Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

Best of MSPBJ: Famous Dave’s new CEO talks + Banks dig deeper into borrower backgrounds + Early wins for Shakopee’s young mayor

JT Shining Oneside shared stories about her Ojibwe and Anishinaabe inheritance during the Native American Heritage Month Celebration on Nov. 15. She spoke about the coming-of-age and traditional birth ceremonies. (Photo credit/ Adrianna Adame)

About a month ago, Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reporter John Vomhof Jr. sat down with the new CEO of Famous Dave’s of America Inc. to learn his plans for growing the restaurant chain.

John Gilbert is an optimist. He said Famous Dave’s is a “high-growth brand waiting to happen.” And Gilbert told Vomhof that a simpler menu and more smaller-format stores were among the strategies that would lead to that growth.

That story was one of several that were available only to subscribers until now.…


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Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.