News Cut: April 2008 Archive

The fault of the suburbs

Posted at 12:56 PM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Are suburbanites to blame for melting Arctic ice and other ills of the planet? Yes, according to National Public Radio which today uses the story of a typical Atlanta area suburbanite who moved far enough away from work that it requires more time and energy.

What we don't have in the story, however, is actual research. How far does the typical suburbanite travel to work? How much energy is used in the process. How much energy would be created if the cities created enough room -- somehow -- to nuke all the 'burbs?

Coincidentally -- I think -- MinnPost yesterday carried an op-ed piece by Robert Bruegmann, a professor of art history, architecture and urban planning at the University of Illinois. He's speaking at the U on Thursday. In the piece, called "Sprawl: It isn't new -- and it isn't all bad," Bruegmann notes that anti-sprawl policies have had the opposite of their intended effect, mostly in a huge spike in housing prices.

Although anti-sprawl measures continue to be popular in many places around the world, there has also been a growing recognition of the unintended negative consequences of these policies, particularly in the case of the unprecedented spike in housing prices in the most heavily regulated urban areas.

A study in Australia not long ago found, however, that the biggest environment footprint isn't so much where people live, but what they buy. Shopping was identified as the big culprit.

Shopping habits represent such a large part of greenhouse gas emissions that even if every household switched to renewable energy and stopped driving cars tomorrow, total household emissions would fall by less than 20 per cent, the study found. On average, every additional dollar of consumption was responsible for 720 grams of greenhouse gas emissions and 28 litres of water.

In America's first suburb, Levittown, N.Y., an aggressive plan is underway to get people to improve the energy use of their homes -- somewhat easy given that the homes are nearly 60 years old.

What would be interesting is to compare the so-called "carbon footprint" of city people and suburbanites around here.

Here's some calculators. Consider taking them and posting your results, indicating which camp you are in.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator - From the EPA. Enter your data, see how you compare to the average.

Cool Climate Calculator - An ongoing project from UC-Berkley, although it's a little bit lame that the only region you can select for Minnesota is Minneapolis.

Individual Emissions Calculator - A little bit different in that it calculates how much you emit getting from here to there.

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A drink at all hours

Posted at 8:21 AM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (21 Comments)

One had to cringe when reading the New York Times this morning, which reported that Minnesota is considering a 4 a.m. bar closing time during the Republican National Convention. We might as well get use to it, Aunt Bea: we're going to be the cute hicks in flyover country gearing up for the big city slickers a comin' to town.

In the MPR story, there is the required prediction of doom:

"It's only going to make it worse if it's until 4 a.m.," said Tait Danielson-Castillo, director of the district council serving the Frogtown neighborhood.

In this case, the concern is noise, something that would be hard to avoid with a few thousand delegates coming to town and three times as many journalists arriving to document their every drunken moment.

Let's head to the News Cut Wayback Machine.

It's May 6, 2003 and the Minnesota Senate has just passed a bill to allow bars in Minnesota to stay open until 2 a.m., ostensibly to keep Minneapolis St. Paul in the convention business.

Then Sen. Wes Skoglund, DFL-Minneapolis, predicted doom:

And the only way the bars are going to make more money is if they sell more liquor. And if they sell more liquor, that means there's more people drinking, and more people are drinking more. And more people drinking means more drunks and drunker drunks on the road. And more drunks and drunker drunks on the road means more crashes, more injuries and more deaths," according to Skoglund.

A couple of weeks later, Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- an opponent of a later closing time -- signed the bill because another 50 state troopers were going to be hired.

So what happened. Fewer people died in accidents in Minnesota in 2004, and even fewer still in 2005. The number of those attributed to drunk driving dropped from around 40 percent (where it had been for several years) in 2003 to 32 percent in 2004.

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Safety on the fly

Posted at 11:01 AM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

This hasn't been a good week or so for people to feel entirely safe, wrapped in the loving arms of the nation's airlines.

Last week, American Airlines canceled about 300 flights to check some jets for faulty wiring. Earlier this month a House subcommittee found that Southwest Airlines and FAA inspectors falsified safety reports, resulting in its planes going more than two years without the required safety checks.

Sometimes the anecdotal evidence of trouble is even more upsetting. Take Tom Shoop, who writes the blog FedBlog. Last night he spent time at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport watching repair crews for an unnamed airline fix a hole in the wing with duct tape.

The hole had been covered up by what I swear appeared to be duct tape until moments earlier, when the tape had been ripped off during the de-icing process. We taxied back to the gate and, to my amazement, a couple of mechanics came out, applied more tape (which actually seemed to involve some kind of heat-activated adhesive) and pronounced the plane ready to fly -- which it then did, all the way to Washington.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was on the same plane.

At a time when the airlines are going bankrupt, the advanced age of the nation's aircraft fleet is troubling... unless you're in the duct tape business.

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Tune out. Drop out.

Posted at 12:06 PM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins

MPR's Art Hughes is checking on the reliability of data that was used in a report out today that suggests Minneapolis schools are a basket case. Initial word is that the data is about 4 years old.

The report "Crisis in Cities," was released by the EPC Research Center, for America's Promise Alliance, the Colin Powell-led group. A copy of the report is available here.

Analyzing the country's 50 most populous cities, the report said Minneapolis' schools came in at #45. Detroit, which apparently finishes last in just about every survey these days, finished last.

According to the report, only 43.7 percent of Minneapolis school kids graduate "on time," defined as the number of 9th graders who can be expected to graduate, based on the "old data."

The report also looked at the suburban-urban "education gap," and found Minneapolis' to be about average -- a 17-percent graduation rate difference between it and suburban districts. The report said 80.7 percent of kids in suburban districts graduate.

By Minneapolis schools' calculation, however, the graduation rate is 67.2 percent, and lists a near 87 percent graduation rate for the four largest high schools (Report available here). That data is through last spring's graduations.

Whether you're using the old data or the "new" data, the numbers are still disheartening. It means that in Minneapolis, four to six students per day drop out.

Up at the Capitol this year, a bill -- SF3001 -- would change the age at which kids can drop out to 18, from 16. It appears to have bipartisan support, but some educators reportedly think it focuses too much on the end of the school years and not the beginning. Maryland is considering the same sort of legislation (Hat tip to Mike Marchio, the Minnesota Fantasy Legislature boss.)

Behind every number, of course, is a person. What happens to the kids who leave? Some go on to get GEDs. By one calculation, more than 80 percent of those who get GEDs are in the labor force, and suggested most of those who drop out realize they need to further their education.

A cushy spot for bloggers

Posted at 12:30 PM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Need evidence that the world of blogging is usurping "mainstream media?"

The Democrats announced today that they will allow bloggers to sit with the state delegations in Denver's Pepsi Center. That leapfrogs bloggers over, umm, radio and TV, which are allowed access to the delegates for only a limited period of time. For radio folks, for example, floor passes are granted with, normally, 20-minute time limits.

Says Howard Dean, the boss of the Democratic Party in a news release today:

"The Internet is the most significant tool for building democracy since the invention of the printing press."

Of course, you can't really learn much from the infommercial known as a political convention (I'm speaking of the nightly program here). But the symbolism is significant, especially since at the last convention -- Boston in 2004 -- the bloggers were confined to a special section for irrelevancy.

In Denver, Daily Kos is providing free wiFi and workspace near the convention site and YouTube is sponsoring a blogging area. The Dems are also providing a live stream of the convention (and I presume the GOP will, too).

For the Republican convention in St. Paul, the party intends to credential a "limited number" of bloggers.

Here's the audio (mp3) from today's Democratic convention conference call for bloggers.

I had to hang up (I was waiting for a call from the Holy Cross prof for this post) before I could ask the question about what kinds of bloggers are going to be allowed on the floor -- would Republican-leaning "state blogs" be allowed.

Blogs, of course, are tailor made for a political convention. What will be worth watching is to what degree the partisan political blogs question what is happening, and also to what extent they seek out material that isn't being spoon-fed from the convention producers.

(h/t: Steve Griffith)

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St. Paul's big gamble

Posted at 5:45 PM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Can a city make any real dough by hosting a political convention?

In Boston, where Democrats met four years ago, a think tank projected $23.8 million in lost productivity. The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University figured transportation delays would result in a net loss to the city of $12.8 million.

