News Cut: December 2007 Archive

The invisible victims

Posted at 9:19 AM on December 1, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Sometimes it's easier to be invisible in a small town than a big city.

The Star Tribune this week unveiled an online portrait of the victims of the I-35W bridge collapse. Thirteen seconds in August used a photo of the vehicles strewn about the wreckage, linking the vehicles to the compelling stories of their owners. Only one construction worker made it into the presentation.

Eighteen construction workers rode the bridge to the ground and the water that evening. One -- Greg Jolstad -- died. After the disaster, many of the workers helped rescue the victims. Then some became invisible, even in their own community.

Two surfaced today in the West Central (Willmar) Tribune (reg possibly required): Hector Bustos Peralta and his nephew Luis DelReal. Their stories are heart-breaking, compelling, and sure to cause Willmar residents to wonder how they didn't know they were there.

Their neighbors in southeast Willmar have helped with the children, but most people in Willmar have not known about the family’s situation.

A cousin asked people at St. Mary’s Church to pray for someone who was on the bridge that day, but most people didn’t know they were praying for Hector, Abigail said. They recently ran into a friend who was surprised to see Hector using a cane and asked what had happened to him.

Diaz, a community organizer for the Races Project, said she had been surprised to hear about the family only recently. “I feel bad that, as a community, we didn’t know,” she said.

But on Friday, the state budget forecast put some lawmakers, like Rep. Marty Seifert, in a budget-cutting mood.

"I would not be planning on anything. If anything they should be planning on less. This is a message from top to bottom - counties, cities, school districts everybody is going to have to hold the line on their contracts, employee wages. Everything. It's going to have to be a hold-the-line year."

Hector, Luis and other victims are about to get caught up in another mess.

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Deadlines from Brainerd to Bali

Posted at 1:03 PM on December 2, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Deadlines. Always with the deadlines.

Last week, some politicians gathered in Brainerd to see what it's like to be poor (reg required). They're part of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020.

According to the Brainerd Dispatch, Sen. Paul Koering acknowledged that, "he's not really sure if poverty can be ended by 2020," which perhaps takes some of the pressure off.

On Monday, the UN's climate change conference begins in Bali. Environment and energy ministers meet -- as they have every year since 1992 -- to figure out a way to cap carbon emissions. The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says we have only until 2015 to save the world.

In 1969, scientists suggested cancer could be cured by America's 200th birthday.

At last week's Mideast summit, a deadline of December 2008 was set for a peace agreement. That notion didn't even last a week.

Tuesday is the deadline for mailing holiday packages to the war zones. Here's to making that one.

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What's China got?

Posted at 4:57 AM on December 3, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Cessna, as American a company as ever was, made an announcement Friday that was easy to miss. It will build its new light-sport airplane -- a new category of airplanes that the U.S. hopes will restore the sagging general aviation industry -- in China.

Stop me if you've heard this before.

"A sad end to the best workers in the aircraft industry in the world, who are here in Wichita, workers who built the B-29 and all WWII-related aviation items that saved the world only to have it all go to China. Sad, sad. A moment of silence for the American aviation industry," opined one observer on the Kansas.com (Wichita Eagle) Web site.

Cessna's main competitor, Minnesota-based Cirrus, announced last summer that its version of the plane would be built in Poland. Nobody played taps. Poland isn't China.

The lead paint scandal, the falling dollar (which may or may not be a good thing), the loss of American manufacturing jobs -- shoot, even Miss World -- have many Americans in a grumpy mood toward China, even as we buy its products at a record rate.

Face it. We're scared. We are looking back in time, and seeing the birth of the American Century -- special China edition -- and wondering who we are and where we fit into it.

Consider this week's observation by James Fallows, the Atlantic Monthly writer, when he had his plane -- a made-in-America Cirrus -- refueled in Japan last week...

And in China last year...

Fallows says he realized that Japan is all about the way of doing things, and China is about a way of doing things.

"I am feeling positive toward both approaches. The emphasis on the right way of doing things is... surprising on each encounter with Japan. And the determination to do things in China, no matter what, commands respect, despite the obvious complications and problems it creates."

When it comes to doing things, what is America about? Because "the determination to do things" was one of those "uniquely American" characteristics that isn't so unique in a global economy, perhaps we're searching for a new identity.

Let's think about how to do that. First, consider this...

Now, are you excited by the possibilities? Or are you scared by the enormity of change? It's not a rhetorical question.

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A place of honor

Posted at 10:51 AM on December 3, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Twin Cities, you're no Los Angeles.

The New York Times reports today that Los Angeles is ending the honor system of fares, after finding 5 percent of riders don't pay.

“Unfortunately, as L.A. gets to be more urban, it has these breakdowns of trust that happen in big cities,” said Joel Kotkin, a Los Angeles resident and author of “The City: A Global History.” “It’s the flip side of all the good things.”

The honor system is the same one used on the Twin Cities' light-rail line.

"Fare compliance on the Hiawatha Line is 99 percent. Fare compliance is a mathematical calculation of the number of citations/warnings issued by transit police divided by the number of customers checked. Transit police check about 20 percent of riders," Bob Gibbons of Metro Transit said in an e-mail response this morning. Though you have an 80-percent chance of riding free, 99-percent of you pay the fare.

Gibbons also reports the post-bridge-collapse ridership bounce on Metro Transit continued into October, the latest month for which statistics are available. The 7.2 million rides in October (up 4.3 percent from a year ago), was only the second time in 25 years that ridership exceeded 7 million. August, immediately after the collapse, was the only other time.

Incidentally, the new park-and-ride lot at I-35W and Industrial Boulevard, opened to no fanfare this morning. Metro Transit wasn't sure the contractor would have it opened by today's target.

"Over the next couple week we will have a direct mailing to the homes of those north of the area, and we will place ads in nearby community papers. We also will communicate with our riders from Rosedale (Route 260). Route 241 may be of interest to them given the congestion and parking shortages (we are over capacity in the park-and-ride portion of the Rosedale lot) around Rosedale during the holidays," Gibbons said.

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Three-minute Tales: Caron Lage

Posted at 10:52 AM on December 3, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

When John Tobiason of Hayfield, Minn., was killed in Iraq last week, his friend, Bruce Tiejen, said "I listen to ABC News in the morning. There were 36 people killed over there this month. I never heard it mentioned once. It's like it doesn't exist anymore. It's like if you don't kill 10 people it's not newsworthy."

It's not just 36 Americans killed last month who've been ignored. It's also the dozens of Iraqis who are killed each day, too. According to the Iraq Body Count Web site, 29 were killed on the day the Tobiason family learned of John's death. Between 77,000 and 84,000 have died in the war so far, according to IBC, which gets its numbers mostly from crosschecked media reports, and hospital or morgue figures.

Far from ignoring the numbers, one Minnesota woman, Caron Lage of St. Cloud, is trying to comprehend -- and honor -- them. She's doing it the only way she knows how: with a needle and thread.

Three-minute Tales will profile Minnesotans who intersect with the news in some fashion, usually in the course of an average day's activities. Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Drop me a line.

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Citing sources

Posted at 2:14 PM on December 3, 2007 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

The Star Tribune's Saturday story, Bloggers seeing red over Target's little secret, has area bloggers seeing red today over the short shrift they got in uncovering the story of Target's secret use of Facebook members to chat up the discounter's virtues.

Ed Kohler, blogger of The Deets, called attention to it last Thursday, later a Star Tribune reporter called him about it, and on Saturday, Kohler got snubbed. The "bloggers" in the headline, never got mentioned in the story.

"What really happened here?" Kohler asked. "The headline of the article, 'Bloggers seeing red over Target’s little secret,' doesn’t make any sense when you don’t include bloggers in the article. A more accurate tile would be 'Student We Mysteriously Found Out About in Georgia Goes Public about Target Rounders.'"

Maybe he's got a point. Maybe he doesn't. He merely called attention to another blogger's work. But bloggers are a little sensitive since Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, gave them the "what for" in a speech last week.

"Blogs can swarm around a subject and turn up fascinating tidbits. They allow you to follow a story as it unfolds. And, yes, there are bloggers who file first-hand reports of their experiences from distant places, including Iraq -- and sometimes their work is enlightening or intriguing. But most of the blog world does not even attempt to report. It recycles. It riffs on the news. That's not bad. It's just not enough. Not nearly enough."

Ouch.

Keller's characterization provides -- here it comes -- "mainstream media" with the reason to ignore Kohler's contribution to the Star Tribune's story. But then he takes it away with his assertion of journalistic principles.

"We believe in transparency -- that is, we aim to tell you how we know what we know, to attribute our information as much as possible to named sources, to rely on documentary evidence when we can."

In the grand scheme of things, the Target-Strib-blogger flap is, perhaps, small potatoes. But maintaining reader trust -- mainstream media's biggest challenge -- is all about details as small as revealing how you came to know what you know.

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A department dogged by itself

Posted at 5:00 PM on December 3, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

"Meantime, the police do not know what to expect and the department is demoralized."
- New York Times article on the Minneapolis Police Department
August 2, 1902

MPR's Brandt Williams reports today on a new twist on an old story: the Minneapolis Police Department at war with itself. Five African American police officers sued the department and Chief Tim Dolan, alleging a history of discrimination against black officers that the five say has gotten worse under Dolan.

"That's ridiculous. Charlie Adams has been a fine officer in homicide. And I don't think there's anyone in homicide -- commander-wise or in the commander's investigations, including Val Wurster, who's African American -- who are targeting African Americans," Dolan said last week.

The lawsuit ends what has been -- at least in public -- a honeymoon for Dolan, who was appointed from within the ranks of the department a year ago.

Here are some of the more recent controversies in the department.

September 1992 - Officer Jerry Haaf killed by gang members, ending an effort by some in the department to work with known gang members Many officers reviled the group, United For Peace, and openly opposed police administrators who met with the group.

Mid-1994 - Deputy Chief Dave Dobrotka, who championed the gang alliance, and was criticized heavily after Haaf's killing, leaves to take a job in Arizona.

February 1995 - Amid controversy over police misconduct and high crime, Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton appoints Robert Olson to replace retiring Police Chief John Laux.

1995 - Donald Banham, an African American, loses lawsuit against Chief Robert Olson, after the police union objected to attempts to promote him ahead of white officers who ranked higher. Banham loses his case.

July 1996 - Minnesota Department of Human Rights hears testimony on allegations that the Minneapolis Police Department discriminated against female employees. About 10 percent of the women on the force testify.

April 2002 - Mayor R.T. Rybak wants Chief Robert Olson out. Olson says, "I'm staying."

August 2002 - During a drug raid, a police bullet intended for a pit bull, hits 11-year-old boy. A melee ensues.

December 2002 - Chief Robert Olson leaves.

February 2003 - Officer Duy Ngo, an undercover cop, was shot by another officers with a submachine gun. Ngo settled a suit with the city last week.

October 2003 - Federal officials investigate allegations that two Minneapolis police officers were involved in the assault of a suspect while serving a search warrant. Later, it's leaked that the suspect was a police informant. The incident comes while the police department is in federally-mediated talks with community members, aimed at easing tensions between law enforcement and residents, especially minorities.

February 2004 - Two weeks after taking office and promising a hard-line against police misconduct, Chief William McManus suspends supervisors -- including an internal candidate for the job he ultimately won -- amid allegations one ordered the destruction of an internal memo in the Ngo case.

March 2004 - An outside investigation finds no wrongdoing on the supervisors' part. They allege McManus is persecuting them.

October 2005 - Sgt. Giovanni Veliz files civil rights complaint against department after being reassigned to night patrol.

March 2006 - McManus quits. Takes job in San Antonio.

March 2006 - Tim Dolan seen as top contender for police chief.

November 2006 - Sgt. Charlie Adams was transfered after he contradicted statements made by his commanding officer, that a bicyclist who was killed over the summer was trying to buy drugs.

Minneapolis is not particularly unique in struggling with allegations of strife within. But Dolan is only the second home-grown chief in the department in several decades, something Minneapolis officials had hoped would provide more stability to the department.

Chicago, by contrast, is trying a different approach. Last week it hired its first non-Chicagoan to head the police department in 50 years.

"A minority candidate probably would have been more attentive' to the need for a diversified command in the department's top ranks," an alderman said. "But I will give the guy a break and see how he does."

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Dealing in DNA

Posted at 5:52 AM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Mary Lucia at the Current occasionally asks me deep-thinking questions like, "if there were a reliable test that could predict Alzheimer's, would you take it and would you want to know?"

Now, we all get to decide for real.

A company, 23 and Me, has just launched, giving anyone who wants to pay $999 for a "saliva collection kit," the opportunity to explore their future (and maybe understand their present a bit more).

The company analyzes the DNA, and then puts the results online for you to play with.

The 23andMe Odds Calculator allows customers to combine genetic information, age, and ethnicity to get an idea of which common health concerns are most likely to crop up. Right now it's limited to a little more than dozen: breast cancer, Crohn's Disease, MS, diabetes and -- I have no idea why this is significant -- earwax type.

The Gataca-like "what ifs" here are astounding to contemplate. What if it showed an inclination toward a particular affliction? How would it change your life? What if your online DNA fell into someone else's hands online -- a potential employer, for example. What if, in the future, Facebook, 23andMe, and online dating converged? What if 23andMe met Google?

Given that the idea has already led to a social phenomenon -- spit parties -- one wonders how seriously the questions are being considered.

Update 8:15 a.m. - In other DNA news, one of the scientists who decoded the human genome says they may be able to create an artificial life form next year. (Listen) Oh, and he'll save the planet, he says.

