Our Reporting

May 21, 2025

Red tape, rising costs slow efforts to rebuild businesses burned after Floyd’s murder

Five years after George Floyd’s killing set off nights of destruction, vacant lots and broken buildings remain along Lake Street and other Minneapolis business districts. Some business owners say money woes and city zoning rules have made it hard to rebuild.

April 9, 2025

Inspection shortfalls, political pressures leave low-income renters vulnerable in greater Minnesota

MPR News found problems tied to inspections and local political pressures that leave low-income renters in potential danger across greater Minnesota. In Bemidji, those problems have pushed their way to the surface.

March 6, 2025

When schools buy new reading programs, they look to EdReports. But some of its reviews don’t line up with science.

Even though EdReports is only a decade old, it has quickly become a powerful force in the educational publishing industry. Many schools rely on its reviews when they decide which reading programs to buy. But the nonprofit organization has given high marks to programs that use strategies debunked by cognitive science. And it hasn't endorsed other programs despite studies showing they work.

February 20, 2025

Most school districts have lots of kids who struggle with reading. This one is different.

The third graders in Steubenville, Ohio, are among the best little readers in the nation. For nearly 20 years, 93% or more of them have scored proficient on state reading tests. In fact, the elementary schools in this economically depressed area are producing better readers than some of the wealthiest places in the country.

February 5, 2025

How some Alaska Natives lost their right to fish commercially

A permitting system designed in the 1970s was supposed to make Alaska’s commercial fishing industry more sustainable and more profitable. But over the past 50 years, it has hollowed out many Indigenous coastal villages where residents no longer can earn a living by harvesting salmon.

December 16, 2024

Iowa invests in industry-favored farm pollution fix that doesn’t fix much

Instead of regulating fertilizer, Iowa backs a voluntary program that has little impact.

December 4, 2024

Lawsuit calls reading curriculum 'deceptive' and 'defective'

A class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as “research-backed” and “data-based.”

November 18, 2024

New reading laws sweep the nation following Sold a Story

At least 25 states have passed laws about how schools teach reading since APM Reports’ Sold a Story podcast was released in 2022. But proponents of the disproven ideas about reading exposed in the podcast haven’t given up.

October 21, 2024

Native women fought for years to expand Plan B access. But some tribal clinics remain resistant.

In spite of years of pressure from advocates, access to emergency contraceptives remains difficult for women who rely on the health care systems run by or on behalf of their tribal nations. APM Reports spent more than six months surveying tribal clinics and pharmacies around the country. Dozens refuse to provide Plan B — or impose restrictions.

April 2, 2024

How Illinois’ sexual assault survivor law allows hospitals to deny care

Illinois hospitals routinely skirt one of the nation’s strongest laws protecting victims of sexual assault.

September 30, 2024

Tim Walz’s experience in China could help him as veep, but he barely mentions it as a candidate

When Tim Walz first ran for Congress in 2006, his campaign proudly touted his extensive experience in China. In fact, earlier in his political career, he occasionally exaggerated it. But now that he’s running for vice president, Walz barely mentions China. And Republicans have tried to turn those connections into a political liability.

June 10, 2024

5 takeaways from our series on St. Louis homicide investigations

The police department has struggled to solve homicides, partly due to shoddy detective work, staffing shortages and eroding community trust.

June 7, 2024

St. Louis homicide cases often go unsolved. Victims’ families want justice.

These St. Louis families have waited years for answers. They say police seem to have forgotten their loved ones.

June 6, 2024

As murders increased, St. Louis police struggled for resources to solve cases

The city’s homicide unit has dealt with short staffing, long hours and a ballooning DNA backlog.

June 5, 2024

Some St. Louis detectives may have botched homicide investigations

Several officers in the homicide unit faced internal complaints that they slept on the job, failed to get key evidence and lied to superiors.

June 4, 2024

In St. Louis, a racial disparity in whose killings get solved

In the past decade, police solved fewer than half of the homicide cases with Black victims and two-thirds of the cases with white ones.

June 3, 2024

How we reported on homicide investigations in St. Louis

Getting and interpreting homicide clearance data involved litigation, complex analysis and patience.

June 3, 2024

Why 1,000 homicides in St. Louis remain unsolved

In one of America's deadliest cities, police have struggled to solve killings due to staffing shortages, shoddy detective work and lack of community trust.

May 6, 2024

This oil platform stopped pumping 30 years ago. Alaska still won’t make the owner tear it down.

Once offshore oil platforms drain their wells, the government has the power to force the companies that own them to tear the structures down. But the owners can put off that costly process using a strategy one critic calls “delay, deny and diddle around.” And in Alaska, the state has let them do it — for decades.

‘Science of reading’ movement spells financial trouble for publisher Heinemann

April 30, 2024