A rosier prediction prepared for Boston's mayor predicted a $154 million boost to the economy there.

How did it turn out? There was a $7.5 million decline in commuter spending and a $19.9 million decline in expected tourist spending. Boston claimed a net $163 million increase in its economy, the Suffolk University's final tally showed a mere $14.8 million gain. And out of 100 businesses surveyed, only 11 showed an increase in business (See report here).

In Denver, where the Democratic convention will be held this year, officials decided not to do an economic analysis of the convention, preferring instead to use Boston's data. Officials say "The Big Dig" was a major reason for the disappointing results there.

The Beacon Hill Institute also studied the impact of the Republican National Convention in New York the same year. It projected a $163 million impact, far less than the the $260 million boost predicted by Mayor Bloomberg. By the way, its analysis showed that the non-delegate (i.e. media) spends more money during the convention than the delegate.

As for Minnesota, officials estimate the event will generate $149 million in spending and boost the Minnesota economy by $163 million. Finance and Commerce reported last week that because of the federal government's subsidy of security costs, and a new way of calculating the economics of the convention, it will likely still be the most lucrative convention in the history of the Twin Cities.

"Most economists think these numbers are wildly inflated, " says Victor Matheson, a professor in the economics department at Holy Cross, who studies the economic impact of 'mega-events' on cities. "What typically happens in these economic impact studies is that the studies do a good job at measuring the activity that does take place at the convention, but they don't do a good job at measuring the activity that doesn't take place. So, for example, St. Paul is going to be overrun with delegates, overrun with news folks. It's going to be chasing out, anyone who normally would be spending time in downtown St. Paul."

What will we be saying about the Republican National Convention after it leaves town?

"What you'll probably see is this: The hotels will have done well; they'll be full for a week and full for a week, perhaps, at a time that is not normally a peak season for them," according to Matheson. You will see that some people did quite well. Catering services in the local area will probably have done quite well. Other places will find probably that they did not do so well. Probably a lot of watering holes did not get too many folks. You had delegates going to specialized parties rather than the usuals who go into bars and restaurants."

There is, Matheson acknowledges, an opportunity "to put St. Paul on the map," but he says a poor showing would strip the region from any net benefits of the convention.

"St. Paul is probably in for a worse situation than Denver is because you've got an unpopular president in town and that's the sort of thing that's likely to attract demonstrators."

Listen to my interview with Victor Matheson.

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Minnesota, we're average

Posted at 1:48 PM on April 1, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The Census Bureau today released a survey of education finances and determined that on average, the U.S. spends $9,138 per pupil per year.

Minnesota? It spends $9,138 per pupil per year.

According to the data, which is based on 2005-06, Minnesota spends $5,891 on salaries, wages, and employee benefits related to instruction, and $2,832 in support services. $385 -- 4% -- goes to administration.

This ranks Minnesota 22nd in the nation. New York and New Jersey top the list with Utah trailing the pack at $5,437 per student. North Dakota leads the nation in administrative spending.

Download an Excel spreadsheet of the data here.

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Close the gap

Posted at 8:19 AM on April 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

I've picked up something bearing a resemblance to the flu since last we met, so posting today will be sporadic.

Unfortunately, it caused me to miss an event this morning that I had hoped to offer for your consideration. There was (actually it's going on at this very moment) a panel discussion about the gaps between Minnesotans. The discussion intended to feed off a preview of Twin Cities Public Television's new documentary series, Close the Gap, which premieres on Saturday.

I'm hoping it features some new perspectives rather than the "usual suspects."

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The Ventura legacy

Posted at 12:54 PM on April 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

The University of Minnesota's Lawrence Jacobs and Eric Ostermeier are out with a paper today (pdf here) that says Jesse Ventura is responsible for strengthening third parties in Minnesota and other states.

Even when not winning, they tipped several elections by drawing voters from one of the major parties. In the 2002 and 2006 gubernatorial campaigns, Independence Party candidates Tim Penny and Peter Hutchinson likely served as king makers by drawing enough votes from Democratic Party candidates to help Republican Tim Pawlenty win by pluralities of 44 percent and 47 percent.

The knock on the third parties, of course, is that they actually helped make the Republican Party stronger.

Ventura, who rode off into the political sunset, is now riding back into the limelight while on a publicity tour for his new book.

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Pork or progress?

Posted at 6:07 PM on April 2, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Citizens Against Government Waste, the organization which monitors pork spending in Congress, is out with the 2008 Pig Book, which chronicles questionable appropriations that are thrown into bills.

The national average cost per person is $33.77. In Minnesota the "pork per capita" is over $38, putting the state in 26th place, up from #38 in 2006. (See table here)

On this page, you can search the individual projects by state or politician.

The group cites 127 different projects in Minnesota, but none seem to fall into the category the group cites in handing out its "Oinker Awards" for such projects as the $188 million given to Washington state and Maine for The Lobster Institute or the $98,000 to develop a walking tour of Boydton, Virginia.

Minnesota Rep. John Kline has sworn off "earmarks" and has no projects on the list. Rep. Michele Bachmann has also said she won't be seeking project funding through earmarks. She has three projects on the list, however.

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A convention security preview

Posted at 7:50 AM on April 3, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Twin Cities general aircraft pilots are among the first to get a glimpse of tightened security during the coming Republican National Convention in St. Paul late this summer.

In addition to the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, there are seven small airports that ring the Twin Cities, mostly serving small airplanes.

At a meeting of pilots who fly out of South St. Paul's Fleming Field this week (disclaimer: I rent a hangar at Fleming), an airport official said while specifics are still to be worked out, law enforcement will have a series of no-fly zones extending 3, 10, and 30 miles from the Xcel Center, "depending on who's in town."

He said pilots who are inbound for any of the airports will likely have to land in Eau Claire or St. Cloud to be checked out before being allowed to proceed.

Most general aircraft pilots in the region fly "visual flight rules," meaning as long as they stay out of specific airspace, they're free to fly when they want and where they want. It's unclear whether those pilots will be allowed to fly during the week.

Additional military jets are expected to be stationed in the area during the convention to intercept stray aircraft in the Twin Cities.

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Water woes

Posted at 5:45 PM on April 3, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Just tell me: Is drinking water good for me or not?

Trying to stay ahead of the health curve is never easy anymore. Some study comes out showing the health benefit of drinking water, and the next thing you know, people are plopping $3.50 down for a pint of water bottled by hand by virgins near a spring in the Alps.

It turns out, according to Stanley Goldfarb, a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, that there's little evidence that drinking 8 glasses of water a day, does anything for you, or so his study says. He also points out there's no evidence there isn't a health benefit either.

And the whole "flushing out the toxins" thing? "I always laugh when I hear that one," says Stella Volpe, a nutritionist at the University of Pennyslvania School of Nursing. "Your kidneys do that job."

Water is so yesterday.

But the story doesn't end there. At least one natural health Web site debunked the debunking by suggesting that it's a plot by doctors to get more patients with kidney problems.

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Too cozy?

Posted at 10:07 AM on April 3, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

The House Transportation Committee is holding a hearing today on what Rep. Jim Oberstar, the committee's chairman, thinks is an overly cozy relationship between the Federal Aviation Administration and the nation's airlines.

The hearing is being Webcast live, and I'll be noting some of the revelations here.

Initial testimony is coming from a whistleblower at Southwest Airlines, Bobby Boutris, who contends that several of that airline's planes had cracks in the fuselage, but were allowed to fly anyway. He contends that an ex-FAA inspector was hired by Southwest to take advantages of his connections with the agency in an effort to get it to "look the other way" where safety matters are concerned. Boutris told much of his story to National Public Radio, which broadcast details this morning.

The Dallas Morning News has an interview with investigator Clay Foushee, who is responsible for getting "whistleblower" protections for several inspectors:

"Those are the guys and girls who are qualified to see what is out there in the system," Mr. Foushee said. "And if they bring something back and it gets minimized or suppressed, and they try to take it to the higher-ups and they suffer professionally, that is an appalling situation."

FAA whistleblower Douglas Peters choked up this morning, when he recounted how an FAA official appeared to threaten his career. He said the official said, "You have a good job here, and your wife has a good job over at the FSDO (an FAA office). It would be a shame to lose that because you're trying to take down a couple of losers."

