Mshale

Dozens of Brooklyn Park residents last evening crammed into city council chambers to witness history being made in Minnesota’s sixth largest city, the swearing in of the city's first black council member, Wynfred Russell, who was born and raised in Liberia. Russell, a former instructor at the University of Minnesota, defeated former council member Bob Mata by garnering a convincing...

New enrollments of international students fell by 6.6 percent at American universities in academic year 2017-18 compared to the year before, marking the second straight year in declines in new enrollments, according to new data from the annual Open Doors survey. New enrollments fell 6.3 percent at the undergraduate level, 5.5 percent at the graduate level and 9.7 percent at the nondegree level from...

Mental health experts have urged members of the African immigrant community to break the silence about trauma, substance abuse, and mental illness if they want to curb rising cases of suicide. The experts were speaking at the Mental Health Forum, a convention of community and religious leaders, and mental health practitioners held recently in Brooklyn Park by the ladies’ ministry...

Sponsored Content from Equity Bank For Kenyans living abroad, staying connected to home is more than a desire - it is a lifeline, a commitment, and a dream. Equity Bank understands this deeply. That is why its dedication to the diaspora community is built on trust, understanding, and a shared vision of progress. Across continents, Equity continues to strengthen its bond...

In Wolof, tukki means journey, which is what the audience at The Cedar went on with Senegalese musician Alune Wade and his band on Wednesday evening. Our trip started with viewing a portion of TUKKI: From the Roots to the Bayou, a film that the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) awarded Best International Documentary earlier this year. As our eyes...

New international student enrollment for fall 2025 in U.S. institutions fell by 17%, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE), a New York based nonprofit that has tracked such data for the last 75 years. The IIE report released on Monday surveyed 825 colleges and universities, and more than 96% of them reported visa application concerns by prospective students...

Nehemiah Garley of Brooklyn Park has entered the race for Minnesota Senate District 38, launching a campaign focused on supporting small business, infrastructure, education, and affordable housing. He will challenge incumbent Senator Susan Pha in the 2026 DFL primary. The district leans heavily DFL, and the incumbent Pha is serving her first term in the Minnesota Senate. She was the...

With the sound of upbeat music playing, fathers, sons, and families gathered at the Brooklyn Park Community Activity Center on Saturday for an early celebration of International Men’s Day. The event was hosted by Brooklyn Park-based Global Fatherhood Foundation (GFF) and marked the fifth time the organization brought the community and partners together to openly discuss the importance of men’s...

Mshale Editor's Note: The author first wrote this on his Facebook page. We are reposting it here with his permission. Omar Fateh lost because ranked-choice math and Minneapolis’s political geography made his path extremely narrow, even as he built one of the strongest insurgent coalitions the city has seen in years. Here’s the simplest way to understand it. 1. Frey started with...

The U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery, commonly known as the green card lottery, for fiscal year 2027 (DV 2027) is supposed to have wrapped up around this time if it had started in its traditional start of early October. However, last week on Nov. 5, when it would have been wrapping up the entry period, aka registration, the State Department instead...

WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS Direct File, the electronic system for filing tax returns for free, will not be offered next year, the Trump administration has confirmed. An email sent Monday from IRS official Cynthia Noe to state comptrollers that participate in the Direct File program said that “IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026. No launch...

With funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, remains uncertain, Minnesota families that rely on the assistance to feed their families are turning to food banks and nonprofits. 440,000 Minnesotans are SNAP recipients according to the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families. 152,000 of those recipients are children while 72,000 are seniors. The remaining 52,000 are...

When supporters of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter III gathered Tuesday night at The Black Hart, a bar in the Midway neighborhood, many of them didn’t seem too worried that he would not be re-elected. They watched election results display across the TV screens, many glancing at their cell phone repeatedly, looking confirmation that Carter would be re-elected to lead...