Editor’s Note: This story mentions a variety of traumatic events. Reader discretion is advised.

Four Minnesotans shared their process of overcoming mental health struggles with the Minnesota Daily to bring awareness to Mental Health Awareness Month this May.

The National Alliance on Mental Health reports that one in five U.S. adults lives with a mental illness. In Minnesota alone, one in four people lives with a serious mental illness, while about 40% of adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression.

The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, 988, is a 24/7 crisis line for immediate support. Anyone who has thoughts of hurting themselves or others is encouraged to call 911. The City of Minneapolis also offers a Behavior Crisis Response program providing trauma-informed first responders to crisis situations.

Each person deals with mental health differently. Here are four different stories.

Misty Dearing’s mental health journey

Misty Dearing’s mental health journey started when she was 3 years old. Dearing said her father was psychologically and sexually abusive, kidnapping her for about eight days at the age of 13 after her parents divorced.

Her father was never prosecuted and no one knew about the abuse until after Dearing’s first hospitalization in 2008, at 32. She was hospitalized again in 2015 at age 39.

Dearing said dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR, have been pivotal in her healing.

The Cleveland Clinic defines DBT as psychotherapy that helps people develop skills to regulate their emotions, and EMDR is another form of psychotherapy used to help individuals process traumatic experiences through specific eye movements.

“It was really hard to get it all out there, but now that it’s out there, that shame goes away,” Dearing said. “You don’t have to go tell everyone, of course, but find someone you can talk to about it because that takes all the shame away and helps you start to heal.”

Dearing is a part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI, and speaks at in-person or online events on behalf of the In Our Own Voices program through NAMI, which helps change attitudes, assumptions and ideas about people with mental health conditions.

Dearing added that it is important to keep trying despite the challenges of finding the right support.

“Right at the beginning stages, you may not find a therapist that you click with,” Dearing said. “I would say just keep trying. Because once you get that right therapist, it changes everything.”

A big part of mental health journeys is to understand that you are not going to cure your mental health, but you can manage it, Dearing said. Writing a book about her journey was another way for Dearing to cope with her own journey.

“Being able to manage it, it takes some hard work to figure out, like what boundaries we need to set into place,” Dearing said. “Who do we need to forgive? Ourselves? Others? Making room in your heart for that as well as being mindful in the present. These are the things that give me a life worth living.”

Abigail Sheila Morara’s journey

Abigail Sheila Morara is a first-year student at the University of Minnesota studying psychology and statistical practice. Growing up, she felt she had a picture-perfect family, until she and her siblings got older.

Morara said arguments about piercings or drug use caused screaming matches in her household every night. She wondered if her dysfunctional family was her fault but never showed her guilt on the outside.

“I had really good grades, I was super talkative, I was active in class, I would hang out with my friends, all of those things,” Morara said. “So when I got to the point where I was as overwhelmed as I was with my family situation, I tried to take my own life. I think it took a lot of people by surprise because they hadn’t really seen that side of me.”

Her first suicide attempt was when she was 13.

Morara said what saved her from a second suicide attempt was people reaching out to her after her hospitalization and going to therapy. She said there does not need to be a big event to reach out to someone.

“If even just in your gut you feel like something is wrong with somebody in your life, say something, reach out to them, because you never know how severe it can get,” Morara said.

She is one of the board members for Active Minds, a club at the University that prioritizes mental health. While the club is new, there are plans to connect club events with Boynton Health’s Pet Away Worry & Stress, or PAWS, and create an open space for people to join.

While getting involved in faith groups helped her personally, she said finding common ground is a good way to build connections.

“It’s important to have mental health practices that you can practice on your own, like gratitude and affirmations and things like that, but then on top of that, getting connected with people,” Morara said.

Some other resources the University offers include Boynton Health’s counseling and mental health services. Morara is a Boynton Health advocate and said there are resources specific to all sorts of people, including LGBT+, people with disabilities and people struggling with substance use.