Another FAA official says he was transferred when he called attention to the safety problems at Southwest.

While it's a situation getting attention now, it's not a new pattern of behavior by the FAA. A similar situation was reported in the wake of the mechanics strike at Northwest Airlines. BusinessWeek magazine reported earlier this year that an FAA inspector, Mike Lund, was so concerned about the mechanics who replaced striking workers at Northwest, that he sent a memo recommending that NWA's flight schedule be curtailed. Instead, the magazine reported, "Lund's supervisors confiscated the badge that gave him access to Northwest's facilities and gave him a desk job."

Asked today by Oberstar, however, whether there's any indication the problems at the FAA sector assigned to Southwest apply to other regions, none of the whistleblowers cited any example. I've sent an e-mail to Oberstar's office asking why Lund's case isn't part of the probe. Update: "Committee staff did not choose to call Mr. Lund because the IG's office had already looked into this matter and then submitted its 9/7/07 (report) for the hearing record," says John Schadl, Rep. Oberstar's spokesman. Here's a copy (pdf) of the inspector general's report on unsafe maintenance practices at Northwest.

Later today, however, Tom Brantley, president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the FAA inspectors' union, reportedly will detail maintenance and safety issues at United, Continental, Northwest, and Hawaiian Airlines.

Coincidentally -- or not -- the FAA yesterday issued a news release announcing steps it is taking to make it easier for inspectors to raise their concerns.

Update 12:44 p.m. - Committee documents have just been posted. A pdf version is available here.

"The FAA would have us believe that what took place was an isolated incident and has been contained," Oberstar said after hearing from the whistleblowers today. "The evidence suggests that this was not an isolated incident, but rather a systemic breakdown of the oversight role of the FAA. It is misfeasance, malfeasance, bordering on corruption."

Nick Sabatini, the FAA's associate administrator for safety told Oberstar he finds the situation "egregious."

One observation: For a topic this important, and a scandal that has brewed for so long, it's surprising how few members of the committee bothered to attend today's hearing.
They missed their big chance; the story led all three network TV newscasts.

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Are we on the wrong track?

Posted at 7:26 AM on April 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)

A poll out today from the New York Times and CBS says 81% -- that's a lot -- say we're "on the wrong track."

Almost half of those surveyed say the era of good jobs is behind us. And over half the adults say they're worried about losing their job.

Given the high first number, the second number seems low.

Either way, we're a nation with a "can't do" spirit.

Today's topic: How do we get the "can-do" spirit back?

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On the road with the Glascocks

Posted at 1:19 PM on April 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: The jobs we do

Gasoline rose about 20 cents a gallon this week, a drain on the home economics of most people. But it could always be worse; you could be an independent long-haul trucker.

Take Danny and Carma Glascock of Jermyn, Texas, who are spending the next 34 hours sitting in the TA truckstop in Somerset, Wis. Truckers aren't allowed to work more than 70 hours in a week and the Glascocks time is up. So today they're not making a dime.

The rising cost of diesel and inflation in general has made a tough life tougher still for people like the Glascocks. Some truckers pulled off the road earlier this week to protest, but the Glascocks have loan payments to make on their trailer, which this week is hauling a giant tank down to Texas, now that they've dropped off a load of acoustical tile in Owatonna.

There was a time when diesel was much cheaper than gasoline; those days are over. Today, diesel was going for $3.99 where the Glascocks filled up. That gets them about 6 miles, and it's one of the reasons why they're picking their loads more carefully these days. It's an art, figuring out how to get the highest-paying loads from Point A to Point B, and having a load someone wants shipped at Point B so you don't sit for days on end, or you don't end up with a load that's costing you more money to move than the shipper is paying.

"It used to be alright to run a cheap load once in awhile," Danny told me today. "But now you can get into an area that you can't get out of." He pulls out a calculator to explain. "Let's say I get a load that pays $1.80 a mile for a 1,000 mile trip. At $4 a gallon, and six miles to the gallon, it'll cost me $668 (167 gallons). " The shipment will pay $1,800. Because he leases himself to a national trucking firm, the Glascocks will get 73 percent of that, or $1,340. "You can't do 1,000 miles in less than two days," he says. He figures with the cost of breakdowns, other equipment, and loan payments, he needs to make about $350 a day to survive. His hypothetical trip -- a pretty typical one these days -- will pay him $336 a day, $14 less than what he needs.

A blown-out tire costs $500. Any mechanical work costs about $85 an hour. He pays $676 a month for the loan he took out for the trailer and once that's paid off, he figures, it'll be time to buy a new truck. He has three tarps to cover the loads that wear out regularly and costs them $1,000 to replace.

The Glascocks figure they grossed about $65,000 last year, though they disagree about how much profit they made. "I think we made about $10,000," Carma says. "I think $20,000," says Danny.

They'll figure it out when they get back home to do their taxes. They get home once every three-and-a-half months.

The Glascocks started their trucking career 13 years ago when the factory that employed both closed. "The oil fields in Texas are booming again and I can always go back there and work," Danny Glascock says, " but the thing with the oil business is you'll be looking for work eventually because it's a boom-bust business. This gives me steady work."

It's not all bad, both admit. They like to see the country together. Carma says she enjoyed last Christmas, even though a load didn't come through and they had to sit and wait for one, missing Christmas with the family. "It's a good thing we were in Las Vegas," she says.

As we talked, another truck pulled in within feet of theirs. If it stays, it might be tough for both to sleep tonight, thanks to the idling tractor. That's not always the case, though. The Glascocks say the load they picked up a few weeks ago was one of the best ever: honeybees. "Nobody parked anywhere near us," Danny Glascock says. "It was the best nights' sleep I've ever had."

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WCCO layoffs

Posted at 1:12 PM on April 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (49 Comments)

The round of layoffs that struck CBS television stations around the country hit the Twin Cities today.

"Paul Douglas is no longer with the station," WCCO spokesperson Kiki Rosatti told me this afternoon. Earlier this week, anchor John Reger was let go in a "restructuring" that has hit local CBS stations across the country hard. About 8 persons were let go on WCCO's television side and the company is offering "a limited number of buyouts" to staff members.

Earlier this week, stations in New York, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco announced layoffs, including local big names.

In Boston, for example, long-time sports personality Bob Lobel was let go. In analyzing the situation, the Boston Globe said the layoffs mark the "end of the celebrity broadcaster in local television."

"We are still committed to this community," said WCCO spokesperson Rosatti, who blamed the layoffs on a "down economy."

CBS Corp. reported a 14.6% decline in its fourth-quarter earnings. The broadcasting division has set a 1 percent workforce reduction.

(Update: By way of comments, Minnesota Monitor has Douglas' farewell memo)

Update 4/7 10:32 a.m. - See follow-up discussion post.

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The Week in Review Quiz

Posted at 8:58 AM on April 5, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Last week someone suggested doing away with the graphic which gave clues to answers in the News Cut weekly quiz. Fine. We can do this the hard way or the easy way.

Here's this week's quiz. Good luck.

While you're basking in the warmth of another big week, think about people you know who are doing something interesting. And tell me about them.

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Small town news

Posted at 10:56 PM on April 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Truth be told, Loren Lindstrom's song -- the Mosquito Song -- isn't that good, except that the story of how it came to be is one of those tales that'll never make a big-city newscast, but which is a gentle reminder of the everyday decency of common folk.

According to the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Lindstrom was a lifelong inventor. "He was especially known for inventing a huge rolling pin that had the ability to spread out five lefse at one time, a conveyor belt that automatically brushes the excess flour off the lefse, and a small device that divides dough into 40 pieces at one time in one smooth operation. He also invented a huge mixing machine for stirring the lefse dough."

He and his wife ran a lefse plant in Washington state for 10 years before they retired to Arizona. She died a few years ago and his health began to deteriorate not long after. His family brought him north, and eventually to the Sunnyside Care Center.

He talked a lot about home but over time the staff learned of his interest in music, and that he'd written the words to a song. "Let someone else put a melody to my words," he said.

