News Cut: January 24, 2008 Archive

Extinction is forever

Posted at 8:18 AM on January 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

It's not every day (yet) that we get to observe the moment of extinction. Today is one such day, however, as we acknowledge the death of Marie Smith Jones. She helped the University of Alaska compile an Eyak dictionary. She was the last one to speak the language on this planet.

"To the best of our knowledge, she was the last full-blooded Eyak alive," her daughter Bernice Galloway told the Associated Press.

Twenty other Alaskan languages are in danger of disappearing, mostly because the people who could have learned from people like Marie Smith Jones grew up at a time when it was considered wrong to speak something other than English.

The scenario was well documented a few years ago in an MPR News project:

"I was always talking in Ojibwe in the classroom," said Skinaway. "And the teacher never liked to have me be so disruptive, you know, talking to my other classmates. Some of the older ones used to call me a dumb Indian because I couldn't talk English."

...

"It is very important, because that's the way that was given to us by the Creator as Anishinaabe people," said Smallwood. "We were given ways to communicate with the Creator. And that's why it's important, not only in this world, but when we move on to the next world, go to the spirit world. We need that language."

The extinction of the language, in other words, didn't just happen: it was encouraged. A perfect irony since the U.S. recently adopted a law to try to save the languages.

Here's an interesting clickable map to explore some of these languages.

Tangent-time: Yesterday the New York Times reported on the case of another extinction on earth. The ivory billed woodpecker sighting in Arkansas a few years ago spawned an economic boom for a poor town, until it went bust amid conclusions that the alleged sighting was probably incorrect. It's gone for good -- the town, that is. And so is the woodpecker.

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News word of the day: Fatigue

Posted at 12:19 PM on January 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

When things are relatively slow in the news business, I like to grab the dictionary, quickly spin the pages and randomly drop my finger on a word, and find out what interesting things in the news fit the word.

Today, the "news finger" fell on fatigue, which leads to today's stroll around Planet Fatigue.

The Boston Globe reports on a link between a plugged-up nose and fatigue. Its medical blog (Boston being a city of hospitals) reports on research that suggests surgery for sinus problems clears up fatigue as well.

Remember "Yuppie flu," also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Now, the Houston Chronicle says,the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have labeled it a disabling disease, as debilitating as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. But what's more interesting (to me) is an example posted by a commenter on the paper's Web site, on what it's like to have CFS:

Set a Bic pen point down on your forearm with only gravity holding it down. It may not hurt much at all but a few weeks later you'd be in a big hurry for that little bit of pain to go away. Pain meds would only dull it. Anxiety drugs would help but it would be like a wheel of fire in your mind within a few short months-or quicker. Now figure the spinal cord and the immediate nerves coming off it are the biggest nerves in your body. When they get insulted for a long enough period or constantly---you get chronic pain.

A new study says one in four Australian drivers has fallen asleep at the wheel.

A Seal Beach, California firm is sending its new gadgets -- some sort of mp3 player -- to some soldiers in Iraq to help them get better sleep. "NAP20’s technology is based on the premise of Binaural Beats, discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove. Through this advanced mastering technology, NAP20 delivers the sleep waves as “carrier waves” within the audible range. The result: you get the effect of the natural sleep waves that guide you to sleep," its press release said.

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Landfall's best

Posted at 2:29 PM on January 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Generally speaking, people who don't live there don't have a lot of fabulous things to say about Landfall once they get past "affordable." That's the way it is with mobile home communities. Landfall is tucked away on the Maplewood-Oakdale border along I-94, passed every day by thousands of people who don't much give a sniff about the "town" of 52 acres and 735 people with a per capita income of a little over $15,000 on the shores of Tanner's Lake. In the '90s a developer wanted to turn the town into a shopping mall.

Today, however, the community was named "one of 100 best communities for young people," by America's Promise Alliance, the group formed by Colin and Alma Powell.

It would be easy to diminish the award's merit by pointing out that it's really not one of the 100 best of all the communities in the country. It's actually one of the 100 best of the 750 who applied to be honored, and one of five winners in Minnesota out of 18 communities that applied . If you tell the average East Metro person Landfall earned the distinction, the chances are good they'll look at you funny and say, "the trailer park?"