Sierra Grandy’s mental health story

Sierra Grandy’s mental health journey started when she was 11. During that summer, she called the police on herself as she was dealing with suicidal ideations.

Grandy ended up being admitted to her first 72-hour hold in a hospital after that phone call. She continued going in and out of hospitals for the rest of her childhood.

Three months after being placed out of the county, she was admitted to a residential treatment clinic at the age of 14. By 18 years old, Grandy underwent electroconvulsive therapy, losing a year of her memory in the process. The therapy triggers a seizure in a certain part of the brain to reverse the symptoms of mental illnesses.

The therapy left her unable to remember graduating high school or starting her first year of college in 2019. After her last hospitalization in 2018, Grandy started the path to recovery in 2019.

“I started to feel like I had way more control over my mental health, primarily due to a change in my food, movement, sleep and I also found a treatment that worked really well,” Grandy said.

She went to the University’s law school and had a full neurological evaluation at her psychiatrist’s recommendation for bar exam accommodations, finding out she has autism, ADHD, anxiety and depression. Grandy graduated in May 2024.

Grandy got involved with NAMI to become a volunteer to help support others in their mental health journeys.

Pretending to be in a video game helps her take better care of herself. She said it makes daily tasks, like cleaning, easier and that she will put on Animal Crossing music to do things like organize her apartment.

“If I’m doing my advocacy work or speaking engagements, thinking of it more like Skyrim, where the stakes are higher, this is important, but I can put on armor and make myself stronger and be more strategic about the way that I am fighting dragons,” Grandy said. “That’s helpful for me.”

Resources to help find the right care include question, persuade, refer, or QPR, and the fast tracker website, Grandy said. People trained in QPR recognize warning signs of a suicide crisis and how to question, persuade and refer someone to help and the fast tracker website helps locate mental health resources based on specific insurance and locations.

“I feel my symptoms every day. Mental health recovery is a journey, not a destination,” Grandy said.

Zach Soule’s mental health journey

Fourth-year University student Zach Soule’s journey started in his senior year of high school, following his fifth major concussion while playing football.

After regaining consciousness, Soule felt this concussion was different from the rest. He felt mentally fine in the moment but could not stop crying once safely resting on the sidelines.

Soule said the recovery process was difficult as he struggled to focus and learn every day. After developing general anxiety and tinnitus, Soule decided to stop pursuing college football and focus on his mental health.

“It was probably one of the lowest points of my life,” Soule said. “Just trying to deal with all the symptoms of the concussion, then the fact that my future plans were just completely not going to plan and the fear of any future symptoms that might pop up with the concussion was definitely a concern.” 

Once Soule came to the University, he got involved in the Carlson School of Management’s mental health and wellness team during his first year. He then started a student club, Lost and Found, to educate students about mental health while participating in activities, such as creating pillowcases after learning about the benefits of a good night’s sleep. 

The biggest way Soule said he got the support he needed was not through medications but through therapy and support from family and friends. 

“It was hard for me to reach out and ask for help. Once I started opening up about what I was going through with my friends and my family, like they were super understanding and they just made me feel better about the whole situation,” Soule said. “They were able to give me that little bit of extra care that they didn’t know that I needed.”

It is important to continue to try and reach out when you need help, Soule said. If you are able to connect with professionals, they can help you find the resources you need. 

“I always think that it’s best, like the best way to spread positive mental health, is talking about your journey and just being a little vulnerable,” Soule said.

The Green to Go ordinance celebrates 10 years of regulating Minneapolis food places to use environmentally friendly to-go packaging, including compostable, recyclable or reusable.

Food businesses must provide collection bins for both recyclable materials and compostable plastics, along with food and beverages needing to be prepared for immediate consumption or taken to go, because of the ordinance.

Nathan Kelly, the senior city environmental health specialist, said the need for this ordinance came from realizing the amount of waste restaurants had with styrofoam and non-recyclable plastics.