His Hospice care team took care of it. Social workers, nurses, chaplains and volunteers wrote the music and performed it for him. He liked that, so they found a volunteer in town to record it and put it on a CD for him.

But he died a week ago Friday, just a few hours before it was done. He had a final wish: that the song be played on the local radio station. And on Wednesday, it was -- a testament to the people who cared about an old man, and a radio station that understood why that's still news.

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A trip to "The Office"

Posted at 8:48 AM on April 5, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

On Thursday night, over the closing credits, NBC ran this clip of a young man playing the hit show's theme.

A little -- very, very little -- sleuthing reveals that he's Nathan Robinson, a 15 year old Massachusetts kid who died this winter from the flu.

As the flu season winds down, the CDC reports this week that 59 children have died from the flu nationwide this season.

The agency says flu deaths this year have been above the definition of "epidemic" for 12 straight weeks.

The national map through last Saturday shows the hardest-hit areas:

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No easy fix

Posted at 9:18 AM on April 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Harvard's Philip Greenspun asks an intriguing question today. Why do we want to maintain the world's highest housing prices?

We spent most of our investment capital over the last ten years building huge and luxurious houses. Americans were by far the best-housed people in the world before, but now many of us are truly living like kings. Does this help our international competitiveness? Does an employer care that we can go home to a 6,000 square foot McMansion and watch a 60″ TV in our media room? I don't see why the employer would care. In fact, an employer would probably prefer that his workers be housed in sufficiently squalid conditions that employees were encouraged to linger in the office. Certainly the employer doesn't want to have to pay a worker extra just so that he or she can afford to pay rent or mortgage in an artificially inflated housing market.

In Minnesota, as in many places, the pols are trying to come up with a fix for the foreclosure mess. Several bills are making their way through the Legislature, which has a little over a month left in its session.

The problem is figuring out an answer is like playing whack-a-mole. Fix a problem here, and two crop up over there.

Alex Steinbeck, who writes the blog Behind the Mortgage, says a mortgage foreclosure bill may make it more difficult in the long-term for people looking to buy homes. Because the lenders lose their right to foreclose, they may demand a higher premium in exchange (higher interest rates, bigger downpayments etc.).

To be fair, the moratorium targets owner occupant, sub-prime borrowers, so it remains to be seen whether a bill like this will meaningfully impact the pricing and/or costs for the "other 98%" of borrowers, but it is a real risk.

Also, the proposed moratorium may have costs beyond "higher future rates." That's because interest, penalties, and tax bills continue to accrue, and are not forgiven (only deferred) under this bill. The borrowers are still on the hook after the moratorium expires - and precious few will be able to pay then what they can't pay now.

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For your discussion: The news cycle

Posted at 9:18 AM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Media

In this business, like so many others, you never exhale and get comfortable. As the Paul Douglas layoff at WCCO showed last week, the end can come at any time. As many have pointed out, Douglas will be fine. But he was only one of several to get the boot. He had the benefit of being the face in front of the camera. A bunch of others at WCCO are similarly going to be chopped through buyouts.

Around the CBS empire last week, lots of people lost their jobs, and a lot of flaks -- spokespersons -- had to reassure the public that nothing will change, which sounds like one final insult to the dearly departed.

For example. In Boston, 30 people were let go last week. Said a spokeswoman:

"There have been staff reductions stationwide as a result of our restructuring for efficiencies and streamlining our operations while maintaining quality programming and service to the community."

In San Francisco, five journalists were among those eliminated. And the San Francisco Chronicle reported...

KPIX spokeswoman Akilah Monifa said the cutbacks won't affect the station's coverage or any of its newscasts. Last month, the station added another 30-minute newscast to its lineup, producing a 10 p.m. program on sister station KBCW, staffed by their prime-time parent news team.

It's a familiar theme: "we're getting rid of people, but it won't affect our coverage." How is that possible unless those let go weren't contributing quality programming in the first place? And nobody seems to be saying that.

The term "quality," of course, is a definition in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. On the first night after announcing the cuts, WCCO provided a story on the history of the hockey puck. Two other stories in the newscast were provided by the same reporter.

The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press have cut back their staffs in recent years. Has it made a difference? The Pulitzers are being announced today and the Star Tribune is in the running for one based on its coverage of the bridge disaster.

If it has, then what we have here is a Catch 22 situation, the depths of which aren't yet clear. Cutbacks change the quality, the change in quality means a loss in readers/viewers/listeners, which results in lost revenue, which inspires more cutbacks.

How can that cycle change?

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What comes first?

Posted at 11:41 AM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Local Realtor Teresa Boardman, who writes the St. Paul Real Estate blog, has posted an interesting survey of list vs. sales price for housing in the city in March. The average asking price was $173, 365. The average sale price was about 3-4 percent lower.

In two neighborhoods -- Highland Park and St. Anthony/Midway -- the sale price was higher than the asking price.

Is it a good time to buy? It's a question that all real estate experts are asked and her response is "for some it is, for others it's not," which seems like an honestly good answer.

The comments section also provides some good insight:

I agree that it did used to be much easier to sell homes a few years ago than it is now. Still don't agree with your idea of buying when the market hits bottom. For one thing you will not know when that is until after it happens. Also houses are places to live and it really only matters that you paid the bottom dollar for your own. I have mentioned before, we bought about three years before the bottom in our neighborhood but we paid the bottom price for the home we own so it doesn't really matter and have enjoyed living in it for many years.

In February, according to Ms. Boardman, the average asking price was $185,233 and the average sales price was $178,390 -- that's about the same spread as March, though perhaps the story (if there is one) is that the numbers are higher. January's numbers were higher still.

What makes Boardman's answer to the universal question refreshing, is that it's not the one you usually get from people who make money by people buying homes. Like this one.

Buying a home -- or any other big purchase -- doesn't necessarily depend on the deal or the terms of the financing. It seems to me that it depends on the ability (or even the confidence) of the buyer to be able to afford it.

At a time when housing prices are comparatively low, the soft market may have more to do with the lack of confidence by people in the United States toward the economy. This is a chicken-and-egg situation that must drive economists crazy. People spend when they think they'll have a job to pay the bills. The economy picks up when people spend. We're very much in the "you go first" phase.

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Delegate hotels assigned

Posted at 11:46 AM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

The GOP is out with a list of hotels where delegations will be staying during the Republican National Convention. Like the floor seating arrangement (still to come), it's a good chance to view how much punch a state has in the big scheme of things.

Sorry, South Dakota, Connecticut and Puerto Rico. Enjoy the view out in Maple Grove. Even American Samoa got closer to the action.

As for Minnesota, it gets the downtown Hilton Garden Inn. It's not exactly the St. Paul, but it's among the closest hotels to the Xcel.

So who gets the St. Paul Hotel? Arizona, of course, home of the convention's star.

It's interesting that only 5 delegations are being housed in St. Paul, the official convention city. And the official hotel for the convention -- and this is important because it's where a lot of the action happens -- is the Hyatt... in Minneapolis. So the bulk of the delegates and media will only have to come to St. Paul for a few hours each evening.

Here are the assignments:

Alabama - The Marquette Hotel
Alaska - Ramada Mall of America
American Samoa - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Arizona - The Saint Paul Hotel
Arkansas - Embassy Suites Minneapolis-Airport
California - Sheraton Bloomington Hotel Minneapolis South & Sofitel Minneapolis- Bloomington
Colorado - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Connecticut - Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Maple Grove Northwest Minneapolis-Arbor Lakes
Delaware - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
District of Columbia - DoubleTree Guest Suites Minneapolis
Florida - Minneapolis Airport Marriott
Georgia - DoubleTree Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place
Guam - DoubleTree Hotel Minneapolis - Park Place
Hawaii - Embassy Suites Bloomington
Idaho - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Illinois - Millennium Hotel Minneapolis
Indiana - Embassy Suites Bloomington
Iowa - La Quinta Inn & Suites Minneapolis Bloomington West
Kansas - Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Bloomington at Mall of America
Kentucky - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Louisiana - Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North
Maine - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Maryland - Embassy Suites St. Paul-Downtown
Massachusetts - Crowne Plaza Bloomington
Michigan - The Northland Inn
Minnesota - Hilton Garden Inn St. Paul City Center
Mississippi - Embassy Suites Minneapolis-Airport
Missouri - Ramada Minneapolis Northwest & Water Park
Montana - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
Nebraska - Best Western Normandy Inn & Suites - Minneapolis
Nevada - The Saint Paul Hotel
New Hampshire - Hilton Minneapolis
New Jersey - Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Mall of America
New Mexico - Holiday Inn Minneapolis Metrodome
New York - Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Northern Mariana Islands - Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Bloomington at Mall of America
North Carolina - Holiday Inn Minneapolis Metrodome
North Dakota - DoubleTree Guest Suites Minneapolis
Ohio - Radisson Plaza Hotel Minneapolis & The Marquette Hotel
Oklahoma - Four Points by Sheraton Minneapolis
Oregon - La Quinta Inn & Suites Minneapolis Bloomington West
Pennsylvania - Minneapolis Marriott Southwest
Puerto Rico - Courtyard Minneapolis Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes
Rhode Island - Hyatt Place Minneapolis Airport-South
South Carolina - Hilton Minneapolis
South Dakota - Courtyard Minneapolis Maple Grove/Arbor Lakes
Tennessee - Ramada Mall of America
Texas - Crowne Plaza Hotel St. Paul-Riverfront
US Virgin Islands - Radisson University Hotel-Minneapolis
Utah - Sofitel Minneapolis - Bloomington
Vermont - Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Virginia - Radisson University Hotel-Minneapolis
Washington - Crowne Plaza Northstar Minneapolis-Downtown
West Virginia - Crowne Plaza Bloomington
Wisconsin - Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Wyoming - Hilton Garden Inn Minneapolis St. Paul-Shoreview

The East Metro didn't get any convention money (a Sheraton is being built in Woodbury that some officials had hoped could attract some business).

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Inventing an issue

Posted at 1:18 PM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Part of the fun of reading the New York Times is reading the occasional full-page ad from some special interest group, warning of some sort of apocalypse if some sort of legislation is -- or isn't -- passed.

Today, a two-page ad predicts the destruction of America, if a bill, apparently favored by Minnesota representatives Tim Walz and Keith Ellison, is passed.

The issue? Patents.

The Patent Reform Act of 2007, about to be debated in the Senate, changes the rules on who gets patents.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, "supporters of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 want to switch to a 'first-to-file' system that would grant patent rights to the first person to file an application. The United States is the lone country still using a 'first-to-invent' system that rewards an inventor who first conceives the innovation, even if another person submits an earlier application."

Opponents says it'll lead to the "little inventor" being squeezed out by big institutions and corporations, who'll have the resources to get to the patent office sooner, once they hear about someone else's research.

The group that took out today's ad, the Professional Inventors Alliance, is headed by one guy who is responsible for "a revolutionary design of the treadmill," and another who invented the folding and replaceable electronic keyboard, both of which apparently have prevented the destruction of America.

On the other side is a group called The Coalition for Patent Fairness (I haven't seen their ad yet), which is made up of companies including (in Minnesota) Comcast and Wells Fargo Bank. They say the current system allows people with "dubious" patents to shake down high-tech companies for big payments to make patent infringement claims go away.

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The Olympic spirit

Posted at 1:51 PM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The Olympic torch relay isn't going well. Here's a Webcam shot of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco where protesters have scaled the bridge, to oppose China's crackdown in Tibet. Another webcam of the bridge is here, and here.

The torch isn't due in San Francisco until Wednesday, but it's getting a rude reception on its journey. Its trip through Paris was cut short by protests today. And it was extinguished for a time.

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Playing chicken

Posted at 5:02 PM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty took a chainsaw to the bonding bill today, delivering a particularly hefty whomp to projects in Minneapolis and St. Paul, home to some of the DFL leaders who tried to play chicken with him.

Politics aside, there's a certain truism in Minnesota: Pawlenty doesn't lose many of these public battles. If you were to count on your hand the number of victories the DFL has amassed against Pawlenty since 2003, you would need one finger -- the gas tax override. Most of the time, he gets his way.

Still, lawmakers, probably anticipating some sort of veto and punishing him in advance, gutted a couple of Pawlenty's favorite projects from the bill: a new nursing facility at the Minneapolis Veterans Home and a new park in northern Minnesota, while keeping money in the budget for a music lending library.

In the end it turns out to be a win-win (or lose-lose depending on your perspective) for everyone. The lawmakers get to blame Pawlenty for cutting projects, some of which they may not have liked. The governor gets to look like the last line of defense between DFLers and runaway spending (or he can even look like a hero in some communities for not vetoing a project) .

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem said of the DFL, "What's in play here is the VP possibility... They're trying to paint Pawlenty as an ineffective governor."

So far, it's not working.

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The paper still rules

Posted at 6:15 PM on April 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

What's wrong with this picture? Today the Pulitzers were handed out for journalism. The newspaper business, as you may have heard, is in complete meltdown, trying to figure out how to compete in the age of the Internet.

A paragraph in the Editor & Publisher story on the event in New York was enough to drop a jaw or two:

After the lists were passed out, and those in attendance rushed to spread the news via cell phone, laptop and, in some cases, old-fashioned phones down the hall, Gissler noted that this year's journalism submissions, at 1167, had been down somewhat from last year's 1225. He also stated that between 15% and 20% of entries included some kind of online component.

It's quite possible that Pulitzer administrator Sig Gissler meant this tale to show just how big the Internet has become in the newspaper industry. And if this were, say, 1997, the fact that one out of every 5 or 6 entries to the most prestigious award in journalism had an online component would've been impressive. In 2008, however, it's just a sad commentary. (By the way, if you want to see a winning entry with a significant online component, try this one from Concord, New Hampshire)

Meanwhile, the Star Tribune did not, as many had hoped, win an award for its coverage of the I-35W bridge collapse. I am reminded, however, of a fascinating column that Politics in Minnesota boss Sarah Janececk wrote in December, which suggested that the shutout would play big at MnDOT's headquarters.

But harassing MnDOT employees is not the only objection MnDOT has to the Star Tribune's bridge collapse coverage. The Department maintains that the Star Tribune has been playing fast and loose with lots of facts in many of its stories. So, MnDOT has been keeping a file documenting every fact that it deems the Star Tribune has gotten wrong. My sources tell me the file has become inches high...and that MnDOT plans to make sure the Pulitzer Prize Board receives it.

(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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Protect your brain

Posted at 7:55 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Is caffeine the miracle drug?

A North Dakota study on rabbits says a cup of coffee a day protects a vital barrier between the brain and the blood supply, protecting the central nervous system from the harm of chemicals in the blood.

Maybe coffee will soon be reimbursable by your FLEX plan.

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Twins stadium name

Posted at 9:44 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)

The Minnesota Twins have a noon news conference today for "a major announcement about their new ballpark." This sound suspiciously like the unveiling of the name, by virtue of corporate sponsorship.

The betting line appears to be Land o' Lakes Park or Land o' Lakes Field.

Carter Hayes, on the blog SBG Nation, says he searched the WHOIS database and found that landolakespark.com and landolakesfield.com have been registered by the Twins vice president of technology.

Target Field and various concoctions of Best Buy (HDTV on sale now for $800 Park?) have also been registered, but apparently not to anyone publicly associated with the Twins.

I checked for a Wells Fargo Field, but the domain is not registered. Besides, wasn't that once Twins owner Carl Pohlad's competition in the banking business?

If it is Land O Lakes Field, how do we refer to it in the shortened form. In Cleveland, one headed to "The Jake" (then Jacobs Field). In Minneapolis, we go to "The Dome." We can't very well say, "it's a nice day, let's go to 'The Lake.'"

By the way, have you seen the Twins ballpark Web cam?

Update 12:24 p.m. - The "big" announcement turned out to be a deal with Delaware North (owners of the Boston Bruins and widely regarded there as some of the cheapest ownership in sports) to provide concession services. I imagine there's more than a few honked-off media people who were lured to attend the big announcement only to find out it wasn't worth the paper on a press release. It's one of the no-no's of the business.

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The chemical question

Posted at 11:24 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Since word leaked out a couple of years ago that chemicals once manufactured by 3M are infiltrating the water supplies in parts of Dakota and Washington counties, many people who live there only want to know one thing: is the stuff killing me and the kids?

