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...

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has appointed Abdiwahab Mohamed as its temporary Assistant Commissioner for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. Mohamed, who is currently the agency’s regional trade manager for Africa, Middle East, and India, said that for the last five years, he had had the honor of working with the larger Minnesota business community at...

Zaynab Mohamed, a 24-year-old Somali immigrant who in December announced her candidacy to represent District 63 in the Minnesota state senate, will be the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s (DFL) flagbearer in the 2022 midterm elections. Mohamed handily defeated her challenger, Todd Scott, by garnering more than 67% of the vote in the primaries held on August 9. She will now go...

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has won the DFL primary in her district against strong competition from Don Samuels, essentially ensuring a third term in Congress in the slightly redrawn Minnesota's Fifth District that includes all of Minneapolis and some inner ring suburbs. Omar garnered 50.35 percent or 57,683 votes to Samuel’s 48.20 percent or 55,217 votes with all 217 precincts...

Central District Councilmember Wynfred Russell and Hollies Winston, who lost by two votes to outgoing Mayor Lisa Jacobson last year, are advancing to the general election. Whomever of the two men that triumphs in November will have historical significance for Brooklyn Park with the election of its first elected Black mayor and most significantly the first African immigrant mayor for...

The Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to the United States, Lazarus Amayo, was in Minnesota Friday to launch a three-day initiative to offer consular services to citizens of the east African country residing it the state. The outreach campaign to Kenyans seeking to apply for passports, birth certificates, and dual citizenship declarations began on Friday morning at the Kenyan...

More than 107,000 absentee ballots have been received as of Friday, August 5 for tomorrow’s Minnesota primary election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. There is no presidential race this year and the numbers show. The 2020 state primary election, a presidential election year, had over 544,00 absentee ballots accepted by the Friday before the primary. How and where...

Ambassador Lazarus Amayo of Kenya began a three-day visit to Minnesota on Thursday to meet with the large Kenyan diaspora. A series of meetings with Minnesota state officials is also on schedule. According to a statement from the embassy, staff accompanying the ambassador will also offer consular services most notably the acceptance of e-passport applications. Kenya, along with members of...

The annual African Mental Health Summit returned to St. Paul, Minnesota, during the weekend of July 22, with a special focus on the mental health of Africans living in the Diaspora. The two-day conference, which took place at Metropolitan State University, featured presentations and discussions emphasizing the importance of unity and understanding regarding mental health in the African community. Dr....

Honorable Citizens of Nyamira County, With due respect to you as the ultimate Sovereign in accordance to Article 1, Constitution of Kenya, 2020, we the members of Bwakire Se! Nyamira 2022 and candidates for the Governorship hereby submit as follows: Introduction/Background We began the improbable journey as a campaign for a better, brighter Nyamira County. We acknowledged that Nyamira faces a...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators said Friday they are no longer considering authorizing a second COVID-19 booster shot for all adults under 50 this summer, focusing instead on revamped vaccines for the fall that will target the newest viral subvariants. Pfizer and Moderna expect to have updated versions of their shots available as early as September, the Food and Drug...

The largest coalition of Liberians in Minnesota celebrated the west African country 175th year of independence with a ceremony opening a new community center in Brooklyn Park. The Organization of Liberians in Minnesota (OLM) revealed the newly-purchased space during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday as a part of their Independence Day festivities. Their hope is to be able to fulfill...