Social Issues

Funding for teen programs around Minnesota is dwindling as a result of the state budget crisis. As youth programs statewide reduce their services for things like housing and employment, there's growing concern no one's left to pick up the slack.

Minnesota's state-wide AMBER alert system has been online for just over a year. It's been used six times, with all six missing kids recovered. Now state officials are looking at ways to improve the system.

Minnesota's new two-year budget took effect Tuesday, marked by protests and dire predictions. The budget erases what was projected to be a $4.2 billion deficit with one-time money, payment shifts, fee increases and spending cuts. Some proposed welfare cuts were temporarily blocked by a Ramsey County judge, but other cuts across state government began as scheduled.

The Minnesota Health Department reports Tuesday that the number of abortions performed in 2002 was the lowest since the department started collecting comprehensive annual data in 1998. The report comes on the same day that a new law that requires women to wait 24 hours before receiving an abortion goes into effect. As of today, abortion providers and family planning clinics are also required to provide women seeking an abortion with specific information about the potential risks and complications of the procedure.

Welfare revisions scheduled to take effect Tuesday are on hold after a county judge blocked the state from cutting benefits to thousands of low-income families. Ramsey County District Judge Judith Tilsen halted the benefit cuts with a temporary restraining order Monday, saying she was concerned that some of the changes were being made without federal approval.

Many in Minnesota's child care industry are bracing for a shake-up starting in July, when changes to the state human services budget take effect. Lawmakers saved $86 million this spring through cuts to child care subsidies -- even more than the governor originally proposed. Some child care providers say the drop in state assistance will mean lower quality care, and may drive them out of business. The cuts' architects say the industry is over-reacting, and nothing so dramatic is in store.

Duluth is tearing down its only public housing project. When the Harbor View Homes were built in 1951, housing for low-income people was separated from everyone else. That's changing now, and most residents are pleased.

A look at the issues effecting gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgendered people nationally and in Minnesota.

The term housework often is synonymous with drudgery and the antiquated notion of "women's work". The author of a new book re-examines domestic arts that illuminate the past and enhance our daily lives.

The Star Tribune has dropped its nine-year-old ban on using American Indian team nicknames on its sports pages. Editor Anders Gyllenhaal made the announcement in a column June 8, saying the newspaper was trying "to strike a balance between a commitment to accuracy and the need for sensitivity." He said that instead of a ban, "editors and reporters will use judgment and care to produce respectful coverage." MPR's All Things Considered host Lorna Benson talks with Gyllenhaal.