December 2011
96 posts
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“We want this law stopped. We want the Governor to issue an executive order to...”
– Linda Gawboy of the Welfare Rights Committee. As of January 1, undocumented immigrants will no longer be covered under Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Assistance Program—meaning that if those seriously ill patients show up at hospitals without insurance, the hospitals will either have to pay for...
What will our top stories of 2012 be? →
Mary Turck has a few ideas.
22 U.S. states are “right to work” states where unions are unable to collect dues from non-union workers. Will Minnesota be the next one?
“Once upon a time, taxing and borrowing for infrastructure wasn’t a partisan...”
– Conrad DeFiebre, “OPINION | Some conservatives get it on infrastructure”
“I think it underscores that sanctity of marriage is important to most...”
– Gov. Mark Dayton suggests that Republicans should reconsider their support for a ban on gay marriage in the wake of former GOP senate leader Amy Koch’s apparent infidelity. David Sejnem, Koch’s replacement, declined Dayton’s request to remove the gay marriage ban from the 2012...
“The Minnesota Soybean Association especially, as well as the Minnesota Corn...”
– Water quality expert Norm Senjem
The St. Paul Public Library system will be doing more to help Minnesotans find work and prepare for careers in the coming year even though budget cuts are shortening the hours the libraries will be open to serve the public.
“Minnesota conservative policymakers remain deeply committed to radically...”
– “New leader in the Minnesota Senate, same failed policy,” an op-ed by John Van Hecke
Five years in, University District Partnership...
It was a packed, happy house when the new University president, Eric Kaler, and his wife Karen, hosted a holiday celebration at Eastcliff, the president’s house, for The Alliance: a University District Partnership, that advertises itself as “smarter together” and is now a new non-profit rather than an uneasy coalition of not-always-happy-with-each-other groups and institutions.
In 2006, with...
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Our top ten news stories of 2011
Tsunami in Japan! Tucson shooting! Tahrir Square uprising! Well, those should be among the year’s top news stories around the world, but the Twin Cities Daily Planet’s top news stories hit closer to home, from Twin Cities schools to Occupy MN to the “big lie” about terrorism in Ramsey County. My picks for 2011’s top news stories are below.
#1 Education | The top...
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The NBA lockout is over—and the owners won again →
Charles Hallman isn’t surprised.
“Hunger ‘predisposes’ people to physical health problems,...”
– Food isn’t free, but not feeding the hungry is costing Minnesotans as much as $2,250,000,000 a year.
Life outside the union
Here I am writing my column on Christmas. I’m not sure if I’m even supposed to be writing this for tomorrow, but well, I could use the money to fund my Christmas presents splurge.
I also worked on the third part of my “What’s at Stake” series, that is in part about the teacher’s union and its critics. For the series I’ve been doing some research about unions, and looking at what the different...
“WE SURVIVED BLIGHT RAIL”
– Sign in a University Avenue storefront. Don’t be so quick to dismiss the long-term benefits of LRT, says Conrad DeFiebre.
Grant to help Twin Cities refugees start child...
Recently, Resources for Child Caring (RCC), Hmong American Partnership (HAP) and CAPI received a $175,000 grant from the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant, which now funds the two-year-long child care assistance program, will help provide Iraqi, Bhutanese, Karen, Hmong and Somali refugee women with training, small...
Osama bin Laden vs. Casey Anthony
Which story is the biggest news: the death of Osama bin Laden, ten years after he orchestrated the September 11 attack on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon or the Florida trial — and acquittal — of Casey Anthony for the death of her two-year-old daughter?
News editors surveyed by AP picked the Osama bin Laden story, but Yahoo and Bing users ranked the Casey Anthony story as number one....
St. Paul Almanac shares the power of publishing
We gather Tuesday evenings and sit at tables set up for us in the AZ Gallery in Lowertown, St. Paul. We are community editors for the 2013 edition of the St. Paul Almanac, an annual publication that is both a literary and literal guidebook to the city of St. Paul. There are 21 of us and we represent St. Paul and its diversity of ages, cultures and abilities. Our work, at this stage, is to sift...
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Race to the Top, Promise Neighborhoods and federal...
And now, for some good news about education in Minnesota. December has been a good month for the state, with word that three separate streams of federal dollars are flowing into the state to improve our education system. A $28 million Promise Neighborhood implementation grant goes to the Northside Achievement Zone, a $15 million “Investing in Innovation or i3 grant goes to the University...
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Race to the Top, Promise Neighborhoods, and...
And now, for some good news about education in Minnesota. December has been a good month for the state, with word that three separate streams of federal dollars are flowing into the state to improve our education system. A $28 million Promise Neighborhood implementation grant goes to the Northside Achievement Zone, a $15 million “Investing in Innovation or i3 grant goes to the University...
Teens and social media: Pew report →
Ann Treacy looks at the numbers and shares parenting tips (“Stop complaining or I’ll tag you at Kohl’s!”).
Christmas in America as a Somali Muslim: To...