“All of those just end up in the trash,” Kelly said. “So I think it was our way of trying to lower the amount of kind of waste entering the stream and kind of divert that away from the waste energy facilities and the landfill.”

The ordinance has been updated several times since its creation, one targeting black plastic food containers. Kelly said there is a sorting issue with that type of plastic, and no company is taking it in.

Kelly added black plastic is hard to turn into something else.

“No company is taking that black plastic to recreate it into something else, mainly because it’s already died. It’s hard to turn. That’s kind of the issue,” Kelly said. “Going forward, we’re really trying to keep up with changes in kind of the waste in waste in general.”

Organizations like MNimize work with the city to help businesses comply with the Green to Go ordinance through financial and technical assistance to make the transition smoother.

Chamber’s Director of Environmental Sustainability Patrick Deal said in a statement that listing these organizations on the website allows businesses affected by this ordinance to connect with them.

“MNimize was created to celebrate and support the voluntary reduction of single-use plastics in the food service industry,” Deal said.

MNimize can provide businesses with up to $1,000 worth of containers, conduct staff training and help them find reusable, compostable packaging.

Kelly said Minneapolis is the “guinea pig” for this ordinance in Minnesota, with St. Paul, Roseville, Edina and St. Louis Park following in the city’s footsteps with similar ordinances.

Certain items, including utensils, straws and prepackaged food, do not need to meet the Green to Go rules, according to the website. The same goes for certain businesses like caterers, nursing homes and hospitals.

Reaching 10 years of Green to Go is a big milestone, Kelly said.

“We’ve gained so much progress and the amount of plastic entering the waste energy facility, I feel like it is making a difference. That’s really lowering it, by this ordinance,” Kelly said.
“It feels that, even if it’s a little bit, that this ordinance is helping with kind of the waste problem that our society faces.”

The Minneapolis DFL fight over when to hold the Ward 2 convention is now settled. 

Two DFL Ward 2 Committee members, Anthony Scallon and Karen Karkula, filed a lawsuit Monday, April 28 in Hennepin County District Court against the DFL to move the convention to June 1. The convention, which ended with no candidates receiving the DFL endorsement, was held on Saturday. 

The lawsuit was unsuccessful, as Hennepin County Judge Karen Janisch denied a motion to move the convention from Saturday to June 1. 

Ward 2 incumbent Council Member Robin Wonsley, a registered independent who identifies as a democratic socialist, did not pursue the DFL endorsement. The lawsuit claimed she attempted to prevent “a strong candidate” from securing the DFL endorsement, aiming to run unopposed.

While Wonsley, as an independent, can not receive the Ward 2 DFL endorsement, she is allowed to encourage registered Ward 2 DFL voters to advocate for no endorsement. The only candidates who sought the Ward 2 DFL endorsement are Michael Baskins, Alexander Fooy and Shelley Madore. Ultimately, no candidate was endorsed.

A weeklong scheduling battle took place in late April, where the Ward 2 convention date was pushed from Saturday to June 7, then to June 1, before returning to Saturday.

The effort to hold the convention on Saturday stems from the large college student population residing on the University of Minnesota campus in Ward 2. About 25% of the convention’s elected delegates live in dormitories, which are inaccessible after the semester ends, according to a statement from the University College Democrats. If the convention had been pushed back to June 1, these students would have left campus for summer break.

“Moving the convention date to after the school year would have robbed students of their voice in the DFL endorsement process. There are a lot of feelings involved in campaigns and elections, and there are a lot of people who would like to see their chosen candidate win an endorsement, but that doesn’t mean you can skirt the rules and disenfranchise young voters. I’m glad that the court recognized that,” said Briana Rose Lee, the chair emerita of the Minneapolis DFL. 

University College Democrats issued a press release condemning the lawsuit as an attempt to “silence their votes.”

“After a tough election year where youth turnout is top of mind, this is exactly the kind of action that drives young voters away,” Kavya Nair, the president of the University’s College Democrats, said in a statement. “We’re here because we believe in the process. Don’t shut the door on us.” 