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Red Barons shot down

Posted at 8:10 AM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

This just in: You can't sell pizzas with airplanes anymore.

The Schwan food company, owners of the Red Baron Pizza brand, has announced it's grounding the Red Baron Squadron, an airshow team that flew Stearman biplanes at airshows from coast to coast, but was based in Marshall.

"The retail grocery industry has experienced considerable change over the past few years. And, as a result, we have decided to refocus our Red Baron marketing program and to discontinue the Red Baron Squadron," Schwan boss Bill McCormack said.

"We’re the New York Yankees of the air show industry," the team's crew chief said.

Wondering if there's a post-Red Baron market out there for biplane pilots.

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Religion in the prisons

Posted at 12:25 PM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

A federal appeals court ruling striking down an in-prison evangelical Christian program in Iowa, may not affect a program in Minnesota, even though it's run by the same organization.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled that the program in Iowa violates the Constitution because it used state money, and because inmates who participated at the Newton facility had to accept a Christian-based program. (See court ruling)

That, the panel said, "advanced or endorsed religion." The suit was filed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

In Iowa, 104 inmates took part in the InnerChange program sponsored by Prison Fellowship Ministries. The same organization runs a program at the Lino Lakes prison. As of last week, 180 prisoners participated, according to the group.

The program is also in use at the women's prison in Shakopee, where 22 women are involved.

"This gives us some additional guidance and clarity to meet the constitutional test," said Mark Early, the Prison Fellowship Ministries president.

Minnesota, up until last year, funded 20 percent of the program. It is now privately funded, according to Early. Listen to my interview with him (Real Audio).

All Things Considered host Tom Crann talked to Joan Fabian, Minnesota's corrections commissioner about the ruling.

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The Medtronic case

Posted at 2:24 PM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Today, MPR's Marty Moylan previewed arguments in a case that will determine how much protection federally-approved medical devices (in this case, from Medtronic) should have from product-liability lawsuits.

We don't get to hear arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, which does not allow recording devices in the court. But the transcript of the hearing is now available here (pdf).

For court-watchers, oral arguments these days provide the possibility of a rare event: Justice Clarence Thomas asking a question. Alas, Thomas' record of not asking any questions in this term is intact.

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Hanging up the phone

Posted at 4:33 PM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

On Monday, AT&T announced it would get out of the "shrinking payphone business" in 2008.

Shrinking? That's charitable.

Payphones, in an age of cellphones, are virtually non-existent. Its death is also a testament to the inability to revive a dying industry through government action. In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission deregulated payphone rates, hoping it would encourage a little action with more competition. That didn't work; an estimated 40 percent of remaining payphones were removed last year, and with them the opportunity for many of us to talk to strangers, just because we can.

I wanted to survey the use of payphones by Minnesotans today, to find out how often people who answer payphones, use payphones.

I needn't have bothered.

The Luverne Laundry, The Standard station in Monticello, Hoffman's Oak Lake Camp in Kerrick, the Choo Char Bar in Maple Plain, the Trucker's Inn in Faribault, Albatross in Mankato, Bemidji State College, Marion's Cafe in Parkers Prairie, Econowash in Moorhead and WalMart in Mankato came up as disconnected, mostly because payphones don't take incoming calls anymore.

Back in the day, it wasn't always so. A social phenomenon, calling payphones at random just to see who answered, depended on it. The Payphone Project, started by Mark Thomas of New York and inspired by a David Letterman bit, encouraged random contacts among strangers.

"It has been largely moot for some time," Thomas said Tuesday. "I've found that many payphones that do actually take incoming calls, ring so faintly that no one would ever hear it."

I talked to Mark on my dime. All of these are in RealAudio format.

Partisanship's price

Posted at 10:20 PM on December 4, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

When it comes to elections, Minnesota has always been considered a model state. Prepare for another glowing assessment, this time from a five-month study of five Midwestern states. The research, released today by the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State, finds Ohio to be the worst, and Minnesota to be the best.

But there are plenty of warning signs, the most significant of which is that "its elected secretary of state...behaved in an excessively partisan fashion." The report was referring to former Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, although current office-holder Mark Richie is coming in for a share of the criticism from his opponents.

The report also says Minnesota's "underlying culture of cooperative decisionmaking and civic engagement may be waning, thus increasing the chances that the state's election processes may become a casualty -- or weapon -- of partisanship."

Though the authors give the state high marks for its election-day registration system, it cautions that a similar system in Ohio has not worked because of "a powerful, not to mention partisan, elected secretary of state at the helm of the electoral process," the New York Times reported.

Here's the Minnesota portion of the report (pdf).

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Real-life court gives fantasy sports players a break

Posted at 10:01 AM on December 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Far from the glare of the Johan Santana sweepstakes, a battle for the soul of fantasy sports is taking place in St. Louis. At issue: whether a fantasy sports league can use the name and statistics of real life players.

Major League Baseball Advanced Media, a marketing and legal arm of the sports league, has been in a battle with CDM Fantasy Sports, over whether fantasy leagues must pay a rights fee for the use of the names and information.

In fantasy sports, the actual statistics are used to determine the results in fantasy leagues, where managers draft the players onto their teams. Without the statistics, of course, fantasy leagues die.

Baseball argues the players' names are used for profit. The fantasy sports league counters it's a matter of free speech.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis -- that's St. Louis as in the home of the smartest and most rabid baseball fans in America -- sides with the free-speech argument (See pdf of the decision here), upholding an order from last year that rejected baseball's claim that "use of such data without a license was a breach of its rights, obtained in 2005 from the Major League Baseball Players Association."

Ironically, fantasy sports has helped propel professional sports to its popularity. It's become a billion-dollar-a-year business. It is estimated that up to 30 million people play (or are addicted to) fantasy football alone.

Baseball has not said whether it will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(Hat tip: Hardball Times)

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Audio on detainee case

Posted at 11:44 AM on December 5, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I was incorrect in mentioning yesterday that the Supreme Court doesn't allow recording of its session. It does allow archiving of audio.

Good. Because today, the case before it was the question of whether foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay can challenge their confinement when there are no charges against them.

The audio is made available first on C-SPAN 3. Links to on-demand audio will be provided as they become available.

Here's the audio. Here's the transcript. Here's the NPR story.

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IDS tragedy update

Posted at 7:20 AM on December 6, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The manager of the IDS building in Minneapolis sent a letter to tenants today, describing yesterday's terrible tragedy that claimed the life of a workman who was removing snow from the Crystal Court.

Prior to expressing its sympathies to the family of the man, the letter provided an unfortunate -- and probably unintentional -- prominence to this point:

It was necessary to close the entire Crystal Court and skyways following the accident. We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Download letter (pdf).

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Social insecurity

Posted at 8:36 AM on December 6, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The theft of a laptop in Minneapolis with 268,000 Social Security numbers confirms the worst fears of privacy advocates who warned us against the growing use of your number as a national identification card.

"They said it was only going to be for the purpose of tracking your Social Security account, and then slowly and quietly it was used for driver's license records, now you have to give it to your bank, all government agencies use it as the identification number, so the original promise that it was only going to be used for one purpose was one of the great lies to the American people."

Back then, the fear was the government's 1996 Illegal Immigration and Reform Responsibility Act, which requires states to get Social Security numbers from applicants. But far from protecting citizens against illegal immigrants, the practice has led to a privacy sieve, not only by government, but private business.

That was Memorial Blood Center's faux pax. The blood center, which is sending letters to people whose Social Security numbers were ripped off, but has posted nothing about the privacy breach on its Web site, used the number to identify whether people were eligible to give blood. There was a time when we had a better way of identifying ourselves. We'd give our names.

The American Red Cross, for the record, also requires a Social Security number for identification when donating a pint of your finest. But it says a driver's license will do. A year ago, its donors suffered the same fate as those who donated through the Minneapolis blood center.

You're not required to give your Social Security number to private businesses. But they're not required to provide you with any service if you don't.

So far, only California has taken steps to significantly reduce the use of a Social Security number as a national ID card.

In the meantime, 268,000 of you are being asked to call your financial institution to head off the possibility your number will be used to access your accounts.

Guess what their first question will be?

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The fight for Duy Ngo's life

Posted at 1:53 PM on December 6, 2007 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

Duy Ngo, the Minneapolis cop who was shot by another police officer in 2003, and who settled a lawsuit against the city two weeks ago, is no longer fighting for his life, or the justice he says he was denied. He is still fighting for his reputation.

Ngo's settlement, his allegations of corruption by the department, and the lawsuit filed this week by five African American police officers alleging discrimination, has focused new attention on the department he says he still loves.

It's a department, he says, that has an "epidemic" of blaming the victim. He's got five years of rumors that won't die, 15 bullet holes, and $4.5 million to prove it.

Continue reading "The fight for Duy Ngo's life"

How we learn from our mistakes

Posted at 7:30 AM on December 7, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

"You have to learn from your mistakes," I was often told when growing up. And, as it turned out, I am now a very smart person.

But some people can't, according to a study out today in the journal Science ($ and completely ridiculous registration process.)

A translation on a Time Magazine science blog:

In a small study, the researchers scanned the brains of 26 men as they each performed a simple task: choosing one symbol from a pair of symbols. After each selection, the participant was presented with a smiley face or sad face, depending on the symbol he had chosen. All men were equally good at learning to pick the symbols that won them a smiley face, but some men were worse than others at avoiding the ones that resulted in sad faces. Those men, it turns out, had a particular gene variant, or allele, that reduces the density of receptors for dopamine — a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in motivation, pleasure and addiction — in certain areas of the brain. Brain scans also showed significantly less activity in those areas in response to the sad-faced negative feedback, in the men who had the allele. When it occurred, however, that brain activity was linked to activity in other parts of the brain that forms memories.

What are the future consequences -- socially speaking -- of learning that our actions and behaviors are not a matter of will, but a matter of genetics?

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Progress at the speed of science

Posted at 11:24 AM on December 7, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Jeffrey Kahn, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota, made a fascinating observation to Kerri Miller on MPR's Midmorning today during a discussion about stem cell research (Listen to his comments - RealAudio):

Dr. James Thomson, the University of Wisconsin researcher, started the stem cell debate in 1998 when he was able to isolate embryonic stem cells by destroying the embryo. Not quite 10 years later, he appears to have ended the debate by "plucking" the stem cells without destroying the embryo.

We are, it seems, expanding our ability to understand ourselves at an astonishing rate; unimaginable progress when you consider that it was only five years ago that scientists completed the mapping of the human genome.

Never mind that scientists -- you know how scientists are -- aren't proclaiming victory yet because the research hasn't been corroborated. It's still a stunning display of progress, especially when you consider that one month -- one month -- after Thomson's discovery, there's new research out showing that using stem cells from the tail of a mouse appears to have cured the mouse of sickle cell anemia.

In a previous post today, I note that researchers have zeroed in on another key element of how we learn from our mistakes, a critical step in mastering an understanding of how we learn at all.

It's not hard to realize why politicians and scientists don't mesh well. Science is always moving forward.

Fast-rewind to 1975, when Gerald Ford signed legislation setting a 27.5 miles per gallon fuel efficiency standard for automobiles (22.5 for light trucks and SUVs, which didn't exist at the time). Thirty-two years later, the U.S. House on Thursday advanced legislation to add 7.5 miles (12.5 miles for the trucks and SUVs) to that, by 2020. It faces a tough go in the Senate.

The automakers, at least the ones in Detroit, are bringing a "can't do" spirit to the effort, judging by an article in the Detroit Free Press today...

Despite those breaks, automakers said the compromise still will require costly investments in new technologies. GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner, an ardent critic of government fuel economy rules, said the deal will "pose a significant technical and economic challenge to the industry."

A 40-percent increase in fuel standards sounds like a lot. It's the equivalent, however, of advancing the technology at the rate of one-third-of-one-mile per gallon every year since Gerald Ford's 1985 target.

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An end to daycare?

Posted at 1:20 PM on December 7, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

As MPR's Jessica Mador reported today, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that a Red Wing daycare center does not qualify for a property tax exemption because the organization failed to meet one of six criteria long used to determine tax exemption status. This case is seen as having major impact on nonprofits in Minnesota.

We've had quite a bit of e-mail on this today, most folks asking about the criteria.

According to the court ruling , the criteria are:

1. Whether the stated purpose of the undertaking is to be helpful to others without immediate expectations of material reward.
2. Whether the entity involved is supported by donations and gifts in whole or in part.
3. Whether the recipients of the "charity" are required to pay for the assistance received in whole or in part.
4. Whether the income received from gift and donations and charges to users produces a profit to the charitable institution.
5. Whether the beneficiaries of the "charity" are restricted or unrestricted, and
6. Whether dividends in the form or substance, or assets upon dissolution are available to private interests.

The daycare, in this case, didn't meet #3. People are required to pay "tuition," so the court ruled that it's not entitled to nonprofit status.

But the devil's in the dissent, according to those who fear the ramifications of the ruling.

"I believe that the question of whether an organization is a charity depends primarily on the nature of the service it provides and only secondarily on the type of funding mechanisms that may be used by a nonprofit organization..." wrote outgoing Justice Sam Hanson.

Hanson said "there is no doubt that the objectives of Rainbow qualify as traditionally charitable," noting also that a "significant percentage of the parents whose children are served at Rainbow are low-income and qualify to receive county assistance. Although Rainbow works with low-income parents to help them obtain public assistance, it also provides service to some children with no or lower fees."

