Group homes are concentrated in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis. Most parts of the Twin Cities haven’t seen the rapid growth in group homes that Brooklyn Park and other nearby suburbs have experienced.

Brooklyn Park is the epicenter of Minnesota’s group home boom. Some 300 group homes are licensed to operate there, more than any other city in the state, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, the state’s largest cities.

MAP: www.apmreports.org/story/2026/0...

Deaths, neglect, calls for help: Group home boom overwhelms a Twin Cities suburb Taxpayer-funded group homes help thousands of Minnesotans with physical or mental disabilities live as independently as possible. But the industry’s rapid growth in the Twin Cities’ northwestern subur...

Group homes help thousands of Minnesotans with physical or mental disabilities live as independently as possible.

The industry’s rapid growth in the Twin Cities’ northwestern suburbs has led to problems that leave vulnerable people in danger and local governments struggling with the consequences.

ICE agents are trained in CPR. They didn’t use it on Renee Macklin Good YouTube video by MPR News

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j081...

The Senior Editor, Investigations, will be a leader in our nationally renowned investigative, podcast, and documentary journalism unit, APM Reports, and the award-winning newsroom at MPR News. In addition to top-flight narrative audio chops, the ideal candidate will have the flexibility to shape stories across a variety of channels, including digital long-reads, data visualizations, social media and video. In this role, the ability to work collaboratively with leaders and teams from other departments and other news organizations is essential. The Senior Editor will work on future seasons of our hit podcast Sold a Story and another investigative podcast currently in development, as well as collaborations with MPR News and other public media organizations. There will also be opportunities for them to act as a player/coach with the teams they lead.

New editorial opening.

Apply here: recruiting2.ultipro.com/AME1098APMG/...

ICE agents are trained in CPR. They didn’t use it on Renee Macklin Good Federal immigration agents waited three minutes to call 911 after one of their officers shot Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis. After a brief medical assessment, they left her bleeding in her car. Age...

Federal immigration agents waited three minutes to call 911 after one of their officers shot Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis. After a brief medical assessment, they left her bleeding in her car. Agents didn’t give her CPR and turned away the help of a man who said he was a doctor.

Feeding Our Future defendant connected to taxpayer-funded group homes in Twin Cities A company allegedly used to launder money stolen from the government in the Feeding Our Future fraud case owns five houses where taxpayer-funded group homes operate. Those group homes have collected m...

A company allegedly used to launder money stolen from the government in the Feeding Our Future fraud case owns at least five houses where taxpayer-funded group homes operate. Those group home businesses have collected millions of dollars from the government.

In Season 1, the Sold a Story podcast dispelled one of the big myths about learning to read: that schools didn't need to teach kids how to sound out letters.

Host Emily Hanford says new myths are popping up to take its place. Catch up at soldastory.org.

Emily Hanford LIVE from Planet Word with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg

Early in her teaching career, Margaret Goldberg was skeptical of the science of reading. Today, she is working with neuroscientist Reid Lyon to bring it into more classrooms. Lyon and Goldberg joined host Emily Hanford for a live conversation.

New in the Sold a Story podcast feed today.

Robert Beadles confirms he hired private investigator who tracked Reno mayor The GOP activist, who has touted election fraud conspiracies, came forward after trying for years to remain anonymous. The U.S. Supreme Court declined his case.

Politically prominent Nevada GOP activist and donor Robert Beadles has taken credit for hiring a private investigator who tracked Reno's mayor 3 years ago, ending a yearslong legal saga to unmask him as the client despite his attempts to remain anonymous.

By @tabithamueller.bsky.social:

APM Reports strives to raise awareness, trigger debate and prompt positive change via non-partisan, independent investigative and documentary journalism. We are located in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part of American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio.

This job will be the boss of everyone here at APM Reports.

Please apply: recruiting2.ultipro.com/AME1098APMG/...

Teachers, parents and community members: We've added new discussion guides to help you talk about the podcast Sold a Story: soldastory.org/discuss

By our @carmela.bsky.social. More at soldastory.org.

A map of the United States shows states that have enacted laws in the past three years. They are colored three shades of blue to represent the year of the legislation.

In the past three years, 26 states have enacted laws to better align reading instruction with scientific research.

We updated our map to include Missouri.

More: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

A window into America’s high schools slams shut For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so research...

Trump put an end to that effort as part of his quest to dissolve the Department of Education.

Story by @carmela.bsky.social:

For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so researchers could draw connections between them.

A treemap identifies terminated contracts. They are sized by dollar value and shaded colors based on whether they have been reinstated.

But most of the Institute of Education Science’s work has been stopped. Seventy-eight contracts haven’t come back.

Its lawyers said it was evaluating 16 other contracts to possibly be reinstated, potentially after adjusting the scope and seeking bids from additional vendors.

Beginning in February, Trump cut at least 106 contracts that funded education research, federal program evaluations, data collection and related priorities. In response to a lawsuit, the administration reinstated 12 contracts, including the experiment on the early warning system for reading.

Lawsuit saves massive reading experiment The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administ...

The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administration agreed to finish the research only after it was sued.

Episode 14: The Cuts

Listen at soldastory.org.

When wildfires compromise drinking water, utilities lean on this professor’s advice In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals which federally mandated testing is not designed...

Into that regulatory void has stepped Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University who has made it his personal mission to help water utilities recover after devastating fires.

Story by @jenpenned.bsky.social: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals that federally mandated testing is not designed to catch.

A screenshot from a document showed scheduled NAEP tests. With red Xes and slash lines, canceled tests have been noted.

The board canceled more than a dozen tests when it revised the NAEP schedule in April. This annotated version of the previous schedule, adopted in 2023, shows which tests were canceled. Topics annotated with a red star are no longer scheduled for revision.

The tests regularly measure what students across the country know in reading, math and other subjects. They allow the government to track how well America’s students are learning. Researchers can also combine the national data with the results of tests administered by states to draw comparisons.

Among staff cast aside by DOGE were those who worked on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The assessment is a series of tests administered nearly every year to a national sample of more than 10,000 students in grades 4, 8 and 12.

‘At what point does it break?’ Nation’s Report Card at risk, researchers say The National Assessment of Educational Progress is one of the few federal education initiatives that the Trump Administration has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed the staff respon...

NAEP is one of the few education initiatives Trump has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed staff responsible for keeping tests up to date. And the board overseeing the assessment has eliminated more than a dozen tests, citing “cost efficiencies.”

www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

An illustration depicts workers leaving the Department of Education after losing their jobs.

New episode of Sold a Story.

𝟭𝟰: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘀
The Trump administration is slashing government funding for science and dismantling the Dept of Ed. We look at what the cuts mean for the science of reading — and the effort to get that science into schools.

Listen: www.apmreports.org/episode/2025...

Overdose deaths disproportionately impact older Black men. Few programs in Minnesota exist to support them Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades. One Ramsey County nonprofit is working to fill the gap.

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades.

Read: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...