The Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater publishes the oldest continuously operating newspaper written by incarcerated people. Members of the Jesse James gang and others imprisoned at Stillwater invested their own money to start The Prison Mirror in 1887, at a time when they could be sent to solitary confinement for breaking a rule of total silence.Throughout history, the newspaper has given incarcerated writers a voice and national recognition, even book deals, journalism jobs and pardons...

There is an international “gold standard” for investigating suspicious deaths — it’s called the Minnesota Protocol. Adopted by the United Nations in 1989 and 1991, the Minnesota Protocol outlines best practice for death investigations, particularly when government agents may have done the killing or neglected the duty to investigate. Forensic investigators have used the Minnesota Protocol to exhume mass graves in Peru, identify the remains of anti-apartheid activists who disappeared in South Afric...

When freedom seekers stepped off the steamboat in St. Paul, local people of color met them at the landing. Underground Railroad agents worked as barbers, musicians, laundresses, steamboat stewards and cooks. Some of these residents had never been enslaved and grew up in eastern cities. Others fled the South to settle in Minnesota — a territory that was supposed to be free, yet tolerated slavery within its borders. Local sheriffs and Southern enslavers spent weeks offering bribes to find people sh...

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.

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 photos and stories, including award-winning story "Settling an unsettling case," about the police shooting of Terrance Franklin.

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