Good News ~ 3/15/26 - 3/21/26
Good News from Minnesota - SnowDay Edition
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Every time it snows more than 2”, my neighbor Steve hauls his snowblower down his 13 front steps and snow-blows the sidewalks of entire block, both sides of the street.
In March 2023 when we had two back-to-back snowstorms, several cars got stuck on our block. Five neighbors spent two hours shoveling every last car out, and they all came into my house afterwards for a breakfast buffet.
Whenever big blizzards are predicted, our governor orders the National Guard to deploy to help local communities from the state level.
The Saintly City Snow Angels are a network that matches volunteers with neighbors who are older, disabled, injured, or simply unable to shovel safely. CBS showed how the group turned snow removal into community care.
Wrestlers from St. Agnes School in St. Paul have been known to finish practice and then shovel nearby homes.
In 2024 coverage, a resident was featured clearing slush and snow up and down his block, helping neighbors cross the street, and opening drains so meltwater wouldn’t freeze into the next problem. Snow culture here includes anticipating the next hazard and fixing it before someone falls.
The Halloween Blizzard of 1991droppedmore than 28 inches at MSP and nearly 37 inches in Duluth — yet what keeps getting retold are the human stories: shared shovels, people digging each other out, neighborhoods improvising together.
On days like today, the whole state starts adjusting together: snow emergencies, travel waivers, canceled flights, no-travel advisories, plow routes, driveway shifts, text chains, borrowed shovels. The logistics are annoying. The cooperation is beautiful. When the snow gets heavy enough, Minnesota turns into a place where people check on elders, clear paths, share tools, move cars, and keep each other moving. It’s who we are.
Good News from Minnesota
Monday, March 16, 2026
On March 15, 2026, Thomas Friedman wrote a comprehensive piece Why Minnesota Matters More than Iran for America’s Future in the New York Times.
Content Bookstore in Northfield had scheduled to hold a book talk about the book The Ice on the Lake by Alex Messenger. The book is about an elderly man whose solo ice trip turns into a survival mission. Then, an actual blizzard hit the region, canceling the event.
Minneapolis has built a homeless shelter with dignity. A warehouse was turned into an indoor village of private rooms for homeless residents in Avivo Village, the first of its kind in the U.S. Each unit has a bed, storage, and a door that locks, and pets are allowed. The project opened in December 2020 as an alternative for people avoiding shelters because of their rigid rules and lack of privacy. Avivo offers mental health care, addiction support services, and housing assistance and has served 831 people and helped 240 move into permanent housing. It was built in partnership with the White Earth Nation and won the ULI Americas Award for Excellence.
In Owatonna MN two truckers from Ukraine stopped first to shovel snow in front of a sedan stuck on the I-35 off-ramp and tried to push it free. When that wasn’t enough, Owatonna neighbor Michael Falvey arrived with towing equipment and pulled the car out. This is normal in Minnesota.
In Steele County on Sunday, National Guard members were activated out of the Owatonna Armory and sent out in snow-capable vehicles.
Bring Me The News’ roundup says that at The Armory in Minneapolis, 100% of merchandise profits from the March 13 and 14 shows were given to Neighbors Helping Neighbors..
Francis Burger Joint on East Lake in Minneapolis continued collecting for the Greater Longfellow Neighbor Relief Fund, with a donation match running March 9–15 up to $2,500.
Front Porch Pies turned Pi Day sales into rent relief. For March 14, Front Porch Pies popped up at Tropes & Trifles bookstore in Minneapolis and pledged 50% of sales to mutual-aid/rent-relief efforts.
On Sunday, March 15, White Squirrel Bar in St. Paul donated tips from its Pissed Off Karaoke night to mutual-aid efforts.
Axios reported Friday that 124 entities surveyed by Neighbors Helping Neighbors had distributed more than $8.6 million as of March 5, with $7.1 million of that going to rent. Shir Tikvah’s fund has also given about $1 million, mostly for rental help. The article is framed as a warning that donations are slowing, but the embedded good news is that community giving has already kept thousands from falling behind.
Sean Snow reports: The Minnesota House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the economic impact of Operation Metro Surge was canceled Monday morning (today) because of the storm and will be rescheduled. The hearing had been set for 10:15 a.m. and was supposed to include formal presentations on Metro Surge’s economic damage, including business losses and broader local fallout. The cancellation notice was posted on the House live page as weather shut down large parts of the state. One of the first major state-level hearings focused on what the operation cost Minnesota is now pushed back again.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
Good News from Minnesota
Tuesday, March 17, 2026
The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa celebrated the return of nearly 90 acres of tribal land, including Francis Island in the Susie Islands area. MPR says the acquisition was financed by a $1.2 million grant from the Duluth-based Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, and tribal officials called it the largest return of Grand Portage land in recent history.