Hanson, it would appear, is calling for common sense over a strict interpretation of six criteria. In the past, the majority of the court acknowledged, the court has not required that all six be met to be considered nonprofit.

Chief Justice Russell Anderson, however, noted that an institution has never been considered a non-profit (in this case, defined as a "purely public charity") without satisfying #3.

But what, exactly, is the goal of declaring something to be nonprofit? Hanson says it's too encourage charitable services, in this case daycare.

While some may see this as a chance for cities and counties to get more tax revenue, others are clearly seeing this decision as the beginning of the end of daycare.

This one's going to the Legislature.

Are you a daycare provider? What's your take?

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The Omaha difference

Posted at 5:30 PM on December 7, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

(Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

This week's tragic attack in an Omaha mall is playing out in the news cycles across the country, pretty much as one might expect. After pausing for a moment to honor the victims, the gun debate resumed.

"When are they going to understand that easy access to guns - and the violence that accompanies access - isn't limited to inner cities? It's not just drug dealers who are shooting people," says the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial.

"The real outrage of this crime is that it happened in a 'gun free zone' where law-abiding private citizens are disarmed by mall rules and state statute," counters a press release from the Citizens Committee for the Right To Bear Arms, an angle picked up by Fox News. Nebraska, like Minnesota, is a concealed carry state. The mall in Omaha, however, posted signs prohibiting guns.

From Columbine, to Cold Lake, Minn., to Red Lake, to the campus of Virginia Tech, the post-tragedy debates have been changing. It changed with this shooting, too. With a few exceptions, this time the mental health issue is on the back burner.

We dared not speak of it after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold gave us Columbine, for fear that attempting to understand their minds would be synonymous with condoning their actions.

When Jason McLaughlin shot up Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minn., in 2003, there was a hint -- though small -- of an attempt to understand the brain that masterminded it.

Hundreds of people gathered in the past few days to grieve at St. Boniface Church. A priest there, Father Cletus Connors, says he empathizes with the streses of high schoolers like McLaughlin.

"I think at that age of being a ninth grader, a person is growing so much in so many different ways, I can see how things can be disturbed," he says.

As a leader in the community, Father Connors laments that Jason McLaughlin didn't seek help from an adult. But perhaps his church will now have a better understanding of how to intervene with such a young man.

Those were our first steps toward understanding the unimaginable.

By the time Jeff Weise killed nine people -- and then himself -- on the Red Lake Reservation in 2005, the mental health issue was as much a part of the subsequent discussion as the role of guns.

University of Minnesota child psychiatrist Dr. George Realmuto offers another view. He argues some people have a genetic risk of problem behavior. Realmuto says traumatic events including bullying, violence at home or rejection increase the chance that people with certain genetic backgrounds will act out.

The focus on the need for mental health treatment reached its crescendo earlier this year, when Seung-Hui Cho committed the deadliest shooting rampage in American history. In its aftermath, the national dialogue was dominated not by guns, but by the mental health issue.

"We have difficulty recognizing mental illness in the young, often confusing serious behavioral problems with normal, temporary adolescent behavioral changes. Better recognition of mental diseases can act as a deterrent of future massacres by making an honest attempt at therapy and intervening with these vulnerable kids," the Denver Post wrote.

The evolution of the post-shootings dialogue, though, ended on Wednesday. People did see the demons in Robert Hawkins, they did intervene, he did get a diagnosis, and he did get at least some help.

In the end, it didn't matter. And now we're back to square one.

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Character test at the gas pump

Posted at 12:26 PM on December 8, 2007 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

"The true nature of your character," a commenter on a CBS blog notes today, "is what you do when no one is watching."

It was spawned by the actions of our friends to the east, who couldn't pump the gas fast enough at a mispriced gas station in Minocqua, Wisc., (it's northwest of Rhinelander).

The price was supposed to be $3.229 per gallon. But an employee set the pumps for 33 cents per gallon.

"There were cars two deep at each of my pumps," the store manager said. The main store sign had the correct price. "I was very upset that there's that many dishonest people. They knew there was a problem, and they took advantage of an employee's mistake and I think that's terrible."

And you? If nobody's watching, would you have pumped?

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Boomtime on the Iron Range

Posted at 8:10 AM on December 9, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The 1970s are coming back to the Iron Range. New mining and energy projects are about to create thousands of new jobs in a short period of time, just as when the paper industry expanded several decades ago. The challenges of meeting the needs of an exploding workforce are underscored by the fact the warnings in Bob Kelleher's story a year and a half ago are still being repeated.

The flood of construction, permanent and spin-off workers would alter economics, education, health, housing, civics, crime, transportation and ethnic diversity within a region that has a 100-year history of being a melting pot of people, the Duluth News Tribune reported today.

The story mirrors one in BusinessNorth.com three weeks ago in which Roy Smith, who's trying to coordinate workforce development programs, indicated a major challenge will still be trying to convince young people to stay on the Iron Range.

“We know 75,000 boomers are hitting retirement in the next 10 years, and we’re looking at several thousand new openings (with these projects),” Smith said. “All the high schools along U.S. 169 from Grand Rapids to Ely will produce just 8,000 graduates by 2010. The old saw that you have to leave the Iron Range to succeed doesn’t apply anymore."

There's already been some impact. Some housing specialists in the state report landlords are ending participation in Section 8 housing programs for low-income residents at an increasing rate, in order to free up apartments for construction workers.

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Letters from Decorah

Posted at 4:15 AM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

MPR's Morning Edition crew is in Decorah, Iowa this morning for a live broadcast from a booth at the Family Table Restaurant. Iowa, as you may have heard, has caucuses in about three weeks.

The local newspaper's managing editor sounds like he's getting tired of the political talk, but only because the candidates aren't buying advertising in his newspaper. He'll run a story the first time a candidate pulls into town. After that, they'll have to win the White House without him.

In his assessment of the Iowa political landscape, Rolling Stone's Matt Taibi said, "advances in campaign tactics mean that nearly every campaign now has enough reach to score at least one face-to-face with every voter in the state." The stop-spot here is Luther College. Romney, McCain, Edwards, and Obama have been here, but only Obama's appearance seems to have students there still talking.

Political consistencies are nothing if not consistent. It's a college town. And it's being worked hardest by the Democrats. Only two have storefront headquarters in Decorah, Clinton and Obama. On Sunday night, volunteers in both offices -- nearly across the street from each other -- were working, making the phone calls few people like to get on Sunday nights.

Be sure to watch two slideshows produced by MPR's Charlie Knutson and Jim Bickal. One features issues that area residents are focusing on, and the other looks at how they've chosen their candidate.

Later on Monday: Updates from the Family Table.

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In search of Ron Paul's secret

Posted at 5:58 AM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

I trudged up to the campus of Luther College Sunday night to talk to supporters of the Ron Paul campaign. He's a hot property on the Internet and the last "hot property on the Internet" was Howard Dean. There's nothing similar about Howard Dean, a liberal Democrat, and Ron Paul, a libertarian Republican, other than being hot properties on the Internet, if not the ballot box. I wanted to test a theory that people from different political backgrounds were coalescing around Dr. Paul, partly because of that Internet thing.

But Karl Amilie, right, a senior from Shoreview majoring in biology; Greg Schultz, center, a junior music major from Grand Forks; and Dan Summerfield, left, a junior from La Crescent, turned out to have come to the Republican candidate the old-fashioned way: they come from Republican families and are conservatives.

Amilie, who admits to playing online games in the past, has an explanation for Paul's popularity: the Internet as metaphor. The Internet is free and open (that's the country), and its defenders have turned aside efforts to restrict music downloading, or filter pornography, or end gambling, or tax purchases on it (that's big government). His message, Amilie figures, plays well to a crowd that understands the metaphor.

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Just say 'yes' by saying 'no'

Posted at 6:02 AM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

As Minnesota tries to figure out how to curb its binge drinking ways, some research in the U.K. today is worth considering. Anti-drinking messages may encourage young people to drink more.

The Bath team found adverts which show drunken incidents - such as being thrown out of a nightclub, or passing out in a doorway - are often seen by young people as being typical of a "fun" night out, rather than as a cautionary tale.

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On the set in Iowa

Posted at 10:45 AM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

(Decorah, Iowa) --If you're a candidate, Iowa makes a lovely setting for the national stage. Most candidates are here - - physically -- but their message, although geared to win the caucuses here, are quite often aimed somewhere else.

Two advertisements in the blizzard of TV commercials seem to bear that out. In one, Barack Obama tells parents to turn off the TV and spend more times with the kids. Iowa seems an odd place to lecture parents about family time (it has one of the lowest divorce rates), especially from a candidate with two young children and a work schedule that took him to Iowa Friday, South Carolina yesterday, Los Angeles tomorrow, and Seattle on Wednesday. Oh, and there's the irony of using a TV ad to tell people to turn off the TV.

And then there was the Mitt Romney ad focusing on defending marriage, a wedge issue if ever there was one -- in 2004. The issue is one a candidate usually uses in a general election, rather than a caucus state in which same-sex marriage isn't an issue among Republicans, especially when Rudy Giuliani isn't working the state much.

At the Family Table Restaurant in Decorah, where MPR's Cathy Wurzer held court this morning, Tom and Jeanette Hansen (pictured above) have noticed that the candidates aren't really talking Iowa issues while in Iowa. They run an organic beef farm, they're voting for Bill Richardson, and they say the environment (which around here means hog farms) and the decline of rural towns are the two big issues. No candidate is running TV ads here about hog farms or rural towns.

"We used to be able to drive five or 10 miles and we'd go past farms owned by 27 people; now they're owned by 6" Tom Hansen says. Farm values are on the rise -- a good thing, usually -- but young people can't afford $3,000 to $4,000 an acre in taxes," says Hansen, who is running for an open state Senate seat.

At the other end of the Family Table diner in Decorah, these women meet every morning.

They say they don't see candidates missing regional issues because Iowa "is part of the nation." This is a diverse group, politically speaking. With one lone Democrat, a handful of Republicans and one independent. While they're not afraid to talk politics, none is fiercely loyal to a particular candidate. That's what makes them a testament to the true oddity of the political season in Iowa -- the relative absence of polarization in the political discussion.

"We're respectful of other people's opinions," one said, talking about her small group of friends, but obviously applying the lesson to her community.

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Goodbye CompUSA

Posted at 3:54 PM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Best Buy has apparently finished eating CompUSA's lunch. The rival to the Minnesota-based firm announced today it's closing its remaining stores, after shuttering its Minnesota stores earlier this year.

The blog, the Consumerist, says the sell-off of inventory begins Wednesday. The long-term cheer from Bloomington may be tempered by the short-term reality, however, that the sale could slow holiday sales at Best Buy, WalMart, and Circuit City.

With CompUSA's death, the concept of a "computer store" sinks farther beneath the waves. Most retailers have expanded their product lines or at least become more innovative.

Best Buy's stock today closed slightly higher, and not far from its 52-week high.

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Leonid Hurwicz explained

Posted at 4:50 PM on December 10, 2007 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

In addition to honoring the world's most brilliant people, Nobel Prize season also has the remarkable ability to make people wish they'd paid more attention in school.

Today, Minnesota's Leonid Hurwicz received his prize in economics.

Minnesota Public Radio's Art Hughes said Hurwicz's son, Maxim, "simplified his father's notable economic theory, which includes people he called 'interveners,' who act altruistically instead of in their own self-interest."

"He did not invent interveners, because interveners are real people. But as an economist he has discovered them and given them a name. He has created a space for them in economics. A little bright spot in a normally gray landscape," said Maxim Hurwicz.

Come again?

Hurwicz received the award "for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory." Here's the scientific explanation, but read it only if you paid attention in school.

Now, here's the explanation for those of us who didn't:

Take games with a desired outcome. The people playing the games are a wild card -- they want different things. So the game's desired outcome is achieved by giving the players incentive to act in a certain way. In a popular online game, a player can be convinced to head a certain way by giving him/her points for killing a dragon guarding a door, for example. In those games, though, the goal is to have one winner. While giving someone a reason to act a certain way to achieve a desired outcome is part of mechanism design theory, having a single winner at the end of the game is not.

Taking that a bit further, Reason Magazine, uses the example of two children squabbling over how to divide a pie.

Parents will already know one answer—one child cuts and the second child chooses. The second child will choose the larger half which gives the first child the incentive to cut as evenly as possible. The first-cut, second-choose solution is a simple example of an incentive-compatible mechanism.

Hurwicz applied his theory in economics in the '60s in the critical debate of the time, according to the economic commentary site, Vox. Which is better: capitalism or socialism?

His results did not, however, let Capitalism off lightly, because individual incentives are not always aligned with social incentives. It did, however, help governments think about how best to regulate a capitalist economy.

In economics, and perhaps in the group meeting you've recently had, there are "players" with different agendas. Hurwicz's work, at least in theory, provides a way to allocate scare resources -- the pie in the above example -- in a way that will achieve a desired outcome, be it happy people, developed nations, housing, whatever.

The importance to the world of having its disparate factions (game players) solve the problem of allocating scarce resources is obviously a big deal. The fact that Hurwicz came up with a theory that shows us exactly how that can happen is why he's a big deal, too.

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Killing in the church

Posted at 8:39 AM on December 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

The Minnesota connections to the Colorado shootings Sunday at Faith Bible Chapel campus in Arvada and at New Life Church in Colorado Springs are growing.

One of the dead, Tiffany Johnson, was from Chisholm. One of the wounded is from Burnsville, and Jeanne Assam (shown), the armed woman (whether she was a guard or a parishioner is still in some dispute) who shot the intruder dead is a former Minneapolis cop, according to the Denver Post.

