Good morning and welcome to Thursday.
The door to successful farming in Minnesota is very difficult to pry open for immigrants, Native Americans and Minnesotans of color, a handful of farmers said at a federal farm bill roundtable Wednesday. As MPR’s Tim Nelson reports , they want that door to be easier to open. “Collateral and the ability to pay a loan is one of the challenges,” said Vitalis Tita, who farms eight acres of vegetables near Montrose. A native of Cameroon, he said that African immigrants in Minnesota struggle to find high quality native African vegetables, so he started raising them himself in 2006 and started commercial production in 2016. Tita says land access — either ownership or affordable leases — is a huge obstacle to breaking into the business. “I’m a first-generation immigrant,” Tita said in an interview. “I don’t hold a whole lot of assets. I don’t have a grandfather, or uncle that had a piece of land that got passed on, that I can use that as ‘OK, I am going to be able to pay that back.’ I don’t have a farm that was grandfathered to me so that I can be able to use this equipment and all these assets.” The farmers talked to DFL Sen. Tina Smith at The Good Acre in Falcon Heights, a nonprofit that works toward sustainable food production.
Minnesota lawmakers appear poised to pass a bill requiring Minnesota public schools serving students in grades four through 12 to provide free pads, tampons or other menstrual products to students in all restrooms. MPR’s Sam Stroozas reports that advocates credit students for speaking out publicly and refusing to let the issue be ignored at the Capitol. Students and their allies have pressed lawmakers for years to address the problem they describe as “period poverty.” They detailed the indignities of struggling with periods at school without the products they need or the means to buy them. They framed it as a public health issue for those who viewed it as just a hassle.
Winona LaDuke, executive director of the Native American-led environmental group Honor the Earth, has resigned her national leadership position, MPR News reported. The news comes less than a week after the group lost a sexual harassment case to a former employee. In an announcement on Facebook Wednesday, LaDuke wrote she failed former employee Margaret (Molly) Campbell by not responding to her reports of sexual harassment by a coworker. “I did not rapidly and adequately act on the complex personnel and sexual harassment issues our organization faced internally,” she wrote about Honor The Earth, known for opposing the Line 3 pipeline. LaDuke said Honor the Earth had no sexual harassment policies in place in 2014 and 2015, when Campbell complained a co-worker sexually harassed her. “I take personal responsibility for the mistakes made … I was the executive director, and it was my job to create a good foundation to heal and move forward,” LaDuke’s post read. LaDuke cofounded Honor the Earth 30 years ago with musicians Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls. She was also a two-time Green Party vice presidential candidate with Ralph Nader.
Attorney General Keith Ellison disagrees with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s decision on a plea deal for two teens involved in a homicide as juveniles. The Star Tribune reports: At a community gathering to discuss the ongoing prosecution for the murder of Zaria McKeever, Ellison pushed back on Moriarty's decision to prosecute two teenage brothers, ages 15 and 17, as juveniles. Prosecutors originally moved to certify the teens as adults so they could stand trial for second-degree murder alongside Erick Haynes, the 22-year-old man suspected of orchestrating the attack. But in February, Moriarty abruptly changed course, offering the boys a plea deal that would spare them a lengthy adult prison sentence in exchange for their testimony against Haynes. One of the boys accepted a deal last month that will result in a maximum two-year sentence in a juvenile facility, rather than a lengthy prison sentence. The decision came as a shock to members of McKeever's family, who sought the harshest possible penalty for teenagers they viewed as equally culpable in the young mother's death. For weeks they've called for Ellison to take over the prosecution.
A federal judge will hear arguments Monday about whether 18 to 20-year-olds should have immediate access to permits to carry guns in public. MPR’s Brian Bakst reports federal Judge Katherine Menendez struck down a state law last week that barred anybody under age 21 from obtaining a carry permit for handguns. She cited other federal rulings in declaring the restriction unconstitutional. The Minnesota attorney general’s office has asked the judge to put her ruling on hold pending a possible appeal or for up to 60 days while a process for issuing the permits is developed. They argued that if the ruling gets overturned those permits will be invalid. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say a delay would be a further violation of the Second Amendment right the ruling was based on. One of the named plaintiffs remains under age 21. Similar cases are pending in other federal courts, and the matter could ultimately wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Associated Press reports: Republican governors in Indiana and Idaho have signed bills banning gender-affirming care for minors, making those states the latest to restrict transgender health care as Republican-led legislatures continue to curb LGBTQ+ rights this year. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed legislation Wednesday that will prohibit transgender youth from accessing medication or surgeries that aid in transition and mandate those currently taking medication to stop by the end of the year. Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed legislation Tuesday evening that criminalizes gender-affirming care for youth. More than a dozen other states are considering bills that would prohibit transgender youth from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and transition surgeries, even after the approval of parents and the advice of doctors. Other proposals target transgender individuals' everyday life — including sports, workplaces and schools.
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