The holidays are not my favorite time of the year for two reasons. One, it is the time that I am constantly aware of how much I miss my family who are scattered all over the world. Two, I am guilty if I celebrate Christmas because that is not what Somalis do, and I am still guilty if I don’t celebrate it because my friends say I am different from your typical Somali and do everything else and am...
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Action teams tackle St. Paul achievement gap,...
Saint Paul Public Schools must “commit to dismantling the effects of racism and White privilege on district and school culture, curriculum, and instruction,” recommended the Achievement Gap Team, one of nine Districtwide Action Teams, on December 19. As part of the effort, the Integration/Choice team recommended that SPPS identify low poverty schools in the district and reserve 20 percent of the...
THE ASIAN CARP INVASION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER...
You have enough to worry about this holiday season—so let us give you more than enough!
“In late June, three people stole a vehicle parked on 26th Avenue Northeast....”
– Minneapolis police catch thieves with bait vehicle program
“Around the Twin Cities, the need for help with the necessities of life is...”
– “Report shows demand for services for poor rising in Twin Cities”
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What's at stake: Tenure and seniority in...
“Tenure doesn’t mean you can’t ever be let go,” Minneapolis Teachers Federation President Lynn Nordgren says. “What it means is that if a principal says we are going to let you go, you have a due process — you have a right to understanding what it is that — why this is happening. Tenure allows things like all the “isms” — ageism, racism, sexism — that have been a part of our world for a long...
What's Bunge Tower? →
If you don’t know, better find out soon—it’s about to go down.
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“Escalation of gambling comes with demonstrable social costs: addiction, family...”
– Brian Rusche, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Council. Both the liberal JRLC and the conservative Minnesota Family Council are opposing gambling proposals to fund a new Vikings stadium.
Teachers: Weird, nice, mean, funny and otherwise
I’ve been thinking about this idea of “bad teachers.” Are they really that bad? What are they doing that’s so bad? When I think back to my time in Minneapolis Public Schools, which I attended from 7-12th grade, I feel like I had a decent education.
There was Mrs. Levin, my pre-algebra teacher in seventh grade at Anwatin. I wasn’t very good at math, but she made me excited about it. She taught...
Older workers face bleak prospects, program cuts
“The message we are sending is ‘America to seniors: drop dead because we don’t want to provide healthcare, social security, or employment.’” Anthony Sarmiento, executive director of Senior Service America, Inc., told the Gerontological Society of America’s 2011 conference that’s the message older workers are hearing, as they face increased hardships because of budget cuts that affect...
What's at stake: Getting to a teacher contract in...
“One of the most serious menaces we have at the present time in public education is that of insisting upon equal pay and automatic increases, irrespective of teaching efficiency.” So said Lotus D. Coffman, speaking on November 16, 1919 to the Minneapolis Federation of Women Teachers. Coffman, then Dean of the College of Education and later president of the University of Minnesota warned...
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Knitting up a storm in the Twin Cities
You might think of knitting as a solitary activity for loners, but knitters know that’s not the whole story. “I’ve seen people’s lives change over time,” said Abigail Lamberton, owner of St. Paul’s Borealis Yarn Store. “I am not saying that knitting changes people’s lives, but the forging of ties with others in knitting groups does.”
Minnesotans are knitting up a storm with the...
Is your fire hydrant operational? Are you SURE? →
Hydrants on private property are the property owners’ responsibility to maintain.
“Telling the student-run press to STFU in the name of freedom is certainly a good...”
– Sally Jo Sorensen on Tom Emmer’s attempt to have the Hamline University administration censor its student paper in the wake of an unfavorable article about him.
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Good news, bad news: Jobs in Minnesota
Minnesota’s unemployment rate dipped to 5.9 percent in November, but might not be good news. Minnesota also lost 13,700 jobs in November and more than 22,900 jobs in the last three months. How do we lose jobs and have lower unemployment?
According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development press release, “Several factors could account for the conflicting...
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Good news, bad news: Jobs in Minnesota
Minnesota’s unemployment rate dipped to 5.9 percent in November, but might not be good news. Minnesota also lost 13,700 jobs in November and more than 22,900 jobs in the last three months. How do we lose jobs and have lower unemployment?
According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development press release, “Several factors could account for the conflicting...
American Jewish World turns 100
American Jewish World (AJW) is in its 100th year of publication, and will celebrate 100 years since its founding in June. The newspaper serves as a bridge between the Jewish communities in not only the Twin Cities, but also Minnesota and even around the world. AJW began publication in 1912 under the name Jewish Weekly. The publication was the first successful attempt at creating a publication...
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St. Paul's new Parent Academies serve as...
It was one of those first frigid days, when the air outside makes you shudder, and pedestrians clear the streets early. Many of the parents present at the December 6th Parent Academy class had worked all day before bundling up their kids and heading back to Jackson Elementary school in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood, where they would spend the hours between 5:30 and 8:30 pm talking about...
“We were a model for the nation in protecting kids from classroom homosexual...”
– Lori Thompson, a parent participating in protests against the Anoka-Hennepin School District’s proposed policy change allowing GLBT issues to be discussed in the classroom.