MPR News PM Update
Dec. 16, 2019

Light snow up north; colder Tuesday. Snow totals Monday night will be less than an inch. Tuesday highs will range from 3 to 9 in northern Minnesota, to 18 to 24 south. Temps will dip tomorrow evening, with lows around minus 6 in the metro; minus 15 to minus 20 north; minus 8 to zero south.

One CTC student alleges she was a victim of sexual trafficking and child porn by CTC staff. Jina Penn-Tracy is among the 16 survivors whose claims against CTC were settled in recent months . Her account differs markedly from those of others who endured abuse decades ago at Children’s Theatre. She said her abusers didn’t limit themselves to sex trafficking, but also made pornographic films.

After 22 years in custody, Curtis Flowers walked out of jail. The Mississippi man’s 2010 conviction on murder charges was reversed in June by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that prosecutors had excluded black people from the jury. His case was the subject of the second season of the APM Reports podcast In The Dark.

Leaders in Native community works to push through a deep suspicion of the census among Native people. Native Americans are considered a hard-to-count community in the census, but community groups and tribes are pushing harder than ever to ensure an accurate count in the state ahead of the 2020 census. In 2010, those living on reservations were undercounted by nearly 5 percent, more than double the undercount rate for African-Americans.

It’s been five years since medical marijuana became legal in Minnesota. Tuesday at 11 a.m., MPR News host Angela Davis will speak with expert guests about how the program is doing, how it has changed and how it’s still changing. Are you in the medical cannabis program? Tell us what the experience has been like or share your questions with us ahead of the show here!

— Jiwon Choi and Sara Porter, MPR News


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