A report issued by the Department of Public Health today (pdf here) doesn't answer the question.

MPR reporter Lorna Benson, who's responsible for much of the news coverage of this issue, says there doesn't appear to be much new in the document.

The report says incidents of cancer in the area are "similar to the rest of the state or slightly lower." According to an MPR story last month, a study of cancer rates among 3M workers is "inconclusive."

Elevated levels of the chemical have been found in peoples' blood in Oakdale and Lake Elmo, but while the Health Department says it may not represent a health risk, none of the language in the report is so declarative as to make many people sleep better, and it even conflicts with the headlines of a year or so ago, such as "3M Chemical Levels Safe In Water," or "Suspect water in east metro safe to drink, agency says."

And there's this continuing advisory (link insertion is mine):

Nevertheless, those who may be especially concerned with their continued exposure to low levels of PFCs through drinking water (even at levels below the MDH HRLs or well advisory guidelines), such as pregnant women or parents with infants, can take additional steps to reduce exposure by using bottled water for drinking, cooking, or making formula, or by using point of use filters to treat water used for these purposes.

Here's Lorna's take on today's report:

"If you're fascinated with detective work, the report offers a pretty comprehensive review of the the PFC investigation so far. It lists countless details on the contaminated landfills in Oakdale and Lake Elmo and theories on how the chemicals spread into the nearby groundwater and drinking water. But if you're desperate for firm answers on the health risk of drinking water containing PFCs you'll have to wait - probably for quite some time. Health studies to date, conducted mostly by 3M, have mainly focused on laboratory animals or exposed workers. Scientists still know very little about how PFC exposure affects vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and children. Minnesota lawmakers passed a bill last session that sets up a biomonitoring program to track PFC exposure in east metro residents. That study gets underway this summer. But it is limited to 200 residents and it has been criticized for only including adults. Some have predicted a potential explosion human studies as university researchers and graduate students become more aware of the PFC issue. Still, any findings from those projects would be many years away."

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Polar bear politics

Posted at 10:52 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)

A tale of two cultures.

In Minnesota, polar bears and gorillas get the cold shoulder.

In Germany, a polar bear enthralls a nation.

They're so cute, right? Be sure to read the part where Mom ate two of her cubs yesterday.

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Cheap Joe a no go

Posted at 11:28 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

I had anticipated a line at the closest Starbucks today. They were giving away free coffee nationwide from 11 to 11:30 as part of its effort to "reconnect" with the customer. With the money saved from one free cup of coffee, you can pay for the extra gasoline tax on two or three fill-ups.

But no, there were four people in the store; all of them appeared to be homeless.

The company unveiled a new "everyday" blend that tasted -- and this is an unscientific opinion from someone whose taste buds have been miscalibrated from years of abuse -- like every other cup of everyday coffee. Oh, and it came without the cardboard protective wrap, which helped my fingers reconnect with pain.

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How bad? Real bad

Posted at 11:57 AM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Realtor and blogger Teresa Boardman has "the numbers no one wants published."

Thirty percent of the properties on the market are in foreclosure.

And she reveals:

Banks really are dropping their prices and starting to actually sell off the properties they own. I am noticing that when my clients make offers on these properties they often end up in multiple offer situations. Some of the banks are dropping their asking price every week or two until they start getting offers. They then wait until they collect a few offers and start working with the best one, taking care that each buyers knows he or she is in a multiple offer situation and can raise their bid.

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Profits over principle?

Posted at 3:32 PM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

A principled stand is bad for business. That's the message one can take away from Trek Bicycle Corporation's announcement today that it is suing Minnesotan Greg LeMond, three-time winner of the Tour de France, because, basically, he won't shut up about the use of drugs in his sport.

According to the article on the MPR Web site:

(Company president John Burke) said throughout the company's relationship with LeMond, the cyclist would renege on promises, like saying he would curb his comments about doping and focus more on the brand.

But then he also said:

"Doping is a very important topic for our industry. We never discouraged Greg from speaking out about doping in cycling. We know there is a difference between attacking an issue and destroying reputations. Greg's public comments damaged the LeMond brand, and our reputation with retailers and consumers."

When it comes to juicy scandals, you can't beat this sport. And LeMond has been in the thick of it, accusing bicycling god Lance Armstrong of using drugs, and then saying Armstrong threatened him.

He also testified at a hearing over race winner Floyd Landis' two positive doping tests, despite claims that if he did, Landis' manager would reveal that LeMond was sexually abused as a boy.

Meanwhile, cycling as a sport is synonymous with blood doping. The maker of the banned substance even sponsored part of the tour.

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Diversity at the University of Minnesota

Posted at 7:53 PM on April 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

It's often difficult to make a casual -- very casual -- stroll through sections of the University of Minnesota and not find yourself thinking, "this place is really white."

Questions about diversity have dogged the institution for some time. When the General College was closed and folded into the College of Education, diversity -- or the lack thereof -- was often at the heart of the protests against the decision.

"It is not acceptable for students who enter General College to graduate after six years at about a 30 percent rate," University President Robert Bruininks said in 2005. "And if they're students of color, it's about a 20 percent rate. We need much higher levels of success for the students who enter the University of Minnesota."

How has that worked out?

"The six-year graduation rate for students of color for 2007 was 48.6 percent," Vice President and Vice Provost Nancy 'Rusty' Barceló, of the U's Office for Equity and Diversity, told me today. "In 2005, it was 47.3. So we went up a little bit, but the four-year graduation rate in 2007 was 31.3 percent and in 2005 it was 23.8 percent. So I think we're doing some things; it certainly isn't where we want to be. The broader university wants to raise it above the 60-percent level but what's important is we're beginning to see more students who start their sophomore year, staying through their sophomore year. That becomes a real good indicator that these students are going to see their way through the institution."

According to a University of Minnesota Daily story on diversity at the U last month, the number of students of color on campus has increased 20 percent since 2002, an indication perhaps that the university wide commitment to diversity was not "a bluff," as one opponent of closing the General College alleged.

Barceló's hiring in 2006 was part of Bruininks' plan. (Also see my interview with Darlyne Bailey, the dean of the College of Education)

Still, the U clearly has its work cut out for it. Today, for example, a press release from Penn State University trumpeted the fact that it and Michigan, are the only Big 10 schools whose graduation rate for African Americans is near 70 percent. A story in the Journal of Blacks in Education put the U of M's rate near the bottom.

Though we didn't talk specifically about the report (I hadn't seen it at the time we talked), Barcelo has worked to address the concerns of parents and community leaders, especially in the Twin Cities. She says the U is working harder to recruit a more diverse student body. "There was this concern that we'd see this drop-off of underrepresented students (with the closing of the General College). For this year, there are about 28,000 applications to the University of Minnesota, 7,200 were underrepresented students and of those, 2,200 were actually admitted to the university."

Read and listen to the interview with Vice President and Vice Provost Barceló below the fold

Continue reading "Diversity at the University of Minnesota"

Preparing for the next disaster

Posted at 10:21 AM on April 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Today (Wednesday) I'm taking in a conference on the psychological impact of disaster, being held in Brooklyn Center. It features several panels about the I-35W bridge collapse which include victims of the disaster and responders. I'm hoping I'll be able to find a wireless connection to live blog a few seminars. If not, there'll be a large post later on today.

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The bearers of bad news

Posted at 3:25 PM on April 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Bridges and roads, The jobs we do

If there is one job that most people probably don't want, it may well be Rev. Jeffrey Stewart's, the director of the Minneapolis Police Chaplain Corps. His job is to tell people their loved one is dead.

"It's not for everybody," he told me during a break in a conference in Brooklyn Center today, exploring the psychological footprints of disaster. He and chaplain Linda Koelman were the people who broke the bad news to the families of the I-35W bridge collapse, the focus of much of the conference. "One of the things that we look for in chaplains and the type of chaplain that we've been able to get in Minneapolis is people who have a genuine calling for working with people in crisis and who have a belief that because we're there, this terrible situation will be better because we spent the time to talk to them, to make the notification in person, to help put them in touch with the resources they need."