St. Paul: Sweeney’s Saloon is literally offering free meals to lawmakers who sit down with someone from the other party. Owner Will Rolf said he wanted to “help lower the temperature,” and Reps. Bjorn Olson and Brad Tabke already took him up on it. Very neighborhood-bar, very Minnesota.
About 300 hunger-relief advocates from around Minnesota are meeting with lawmakers virtually for Hunger Day on the Hill after the weather forced the event online. It’s organized by The Food Group and a coalition of about 40 organizations pushing for stronger food-access support.
The 60th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade steps off at noon from Mears Park and runs to Rice Park, with Irish dancers, bagpipers, local dignitaries, and clan groups.
Irish Arts Minnesota is hosting its annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with music on four stages, traditional dance, an Irish marketplace, and free children’s craft activities.
Crews have started preservation work to help Split Rock Lighthouse better withstand harsh Lake Superior conditions. MPR reports they’re repairing bricks and installing humidity sensors. This is the lighthouse I have featured in images here recently.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
Image by Josh Meier Photography - Split Rock Lighthouse
Good News from Minnesota
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
While ICE is still here, and tis presence significantly decreased on our streets, we are establishing a new normal. Here are some of the positive things happening around town to promote community.
Vegan soul-food spot Trio Plant-Based is reopening in Midtown Global market this week after closing its LynLake restaurant last fall. Midtown Global Market is also welcoming Somali eatery 7 Spices, which planned its grand opening Saturday to mark the end of Ramadan. That’s two very local immigrant owned food business wins in one building.
St. Paul’s winter parking experiment helped plows clear some pilot-area side streets hours before a formal snow emergency was even declared, creating “practically bare pavement” on one side street 11 hours before the declaration.
Ramsey County is hosting the 2026 Green Ramsey Expo and Career Fair from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, where residents can meet organizations focused on recycling, green space, and environmental cleanup. It’s a very concrete local-good thing: jobs, civic work, and environmental help all in one place.
Frogtown Community Center in St. Paul, is hosting the city’s Advisory Committee on Aging to advocate for older adults and support dignity, independence, and quality of life for St. Paul residents.
The Bell Museum in St. Paul is running Neurodiversity Week, making room for a wider range of minds and experiences in a very public way.
Shakopee Parks and Recreation hosted a St. Paddy’s Day Pool Party for kids 18 and under, with crafts, treats, swimming, and a search for leprechaun coins on the pool deck.
Minnesota’s food-shelf system is still functioning at enormous scale and catching people. MPR says Minnesotans made nearly 9 million visits to food shelves in 2025, based on a new report from The Food Group and the state Department of Children, Youth and Families.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
p.p.s. I’ve been conducting interviews of MN WOMN for my new book project. I hope to start dripping out mini-stories next week!
Good News
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Empty Bowls is a grassroots effort to address hunger. Local potters provide the bowls, and local restaurants provide the food (rice bowls). It is 100% volunteer driven effort and 100% of profits go to mutual aid. This Sunday, Empty Bowls is coming to NE Mpls Art District for the 8th year at Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative, and this year collaborated with Edison High School’s Fine Arts department. Suggested donations of $25 for a meal include keeping the pottery bowl.
Jason McElwain, an enthusiastic student with autism, is the high school basketball team manager. For the last game of the season, the coach allowed Jason to suit up, but with four minutes to go in last week’s game, Jason got to play. He got a three-pointer and caught fire. He ended up shooting six 3-pointers with a total of 20 points. His last basket was a 3-pointer right at the buzzer. Jason is now 37yo, and serves as volunteer assistant coach for the local high school basketball team. He is a motivational speaker and an accomplished marathon runner.
A young man named Jon recently posted in a FB group a long shot hope, asking for anyone to give him a used vehicle so he could have transportation to a new job he just got in an effort to turn his life around. A Rochester MN woman saw the request and gave him a van she no longer needed, with the expectation that Jon pay it forward to someone else someday.
A dad came into Little Roo’s boutique and talked with the sales clerk, telling her that his kids are liberal, showing up to protests, speaking loudly about what they believe in. He told her he doesn’t believe in the things they are protesting for, but he raised them to speak their minds and he fought in wars to protect their freedom of speech, so he is proud of them.
