How Grand Rapids residents talk about firearms – with civility
A dozen people in Grand Rapids, Minn., all rooted in a community with a strong hunting culture., shared diverse experiences and opinions about firearms.
Prophecy and road map: How 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' can guide Minnesotans today
St. Cloud Pastor James Alberts II of Higher Ground Church of God in Christ reflects on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter as the state faces a surge of federal immigration enforcement.
We made the best of 2025! Here's the year in review
Check out Project Optimist's 2025 impact and look behind the curtain at our finances and future plans.
65% of college students feel lonely. Moorhead students share solutions
Minnesota State University Moorhead students – most of them LGBTQ+ – share stories of how they meet and overcome isolation.
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Community Voices ⎸Project Optimist staff plan for the end — and it feels good
Life goals: Complete health care directives, draft a will, and enroll in life insurance in 2025.
There’s a surprising climate solution right under your feet
Mycorrhizal fungi help plants thrive, and sequester an enormous amount of carbon. But a new atlas shows that they need urgent protection.
How Rochester and Duluth respond to mental health and substance use calls
'Ultimately the goal for us is to not have law enforcement, police officers, involved with every single psych event or mental health crisis that goes on here in the city,' said Captain Jennifer Hodgman of the Rochester Police Department.
School maps show promise as safety tool. Here's how they work.
Digital maps can help first responders in an emergency, if local school officials allocate the money to keep the technology in place and commit to updating the maps.
Minnesota’s ‘red flag law’ is a year old. What have we learned?
Law enforcement agencies, family members, and courts in Minnesota slowly started to use the extreme risk protection order (ERPO), or ‘red flag law,’ since it went into effect in January 2024