"I give the credit to God, and I mean that. I say that very humbly. God was with me, and the whole time I was behind cover — this has gotta be God — because of the firepower he had versus what I had was God," Assam said. "And I did not run away. I did not think for a minute to run away. I just knew that I was given the assignment to end this before it got too, too much worse. I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me. I just said, 'Holy Spirit, be with me.' My hands weren't even shaking."

It's difficult to listen to Jeanne Assam's account (Video) and not think of the character of Lt. Jackson in Saving Private Ryan, the marksman who quoted Scripture as he fired, presenting the same non sequitur to us then, that the Colorado shooting gives us in so many ways. A crazed killer assaulting a church? Horrible. A pastor of a church needing an armed guard? There's something you don't hear about every day. So far my check of some megachurches in Minnesota has not revealed a similar arrangement.

The Ledger.com's (Lakeland, Fla.) religion editor, Cary McMullen, raises the obvious question for debate...

And I'm also wondering whether it is really a good thing for churches to have armed plainclothes security guards. I say this as a former pastor and elder. In 1974, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., and a deacon, were killed by a disturbed man who opened fire in Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where King's father was still the pastor. The gunman was overpowered and sentenced to prison. The elder King, known to all as "Daddy" King, like his son, had faced danger throughout the civil rights era, yet the church didn't barricade itself or hire guards, and Daddy King dealt with the tragedy of losing his wife with calm and courage. I don't know. Maybe the situation is different now. But is it, really?

It is, some of McMullen's readers suggested. An assault weapon makes it so.

Being that she's hailed as a hero, Assam is likely to get even more publicity. But one of the most curious factoids in the aftermath of the shooting, comes from a police union official in Minneapolis who told the Star Tribune she was fired because of "truthfulness issues."

The dead-tree edition didn't elaborate, but the online version says...

Lt. Robert Kroll, vice president of the Minneapolis Police Union, said Assam was fired in the late 1990s over "truthfulness issues." In an internal investigation, Assam had denied she used derogatory language in an encounter with a citizen in the late 1990s, but a videotape proved differently, Kroll said.

Assam appealed and the firing was upheld by an arbitrator. Because police personnel files were not available late Monday, Minneapolis Police Department spokesman Jesse Garcia said he could not provide details.

The story may outlive the usual school and mall shooting lifecycles. There's a little bit of everything in this story: violence, megachurches, concealed carry, home schooling, privilege, a devout Christian ex-cop with truthfulness issues, and the role of the Internet in spreading anti-Christian dogma.

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The blogging president

Posted at 12:15 PM on December 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The New York Times reveals that Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has a blog.

"The president has been keeping the blog for more than a year and promises to spend 15 minutes a week updating it," the story said.

So how's that working out? Not so good.

What the Times article didn't point out was that Ahmadinejad has posted all of three messages this year, confirming what most bloggers know to be true: being a president is easy. Blogging is hard.

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The pocket economy

Posted at 1:15 PM on December 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

(File photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images)

Pointyheads, professors and experts are great for the big picture, but sometimes the truth is best uncovered by the worker bees among us. The economy lives primarily in your pocket.

That point was reinforced today when MPR's Midmorning was interviewing James Hamilton, a professor of economics at the University of California San Diego, and Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Economy.com about the role of the Federal Reserve. The Fed this afternoon lowered the federal funds rate, a sign that the economy is tanking.

During the show about the economy, however, the most illustrative points were delivered by two callers.

"I work for... UPS package and I've noticed on the route over the last six weeks, it's been ... the economy has slowed down. I've been in the business for 20 years and you can tell how the economy is going, whether it's hot, cold, you know. And it's really been slow," said Greg.

If people aren't shipping, people aren't buying.

But apparently, they're not tipping either, which provides another glimpse into how the economy is working on Main Street.

Jenny in Minneapolis reported that...

"I'm a server in a really high-end Twin Cities restaurant and what I've noticed is our business levels are about 50 percent of what they were last year. Holiday season is really big at the place I work. And also, on top of that, the guests that do come in to our establishment are leaving roughly about 5 to 7 percent less in gratuity which is really, really strange for this establishment."

And not only are they not tipping, they're not nipping and tucking either.

Anecdotal evidence, of course, is fraught with the possibility of an incomplete picture. Yesterday I asked a Salvation Army bell-ringer how donations were on Monday. "Really great," she said.

Your assignment: Survey those who take your money today on business. And, like Greg and Jenny, report your anecdotes here.

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Timewasters: Street View

Posted at 3:30 PM on December 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

If no work is getting done in Twin Cities' offices today, it's probably thanks to Google, which rolled out the Twin Cities Street View map today. First, everyone looks for their house, then they look for those invasions of privacy that have made Street View famous.

Blogger Aaron Landry found one, maybe, on his first tour today.

It depends, I suppose, on who this guy is and why he was outside of Sex World.

The fun today, however, is not limited to Minnesota. On a Valleywag post, "Google Street View rolls out in Boston and other places that don't matter," the writer finds the Google photos are old. Really old.

Minneapolis has that problem too... sort of.

You can travel underneath the still-standing I-35W bridge...

... and even travel across it.

But the construction equipment that was on the bridge when it collapsed is visible, suggesting these pictures weren't taken long ago.

And so does this picture at University.

And down the street, the media covering the bridge collapse is still camped out.

I guess that tells us when Google was in town.

(h/t: Mike Mulcahy)

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In God, and guns, they trust

Posted at 5:05 PM on December 11, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

This post has been appended with additional information.

In the wake of Sunday's killings in Colorado, Chuck Chadwick's phone has been ringing steadily. In between calls from reporters, there's the occasional church calling to find out how to beef up security. That's the former cop's job now, as head of security for one of the largest churches in Texas, and owner of a company, National Association of Church Security & Safety Management, that advises churches.

Most of them are megachurches. "We have massive control rooms and video surveillance and plainclothes people and bodyguards," Chadwick told me this afternoon, adding he tries to keep things inconspicuous. But he says the need for such things existed long before last weekend's shootings. "We've had down through the years... mass murders. We had Wedgewood in '99, the guy up in Wisconsin, the guy in Sash, Texas and now this. It doesn't really surprise me. I think what it's brought to light is that church needs to have armed people ... in a role. We see a lot of churches sometimes that say, 'Oh yeah, get old Bubba over there with his concealed weapon permit and he can be our bodyguard and shoot anybody.' Well, there's various state regulations and licensing regulations that need to be followed and we help them with that."

Here's the highlights of the interview:

"You can't stop it from happening, you can only limit the scope." (Listen - MP3)

His message to churches that are reluctant to allow guns. (Listen - MP3)

Not surprised by Colorado (Listen - MP3)

At Living Word Church in Brooklyn Center, a megachurch that boasts 8,000 members, I was referred to the "security department," which at least told me they had one.

"We've got it covered, but that's all I'm going to say," said the man in charge of security.

A Star Tribune article today suggested local Catholics are at least thinking about it.

"Maybe this is a wake-up call," said Dennis McGrath, director of communications for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. "An attack during a service is just such an aberration that we don't even think about it. We have crisis plans ready for other things, like natural disasters. Maybe it's time that we need one for this, too."

Churches and guns have been an uncomfortable mix in Minnesota. A couple of years ago, an Edina church challenged the law allowing people to bring guns to church unless a sign (above) specifically banned them. A judge agreed in a 2006 order, but churches may not ban guns from their parking lots.

Update Weds 7:52 a.m. - Fargo Forum newspaper surveys churches in its area on the subject.

Update Weds 10:02 a.m. - Tom MacNally, the chief operating officer at Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church, the largest Lutheran church in the region with 13,000 members, says the church has four police officers handling traffic, who also are available once worship service begins. But "if someone comes in with a rifle, we don't have a procedure for that," he said. The church, however, has established a lockdown procedure. In fact, MacNally says, the signs describing a lockdown process are being put up today. He says the church did not get involved in the challenge of the concealed carry law because church officials were sensitive to being involved in a political stand on the issue, and because posting against handguns would have required the church to check all of those attending church to be sure they weren't carrying a gun.

Update Weds. 1:01 p.m. Eagle Brook Church spokeswoman: "We don't divulge our security arrangements."

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Word of the year

Posted at 10:15 AM on December 12, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Merriam-Webster, the dictionary people, have selected the word of the year.

"W00t," a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher's online poll for the word that best sums up 2007.

A word... with numbers in it. Isn't that just... Gr8? This is, I am told by the folks with cool cubicles, an example of leet speak.

(For those of you who speak this language, let's bring you up to date on the post so far)

M3rriam-W3bst3r, th3 dictionary p3opl3, hav3 s3l3ct3d th3 word of th3 y3ar.

"W00t," a hybrid of l3tt3rs and numb3rs us3d by gam3rs as an 3xclamation of happin3ss or triumph, topp3d all oth3r t3rms in th3 Springfi3ld-bas3d dictionary publish3r's onlin3 poll for th3 word that b3st sums up 2007.

Apparently, this was a bad year to be a verb.

(h/t Sean Collins)

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The point of no return

Posted at 12:42 PM on December 12, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

(Pierre-Henry Deshayes/AFP/Getty Images)

So that's it, then.

Global warming may have passed the "tipping point," according to some scientists who have just released data showing the Arctic summer ice has reached its highest level of melting ever, and may be gone entirely by 2012. It was just three years ago that scientists calculated the ice would disappear in the summer of 2060. Whoops.

Tipping point: "the critical point in an evolving situation that leads to a new and irreversible development."

Tomorrow (Thursday), James E. Hansen, who directs NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, will tell scientists at the American Geophysical Union scientific convention in San Francisco that "in some ways Earth has hit one of his so-called tipping points, based on Greenland melt data."

Scientists, who have struggled to give us a sense of urgency on global warming issues, have now given us a new tipping point: hopelessness.

When the ice melts in the summer in the Arctic, we're told, there's no surge of Canadian air to collide over Minnesota with the warm air from the Gulf of Mexico and, so, it doesn't rain anymore.

It's not like we can just all make an extra tray of ice cubes for the Arctic, or turn off a light, or even wait for progress from Bali.

If we've reached the point of no return, what exactly are we supposed to do about it, other than laugh and wait for it?

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Is Minnesota's sentencing system broken?

Posted at 3:03 PM on December 12, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Tuesday's move by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to lighten the punishments retroactively for crimes related to crack cocaine, recalls the same dilemma faced by Minnesota justice officials in the '80s and '90s: harsher penalties for crack cocaine use put more blacks behind bars than whites.

Black offenders were more likely to use the crack form and white offenders were more likely to use the powder form of the drug, a problem in terms of sentencing guidelines because the penalties for crack were harsher than for the powder.

At the time, it was thought that crack was more harmful than powdered cocaine, a belief debunked in part by University of Minnesota psychologist Dorothy Hatsukami, who criticized the fact that a person would have to possess 500 grams of cocaine to get the same five-year sentence that a person possessing 5 grams of crack would get. Hatsukami and her colleague, Marian Fischman at Columbia University, didn't recommend equal treatment for the drugs, but suggested a 2-to-1 ratio rather than the 100-to-1 ratio because crack was -- and is -- more widely available.

Congress was an unwilling listener at the time, but Minnesota acted comparatively quickly when the Minnesota Supreme Court struck down the state's 10-to-3 ratio as unconstitutional in 1991. The Legislature, upset with the court ruling, responded by raising the penalties for other drug offenses, rather than lowering them for crack cocaine; a decision, we're still paying for 16 years later, according to one expert.

"The weird thing that happened after the powder-rock cocaine case is we discovered who was being prosecuted for powder cocaine sales. Those were black people, too," according to University of St. Thomas law professor Scott Swanson, a former head of the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission. "(The sentences) were out of control for rock cocaine and now they were out of control for the powder."

Still, more whites went to prison for drug offenses in Minnesota, but not because of cocaine, according to the Commission. Its 2007 report on drug offender sentencing issues (Word file) says meth is now the "predominant drug of choice for white offenders." And most of the cases are prosecuted in predominantly white outstate.

But all of these statistics mask a problem, according to Swanson: an overemphasis on drug crimes. He says most of the time judges in Minnesota "depart" from sentencing guidelines in drug cases, and impose different, usually lower, sentences.

"Why do we have guidelines? The system is broken," Swanson says. "Nobody's following it anymore. If I sell you 10 grams of cocaine for $1,500, I get 86 months in prison, if I take your $1,500 at gunpoint, I get 48 months in prison. Which of those two offenders is more dangerous? I don't have any doubt that it's the guy with the gun stealing your money. Yeah, people who sell 10 grams of cocaine are serious offenders... but when these two stand in front of a judge, the judge says 'who's the worse person?,' and clearly it's the nut with the gun, breaking into your home."

"If all of the judges agree that a sentence is wrong, and are imposing a different sentence, then you have a problem with the guidelines," he said.

The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission this month considered reranking the penalties for some crimes, including drugs, in the state (Word doc). But the Commission, according to Swanson, sent the issue to the Legislature without a recommendation, where it's unlikely to get much debate. Politicians are reluctant to be seen going soft on crime.

If the Commission had taken action, Swanson said, the headlines would've said, Sentencing Commission lowers drug sentences. But he says it's not about going soft, it's about stepping back and concentrating on "proportionality," identifying "who are the worst people? Who are the ones we want to pluck out for a longer period of time?" Swanson said.

Those are questions that got lost in the political debate about crime.

Listen to the interview with Scott Swanson.

