, a group of VISTA workers stumbled across an enormous problem. Call after call, women who suffered violence at home had no safe place to go with their kids. Despite the danger, VISTA workers brought families into their own homes. They formed the nonprofit Women’s Advocates and raised enough money to buy a house on Grand Avenue in St. Paul — one of the first shelters in the country for women fleeing domestic violence.

Archaeologists Ann Merriman and Christopher Olson have identified 151 Minnesota wrecks to-date, and they are still looking for more. With the help of volunteer divers, they’ve studied wrecks and artifacts that include dugout canoes, passenger steamboats, a chamber pot from a burned hotel, a homemade hydroplane and a surprising number of old cars. ...

As a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation, Mica Anders knows what it's like to survive breast cancer. To lose a parent. To sit with a genetic counselor and discuss a family tree marked with cancer risk for her dad, sisters and cousins. Anders wants to know more. So she is following a genealogical trail all the way back to the 1800s to understand how cancer affected her ancestors' lives. Through that research, she hopes to figure out who may have passed the BRCA1 gene mutation to her grandmother.

The robocalls from school kept coming. Ninth-grader Mia was absent, again. "I wasn't Ferris Bueller running around skipping class. I was in my bed, doing my work, telling myself to wait one more minute before joining the next Zoom class. It didn't make sense, any of it. I was sitting there in front of screens most of the day, something I was always told to stay away from. My hair was a mess, I was still in my pajamas, and I had just woken up for the third time that day. … I couldn't play soccer

Before a police officer killed George Floyd, 38th Street was already known for Black history. The corridor was home to a barrier-breaking Black business hub starting in the 1930s, Prince’s junior high school and the state’s oldest operating African American newspaper. The city of Minneapolis was poised to designate 38th Street from Nicol

If your neighborhood shop appears to be closed, check again. One Yoga Studio members are lighting candles and brewing tea at night before the virtual class “Yoga for a Good Night’s Sleep.” The Warming House is streaming living room concerts for more viewers than could normally fit inside the 40-seat venue. Lyndale Anima

Cover bylines for art and stories, including award-winning story "Settling an unsettling case"

Aaron McLaurin hopes three jobs will be enough to rent his own place. McLaurin, 20, said he’s looked for housing “everywhere” in Minneapolis for three years, using a couple of apps to check criteria for credit scores, income thresholds and deposits. His main holdup is income requirements to earn twice or three times the cost of rent. So he’s working mornings, second shifts and night shifts as a personal care assistant, park employee and downtown security guard while also playing semi-pro footb

Christopher Mendez delayed paying rent on his Lyndale neighborhood apartment, just to see what would happen. Rent was due on the 1st of the month. He came home from work on the 6th to find a notice on his door: If he didn’t pay in 24 hours, an eviction would be filed. “My heart stopped when I saw that not

At the age of 83, Cornbread Harris still gigs regularly in Minneapolis. Recognized for his wit, soulful blues and signature style, he’s also renowned for his famous son–music producer Jimmy “Jam” Harris, who has worked with artists including Prince, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson and Gwen Stefani. Cornbread Harris performed on Minnesota’s first rock record 55 years ago, and his most recent album is a compilation of performances with Cadillac Kolstad, a Twin Cities rockabilly artist. Currently