Mushrooms shown to provide "magical" mental health benefits
An increasing number of people are using psilocybin mushrooms unsupervised, obtaining them through a legal loophole. These "magic mushrooms" can cause anxiety-filled or highly emotional trips--imagine popcorn kernels trying to eat you. However, studies have proven small doses could help people experiencing mild depression and anxiety.
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Recovering small businesses hope civil unrest, COVID-19 are behind them
As small Minneapolis-based business owners slowly recover from a difficult year, Esperanza Lee reports that immigrant and minority-owned restaurants face disproportionate challenges. These are the result of civil unrest following George Floyd's murder and the setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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People who don't wear masks put others at risk
Writer Tim Munkeby and his wife were shopping for essentials--masks firmly in place on their faces--when he noticed a middle-aged, unmasked lady clearly violating the store's rules. "By following the rules, and the laws, we're protecting both ourselves and others," Munkeby writes. "By defying them, we're not."
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Sufferers say COVID-19 is unpredictable, freakish, lingering and recurrent
"For many, it's hard to know what to expect from one day to the next after COVID-19, or if they'll ever fully recover." Reporter Kim Whiting shares the stories of four people and their families, including herself, who experienced COVID-19 symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to critical. Their experiences underscore how unpredictable the virus truly is.
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One man shares his COVID-19 nightmare
54-year-old Steve Olson details how he contracted COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, his symptoms, and the lingering impacts on his health and mobility. In month by month diary entries, his story underscores the terrifying, dystopian nature of this unpredictable virus.
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Iowans desperate for assistance after devastating summer storm
In August 2020, severe thunderstorms ripped through 700 miles of the American Midwest demolishing farms, homes and buildings. Cedar Rapids, Iowa became the epicenter of the storm. Reporter Alana Schreiber describes how the community struggled to rebuild without federal assistance.
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Welcoming new life during a global health crisis
Imagine being pregnant during a global pandemic. What would you do? How would you keep you and your baby safe? That's been Laura Friedrich's reality since the COVID-19 pandemic started when she was five months pregnant. In July 2020, Friedrich and her husband, Scott, welcomed their healthy baby girl. Rashanah Baldwin interviews these proud first-time parents about how they managed pregnancy and birth during this difficult time.
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Will America's favorite pastime go down swinging?
Reporter Alana Schreiber, a diehard baseball fan, is not excited for the upcoming season. "With only 60 games scheduled, instead of 162, and with the ongoing danger that players, coaches and managers will end up sick with COVID-19, there seems to be too much risk involved and not enough return," she writes.
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'It's time to get comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations'
"My White privilege carved an easy-to-traverse path," writes Reporters Inc. Executive Director Mark Saxenmeyer. After being confronted for his silence on George Floyd's murder, he decided to share his experiences with race -- from the community he was raised in to the schools he attended, from the career he forged to his daily interactions.
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What it's like being a transgender woman in a men's prison
Meagan isn't your typical inmate. She's biologically male but identifies as female, serving her sentence behind bars as a transgender woman, in a prison for men. The Reporters Inc.'s Kim Whiting interviews Meagan to better understand the issues transgender inmates face regularly, and the societal factors that often lead them to prison in the first place.
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Twenty-five years after they were convicted of murder, all but one of the 'Monfils Six' are on parole
"They're excited that he's getting out, but it's also terrifying because they haven't lived with this person for 25 years," author Joan Treppa explained to reporters outside a Wisconsin prison facility. "They're going to have to get to know each other all over again." After being denied parole 10 times, Mike Johnson, one of six men accused of murdering Tom Monfils in 1995, is finally released from prison.
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Discriminatory policies have intensified racism
Nearly four decades after government policies were enacted to crack down on illegal drug trade and usage, the "War on Drugs" continues to negatively impact marginalized communities. Reporter Jessica Siegel claims it was never a war on drugs to begin with, but a war on race.
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New restrictions reducing availability of opioids leave seniors in pain
"When we think about the more than 68-thousand people who overdosed last year, we often imagine young heroin addicts found dead in their cars, or veterans over-medicated on OxyContin. We rarely think of Grandma with her bad back and doctor-prescribed pain pills," Carol Larson writes. She shares how new policies attempting to curb the opioid epidemic leave seniors grappling with extreme pain.
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Michael Hirn takes his first steps into freedom
"We laughed and celebrated, and made toasts to commemorate this historic day. We talked about the future..." In 1995 Michael Hirn, along with five other men, was convicted of murdering his co-worker. All of them have maintained their innocence. Now, Hirn is finally on parole after 23 years behind bars.
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Convicted day care provider maintains her innocence in gripping memoir
In 2010, 49-year-old Lynn Moller, a day care provider in Madison, Wisconsin, was found guilty of three counts of child abuse involving two children in her care. Moller had run her day care without incident for 16 years when the allegations first surfaced; she has never wavered in her claims of innocence despite losing every appeal.
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