Bob Collins and All Things Considered host Tom Crann discuss the issue.

Related story: About 200 inmates could get lower sentences (Bemidji Pioneer)

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Swastikas in St. Cloud

Posted at 7:02 AM on December 13, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

At least part of the mystery surrounding swastikas appearing around the St. Cloud State College campus may have been cleared up.

According to the St. Cloud Times, a "cartoon was found Thursday on a bulletin board at St. Cloud State University. It contained people talking about 'rednecks' wearing swastikas on their arms, holding alcohol containers and applying bias-motivated graffiti."

The man turned himself into the police, who determined he was not a suspect in the investigation of swastikas on campus.

A man claiming to be the person who drew the cartoon, called "Hillbilly Hitler," wrote to MPR Thursday. Disclaimer: I can confirm that he's a guy who says he drew the comic, but I can't confirm he actually drew the comic, since he didn't sign his work. Nonetheless, he brings up some observations on the history of the swastika.

I am the creator of the comic book style political cartoon found Thursday at SCSU. My message was clearly missed. Although there are some swastikas on the "Hillbilly Hitler's" arm it also shows them vandalizing SCSU with backwards Swastikas.

But the main word that should be underlined in this statement is "Comic Style Drawing." The "Hillbilly Hitler" also looks to be about 400 pounds, has few teeth, little hair, huge ears, a misshaped head, and had a pile of cheeseburgers next to him. But most people have not even seen the political cartoon and they can only speculate and go from what they hear in the media (who also have not seen the political cartoon).

For a Swastika to represent Hitler, the symbol needs to be facing right and tilted at 45 degrees. But in the drawing, the Swastikas were backwards and were not tilted at a 45 degree angle. The true meaning of a Swastika not tilted 45 degrees is a symbol of good luck that has been used for thousands of years by many faiths such as, Hindu, Buddhist, and even Christian faiths.

So before you jump to conclusions and go on a witch hunt, maybe you -- the media -- should do a little research about what you are reporting on and get the facts straight before you publish a story... but that wouldn't make for good news. So I am sorry that people misunderstood my drawings and I didn't want to give any ounce of support or connection to these Neo-Nazis.

I just thought students and faculty at SCSU could see the cartoon and have a cheap laugh at the expense of the overall stupidity of these vandals and that they have little or no support for their ignorant cause on campus or in the community.

In other words...

Good	Bad

"Hillbilly Hitler" was a phrase coined by Julian Bond to describe David Duke, the former Klan leader who ran for president a few years ago.

As the link above shows (BBC), the swastika did have an anti-Semitic life before Hitler.

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Led Zeppelin tests the 'net

Posted at 10:00 AM on December 13, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A lot of things have changed since Led Zeppelin played its last concert. There's this Internet thing now changing all the rules.

Led Zep performed in a comeback concert earlier this week, its first since being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Now the band is getting You Tubed. Silicon Valley Insider has been tracking the rapidity with which people are posting videos of the concert in London, and an investigative firm is trying to take them down just as fast.

In the shadow of the writers' strike over the role of online rights, this latest test of the "free Internet market" has the "I want it free" crowd pitted against the "it's my content" crowd.

Says Alexander Wolfe on Information Week:

Despite the lack of clarity on where we're headed, I think we've at least reached the point where we can retire the simplistic argument that's been the mantra for the anti-IP crowd for the last decade. Namely, the Web wants to be free and content creators should all just get over it. No, thank you; I prefer to remain steamed.

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How the glitch stole Christmas

Posted at 12:00 PM on December 13, 2007 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)

Technology is a wonderful thing -- most of the time. But sometimes it's what takes Christmas presents away from kids in the poorest county in Minnesota.

Thom Blackbird, who runs the Cass Lake Family Service Center, an agency that helps residents in the town, including those who are not enrolled members of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, says about 2,000 people depend on the center for help, including obtaining GEDs, attending at-risk programs for kids, getting computer training, and obtaining employment assistance. And Christmas presents.

Last year, kids in 350 families got toys, thanks to the Marines' Toys for Tots campaign in Minnesota. This year, none will.

Here's why. The Marines use an online sign-up form to collect the requests for toys shortly before Thanksgiving. Blackbird says his assistant filled out the form this year, but when she pressed submit, she got no confirmation message. So she filled it out again... and again.

After not hearing anything from the Marines, Blackbird left several messages for the Toys for Tots organizers and heard this week that when the Marines saw multiple submissions, they assumed someone was trying to submit phony requests, and ignored them; all of them. They also told him, according to Blackbird, that they didn't want to provide toys to two agencies in the same area, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was already getting toys, to be given only to Native American children.

"They're doing a fantastic job," Blackbird says of the Marines, "and I thanked them for their service here and overseas. It's just a case of technology that didn't work."

But there's no "give" in the Marines' decision not to include Cass Lake Family Service Center, partly because there are no toys. Blackbird says toy donations are lagging badly -- 50,000 are in hand, but 200,000 are needed. It's a startling drop-off in donations that I've, so far, been unable to confirm with the Marines, but KARE, which partners with the Marines, reports a significant enough drop that it's unlikely there'll be any extra toys for the Cass Lake kids. Blackbird will find out Tuesday.

It's a theme repeated all over the country -- tough times for grown-ups means tough luck for kids.

So yesterday, Blackbird called 100 families to tell them there'll be no presents in Cass Lake. "They were all so gracious. I had only one negative response. But, still, I hung up the phone at one point and said, 'just take me outside and beat me. It'd be better than this.'"

Thom Blackbird can be reached at 218-335-7837.

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Requiem for a meter reader

Posted at 4:02 PM on December 13, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

To a list that includes buggywhip factories, elevator operators and righthanded sluggers in Twins uniforms, we can add another vanishing species in these parts: meter readers.

The Duluth City Council will vote Monday on spending $9.5 million on a system that will replace the need for 10 employees to walk from house to house, reading 53,811 meters, according to the Duluth News Tribune.

In Duluth’s case, a person would drive around the city using a GPS map and a laptop, said John Hall, the city’s chief administrative officer. After the van comes near a meter device, it would send a signal to a laptop registering the reading. A light would go off on the laptop, letting the driver know a reading was taken.

Nationwide, there were 45,000 meter readers in 2006 with a median income of about $29,000. Only 440 are left in Minnesota, the Labor Department says, with a mean salary of $40,720.

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Opening the reporter's notebook

Posted at 5:43 PM on December 13, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Fellow newsies were predictably -- and rightfully -- piqued on Wednesday when it was revealed that St. Paul cops got the cellphone call list of a TV reporter to try to figure out who leaked the police record (public record as it turned out) that the reporter was looking for.

After a day of being berated by journalism groups, and media columnists, St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington restored the idea of reporter privacy by ending his department's hunt through the phone records.

Case closed on the privacy of reporters' sources, right?

Wrong.

"In obtaining my phone records they basically opened up my reporter’s notebook,” said the reporter in question, Tom Lyden. "They basically looked at my notes. They have looked at sources. They have looked at people I have tried to protect.”

But the reality is, you can't protect your sources and call them on a cellphone. And it doesn't take a warrant or a ticked-off police department to figure out who they are.

Getting a list of phone numbers called to or from a cellphone, in fact, is easy, so easy that Congress held a hearing on the problem last year and found out that quite often, according to MSNBC, the customers were police departments and the FBI.

A publicly elected official caught up in the congressional inquiry also has said publicly that he obtained phone records for law enforcement officials. Colorado state Rep. Jim Welker, owner of Universal Communications Co., told the Rocky Mountain News earlier this month that he sold phone records to law enforcement officials, as well as debt collectors and financial companies.

How easy is it? Pretty easy. Last year, for example, a blogger bought the cellphone records of Gen. Wesley Clark, a former candidate for president.

All of the call records, of course, come from the cellphone companies, and were obtained illegally. The companies, in many cases, have sued data brokers, but they continue to proliferate on the Web. And there's still an active exchange of cellphone records between the companies and the federal government. And quite often, the authorities are targeting journalists. A few months ago, the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to a deal to give immunity to those companies who participate in the exchange.

Perhaps reporter sources can sleep easier tonight, knowing that John Harrington's forces aren't figuring out who they are. But any reporter who's congratulating himself on turning back an assault on journalists, is missing the bigger story.

There's a reason old-time journalists like dark garages.

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Today's Alice in Wonderland moment

Posted at 10:15 AM on December 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Students who stay up all night to study have lower GPAs than those who don't.

Is it because the student isn't getting sleep, or is it because the student who may not be as bright feels the need to study more?

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The tentacles of farm subsidies

Posted at 12:30 PM on December 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The Senate has turned aside an attempt by Sen. Amy Klobuchar to throttle back farm subsidies.

The farm bill is big -- real big; so big that some people believe it's time to scrap an outmoded system. Others wonder why some elements of agriculture need to be subsidized to the present extent. Does one farm in Minnesota really need the $9 subsidy for safflowers?

How closely followed is the issue of farm subsidies? Here's a Google map on the Environmental Working Group's Web site that shows farm-related businesses. Each blue dot represents an actual agricultural business.Each red dot represents anyone who benefitted from the subsidies. (Go to the Web site and zoom in on the map.)

Lots of people get money from the farm bill, but not a lot of people get a lot of money from the bill. According to the USDA, 66 percent of the $2.13 billion sent to Minnesota, went to 10 percent of the beneficiaries.

For the first time, according to Web site owner Ken Cook, who, certainly, has a point of view, the USDA is making it easier to find out who gets the money.

For instance, we continue to find that farm program benefits are highly concentrated in the hands of a small minority of subsidized individuals and operations, even after multi-million-dollar payments to large cooperatives have been disaggregated and attributed to individuals.

He's also got the numbers. Here are the top farm businesses in Minnesota -- out of the 4,690 who benefitted -- between 2003 and 2005.:

The relationship between farmers and politicians is pretty hard to miss.

For example:

Members of the Stamer family -- Hector Farms -- donated $30,516, mostly to a political action fund for sugar beat beet farmers that was a heavy contributor to the 2002 campaign of Sen. Norm Coleman, former congressmen Gil Gutknecht, and Mark Kennedy, current Reps. John Kline, Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar, Collin Peterson and -- wait for it -- current Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Michael Stamer, of Willmar, is the third-largest beneficiary of farm programs in the state, garnering over $561,000 over the period, behind only the University of Minnesota and the Big Stone Farmer Coop.

Gary Pestorius (Sunset Farms) is a contributor to Sen. Norm Coleman's re-election effort, as well as a PAC that contributes to Peterson's and Oberstar's campaign. He's chairman of a company that runs an ethanol plant. Dawn Pestorius is also a Coleman contributor.

Principals in Vipond Farms contributed to a PAC that has handed out money to Coleman, Klobuchar and many of the others previously mentioned.

Robert Lange of Two Dogs farm is a contributor to the National Republican Congressional Committee. Wanda Lange was a Bush-Cheney contributor.

Related information: Talk of the Nation program on farm subsides (12/11/07)
Washington Post: Sugar industry expands influence (11/3/07)

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No health care miracles

Posted at 6:39 PM on December 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Much was made of Massachusetts' statewide health care plan when it was voted in under the direction of then-Gov. Mitt Romney. There was talk that it would be a model for other states.

How has it worked out?

Judging by an article in the Boston Globe today, it's worked out so well it's not working out so well.

In the first year, the program for low-income people has enrolled nearly 160,000, far more than anticipated, and state officials have estimated that the cost could run as high as $619 million for the current fiscal year, $147 million over budget.

The agency that administers the program is on the verge of cutting payments to doctors and hospitals, reducing choices for patients, and perhaps increasing the cost to state residents.

Under the law, residents are required to have some kind of health insurance.

No such law exists in Minnesota, of course. MinnesotaCare was a popular program for the uninsured in the state, but the budget crunch several years ago, led to a raid on the health care access fund by no-new-taxes lawmakers to help balance the state budget. Though the Legislature has regularly debated health care in the state, early signs for the '08 legislative session do not suggest much agreement is coming anytime soon.

And the problems in Massachusetts make it unlikely it will be used as a model plan.

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The new gang look

Posted at 7:32 AM on December 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

What if this becomes the new look of gangs?

We hear that in Central America, gangs are giving up the "gang look," and going for the college prep look.

"Setting themselves apart by tattooing themselves head to toe with threatening symbols and hanging out in large crowds on street corners, their goal was to intimidate law-abiding citizens and rival gangs alike, experts say."

In this environment, anything is possible.

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Fairness in baseball?

Posted at 8:20 AM on December 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Last week's -- and now this week's -- focus on the steroid problem in baseball centered on the contention that a "level playing field" is in the best interests of the game; no player should have an unfair advantage over another.

It was an odd focus since baseball is not structured on the concept of a level playing field. If it were, the same philosophy would be applied to franchises as well as individuals. But, of course, some teams have a competitive advantage over another by virtue of their location and their payrolls. Or do you actually believe Adam Everett somehow puts the Twins in a position to contend for anything?

The Hardball Times today takes a look at this question of competitive imbalance, calling it "the quintessential American irony."

There is a definite irony that one of the central tenets of American sports is wealth and talent redistribution yet the country is perhaps the most capitalist on earth. Shoot across the pond to Europe, or any other part of the world, and competitive balance is anathema; in fact, standard procedure, if anything, is to encourage more competitive imbalance! Herein lies a second irony: more redistributive societies do not apply the same rules to sports.

That raises the question of who is right? Does increasing competitive balance help sports to attract more talent and money? Or is the contrarian premise that more imbalance is desirable actually correct?