The lawsuit claimed that the Ward 2 precinct caucus had such a high turnout that the originally planned venue for the convention was deemed insufficient and the party could not secure a larger location for Saturday. 

Scallon and Karkula alleged in a memorandum filed Wednesday that since many students will leave Minneapolis in the summer, they are not “eligible residents.” According to the Minnesota Secretary of State website, anyone who is at least 18 years old and a resident of Minnesota for at least 20 days can vote in Minnesota.

“Any attempt to reschedule or cancel the convention suppresses the voices of student voters. When students raised concerns about this attempted disenfranchisement, my campaign immediately amplified their concerns,” Wonsley said in a statement. “All residents deserve a fair and democratic process in local elections, regardless of political affiliation.”

The University of Minnesota has leased out a Rosemount gun range it owns to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2022, according to public federal spending data. 

The University of Minnesota Police Department has operated the gun range for over 40 years to help train UMPD officers. ICE officials, as well as other local and federal law enforcement agencies, use the area for training.

ICE’s contract has netted the University around $18,000 to lease out the gun range, a contract which ends in May. The University is the nation’s only university actively leasing its gun range to ICE, the Minnesota Reformer reported.

The University did not answer whether the contract would be renewed.

University spokesperson Amy Tolson said in a statement that the University has an existing agreement and allows agents to reserve and use space in the range. 

“There are numerous law enforcement agencies with similar use agreements for the range that include federal, state and local organizations,” Tolson said. 

When asked whether leasing out the gun range to help ICE train its officers conflicted with the University’s claims of not helping ICE, Tolson emphasized in a statement that the University does not enforce federal immigration laws. 

“Our campus departments of public safety do not inquire about an individual’s immigration status. Their focus remains on public safety, fostering trust, and maintaining strong relationships across the University community,” Tolson said. “As a public university, this space is available for rental to both law enforcement and non-law enforcement groups for training purposes.”

In January, the University said that while University officials would not hand over immigration status information to ICE, the institution would have to comply with court-backed orders when it comes to ICE requests. 

Students for a Democratic Society member and University graduate Emily Chu said she is disappointed but unsurprised by the University’s relationship with ICE. 

“It is just another symptom of Rebecca Cunningham being too afraid to push back against the consensus to protect her students. The root of all these attacks and collaboration with ICE is because Cunningham is too afraid to stand up to Trump and risk federal funding,” Chu said. “She would rather risk her international students and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion professors than stand up to Trump.” 

Eva Pena, an outreach coordinator for the immigrant advocacy group Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social chapter on campus, said if Johns Hopkins University was able to break a contract with ICE after student protests, the University should be able to do the same. 

“In my opinion, ICE shouldn’t even need guns to begin with, and it’s very disappointing to learn that the U not only allows them to use their gun ranges. Not only that, but they’re literally the only University doing that,” Pena said. “It’s honestly so gross and slimy to think that they have any collaboration with ICE at all.”

The City of Minneapolis announced a new 911 Emergency Incidents Dashboard to keep the public informed about emergencies, just as the police department plans to encrypt its radios. 

The dashboard will feature 911 calls made over the last 12 hours and their locations, as well as categorizing incidents by police, fire and Behavioral Crisis Response calls. It will be updated every 30 minutes, with 911 incidents older than 12 hours moving to a separate dashboard. 

The dashboard’s creation came as the Minneapolis Police Department is set to encrypt police radios on May 1. Minneapolis 911 Director Joni Hodne said the department has tested the encrypted system for four to six hours each week for the last two weeks. 

An encrypted system means police department-dispatched calls will not be heard in the City of Minneapolis on the radio. Minneapolis Fire Department dispatched calls will still be heard. 

“The dramatic rise in the use of social media and scanner apps to track first responders jeopardizes emergency response operations and can lead to the spread of incomplete, inaccurate, or unsubstantiated information,” the city said in a statement. “This can cause safety concerns for first responders and the public. Encrypting communication helps ensure City compliance while providing additional safety for emergency responders and community members.” 

