(*originally published on March 19, 2013*)

Construction of the Central Corridor light rail to connect downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul is well under way. Since its inception, the project has received a mix of community excitement and trepidation. Some business owners along University Avenue have struggled or closed because of the lack of access and parking during construction, but the Met Council maintains that the route will ultimately bring economic development to surrounding neighborhoods.

Listen to the full report here.

(*originally published on March 25, 2013*)

“We have a crisis in public education especially for black males,” according to St. Catherine’s University Professor Nancy Heitzeg. Zero tolerance policies, born out of the language of the war on drugs which created the Gun Free Schools Act of 1994, resulted in kids being suspended and expelled at much higher rates, with “incredible racial disparity,” she said. “What we see nationally and in Minnesota is that African American males are six times more likely to be suspended from school, but there’s no indication that they have more disruptive behavior than white students.” She also suggested that No Child Left Behind era policies encourage schools to push out students who are dragging down test scores, which, combined with a growing police presence in schools, have pushed up incarceration rates for young people.

Heitzeg was one of the panelists at the sixth annual “How are the Children” symposium held at the University of St. Thomas School of Law on March 20. In a panel called “The Black Boys’ Burden: Educational Equity and Cultural Challenges in the Classroom,” Heitzeg said young black men are locked out of well resourced schools, gifted and talented programs and postsecondary options and pushed out into the prison pipeline.

Read the full article here.

(*originally published on February 5, 2013*)

President Obama’s visit to Minneapolis was his first stop outside Washington D.C. to rally support  for proposed gun control legislation.  The president addressed an auditorium packed with uniformed officers and the media, and met with officials and community leaders from around the state to hear what people in Minnesota are saying about gun violence, and strategies to combat it.

Listen to the full report here.

(*originally published on December 28, 2012*)

The American Refugee Committee has been working for several years to help people in Eastern Africa who have been displaced by regional conflicts. Recently a member of the Minnesota-based organization traveled to Congo to access the conditions on the ground for refugees fleeing violence in the eastern part of the country.

Listen to the full report here.

(*originally published on December 18, 2012*)

2012 has been a tough year for the people of Eastern Congo. Hundreds of thousands have fled over the border into neighboring Rwanda seeking refuge from clashes between government and militia forces. The M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recently took control of the city of Goma, in eastern Congo and since that action the number of displaced people in the province of North Kivu has grown from half a million to more than 800,000 people, according to the group Doctor Without Borders. Yaya Sidi Sakor is one of the many aid workers involved in assisting refugees in the area. He’s the Senior Program Coordinator in Rwanda for the American Refugee Committee, a Minneapolis-based aid agency and he has been at the center of ARC’s work in Rwanda. He was recently in Minneapolis to speak at the annual ARC’s Changemaker’s Ball.

Listen to the full report here.

(*originally published on December 3, 2012*)

Tens of thousands of people are leaving their homes and heading into northern Rwanda to get away from fighting that involves the rebel group M23 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Already this year, 400,000 Congolese people have become refugees.

Listen to the full report here.

(*originally published on October 11, 2012*)

A national conference organized by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy that focused on issues in the U.S. food system: https://soundcloud.com/ccerruti/food-justice-democracy

(*originally published on August 31, 2012*)

A report on the debate held at the Minnesota Public Radio booth at the 2012 Minnesota State Fair: https://soundcloud.com/ccerruti/keith-ellison-chris-fields

(*originally published on May 5, 2012*)

For every white student that is suspended in the Minneapolis Public School district, there are eleven black students who are suspended. Here is a report on what one group is doing to address school discipline problems: https://soundcloud.com/ccerruti/aamea-forum-may-2012

(*originally published on March 23, 2012*)

A report on the events held on March 1-3 at Augsburg College in Minneapolis: https://soundcloud.com/ccerruti/nppf-2012