The research concludes that imbalance is desirable -- a recipe for a long Torii-less, Johan-less summer in Minnesota. Apparently that's good for the game. We're "taking one for the team."

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A doomed icon?

Posted at 12:02 PM on December 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Ground zero in the ongoing battle over the use of Native American names and images for sports teams is North Dakota.

The University of North Dakota is trying to hold onto the Fighting Sioux name and logo, against an onslaught of opposition from the NCAA. But the logo is likely doomed.

A study in this month's Sociology of Sport Journal ($) found substantial opposition to the name and logo. The study, conducted by a UND grad, shows "overall support for the nickname declines the longer students attend UND and found no significant difference in opinions between American Indians from different tribes," according to the Fargo Forum.

UND's introspection comes primarily as the result of an NCAA ruling that prevented it from hosting postseason play as long as the name and logo exists. A recent settlement of a subsequent lawsuit gives the university three years to get permission from the Standing Rock tribe to use the name and logo, or find a replacement. So far the tribe has said "no."

For the most part, we're talking hockey here. And when you're talking hockey at UND, the spotlight is on the Ralph Engelstad Arena, an arena that is festooned with the logo. The cost to remove it, the Forum reported yesterday, would be about $1 million.

The state's Board of Education will meet on Thursday to discuss the logo and name. Even that meeting has controversy to it. The band has said negotiating with a lower-level government entity or university is beneath "their station as a sovereign nation."

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Measuring happiness

Posted at 3:53 PM on December 17, 2007 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)

Men don't much care for kids, especially those between 5 and 15, according to a British study that came out last week, as quoted by the BBC.

The study by the Institute for Social and Economic Research suggests non-working mothers are more satisfied with life once their children start school.

For men, the presence of children brings no increase in life satisfaction.

Ouch. There it is. Kids bring no joy to men, and women aren't all that thrilled about having them either, said the study from the Institute for Social and Economic Research, which found:

The smart iPod

Posted at 12:23 AM on December 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The blog Open Culture has 10 ways to make your iPod a better learning tool, with links to bits of of software you can load.

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In the dark

Posted at 10:00 AM on December 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Since the dawn of the environmental era -- the '70s -- we have heard that the age of solar energy for our homes is coming, that eventually the price of installation is going to come down. Forty years seems like a good time to assess the possibilities of solar.

National Public Radio's Morning Edition yesterday reported that business is so good for a company that installs solar panels in San Francisco's Bay Area that the firms cannot find enough entry-level workers.

Things are looking up for solar, right? Apparently not.

As the conference on climate change in Bali ended, the focus was more on meeting benchmarks on reducing carbon emissions. Solar was suggested as a solution for some areas of the planet. But Minnesota is not the Sahara.

Venture capitalists reportedly will send lots of money in the direction of green companies in 2008, but they don't see solar, apparently, as cutting edge.

It's not hard to understand why. Even after 40 years, it's unaffordable for most Minnesotans.

In a hunt for solar power calculators, I found one from Kyocera(Use IE. It won't work in Firefox.), plugged in the zip code for St. Paul. and found that for the cheapest unit (recommended by the state of Minnesota's solar energy primer), would cost $7,750 after $5,000 in tax rebates and credits. I would save $135 a year, mostly because -- as you can see in the January projection -- there's not a lot of sun in these parts.

Surely there's something wrong with these numbers. So I tried another calculator. Findsolar.com suggests that Washington County is "good" for solar power, based on a rating of 4.613 kWh/sq-m/day. Whatever that means. All I know is it told me the net cost of going solar is $57,040 and it will cost 25 years to break even (factoring in an increase in property values).

There is a glimmer of hope. Today in San Jose, Nanosolar is announcing it's shipping panels made from a new manufacturing process for solar panels that "prints" the photovoltaic material on aluminum, cutting the cost by up to 80 percent.

It comes not a moment too soon.

After Bali, developing nations complained that they can't afford the technology to generate clean energy. So far, the developed ones can't either.

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Driven to complacency

Posted at 11:35 AM on December 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

A study from the University of Minnesota out today says rural Minnesota drivers are more complacent than their urban counterparts.

"The most interesting thing about the research is that people were willing to tell us the truth about their behaviors - that rural drivers aren't wearing their seatbelt and think that drunk driving isn't that dangerous, so education may help prevent crashes for these risk factors," researcher Mick Rakauskas said in a U of M release.

Last month, the U released a study showing more fatalities on rural roads in state's that do not have seat belt laws.

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From France with love

Posted at 4:13 PM on December 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

We baby boomers, in our later years, have become enchanted with the Greatest Generation, which is ironic since it was the generation we yelled at when it told us to cut our hair, support the war in Vietnam or get a job. They were our parents, of course, and as with most kids, once we got older, we got more perspective and, if it wasn't too late, we could honor them accordingly.

For two Minnesotans -- and their families -- that day came today at the Capitol when Walter Halloran of Rochester and Merrill Burgstahler of Minnetonka received the Legion of Honor medal from the French consul. Up until fairly recently, the award went only to World War I vets.

Usually, families apply (pdf) for the 100 or so medals which are given out each year in the U.S.

Walter Halloran's (picture above) story was told in the Pioneer Press today. "Don't I get a kiss," he said after the medal was pinned on his uniform. He got a hug.

Merrill Burgstahler (below) got to tell his own story. He said the award was the second he's received from the French people. "My first one was from a boy pouring cider for the troops," he said. "He also gave us a pair of wooden shoes." (Listen to his speech)

These awards, of course, symbolize more than just the soldiers who receive them. Thousands of others also sacrificed in the liberation of France.

These moments also give us a little insight into modern-day France, too. France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy, awarded his first medal in June...

... to Barbra Streisand for performing in a concert.

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Bridge help

Posted at 6:04 AM on December 19, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Five months after the I-35 bridge collapsed, and almost a month after the state set up an emergency fund for victims, it's still unclear how those affected by the collapse get help, at least if an e-mail to MPR News this week is any indication.

"I was in the middle of the bridge when it collapsed," Emily Paden of St. Paul said. "My car was the black Grand Prix that is pictured all over the news. I fractured my back in two places and was out of work for 6 weeks. I wore a brace for 8 weeks, and even though I am declared 'healed,' there isn't a day that goes by where my back is not in pain.

"The government has had almost no contact with the bridge survivors unless they seek it. I am aware that there is a victims relief fund, however I have no idea how a victim is suppose to access this."

I sent this up to Jim Schwartz at the Minnesota Department of Administration, the agency that is overseeing the emergency fund. He reports that the first step is to call the claims helpline at 612-766-3920. And his department is going to contact Ms. Paden.

But her comments are a reminder, especially to us in the media, that we should be doing more to make some of this information available.

There is also the Minnesota Helps - Bridge Disaster Fund (Apply for assistance.) Much of the fund remains untapped, according to the Associated Press. The theory is that people are still trying to figure out what their needs are, but it appears possible that many bridge victims just don't know what they're supposed to do to get assistance.

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Christmas comes to Cass Lake

Posted at 8:46 AM on December 19, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

I'm taking today off for a day of Christmas shopping, but I'm pleased to add one more uplifting post. Last week, I wrote about a computer glitch threatening Christmas for many of the kids in Cass Lake.

Thom Blackbird, from the Cass Lake Family Center sends along this update.

How good people whupped up on the Grinch!!

I wanted to update everyone about Christmas in Cass Lake. Through the efforts of a great group of people the Cass Lake Family Center will be able to put on the toy giveaway.

Sharon Mitchell of the Horizons Program, Joanne Stately of the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, Bob Collins of MPR, The Palace Casino and Leech Lake Gaming, John Parsons of Channel 9, Paul Bunyan Broadcasting in Bemidji, The Longville Area Women of Today, Nancy Ludwig, Tech Builders, Peter Ruten,Susan Beaulieu, Steven Papocky,Kathryn Wesley,Laurine Cecil and others who shall remain anonymous. To those and all others who will contribute, we of the Family Center extend our deepest thanks!

May the creator bless you all with health and well being.

Thom Blackbird
Cass Lake Family Center.

Nice!

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Saving history

Posted at 10:33 AM on December 19, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

One of the more intriguing images from the live TV coverage of the fire in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington was the removal of items of furniture from the floor that was on fire. One firefighter dragged out a table of some sort, pushed it up onto a railing and was ready to let it go, as if he was fighting a blaze at Joe's Trailer Park and Bait Shop.

For all I know, it was a little something someone picked up WalMart. Or it was a one-of-a-kind, hand carved, cherry table presented to the U.S. from the King of Somewhere.

How would the firefighters know? That the table didn't take a tumble from the burning building at least suggests that fighting a fire in a historic building requires more finesse than just putting the fire out.

And, in fact, it does. The government commissioned a study years ago and came up with a "compartmentalization" approach, in which fire protection is designed around "compartments" within the building, according to Richard Forrest at buildingconservation.com.

The assessment also needs to consider any occupier requirements that may have an effect on fire strategy. For example, where a stately home or a museum is concerned the need to salvage artefacts could well represent an important factor in the final definition of the fire plan for the premises. Having identified and quantified fire risk, the basis of fire safety design must be defined, always taking into account the requirement to satisfy life safety issues, and to balance property protection issues against physical intrusion.

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Historical Society has put together a disaster plan for historic buildings, although it doesn't specifically address firefighting issues.

(Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

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Photograph of the year

Posted at 5:34 PM on December 19, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

This is the "of the year" time of the year, a time for newsies to dredge up stuff that's old and present it as new. We'll have stories of the year, quotes of the year, people of the year, grinch of the year, songs of the year, and idiot of the year.

UNICEF, the United Nations organization, has already jumped the route with the picture of the year. It comes from freelance photographer Stephanie Sinclair.

"The groom, Mohammed, looks much older than his 40 years. The bride, Ghulam, is still a child; she just turned 11. 'The UNICEF Photo of the Year 2007 raises awareness about a worldwide problem. Millions of girls are married while they are still under age. Most of these child brides are forever denied a self-determined life,' says UNICEF Patroness Eva Luise Köhler at the award ceremony in Berlin. According to UNICEF, there are about 60 million young women worldwide who were married before they came of age, half of them in South Asia."

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The health insurance debate

Posted at 7:27 AM on December 20, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Three new studies out today on health care insurance coverage.

An American Cancer Society study finds cancer patients without health insurance are twice as likely to die within five years as cancer patients with health insurance. There is a significant caveat, however.

The research by scientists with the American Cancer Society offers important context for the national discussion about health care reform, experts say - even though the uninsured are believed to account for just a fraction of U.S. cancer deaths. An Associated Press analysis suggests it is around 4 percent.

But the health care issue is more than an insured vs. non-insured debate, a study from the group Families USA suggests. The group lobbies for health care coverage. Yesterday the group released a study saying one out of four families in Minnesota with insurance coverage, will still pay 10 percent of their income on health care in 2008. The number is about the same in Wisconsin and is slightly higher in Iowa.

The Bemidji Pioneer's editorial (registration required) this morning says the report underscores the need to focus on the insured as well as the uninsured.

As a result, affordable quality health care is no longer a problem for the uninsured, but now also is a problem for those who have insurance. As health costs take up more and more of a family’s budget, hard decisions will be made that could put the family’s health in jeopardy. Policy makers, who seek reform to contain health care costs, need also to keep current protections in place for people now insured and that adequate coverage to do so is provided.

Getting significantly less attention this week was a study from Brandeis University on the impact of health insurance on farmers. Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota were included in the study.

While only 8 percent of American households buy health insurance through this market, the study found that 36 percent of farm and ranch families do. Those 36 percent of families are paying an average of $4,359 more than their counterparts who get insurance through an employer, the survey found.

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Diving for dollars

Posted at 11:44 AM on December 20, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

There's been plenty of coverage of pork spending in the last few days of the year. President Bush has criticized the omnibus appropriations bill because it contains money for a prison museum and a Portuguese-as-a-second-language program, among hundreds of other programs considered wasteful.

Rep. John Kline, in Minnesota's 2nd District, has gotten religion on the issue this year, promising not to pursue any "earmarks" -- pork -- in this budget cycle.

Among the listings for Minnesota in labor and human services appropriations, according to Earmarkwatch.org:

Dispatches from Planet Parenthood

Posted at 11:48 AM on December 20, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

So "child star" Jamie Lynne Spears, now pregnant at 16, has gotten a head start at catching up with her famous sister. A swing around today's news proves you don't have to know the family Spears to shake your head at the good, bad, and ugly side of parenthood.

In Willow Springs, Illinois, a mother wanted to teach her 6-year-old son a lesson because he had a habit of wandering off. So she took him to a mall, and left him there.

In Texas, a woman ran out of gas and left her 5 year old and 10 month old in the car while she hoofed it to a gas station. The 5 year old ended up in traffic.

"Your mother loves you, but she's not very good at being a mother," said Judge Paul Tressler. "It's as simple as that." He was sentencing a teen for plotting a Columbine-style attack. Guess who bought him the guns?

In the U.K. a grieving mother has had photos of her soldier son, who was killed in Iraq, stolen by pickpockets while on her way home from a memorial service for him.

Doctors at Ruijin Hospital saved a girl's life by performing the city's first liver transplant using part of a liver from both her mother and father. Only five countries in the world have successfully performed such an operation, and there had been only two in China.

The number of single dads is climbing.

Father, brother, now son killed by drunk drivers.

The long-estranged father of 9/11 victim Kenneth M. Caldwell cannot claim a penny of his son's $2.9 million estate, a Brooklyn judge has ruled.