Social media accounts like MN Crime Watchers, which have around 300,000 followers on Facebook, have gained traction by posting police updates using this method.

The dashboard’s unveiling has been in the works for over a year, Hodne said. She added that these changes come as the federal Criminal Justice Information Services, which oversees criminal justice information across local law enforcement agencies, now recommends local police agencies take steps to make information more private, including addresses, license plate numbers, warrants and medical incidents. 

“Up to this point, that information has been aired and it could just get into the wrong hands and create potential problems,” Hodne said. 

Public and responder safety is also a big part of the push for greater police encryption, Hodne said. 

“We want to make sure that sometimes when a call comes in and changes over the course of even 15 minutes, we want to make sure the information going out is accurate and that the first responders have a chance to get on the scene and assess the situation,” Hodne said. 

The dashboard will automatically update to reflect any new developments. Hodne said that it is a change people will need to adjust to, but it is even more accurate than what people hear on radio channels. 

“It’s not to keep information from the public about what’s going on in their neighborhoods, which is why we did the dashboard,” Hodne said. “They can still see if there are disturbances, shootings or other information that’s taking place in their neighborhood, but it’s for the protection of the victims and the first responders.”

A new bill will require places of entertainment, including concert venues and stadiums, to provide attendees with access to free water. 

Introduced in February by Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-St. Paul), the bill requires a venue hosting an event of more than 100 people to provide access to drinking water by offering free bottled water, allowing factory-sealed water bottles to be brought in or letting attendees bring empty water bottles to fill up later.

The bill overcame hurdles like clearly defining a venue, but HF 695 now specifies that places like museums and lectures are not included as it is focused on where water is sold for a profit, Finke said. 

The idea for the bill came after several conversations with concert-goers and the lack of free water at festivals over the summer, Finke said. 

“Initially, I thought of it as the TSA rule, right? An empty water bottle can go onto an airplane, then it can go into the Timberwolves game,” Finke said. “It can go to these places that are charging a lot of money for water because people shouldn’t have to spend all that money on water.” 

Third-year University of Minnesota student Bianca Gutierrez said she recently attended the Kendrick Lamar and SZA concert held at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 19. Gutierrez, who paid $6 for water, said it was “ridiculous” to pay more than $3. 

Mandating that concert venues provide water or let attendees bring in their own is a great solution, she said. 

“People are jumping and singing at concerts, they need water,” Gutierrez said. 

Second-year University student Anamika Kansara said she has seen the high drink prices when going to concert venues and theaters like the Guthrie Theater and Ordway.

Kansara spent $5 at the Guthrie for a Sprite poured into a plastic cup. For water, it can cost even more. 

“Someone can have an emergency on the floor (at a concert) and a lot of that can be drawn back to having to pay an extreme amount for water,” Kansara said. 

While Target Field already allows attendees to bring an empty water bottle to fill, few fans know that, Finke said. The Minnesota Twins website says a sealed bottle of water of 32 ounces or fewer is allowed, as well as an empty bottle to fill at the stadium.

U.S. Bank Stadium allows sealed water for events, but other venues like Target Center, the Fillmore and First Avenue prohibit water from being brought in. 

However, both Kansara and Gutierrez said they did not know that some venues allow outside water or water bottles to be brought in. 

“I always google the bag policy before I go, not the water policy, because I always assume it’s a no,” Kansara said. 

The bill was added to a larger Commerce Policy and Finance omnibus bill and still needs to pass the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate.

A study at the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain in Minneapolis hopes to detect autism in children as young as six months. 

The nationwide Infant Brain Imaging Study has Minneapolis as one of five sites participating in the study. To see the progression, participants underwent MRI brain scans at six months, one year and two years.

The brain imaging study is a follow-up study of a 2006 study where researchers recruited babies who had older siblings with autism, as they are more likely to develop it later in life. The current study replicates the original one with 250 more babies across the U.S. 