Here's what they don't know: Landfall is doing more than a lot of communities when it comes to helping its kids.

Back in the '90s, a Stillwater agency -- FamilyMeans -- found that lack of youth activities was a primary concern in the town. With initial funding from the McKnight Foundation, organizer Tom Yuska and others created Investigation Station, which provides programs for kids 5 to 12, such as arts, music, computers and cooking. School buses drop the kids off after school, and they can stay until evening at no cost. At night, a teen center operates for kids, 13 to 18, according to an article last month in the Oakdale-Lake Elmo Review.

Landfall's award, given today at a ceremony in Washington, is based not only on the programs, but also on efforts to improve graduation rates and lower substance abuse rates. "It isn't so much a comparison of one year to the next," according to Danielle Butler, who administers the award program for America's Promise Alliance. "We're mostly interested in making sure they have the data and are taking steps to improve."

"Teens in Landfall were reluctant to tell their friends they lived in Landfall," Yuska said this afternoon, "and now they're inviting their friends."

Things aren't all rosy. "I do know the graduation rate for last year's teens was not very good," he said. "On the other hand, 96 percent of our K-5 group is making 'adequate yearly progress' and we are doing things for older kids. One of the programs we started last year is aimed at middle school kids, especially children of color, to get them thinking about careers and what they want to do in the future. Our program coordinator just took a small group of them on their first college tour and one of the girls who just started high school is asking for help picking out classes that will help her down the road. She wants to be a scientist."

Four other Minnesota communities were similarly honored. St. Louis Park, Mankato-North Mankato, Northfield, and Saint Paul.

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Pawlenty's broadside against social service spending

Posted at 7:03 PM on January 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

Even by the usual standards of political hyperbole, Gov. Tim Pawlenty's rhetorical assault on the state's social services on Thursday was unusually stark. In a speech to business interests, the governor appeared to suggest that one of the reasons for the crumbling roads and bridges in Minnesota is the spending on social services, including the state subsidized health care plan.

Pawlenty was speaking to the Burnsville Chamber of Commerce when he suggested cutting social services to put more money into roads and, presumably, bridges.

As quoted in the Star Tribune:

"If we don't get a handle on this at both the federal and at the state level, and at county, school district and city level, these programs are growing so fast and so out of proportion with the rate of the private economy, that within 15 years it will consume a vast majority of the state's budget."

Told by his host that a client with 11 children has tried to adjust his income under $50,000 to qualify for MinnesotaCare, the governor said he, too, has heard of people who try to adjust their income so they can qualify for subsidized health care.

None of which has anything to do with the state's spending on social services, at least as far as roads, bridges, and MinnesotaCare is concerned.

True, the state has an effective state subsidized health care plan. That's one of the reasons the state was recently cited as the second-most-healthy state in America. But the political debate that surrounds it often ignores the funding mechanism behind it. Money that could be used for roads and bridges is not going to MinnesotaCare because MinnesotaCare is not funded with taxpayer money; the state's share is funded by a tax on health care providers. Recipients also pay premiums (the family cited above would pay about $3,000).

When the governor moved for further cutbacks in MinnesotaCare in 2005, the so-called Health Care Access Fund had a $226 million surplus. That fund made an attractive target for the governor who faced a budget deficit.

The Minnesota Medical Association tried to get legislation passed last year to keep the MinnesotaCare funding from being diverted to other projects. It didn't pass but the MMA says it's going to try again next month.

In a speech earlier this month, the MMA says, Pawlenty vowed not to use the MinnesotaCare money to balance the budget, and even said he might try to lower the tax that funds MinnesotaCare; an interesting proposal if the cost of providing health care is as burdensome as Thursday's speech would indicate.

So what's going on here?

The governor's speech may be more a warning to legislators than an initiative. This month, two panels -- one of which was created by the governor -- will release proposals for revamping the entire health care system in Minnesota. They are reportedly leaning toward expanding health care for Minnesotans, but there are sharp divisions on how to accomplish that .

Times change. A year ago, Pawlenty was proposing expanding health care in the state. But that was before the budget deficit went up and a bridge came down.

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