Raising four teenagers is a chore under the best of circumstances, when both parents are alive and well and money is not an issue. Brian Gardner is raising four teenagers alone. But they are not his children.

A father in Arizona is mourning the death of his wife, who died giving birth to triplets.

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Stanek's training video

Posted at 3:52 PM on December 20, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

One of the great joys of the journalism business is when a small story (in the big scheme of things) grows legs and then scampers all over the news business. The Star Tribune story of Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek's promotional video of his the county's response to the I-35W bridge collapse is a perfect example.

The original story detailed a heavy-on-Stanek "training" video that was shown to the men's group at the Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and led to the question of whether Stanek was preparing another run for public office.

KARE picked up the story, and quoted Stanek as having no comment because he hadn't read the Star Tribune story. (You have to read the newspaper story to answer the question about the purpose of a DVD your staff produced?)

By Monday, Stanek was able to answer the question of the propriety of spending $30,000 for the video (which can be viewed here)

"You know, I disagree," Stanek said Monday, in response to the concerns. "I've spoken to the commissioners that commented over the weekend in the local paper. They did not have the benefit of seeing the presentation that goes with the video. They saw snippets of it."

Brian Lambert, the media critic and blogger, intercepted a copy of an e-mail that showed how Stanek's video was playing with some of the other people who responded to the I-35W bridge collapse.

"His theft of the credit is not going to sit well with my staff and our hard working partners," Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan said in the e-mail.

KMSP picked it up from there on Tuesday, reinforcing the notion that this is a not-so-thinly-veiled campaign video, by finding that the St. Cloud company that produced the video, is the same company that handled advertising and marketing for Stanek's campaign in 2006. KMSP's report suggested Stanek's splitting the $30,000 contract in two, was designed to avoid the rule that requires contracts higher than $15,000 to be put out to public bid.

In fairness to Stanek, he wasn't exactly keeping the involvement of the company a secret, since on his Web site it says...

As part of the historical documentation of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office work at the I-35W Bridge Collapse, we put together an informational and training video with the assistance of Johnson Group and Quarterton Productions. It has been an incredible asset as I travel the country to speak at various public and law enforcement events, helping to really tell the story of how preparedness, focus and the extraordinary efforts made by an excellent team created the conditions for us to complete our mission of rescue and recovery at this disaster site.

Lambert was back on the story again today, exploring the angle of the role of WCCO anchor Don Shelby, who narrates the video.

"What I was told was that this was going to be a training video to be shown at a national conference in D.C., and that I'd just be doing the ins and outs. They never said how often this would be shown. But my clear understanding was that it was just for this one national conference and then training for first responders. I was never told it would run publicly here in Minnesota much less at a Mount Olivet men's group."

So many angles in such a short period of time. And yet, the original question persists. Is Rich Stanek running for something?

This video, by the way, wasn't the dawn of "training" multimedia produced in the wake of the bridge accident. Firehouse.com produced "Leader's Toolbox: Lessons learned from the Minneapolis bridge collapse" with Minneapolis fire chief Jim Clack.

Clack was also on a panel in Oklahoma last month, "Minneapolis Bridge Collapse: Lessons Learned." so was Deputy Police Chief Rob Allen, and John Hick, medical director of Hennepin County Medical Center.

Ironically, perhaps, the least visible member of the response team is also the one many have hailed as a hero, mostly for putting work into an emergency plan ahead of time. Rocco Forte, who heads the Minneapolis emergency response team, reportedly had a bridge disaster group in place within 8 minutes of the bridge collapse.

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The Daily Snow

Posted at 1:25 AM on December 21, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

How would Jon Stewart of The Daily Show treat the story of a union member who crosses his striking union's picket line ? We're going to find out. Stewart and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report have agreed to cross their union's picket line, to return their two political satire shows to the air in January

“If we cannot (return to work with their writers), we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence," said the two superstars of satire.

Both performers have carved out successful careers by spotlighting the hypocrisies of the powerful. Testosterone may have also played a part.

The announcement of their return came just after Colbert was named the AP's person of the year. One wonders whether that's the case on the picket line?

(Photo: Getty Images)

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Today's dispatches from Planet Pooch

Posted at 11:37 AM on December 21, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

It being dog talk day on MPR's Midday today, and to continue a theme we tried yesterday, we take a stroll, so to speak, around the doggy news world.

In Eagan, a dog's warning is credited with saving a woman from a house fire.

The family of a Marine killed in Iraq adopts the dog who wouldn't leave the soldier's side.

Remember when former Twin Doug Mienkiewicz got into the doghouse for taking the World Series ball in 2004? What happened to this year's? A dog ate it.

An actress, Eva Mendes, agrees to pose naked for PETA because "I could never wear my dog." Fill in your own joke here.

A man has been sent to jail in Germany because his dog, Adolph, salutes like a Nazi.

It's not enough just to buy your dog a Christmas present, now you have to throw it a party, too.

An autistic boy in Arkansas needed a service dog. But they go for $10,000 to $15,000. Suddenly checks started arriving. And so did a dog.

St. Paul police dog bites wrong man. Hey, he's only human!

Thieves steal Christmas presents; leave puppy in exchange. In Florida, however, they took the puppy, too.

Puppies. That's all. Puppies. In the news business, you don't really have to say anything other than puppies.

If you have a suggestion for a daily theme. Just add a comment. But, please, don't suggest a day of stories about baklava.

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Binge drinking - Minnesota style

Posted at 9:44 AM on December 22, 2007 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

It was hard not to miss the collective shrug of shoulders Minnesota gave to a report this week that showed binge drinking is still a sport of choice for nearly one out of 3 high school students, even though it came a month after another study dropped the state from its lofty perch as the healthiest state, largely because of the penchant of our kids to drink like there's no tomorrow.

And even when Jenna Foellmi, 20, of Brownsville put an exclamation point on the survey a day later by starting her drinking in the morning, continuing in the evening, and dropping dead by morning, Minnesota -- and that includes us in the media -- were still far more consumed with the future of a bear and a couple of cubs in Duluth.

There wasn't much chatter about binge drinking this week, even though Foellmi put the problem in stark terms, a month after Rissa Amen-Reif, 22, of Eden Prairie was killed in Mankato (drinking was involved), and a couple of months after Amanda Jax died in Mankato with a .46 blood alcohol content after a night of binge drinking.

"I guess a lot more people do it than you'd think. A lot of people get over the top drunk, trying to show off, and stuff like that." Duluth high school sophomore Malory Dunbar told WDIO TV. It's a comment echoed by other kids this week: it's worse than you think.

A comment from Winona police chief Frank Pomeroy in Saturday's Star Tribune was illuminating about why we've been unable to come up with a way to halt the carnage:

Pomeroy said, "personal responsibility" has to be emphasized in cases such as this.

But it's clear that a solution is hard to come by. Got any?

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Saved by the coffee shop

Posted at 2:05 PM on December 23, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

What would you do if you got "downsized" (or "right-sized" as the new company lingo would have it)?

Losing a job, for men in particular, is losing an identity. It was for Michael Gates Gill, an Ivy League grad with a mansion in Westchester County, New York, a great job in the ad business and a wife and family.

Then he lost his job and according to a story that aired this morning on CBS' Sunday morning, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. His riches-to-rags story ends with him working at a Starbucks.

And now, Tom Hanks is going to play his part in a movie.

It's a splendid little story that can't help but make one wonder how one would approach a similar situation.

How about you?

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Winter's wrath

Posted at 7:16 PM on December 23, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

There were hundreds of accidents and spinouts around the Twin Cities on Sunday. I caught this one on the southbound side of I-694 in Oakdale. Thankfully, all four inside made it out OK. On the way back later in the evening, I passed another accident in the same spot, and dozens of others between Woodbury and Maplewood.

Downstream on News Cut, there are some discussions on first responders. On days like Sunday, and many others, you can't thank them enough. I presume they'd be happy if we just drove a little slower.

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Childhood obesity: Do you see what I see?

Posted at 2:03 PM on December 24, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

There is none so blind as those who will not see, according to a study released today by the University of Michigan. It found that the problem of childhood obesity is more than just fat kids, it's parents who don't realize it.

Among parents with an obese, or extremely overweight, child ages 6 to 11, 43 percent said their child was "about the right weight," 37 percent responded "slightly overweight," and 13 percent said "very overweight." Others said "slightly underweight."

National estimates indicate about 17 percent of U.S. children are obese under the standard used by the researchers.

Back in 2003, in Minnesota Public Radio's series, The Fight Against Fat, reporter Bob Kelleher found some reasons for the coming epidemic of weight-related illnesses: a reduction in physical education programs and schools that traded the nutrition of their kids for the money vending machines took in.

The solution would seem to be a simple one: get more exercise and eat better. But, as U.S. News pointed out a few months ago, there's a significant debate on whether kids should be warned about the dangers of obesity.

"I don't see any benefit in denying that we've got an obesity epidemic. If we pretend it doesn't exist, our kids will suffer the long-term consequences," says Robert Jeffery, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and director of its Obesity Prevention Center.

"My research has shown that the more you talk to them about weight issues, the more likely they are to turn to dangerous dieting behaviors like restricting calories and using laxatives and diet pills," counters Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, a professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and principal investigator for a study of adolescent eating and dieting behaviors.

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The oddest Christmas present I ever got

Posted at 2:05 PM on December 24, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Think about it. And while you are, here are three answers from shoppers and mall walkers at Maplewood Mall.

Roger and Carol of White Bear Lake. A vacuum cleaner. Listen (mp3).

Lisa from White Bear Lake: An egg. Listen

Mindy from Arden Hills and her colleague whose name I can't give you because the tape ran out on my tape recorder (rookie!): Finger puppets, an "over the hill" bra, and a joke coffee cup. Listen (mp3).

By the way, Mindy had the best answer in the "best gift given" category. She bought her husband "all the toys he wanted as a child." Apparently, his house burned down when he was a kid, taking with it all his toys. So she found all the old toys, bought them, and gave them to him one recent Christmas. Nice.

Now it's your turn. Oddest present you ever got was ... ?

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Timewasters: Christmas lights

Posted at 6:42 PM on December 24, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Who needs the yule log on TV? We've got the Internet. Here are some of the gargantuan lawn displays in video.

Here's one in Shoreview. You can find the directions here.

And from California...

Near San Diego, a father started a light project as therapy for his autistic son.

These are plenty of fun to view online. But, apparently, the neighbors aren't all that thrilled, according to the Wall Street Journal's article, "The War on Lawn Decorations."

But if you're a traditionalist...

Merry Christmas from the News Cut.

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The most intriguing person of the year

Posted at 5:28 AM on December 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Who was the most intriguing person you met this year?

For many of us, even though we didn't meet him personally, Jeremy Hernandez is high on the list.

Even if he hadn't helped rescue dozens of kids on a school bus when the I-35W bridge collapsed, he might've qualified just because he decided going fishing up north with his grandmother was more important than a photo op with President Bush. And in the aftermath of the collapse, there've been profiles after profiles of bridge victims. Jeremy Hernandez has never appeared in any of them.

Continue reading "The most intriguing person of the year"

When one person can lead many lives

Posted at 1:07 PM on December 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The holidays have brought a plethora of organ donation-related stories.

The Shakopee Valley News has the sobering story of Sidney Markie, a 5 month old who needs a new stomach, pancreas, large and small intestine, liver and both kidneys. And the operation, which would need to be performed in Miami, has to happen all at once. So the girl's family "has to pray for another infant to die from SIDS or an accident since the chances of a healthy baby dying at birth are unlikely and a sick baby’s organs are less likely to be useable," according to the article.

The family has waged the insurance war, with doctors in Miami agreeing to accept payment
at the rate Minnesota would charge if the operation were taking place here.

Continue reading "When one person can lead many lives"

How bad is it... really?

Posted at 1:15 PM on December 26, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Sometimes, the stories about housing values can make you think you should be out on the ledge, even if you don't feel like jumping. Take the story that was posted this afternoon on the New York Times' Web site, "Home prices fall for 10th straight month."

The decline in home prices accelerated and spread to more regions of the country in October, according to a series of private indexes released Wednesday.

Prices fell 6.1 percent from October 2006 in 20 large metropolitan areas, according to Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller indexes, compared with a 4.9 percent decline in September. All but three of the 20 regions saw real estate values fall, and even the three places — Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Charlotte, N.C. — where prices were up from a year ago saw prices fall from a month earlier.

The survey meaasures price changes of the same property over time, instead of calculating a median price of homes sold during the month. The guy who runs it described the state of the single family home market as "grim."

Sounds serious, and I guess it is. But check out the corresponding price of single family housing for Minneapolis since 2000.

Continue reading "How bad is it... really?"

Panic mode

Posted at 7:01 AM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

There's nothing like a good panic during a slow news week -- or any other time if you're in the news business.

We can take it. And a Web site, Panic Watch, can dish it out, organizing the endless "crisis" stories in one spot so that when you look at it, you realize the absurdity of it all.

On the site's list of "bad links," is this one:

The Power Line Task Force (PLTF), is a group of homeowners living near a power line in Minnesota. They wear special costumes with capes and have dedicated their lives to perpetuating old studies and myths about high tension lines causing childhood leukemia.

Visiting the site, we find it hasn't been updated since June 2005, which makes one wonder if they're OK.

(h/t: John Pearson)

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Science!

Posted at 7:33 AM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Great strides in science in just the last two days, according to the BBC.

One: Researchers in Israel say they have succeeded in putting a version of the Bible on a chip smaller than a pinhead. No word, yet, on attempts to shrink a camel to fit through the eye of a needle.