Jason Wolff, a professor of educational psychology at the University who is involved in the new study, said the study is both a way to test findings that might lead to the development of autism in the brain and find these children before a diagnosis is given. 

In Minnesota, autism affects one in 42 children and is, on average, diagnosed at age four, according to the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation. The babies receive MRI scans during their natural sleep, so the participants usually come in at night, Wolff said. 

“In a nutshell, what we found using a variety of different approaches to MRI is that the babies who go on to develop autism are showing differences in brain structure and neural connectivity, both functional and structural connectivity, well before the cardinal symptoms of autism are observed,” Wolff said. 

The first year of life is pivotal for children, as changes to the brain start before any noticeable behavioral differences, Wolff said. Studying those changes at ages 2 or 3 will allow for an accurate judgment of the diagnosis. 

The study is mostly funded by the National Institute of Health, University Medical School professor Meghan Swanson said. 

Swanson, who is also involved in the study, said the study helps parents proactively identify the signs of autism in their child before the child shows physical signs or falls behind their peers. 

The babies who participated in the original study are still a part of the process, even when in primary education, Wolff said. The participants are compensated for their time. 

“We find babies once they have a diagnosis. There was no way to figure out what was going on before that diagnosis happened,” Wolff said. “So this infant-sibling design lets us figure that out because we can now follow the babies before they have a diagnosis and so that has shed a lot of light on how autism develops.” 

Swanson said the recruiting process for this study is currently ongoing, specifically for families who have a child with autism and a new baby who is 6 months or younger. 

“The goal of this study is not to cure autism or kind of even remove a diagnosis from these children,” Swanson said. “The goal of this work is really to support each child in the specific ways that they need to support, that they need support so that they can grow into their own fullest potential.”

About two months after the SeaQuest aquarium in Roseville closed, all animals that called SeaQuest home have been relocated to other zoos and aquariums.

The Association of Zoos & Aquariums led the relocation effort after SeaQuest declared bankruptcy in December. Some zoos involved in taking animals include the Como Zoo and Conservatory, the Minnesota Zoo, SEA LIFE at the Mall of America and the Lake Superior Zoo. 

SeaQuest was an interactive aquarium, exotic mammal and reptile attraction chain found in malls across the U.S. Besides Roseville, locations exist across Utah, Nevada, California and New Jersey.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources investigated the Roseville location after records revealed animals were not up to date on vaccines, multiple instances of unsafe conditions leading to the animals biting people and evidence of injured and dead animals, KSTP reported. 

The Minnesota Zoo Director of Animal Control Kurt Heizmann said around 1,400 animals needed rehoming after SeaQuest’s closure. The Minnesota Zoo took in 128, including 14 mammals, a few invertebrates, several reptiles and more than 100 marine fish.  

To ensure their health, all animals were placed into a quarantine process and evaluated before being placed into exhibits for the public to see, Heizmann said. Some of the fish came to the zoo with marine parasites, while some animals were either dangerously overweight or underweight. 

“So far, most of the mammals have been relatively healthy. And so we’ve had a few concerns but nothing that we don’t have the staff and knowledge to be able to treat and get these animals into a good spot,” Heizmann said. 

Como Zoo took on two porcupines from SeaQuest themselves, Senior Zookeeper Jill Erzar said. 

Erzar said working with AZA and SeaQuest to get the animals went smoothly. The animals were picked up on March 4 and went through a minimum of a 30-day quarantine. 

“We’re looking for any parasites that they may have that way. Then, we’re looking for anything that might flag us on a physical, as far as blood disorders or viruses or bacteria that maybe we don’t see actual symptoms of yet,” Erzar said. “Then the other thing that we take into account with quarantine is if there’s, if they have the ability to transfer to any other animals in the area.”

The porcupines have settled in the cat building at Como Zoo, eliminating any chance of them transmitting an illness, Erza added.

