Rising rent, tuition and grocery bills push more college students to food pantries

Rising grocery, rent and tuition costs are making it harder for many college students to afford food and a growing number are turning to food pantries. More than 10,000 University of Minnesota students visited the U's food pantry last fall.Minnesota Senate Democrats passed their catch-all elections bill for the year on a party-line vote Thursday. The bill includes measures to shield home addresses of politicians for safety. It also makes voter intimidation and harassment of election officials a felony.Minneapolis will add a commemorative street name on the city's north side to honor Birdell Beeks. The City Council voted Thursday to add her name to a street sign near the site of her death. Nearly 10 years ago Beeks was killed by a stray bullet while she sat in her minivan with her granddaughter.A bill introduced at the Capitol Thursday would change how suspicious deaths tied to domestic violence are investigated. The bill is named for Allison Lussier, a 47-year-old Indigenous woman found dead in her Minneapolis apartment in February 2024. Her death was initially ruled suspicious; police later investigated it as a homicide. Lussier's family has accused Minneapolis police of ignoring signs of domestic violence.