Two: Liver damage caused by heavy drinking can be reversed.

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We're #26!

Posted at 8:18 AM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The annual population estimates are out from the U.S. Census Bureau today. (Here's the raw data)

As of July, Minnesota's population is 5,197,62, a slight increase from a year earlier (.83%).

Only two states -- Rhode Island and Michigan (is there a bigger basket case than Michigan?) -- lost population over the year. Minnesota is not exactly booming -- population wise. We're 26th in population growth, trailing even South Dakota (20th in growth) and Alaska (23rd in growth).

Continue reading "We're #26!"

On the ground in Pakistan

Posted at 10:18 AM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

How could it have ended any other way?

Since Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan months ago, one had the sense that her death was imminent. That's either a statement on Pakistan or on our inability to be surprised by political assasinations.

Here's a look at Pakistan-themed blogs and news sources online and their reaction:

Continue reading "On the ground in Pakistan"

When a newspaper dies

Posted at 7:36 PM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

It's no secret -- is it? -- that the newspaper industry is in bad shape. The Twin Cities, of course, still has two newspapers, but supporting two is going to be tough in the years ahead.

It's true that many people wouldn't mind seeing a few newspapers die. Still, there's something that's especially sad when they do. Say what you will about the political leanings of your favorite rag, but newspapers -- along with soldiers, good citizens and, yes, even lawyers -- are one of the reasons we still have the rights we still have.

A newspaper is circling the drain in Cincinnati where the Post is ending 126 years of service.

There won't even be a glass of champagne hoisted, as the bosses have warned employees against bringing booze into work on the last day.

One hopes we'll never experience such a scene here. The odds, however, say we will.

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We're the most... whatever

Posted at 10:42 PM on December 27, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

One thing I was taught by an old MPR news director back in the day was: Minnesotans love surveys that show Minnesota in a good light. And now, I love them, too.

We really should begin to make a good list of the "most whatever" in which Minnesota -- or Minnesota cities -- rank high. A few weeks ago it was determined we are the 6th most happy, although it's still unclear what South Dakota is allfired giddy about.

This week we learned we're #5 in economic impact of hunting and fishing. And our relative contentment at being almost first was displayed when we were named the second most healthy state.

Now, according to Central Connecticut State University, which if nothing else knows when to issue a news release about its obscure school, Minneapolis is the most literate city in America. And St. Paul is 3rd, just behind Seattle.

Continue reading "We're the most... whatever"

The Bhutto effect

Posted at 11:33 AM on December 28, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Now how do you feel about a war against al-Qaeda?

The answer to that, especially if it's changed in the last 48 hours, is the key to who'll lead the United States.

In the aftermath of Thursday's killing (the exact means being hotly disputed) of Benazir Bhutto the political reality is hitting the shores of the United States, just as the war in Iraq was about to be eclipsed by the economy as the main issue of the campaign.

Continue reading "The Bhutto effect"

Homicide rate is dropping

Posted at 3:42 PM on December 28, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

When 2007 started with five homicides in Minneapolis in January, some thought the city was on its way to a record year for killing. As the year closes, according to the Minneapolis Crime Watch blog, there have been 47 homicides this year.

As it turned out (assuming a quiet weekend), the total is far off the 60 who were killed in the city in 2006, and it's the lowest total since 2003.

The issue came up today because of a story from the Associated Press that shows homicides are down significantly in cities such as Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York.

Some other cities -- Miami, Baltimore, and Atlanta included -- have had increases in homicides.

So what's up in Minneapolis? According to a story from CBS News last month, it's because of an emphasis on juvenile crime.

“Well a big part of that, we looked at who was committing violent crimes in the city of Minneapolis, it was juveniles that were disproportionate,” (Chief Tim) Dolan said. “They were over 50 percent.”

This new approach in Minneapolis has become a model for the nation. Police officers keeping track of troubled kids before they become hardened criminals.

Last year, homicides in Minneapolis rose more than 20 percent, according to the Police Executive Research Forum. But this year, they're down almost 20 percent, CBS News learned exclusively.

"Learned exclusively"? You mean, like going to the Minneapolis Police Department Web site?

Twenty percent up followed by 20-percent down? In other words, the killing in Minneapolis has returned to the status quo.

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I'm so over with...

Posted at 6:52 PM on December 28, 2007 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)

The Boston Globe assembled a panel of experts and asked them what they "are so over with" as 2007 closes.

Among the items:

The subprime lending rate
Bottled water
Smokers "whining about their rights"
The digital revolution
Non-gay Republican senators soliciting anonymous gay sex.
Thai food and flavored toothpaste
Institutional racism
Representational democracy
The word "amazing"
Winter

News Cut, of course, does not have a panel of experts. That's your cue to pull up a comment box and list the things you're done with in 2008.

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Native Americans struggle to obtain home loans

Posted at 10:31 AM on December 30, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

The Fargo Forum reports in its Sunday edition that one out of every four Native Americans in Minnesota is denied when seeking home mortgage loans. In North Dakota, the rate is one out of three.

The Forum analyzed a database containing records of 34,373 home loan applications made in North Dakota and 537,288 filed in Minnesota last year, as reported under the federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). The 2006 findings are the most recent available.

The records consisted of applications for home purchase, home improvement and refinancing.

But why is the rate so high?

Poverty would appear to be one reason. The adult poverty rate for Native Americans is about 33 percent, triple the rate for whites.

Not surprisingly, the denial rate for applicants overall is increasing. Last year the denial rate was 29 percent in the U.S.

According to the Washington Post...

"Black borrowers received high-cost loans 52.8 percent of the time when they refinanced home loans last year, vs. 49.3 percent in 2005, the Fed report said. Hispanic borrowers received high-cost refinancings 37.7 percent of the time, up from 33.8 percent in 2005. The rate for white borrowers was 25.7 percent last year, compared with 21 percent in 2005."

A Federal Reserve Board report (pdf) also points out that even when minorities are able to get loans, the costs associated with them are higher than for whites.

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Concealed carry redux

Posted at 5:02 AM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)

Last June 7 in Coon Rapids, one of two things happened: An innocent man using the intent of the state's concealed carry handgun law defended his family by shooting the threat or a man fired his gun, for which he had a permit, in the heat of -- and because of -- road rage.

And there you have both sides of the old Minnesota concealed carry debate, only now it's going to be fought in an Anoka County court after both participants in the incident were indicted last week.

Not in dispute is that Robbinsdale undercover cop Landon Beard, 27, was shot by trained security specialist Martin Treptow, 35. During traffic on Woodcrest Drive, Beard cut onto the the shoulder to pass traffic, including Treptow's SUV. Treptow got upset and followed Beard for several blocks before shooting Beard.

Who showed a gun first is a harder determination to make. By one account, Beard was hanging out the window of his vehicle threatening to kill Treptow. Treptow shot him in order to protect his wife and two young children, who were in the vehicle with him.

By another account, Treptow's yelling prompted Beard to call 911, and when he looked up, Treptow had pulled his gun and was aiming at him.

Beyond the felony charges against both men, at stake is the ability of one side in the ongoing gun debate in Minnesota to say, "I told you so." Either the concealed carry law helped a man protect his family, proving its usefulness as its supporters intended. Or the concealed carry law made a road rage incident worse, confirming the fears of the law's opponents.

It also is one of the hottest topics in the blogs, who may be following the case more intently than the mainstream news folks.

"This charge implies that Treptow is some kind of gangbanger who was settling a drug dispute," wrote blogger Douglas Hester on his blog, The Northern Muckracker. "Once Treptow neutralized the apparently deadly threat to his family, he removed them from the perceived danger by driving a few blocks to a gas station, while his wife immediately called 911 to report the incident while they were on the move, and well before they arrived. When they reached the station, they parked and waited quietly for the police to arrive."

"Road rage incidents almost always require two idiots to reach the point this one did. Unfortunately, both idiots had guns," said Charlie Quimby on his blog, Across the Great Divide. Did the shooter have other options? I believe so, but I wasn't there. Should the cop have behaved differently? There's no question in my mind that he should have."

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When the story is you

Posted at 12:17 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Rarely is the list of top news stories of the year very enlightening, usually serving only to remind us that as we get older, our ability to retain information fades; as if that's a bulletin.

If we were to ask people what their top "story" was for the year -- one that they actually lived -- it's unlikely a bridge collapse, or the Iowa caucuses, or the subprime mortgage crisis would qualify. They're big stories, of course. But were they really the biggest part of our lives? Maybe it was a vacation with the family, or the death of a close friend, or that time you spilled your whole tray of lunch at Cafe Latte (I'm always afraid of that and saw a guy do it last Thursday).

What was your personal "top story" of the year?

Here are some variations on the theme:

A couple of Mankato Free Press photographers discuss their favorite photographs of the year. Flash is required to view.

Likewise, MPR reporters have selected their most memorable stories of the year. These generally offer a good behind-the-scenes story.

Top censored news story of the year: Future of Internet debate ignored by media

Top awkward moment: The introduction of the president of Iran at Columbia

Top car commercial: Toyota (As selected by askmen.com)

Top Google search term: iPhone. Top Yahoo search term: Britney Spears

Top baby names in the UK: Jack and Grace

Top travel story: Passport hassles.

Top meal. - Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. At least for this restaurateur.

Top moment (TV): Did Tony Soprano die or not?

Top moment (Mountain climbing): This person's. I don't understand a word of it.

Top moment (baseball). Indians rally for comeback.OK, so it's also my personal highlight of the year in any category.

Your turn. Tell me your personal highlight of the year. It's got to be more interesting than the Iowa caucuses.

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Is Wal-mart back?

Posted at 3:40 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

One of the pillars of the economy may have a hangover headache already.

Target apparently got pushed around in holiday sales by long-time rival Wal-Mart, whose lunch the Minneapolis-based retailer has been eating for several years.

"There's no doubt that Wal-Mart is back," Craig Johnson, president of retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners, said to CNN.

Johnson, who has tracked the rivalry between the two discounters since the late 1990s, said Target has consistently drubbed Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) on same-store sales growth in November and December - a period that can account for nearly half of a retailer's sales and profits - by enticing shoppers with glitzier ads, better-quality products and more name-brands.

A look at the stock performance shows two companies heading in opposite directions at the moment. Wal-Mart is in blue. Target in red.

Even worse, according to the New York Post, one of Target's largest shareholders is still restless.

There are even worries that, while Wal-Mart's famously dowdy fashions are on the mend, Target staples like Isaac Mizrahi are growing stale after too many years on the racks.

That's a problem for investors including activist shareholder Bill Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square revealed this week that it now owns nearly 10 percent of Target.

While Ackman is rumored to be pushing Target to sell its credit-card receivables, the credit crunch appears to have put the idea on hold.

Target closed the day at $50 a share, well off of its $70.75 high in July, but not far from where it was a year ago ($54.72). Wal-Mart closed at $48.53, not far from its high in 2007 of $51.44, and ahead of where it was a year ago ($46.23).

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The trashman

Posted at 4:06 PM on December 31, 2007 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Ari Derfel of Berkeley, California may be one of the people glad to see the year end. He's been keeping his trash -- all of it -- all year. He blogs about it here. His house -- where he's keeping all of his trash -- looks more organized than mine -- where I'm not.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the trash helped him learn how much stuff he throws away. It also helped learn a lot of new things to do -- outdoors -- in order to escape the trash.

If you're thinking of trying this idea, here's his simple guide to saving your trash.

1. As the rules suggest, I keep everything I generate first hand in my personal life. I don’t keep all of the trash I generate at work for work specific purposes. It would be far too vast. But, trash that I create for personal use at work does have to be kept. For example, if I go out for lunch and get a burrito during work, I have to keep the aluminum foil that wraps the burrito. If I get a bag of chips, I have to keep the bag. If I get a drink, I have to keep the bottle or can. However, if our company orders boxes of food from our organic wholesale distributor, I don’t take the empty boxes after the chefs empty them.
2. If I go out of town, I have to bring everything back with me. I went to Hawaii for 2 weeks during February of 07. I brought home roughly 15 lbs of trash with me in my suitcase.
3. If I go out to eat and there is a white piece of paper covering the table instead of a linen, I take that piece of paper home with me. If I order French fries and they are served on top of a piece of paper I take that piece of paper home with me.
4. I keep dental floss. I keep condoms.
5. I don’t keep toilet paper, but I keep the toilet paper rolls so I know how much I’ve used in a year.
6. If I go backpacking for a week and take a ridiculous amount of packaged food with me, it all comes home with me at the end.
7. Virtually every time there is a judgment call to be made, moments in question where I have to decide if I keep it or leave it behind, I keep it. Seriously. I have been diligent, disciplined, committed, and determined to stick to the spirit of this challenge. It’s been an amazing meditation.

Tess Vigland of Marketplace tried this a few months ago, only the difference was she had to haul it all around with her. That worked for about two weeks.

Now, here's the thing. Clearly there's a statement being made about our ability to generate trash. But here's the EPA assessment of trash generation in 2006. (Source here)

We each generate on average about 4.6 pounds of trash/garbage a day. But look at the map closely. That number hasn't really changed in almost 20 years. So even as we become more of a throwaway society, with electronics and all sorts of other junk, we're not really throwing away more; we just have more people.

And look at our rate of recycling.

Our rate of recycling in Minnesota is higher than the national average (about 47%).

But it appears the amount of trash the average person tosses is higher, too. Reduce.org says the average Minnesotan generates 2,000 pounds of trash a year -- 5 1/2 pounds per person; well above the national average.

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