When Como Zoo received an email about the SeaQuest animal removal, Erza said the situation felt urgent but they ended up having to wait around, which allowed them time to prepare and clear out the animals. 

“It just kind of seemed like there was a lot of hoopla about that, this was a horrible place for them to be and that wasn’t really what we saw when we were there,” Ezra said. “The people caring for them were great. They did everything possible in their power that they could do.” 

Becky Duchild, the SEA LIFE curator, said over 600 fish and nine reptiles came from SeaQuest. The animals are about halfway through quarantine and have not experienced any health concerns. 

Duchild said the experience with SeaQuest went well, as the people involved moved at SEA LIFE’s pace to ensure the animals were transported safely. Semi-trucks with oxygen-monitored and temperature-controlled tanks and transport bins were used to move the animals from one location to another safely. 

The Lake Superior Zoo got almost 200 animals from the Roseville location. In total, six different AZA-accredited and two non-AZA-accredited facilities were involved in rehoming the animals, according to a press release. 

Heizmann said he is glad these animals were given a second chance at life. 

“It didn’t start with the best of experiences or the best of scenarios,” Heizmann said. “So finding ways that you can help remedy and give these animals an additional chance or a new start and potentially to live a happy and long life.”

Minneapolis is calling on artists to apply to design artwork at Water Works, part of Mill Ruins Park.

Artists and artist teams are invited to apply to design and create artwork to honor Owámniyomni, a place of significance and cultural heritage for Indigenous peoples, particularly among the Dakota.

The park area includes the sacred Dakota sites of Owámniyomni and Wíta Naǧí and is within the traditional Dakota homelands. The sites were used as a place for ceremonial practices and honoring the cycle of life and death for the Dakota people, according to the Open Rivers Journal.

Shelley Buck, president of Dakota-led nonprofit Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, said in a statement that the organization continues to work toward restoring land near St. Anthony Falls and Spirit Island, with the Water Works being a step in the right direction.

“We are grateful for the efforts to elevate Native artwork at Water Works in Mill Ruins Park — it is a meaningful step in honoring both the site’s true history and the vibrant, modern culture of Dakota people while increasing Dakota visibility in our homelands along the Mississippi riverfront in Minneapolis,” Buck said.

Mary Altman, the City of Minneapolis’ public arts commissioner, said Water Works Park was selected as a potential site for art because of a lack of art along the river and the site’s importance to the Dakota people. Lake Bde Maka Ska is the only place to have Dakota public art.

While anyone can apply, Altman said the City of Minneapolis is specifically encouraging Indigenous and Dakota artists to apply.

“We’ve been reaching out to the reservations,” Altman said. “We’re actually doing some informational meetings, artists’ informational meetings, on or near reservations, Dakota reservations.”

There are no specific guidelines for what the art is to look like.

The applications are open for two months, ending May 28. From there, three to five finalists will be picked by a panel, then given a stipend to create a draft concept of their work, Altman said. 

“We believe the public art adds to the quality of life of the city’s residents and visitors, and it can also draw the public to certain locations, but this is one of the most important Dakota sites in the metro area, and so that alone is a really important reason to be doing this,” Altman said.

Correction: A previous version of this article listed Owámniyomni Okhódayapi as an Indigenous advocacy group. It is technically a nonprofit. 

City Council Member Emily Koski (Ward 11) announced Monday morning that she is dropping out of the race for Minneapolis mayor. 

Koski said in a press release that her decision comes after “deep reflection on the challenges of running an authentic, community-focused campaign” within the city’s current political climate. 

“But I’ve come to a hard truth: under the current political climate, I can’t be my authentic self and be a candidate in this race the way it demands,” she said in a statement.

The two-term council member ran on being a unifying figure in Minneapolis and criticized current Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for failing to work with the City Council.

Even though she is no longer on the ballot, Koski said she is still dedicated to serving residents of Ward 11 as a City Council member. 

Frey is running for re-election. State Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis), Rev. DeWayne Davis, Jazz Hampton and Brenda Short are campaigning to unseat him.