Social Issues

Monday is the official recognition of the birth and life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It's a day when many Americans reflect on King's work for justice and equality. For some it's an also opportunity to speculate about what King would say and do about today's divisive issues, including gay rights.
The Minnesota Center for Photography is running two exhibits that take viewers inside the world of women and girls. Lauren Greenfield's "Girl Culture" shows a spectrum of femininity from little girls to showgirls. Some Minneapolis girls didn't think their lives were well-represented in those images, so they took some photos of their own.
A longtime jazz singer talks about the artists and civil rights leaders who influenced her life. And her son reflects on his own pioneering musical career.
Federal officials want to change banking rules that have helped low-income people buy homes and start businesses. Bankers say the rules are a burden, and they can be trusted to reinvest in poor areas on their own.
More than 40 years after the fact, an ugly chapter in U.S. race relations--long thought closed--has reopened. A 79-year-old preacher named Edgar Ray Killen pleaded not guilty Friday to the infamous 1964 murders of three civil rights workers. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been in Mississippi that year to register black people to vote--part of a remarkable moment in the Civil Rights Movement that came to be known as Freedom Summer. This American RadioWorks documentary tells the story of Freedom Summer.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty and leaders of three northern Minnesota Indian tribes say they were pleased with an historic meeting on the White Earth Reservation Thursday. The discussion centered on the governor's push to change the landscape of casino gambling in the state.
Police said they are investigating an 85-year-old man's claim that a police officer sprayed him with a chemical irritant, hit him with a nightstick and pushed him into the back of a squad car during a traffic stop that began over expired license tabs.
Duluth and St. Paul have moved a step closer to winning millions of dollars to build new community centers to be run by the Salvation Army.
The Yes Men got international coverage this month when one of them impersonated a spokesman for Dow Chemicals and announced a multi-billion dollar compensation settlement for the victims of the 1984 industrial disaster in Bhopal, India. Midmorning interviews the leading members of the Yes Men to discuss their unique approach to encouraging corporate responsibility.