This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. Minneapolis’ iconic Keefer Court Bakery & Cafe is reopening under new ownership later this year at the Asia Mall in Eden Prairie. The Chinese bakery’s Facebook page shared a post Monday announcing the development, which comes five months after it closed its sole location in the Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in December 2022. The bakery’s new owners are Michael Bui, Mai Bui, and Peter Do, who own the Pho Mai Vietnamese restaurants located in…
Author: Sahan Journal
Supporters celebrate as the Senate passes its version of the adult-use marijuana bill at the Minnesota State Capitol on April 28. Credit: Ben Hovland | MPR News This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. A crowd of spectators erupted in cheers Friday, April 28, after the Minnesota Senate narrowly voted to legalize recreational marijuana, moving the effort the closest it has come to becoming law in Minnesota after years of failed attempts. The Senate passed the measure on…
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. Before physician assistant Mohamed Adan can start explaining the importance of the measles vaccine, parents tell him they don’t want their child receiving the shot. Mistrust of the vaccine among many Somali community members goes back many years, setting the stage for measles to reach Minnesota’s East African community this fall. Low vaccination rates combined with travel to countries where the disease is endemic led to 14 unvaccinated children contracting measles…
A 3D graphic model of the measles virus. Credit: Center for Disease Control and Prevention This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. How to protect yourself and others from measles The vaccine that protects people from measles, mumps, and rubella is highly effective at preventing measles. Who should get vaccinated? Children should get the first dose of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine when they’re about 12 to 15 months old. If a child younger than 12 months old is…
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. It was produced in collaboration with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. For many Somali families in Minnesota, the barriers to homeownership have long seemed insurmountable: reluctant lenders, low incomes, short work histories, and little credit. Members of the East African Muslim community encounter an additional, unique challenge: Because of the principles of their faith, many avoid paying or profiting from interest. This means they typically won’t apply for…
Experts estimate that only 10 percent of Minnesota Somali families own their home. A contract for deed has offered a pathway out of overcrowded apartments and subsidized housing. Credit: Drew Arrieta | Sahan Journal This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. If you are struggling to pay off your home through a contract for deed, Sahan Journal and ProPublica would like to hear about your experience. Email the authors at jpeters@sahanjournal.com and jessica.lussenhop@propublica.org. If you bought your home through a contract for…
Hennepin County attorney candidates Mary Moriarty and Martha Holton Dimick. Credit: Jaida Grey Eagle | Sahan Journal This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. A lifelong public defender and a retired judge vying to become the next Hennepin County attorney both call for criminal justice reform, but disagree about how much power the office has over police accountability. Mary Moriarty and Martha Holton Dimick bested five other candidates in the August primary to advance to the Nov. 8 general election. Voters in Hennepin…
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. Hennepin County voters will make history at the polls in November when they elect their next sheriff. Dawanna Witt or Joseph Banks will become the first Black sheriff and sheriff of color in Hennepin County. If Witt wins, she’ll become the first Black woman sheriff in the state, according to the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association. Both candidates said representation in law enforcement leadership is important but is only part of the picture.…
Former Feeding Our Future employee Hadith Yusuf Ahmed, right, of Eden Prairie, leaves the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis on Oct. 13 with his attorney, Richard Dansoh, left. Hadith pleaded guilty to food-aid fraud. Photos by Joey Peters of the Sahan Journal This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. Three defendants, including an Eden Prairie man, pleaded guilty Thursday in a massive food-aid fraud investigation, admitting that they inflated or completely lied about the number of meals they…
This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox. President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans had long been waiting for: a plan to forgive some federal student loans. In a speech from the White House, Biden noted how the cost of college had risen in recent decades. “An entire generation is now saddled with unsustainable debt,” he said. “The burden is so heavy that even if you graduate, you may not have access to the…