"We see ourselves as the ones that walk the families through the valley of the shadow of death," he said. And after a relative is told of the death, he said notifiers should have nothing to ever do with the family again. "Like a smell that might take you back to your mother's kitchen, we remind people of the death of their loved one and the healing process can't begin. We get hugs sometimes. We get handshakes and then people say 'thank you. I hope I never see you again.'"

Stewart says he doesn't deviate from a standard procedure. "We ask the person if they know someone named (name of deceased), and they'll say something like, 'yes, he's my son.' We never want to notify the wrong person, so we have to establish the identity of who we're talking to. And then I'll say, 'I have some very bad news. Your son is dead.' We don't say how he died and we don't use colloquialisms, and then we let them ask questions."

Stewart and Koelman were a constant presence at the family assistance center for the I-35W collapse. The center closed 10 days after the disaster, but before the last body was recovered. In cases involving mass casualties, he said, "everyone is afraid they'll be the last family there." When the center closed, Stewart and Koelman kept in touch with families of the missing two to three times a day. When the last body was recovered, he was already heading for the home of the victim. "We had a race against the media," he said. "It was a huge sigh of relief for the victim's spouse and we beat the media by 18 minutes. We were happy on the way home."

Listen to the comments of Rev. Jeffrey Stewart

The psychological footprint of a disaster

Posted at 5:32 PM on April 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Bridges and roads

It's been almost nine months since Lindsay Petterson rode her car from the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis into the water of the Mississippi River. She says people are losing "their understanding nature" and thinking she and other bridge victims "should be over it by now."

She's not over it by a longshot. "It's just begun," she said.

Pettersen told her story today to a conference of public safety and medical professionals, examining the psychological aspect of mass disaster.

Last August 1, she was on her way home from her job in Shoreview, where she worked in a group setting with children with mental health issues. "I heard the most distinct sound like a beam cracking in half, and my world changed forever," she said. "I was in freefall. I don't remember the fall, but I remember thinking 'there's no way I'm going to survive this.'"

Her car sank and filled with water immediately. Somehow, although she doesn't remember how, she broke a window and surfaced, but not before "I changed my thought process to accepting this is how I was going to die."

Pulled to safety by one of the construction workers who rode the bridge to the water, she ended up in the hospital with a fractured vertebrae for five days. Her physical injuries healed; her post-trauma stress has not. Not completely.

"I have a problem being in man-made structures. I walk into elevators and back out," she said. "This roof as I'm speaking is making noises and it's freaking me out. I have nightmares of falling that are as real as it was that day. I fear death. There was a tornado warning in my town, and I was sure it was going to come right down on my apartment building, and I would be the only one to die."

Petterson says she's sometimes angry, but mostly she's sad. "It's the most lonely feeling I've ever had in my life. I know that this sad person is not who I was. I know it's not who I will be. But it's who I am now."

She's unemployed now because she started thinking that maybe, if she made one of the kids mad at work, they'd hurt her. "I worked in a group home and I tried to help the kids but it was at a time when I needed help, too." She says she's hoping for the perfect job to come along.

In the meantime, she wants people to be nicer, and be more understanding about the psychological impact of the disaster. She pointed to comments that are attached to news sites' articles. "There's a lot of mean people who have a lot of mean things to say. It's just not helpful," she said.

She writes occasionally on a section of the Caring Bridge Web site. In her last entry -- last week -- she wrote:

I was also asked to speak on a panel at a conference next week about Disaster Response. I'm very honored that I will be able to share my story, both on that day and since. I think I'm going to go find a nice spot to enjoy the sunshine and do some reading. Thanks for putting up with my griping...

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A part of the job

Posted at 7:04 PM on April 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Bridges and roads, Media

Nobody, for the most part, likes to go into a room and be the person nobody wants to see. Newspeople, as far as I know, learn to accept it and we tell ourselves it's part of the job and a small price to pay for preserving truth and democracy and whatever other blather we come up with.

But the real truth? People in my business need to stop rationalizing traumatizing innocent people over some fictitious justification. And they need to figure out a way to do that while still being able to tell people what the heck is going on.

At the conference in Brooklyn Park on Wednesday (see several entries below), public safety and behavioral health professionals analyzed the I-35W bridge tragedy and planned for the next big disaster, considering challenges such as counseling, food, shelter, medicine, rescue equipment, organizing volunteers and cooperation among the dozens of entities that are involved in these sorts of things.

The I-35W bridge disaster brought out the best in these emergency workers of all stripes, especially given the bureaucratic nightmare of it all. "It was a federally-owned bridge, operated and maintained by the state, which fell into a river controlled by the county, and the riverbanks were owned by the city," said conference organizer Jonathan Bundt .

But a common theme emerged among many speakers on the psychological footprint of disaster -- the trauma inflicted by reporters.

Granted public safety folks and journalists have always had an adversarial relationship, and there's usually a good reason for that. But when a bridge falls down, and families are in unimaginable pain, we -- the media -- shouldn't be making it worse.

"The media has got to fill the time," said Bundt, "but every time they'd report something, we'd get inundated by the families and 75 to 80 percent of the time, the information was inaccurate."

Bundt said the real problem last August with the family assistance center he set up, is that it was set up at the Holiday Inn, near the bridge, a site too accessible to the public and reporters.

"All the families had to walk through the lobby to get to the room," Bundt said, invoking an image of a gauntlet of reporters anxious to know what it feels like to think your loved one may be dead. The public has a right to know, one supposes. But doesn't the public already know the answer to that question?

So in addition to the other challenges the behavioral health specialists faced that August night, among the biggest was the psychological trauma inflicted by reporters.

"The news people are never, ever on your side," Rev. Jeffrey Stewart told the attendees on Wednesday, as he described racing the media to be the first to tell a woman that her husband was dead. (See post)

Leesa Dentinger, whose cousin, Christina Sacorafas died in the collapse, told the group that among the best things the family assistance center did, was "keeping the media away from us."

A Minneapolis police official, the group was told, surreptitiously arranged a secret visit to the bridge site for family members, so that they could look over the side of the 10th Street Bridge and not worry about the media. She said he got in trouble for that.

Another person told me a reporter posed as someone who was related to a bridge victim to try to get into the area where the families were.

To be sure, not every journalist was -- or is -- a jerk. Bundt said many gave him their business cards, and he put them on a wall with a sign for the families that if they wanted to talk, they could take their pick. "Some people need to tell their story," he said. It was a remarkably civilized and effective way to get a story, and perhaps it should be part of planning for the next disaster.

Behind the scenes, Bundt was dealing with the "diversity" of the families. Not just ethnic and racial, but rural people who didn't understand the city; and families of divorce coming together in a not-always-pleasant way. "When trauma hits, you can't hold it in," he said, noting that often family members had to get away from other family members.

It's a long-standing dilemma for journalists: how to cover a story and not make it worse. Before leveling the criticism on Wednesday, each person prefaced it with "the media was just doing its job, but...." And perhaps that's the first step journalists can take to prepare for the next disaster: getting it through our heads -- and yours -- that making things worse isn't part of the job.

"I hope you didn't take my comments personally," Rev. Stewart said to me afterwards. I did... but not for the reason he thinks.

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Tales from the runway

Posted at 8:43 AM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

The airline industry is in meltdown. No news there, as many people who have tried to get from Point A to Point B in the same day can attest.

The big story at the moment is the stranded passengers of American Airlines, which has grounded a thousand flights to check where a tie-wrap was used on some wiring in the wheel-well.

No question about it, being stranded in an airport -- especially if you have kids -- stinks, made worse by the fact nobody ever seems to have an answer, or a good explanation for the why or when questions.

Expect it to get worse in Minneapolis-St. Paul, according to the government, which issued a warning on Wednesday that Northwest has scheduled dozens of flights to take off at about the same time (see report).

Northwest, according to the Star Tribune, "did not respond to a request for comment," taking a page from the American Airlines playbook.

By summer, those planes will likely have Delta's colors, news reports suggest. With or without the agreement of Northwest pilots, the two airlines appear ready to go ahead and merge, which still won't allow two airplanes to take off from the same runway at the same time, of course. It will also create an odd experience for travelers, who'll get to cross picket lines of pilots from one airline, picketing the pilots of another airline.

Why would anyone want to work in this business? That's a question, perhaps, for Jason Captain, who started training last month at a Northwest subsidiary, after giving up a pretty fair government gig, the New York Times reported today. "My wife thinks I'm nuts," said the 32 year old.

