Minneapolis, MN – 100 people took to the streets of South Minneapolis July 9 to demand justice for Oscar Grant. Over a year ago, on New Year's Day 2009, Oscar Grant, a young African-American man, was murdered by a police officer. He was shot in the back as he lay on his chest on a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) platform in Oakland, California.

Minneapolis, MN – On July 1 the Minnesota nurses’ union negotiating team reached a settlement with management, averting a strike. If they would have gone on strike, it would have been the largest nurses strike in U.S. history. The following is the text of a leaflet that Fight Back! prepared to distribute on the nurses’ picket lines during the strike. While the strike didn’t happen, we are sharing this leaflet because it lays out the importance of the nurses’ struggle in the context of the economic crisis.

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 anti-war activists protested outside of the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) annual meeting at the University of Minnesota on June 30 to oppose the U.S. unconditional support for Israel. The Coalition for Palestinian Rights organized the protest. This protest was a part of a series of protests organized in response to the massacre of the Gaza flotilla Memorial Day weekend.

Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota nurses returned to the bargaining table with Twin Cities Hospitals on June 29. Four days earlier, on June 25, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) had filed a ten-day notice of intent to strike, setting the stage for an open-ended strike beginning July 6 at 14 area hospitals.

Minneapolis, MN – 12,000 nurses are set to walk the picket lines in an open-ended strike on July 6, at 14 Minnesota hospitals. On June 22, nurses voted overwhelmingly to endorse an open-ended strike over staffing ratios and pension benefits. The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) filed the legally required 10-day strike notice after day-long negotiations with the hospitals on June 24 proved futile.

Minneapolis, MN – After 21 days in a Rwanda jail, lawyer Peter Erlinder returned home today. He was met by 20 supporters and as many reporters. After hugging his wife, Masako Usui, he said, “Unlike Mark Twain, the reports of my demise were only slightly exaggerated.”

Minneapolis, MN – Throughout the day on June 21, thousands of nurses streamed to the voting sites and overwhelmingly voted to authorize an open-ended strike against 14 Twin Cities hospitals. With 84% voting in support of authorizing a strike, the nurses have taken another historic step. On June 10, in the largest single strike in U.S. history, 12,000 nurses walked out for a one-day strike. After the hospitals refused to return to the bargaining table, the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) called for a second vote, this time to authorize a strike that could be open ended.

On Thursday, anti-war activists protested at Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demonstrate against the Obama administration’s escalating war in Afghanistan. The Anti-War Committee of Minneapolis-St. Paul organized the protest.

Minneapolis, MN – One June 14, about 30 immigrants and immigrant rights supporters picketed outside of Jimmy Johns sandwich shop at Block E in downtown Minneapolis. Jimmy Johns is one of the companies targeted in the national boycott against Arizona in response to SB1070, the racist anti-immigrant law Arizona passed in April. The protest demanded that Jimmy Johns founder James ‘Jimmy John’ Liautaud stop supporting anti-immigrant politicians in Arizona such as Joe Arpaio and John McCain.

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Nurses Association announced that a strike authorization vote will be held on June 21.

Minneapolis, MN – Today 25 staff, faculty, graduate and undergraduate held a press conference to speak out against the University of Minnesota administration’s continued attempts to push budget cuts onto students and the lowest paid staff at the U.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 protesters gathered here, June 12, to condemn the Israeli massacre on human rights activists bringing aid to Gaza and to demand an end to the blockade of Gaza.

Minneapolis, MN – The one-day strike of 12,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) concluded at 7:00 a.m., June 11.

Minneapolis, MN – Anti-war activists gathered here at May Day Books, June 6, for an anti-war event titled “New War Crisis in Korea?” The featured speakers were Mick Kelly, the editor of Fight Back! newspaper and Meredith Aby, a leader of the Anti-War Committee. The event was sponsored by May Day Books and the Anti-War Committee.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 people gathered here, June 1, at the office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, to protest the Israeli murders of pro-Palestine activists who were bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“The labor movement is at a crossroads”

Fight Back! reporters interviewed Sal Rosselli on April 21, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was in Minneapolis to speak at a fundraiser for the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Minneapolis, MN – The Chop from the Top Coalition at the University of Minnesota, which includes undergraduate & graduate students, staff and faculty, blasted the budget proposal that University President Bob Bruinicks presented at a meeting of the Board of Regents, May 14th

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Twin Cities based Welfare Rights Committee.

_Los participantes exigen legalización e igualdad, condenan a la ley racista y anti-inmigrante de Arizona _

Minneapolis, MN – El primero de mayo, casi 4,000 personas marcharon en las calles de Minneapolis a favor de los derechos de los inmigrantes y los derechos laborales. Una marcha empezó en el Parque Martin Luther King en el sur de Minneapolis hacia el centro. Mientras pasó la marcha por los barrios principalmente latinos y afroamericanos, más personas se unieron a la marcha en cada cuadra.