Ezra Kusa, a senior trombone player at Highland Park High School in St. Paul has been selected for the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. He will represent Minnesota when he performs at Carnegie Hall and in a European tour this summer.
18 teams of Minnesota high school students competed in the Minnesota Prostart Invitation Culinary Competition.
Jewelry designer Larissa Loden realized there is no National Loon Day, so she submitted a proposal to the National Day Archives. The inaugural National Loon day celebration was celebrated March 13th with a ribbon cutting, a costume contest, a loon call contest, flash tattoos, a DJ, and more.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
Good News in Minnesota
Friday March 20, 2026
The people of the Twin Cities are being honored with the 2026 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for their response to federal immigration enforcement. That is national recognition for very local courage. “This year we honor the courage of those who didn’t seek elected office but have demonstrated moral courage across our society.”
Lowertown St. Paul has a one-night Jazz Pop-up Tour today at Erta Ale Ethiopian Restaurant, 308 E. Prince Street.
Lee Stedman, one of the top independent journalists tracking the ICE news here in MN went to visit his family in Milwaukee for the first time since he started the coverage in January. His grandmother had made him a Minnesota themed quilt while he was away. Yesterday, he posted that he wants to return to MN but doesn’t have accommodations. (he works entirely off donations). In less than 12hrs he had 96 comments on that video. Most of them offering him free housing.
The owner of Little Roo’s boutique decided to buy a case of bananas and oranges to donate to the food shelf at her usual Costco grocery run. Another customer questioned her in line with judgments about who is using the food shelf and why those services are even needed. She took the opportunity to use her social media platform to educate people that individual people quietly offering mutual aid is how we show up for each other here in MN. One of her commenters said he gets the same response every time he makes a mutual aid delivery, people asking which organizations and “fraud based businesses” are paying for the goods and gas. His response is always, “I am privileged and blessed beyond measure to have the tie and resources to donate.”
Protestors in Wisconsin are picketing outside the Douglas County Courthouse arguing that they don’t want ICE using their county jail based on what happened in Minnesota.
Amy Lorentz of The Knot & Nail made 287 rebel loons. Every one hand-cut and hand-painted.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
Good News in Minnesota
Saturday, March 21, 2026
I’m writing this from my front porch, windows open, windchimes chiming, neighbor kids out laughing.
For the first time since 2012, Minnesota is experiencing temps above 70 degrees in March. We rarely get to experience the feeling of spring at the actual start of spring, and this year we EARNED it.
We are hearing rumblings that Bernie Sanders, Joan Baez, and Jane Fonda attending our No Kings rally next week.
Knitters Against Fascism has started a new knitting pattern, for a blue and white ski cap that reads “Be Pretti Good”. Patterns are $6 and ALL proceeds from March 2026 are going to MoveOn.
Speaking of knitting, 60 red knit resistance hats have been handed out in Red Wing MN with donations to Hispanic Outreach.
The Richfield Community Safety Network is offering another Resistance Art Silent Auction. Bidding is open until March 26.
Blissful Cakery -> Bakers for Neighbors Anti-Fascism Bake Sale is offering 3D printed rebel loon cookie cutters for sale to benefit Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center.
Red Wing residents have been showing up to protest every single week for 56+ consecutive weeks.
Mixed Blood Theatre Company and The Playwrights’ Center commissioned local playwrights to capture the emotions and responses to the surge for an event on Tuesday, March 24th.
Minneapolis woman Aliya Rahman, who was assaulted by ICE in the streets of Minneapolis in January, and then testified at Congressional hearings and was also arrested as a guest at the State of the Union Address (for standing silently) will not face charges for her arrest.
Popular Noah Wylie tv show The Pitt featured a controversial episode recently depicting what happens when masked ICE agents accompany detainees to the ER. (as a side note, I just interviewed a social worker at the hospital closest to Whipple that receives these cases with ICE agents interfering with patient care, and the depiction of this tv episode is sadly very realistic to her experiences in the field).
The Minnesota House of Representatives is aiming to deliver $200K to Helping Paws, an organization that places service dogs, in honor of slain Rep. Melissa Hortman.
Thanks for giving a shit.
I love you all fiercely.
TeriLeigh💜
p.s. On Wednesday March 25th at 11am CDT, I am hosting my monthly Fierce Love Community Gathering, with special guest Kelly Wilson sharing her grassroots mutual aid measures. Please watch for my other notes that offer the link to register. Space is limited (and if I offer a link here, it drastically diminishes the impressions on these good news posts).