Being an airline pilot was once a respected and admirable position. Now it's the same as driving a bus. We used to dress up to take an airline flight, now we're passengers at Greyhound. How'd we get here? Blogger Dave Gamble, an occasional visitor to News Cut, has an interesting perspective today. We got here because more of us were allowed the means to fly in the first place:

Efficiency is nice for the common consumer - consider Wal-Mart - but it doesn't make for the most enjoyable experience. Not to out myself as an elitist bastard, but I like to compare a trip to Wal-Mart with what it must be like to spend a couple of hours back stage on The Maury Show (in furtherance of my analogy, according to the Maury web site today's topic is "I Had Sex With Your Sister and Got Her Pregnant" - who wouldn't want to rub elbows with those folks), and that crowd is now routinely enjoying airline travel.

It might not be a bad time to invest in a roadside motel. This long-distance-travel-by-car thing might just take off.

Summer travel season is coming, what poison are you picking?

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It's quiet. Too quiet.

Posted at 10:43 AM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

This meeting of the "I already drained the gas in my snowblower and put the shovels back up in the crawl space above the garage" club is now in order.

As you might have overheard, a storm bigger than the Winds of Hell is heading our way, the first blizzard in the post-Paul-Douglas world.

It's quiet out there. Too quiet. Well, except for the cacophony of bird calls that hits you like a bucket of water in the morning when you go out to fetch the paper out of the bushes. Bird brains. They think it's spring.

Paul Huttner and Craig Edwards are blogging up a storm. They're in charge. It's snowing at Pipestone, Windom and Jackson.

My job? Keeping your eye on the prize.

The azaleas were out this morning in Augusta.

The cherry blossoms are blossoming in Washington.

The bluebells are up in London.

The corpse flower is stinking up the Como Conservatory.

And the Minnesota Wild are losing playoff games.

All the signs are there. Just keep hitting refresh for the next two days. On the other hand, send me your pictures of the great white death and we'd be delighted to share your misery.

(Photos from Getty Images. Corpse flower courtesy of Marjorie McNeeley Conservatory)

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Error: Formula involves a circular reference

Posted at 1:00 PM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

There are times when I'm reminded that some of the best journalism being done is actually comedy. (Or is it some of the best comedy being done is actually journalism?)

Last night's Daily Show segment on Gen. David Petraeus' testimony before Congress is one such time.

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Calling all profilees

Posted at 1:32 PM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

A release from the Minnesota chapter of the ACLU today reveals it is collecting information from people who feel they've been racially profiled.

Of course, this has been done before in these parts and not much happened as a result.

It was about five years ago that the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota collected data on racial profiling from 65 police departments in Minnesota, under a 2001 bill at the Legislature to collect the data.

The statewide report said:

The pattern for Blacks and Latinos existed in nearly every participating jurisdiction. Whites were stopped at a greater than expected rate in only 8 of the 60 jurisdictions having enough stops to determine statistical significance. On the other hand, Blacks were over-stopped in every jurisdiction but one and Latinos were over-stopped in all but 5 of the 43 jurisdictions in which statistical significance could be determined. Similarly, in all but 2 of the 37 jurisdictions in which there were discretionary searches of Blacks and Whites, Blacks were subjected to searches at a higher rate than Whites. Latinos were subjected to these searches at a higher rate than Whites in all of the jurisdictions in which there were discretionary searches of Latinos.

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Cancer in miners: Whose problem is it?

Posted at 5:15 PM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty, Politics

I wrote a couple of days ago that Gov. Pawlenty doesn't usually lose a showdown with the DFL. But this -- the bill that would allocate $5 million to study lung disease among taconite workers -- might be an exception.

Gov. Pawlenty, according to MPR's Tim Pugmire, may veto the bill, because he wants to tap the Taconite Economic Development Fund, a tax on taconite companies intended to spur development on the Iron Range.

Republican Rep. Denny McNamara of Hastings gets the "money quote" of the day.

Members on the other side of the aisle, you're going to vote to tax the snot out of everybody else and let the Iron Range skate, and they're making money hand over fist. We're either in a recession or on the verge of a recession throughout the state except for one spot, the Iron Range.

It's never a good idea -- politically speaking -- to paint yourself into a corner, by allowing your opponents to position your position as "your cancer isn't my problem."

It is -- and has been -- Pawlenty's problem for awhile now. His administration already was under fire for appearing to sacrifice the lives of miners by keeping secret possible evidence that there was a link between taconite and cancer.

Under the bill, says Pugmire, the bulk of the $4.9 million needed for the study would come from the surplus in a state workers compensation fund -- money that comes from the state's employers. In a way, the idea isn't that much different from Pawlenty's plan to take money from the Health Care Access Fund -- a tax on health care providers -- to help erase a budget deficit, which set a precedent for using a surplus for things it was never intended.

The money -- $4.9 million -- is hardly a drop in the bucket, except in comparison to, say, the $30 million the state will ship to ethanol producers, in a bill the governor signed last year.

Pawlenty, as noted before, is a very smart politician. Coming out on top with a veto of the bill will challenge that ability.

Sign or veto? What say you?

Update 10:36 p.m. Aaron J. Brown, on his outstanding blog, MinnesotaBrown.com, points out one interesting factoid:

What Pawlenty and many outside the Iron Range often fail to understand is that our taconite tax revenue, while significant during good times (and not all times are good), is not a secret pot of cash that we use to buy beer and ammunition. It is what mining companies pay IN LIEU of PROPERTY TAX. Mines own or lease thousands of acres of enormously valuable land in northern Minnesota and they don't pay a dime in property tax. Suburbs raise their revenue from those sleek office buildings along the freeways and in overpriced residential homes. The Iron Range raises its school and community funds from taconite taxes, and per capita we get less money over time as a result. But wait, there's more. All the while over Range history a portion of these taconite taxes have gone to the state general fund or to the University of Minnesota fund, money that has benefited more than a million people who couldn't find the Iron Range on a map.

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Your financial story

Posted at 9:07 AM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (28 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

Financial expert Ruth Hayden is on the first hour of Midmorning today (9 a.m.). News Cut is live blogging and I hope you'll share your financial story in the comments section below.

Listen to the program (RealPlayer)

Her appearance comes at the right time. The Pew Research folks released a survey on Wednesday on the middle class. The report, called "Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life" said "for decades, middle-income Americans had been making absolute progress while enduring relative decline. But since 1999, they have not made economic gains."

Is that true in your life? Is you paycheck feeling pinched. If so, what's your plan?

8:14 a.m. - Happen to be watching the CBS Morning Show over the morning coffee and they had a segment with Janice Revel, senior writer of "Money" magazine on what to do with your tax rebate stimulus check. She said: (1) Attack credit card debt, (2) Build emergency fund (3) Invest in retirement. Lofty stuff. I wonder how many people are like me. We had plans like that for the dough. Then the washing machine died Sunday in the middle of a load of darks, and we had to buy a new one, which ate up the entire check (which of course hasn't arrived yet). At least we stimulated Maytag. (by the way, all financial advice tips will be in bold green so you can find it faster later on).

9:09 - "It's just discouragement, they're just feelingpoor," Ruth says. With a 2-percent raise, you're losing money. Consumer confidence, the news out today, is diving, according to a report that just came out this morning. It's a 26-year low. We somewhat make it worse for ourselves, by "blaming" the other people in our homes (i.e. "how can you be spending more for groceries and not bringing home more food.")

9:13 a.m. - Speaking of inflation, play around with this calculator.

9:17 a.m. - They're talking about the price of a gallon of milk (up 19%). Here's an interesting idea. A woman had her son pay for a gallon of milk, just so he'd see how much it costs to keep him fed (you know how teens are, right?).

9:19 a.m. - A commentator below chastises the middle class for not sacrificing... as opposed to the "working poor." I wonder how many of the working poor consider themselves middle class?

9:21 a.m. - Ruth says a few years ago, more than 80 percent of the mortgages were adjustable rate mortgages. The mortgages are now resetting at a higher rate. These, of course, are the mortgages that others criticize when they say the problem with the housing crisis is people biting off more than they can chew. A few weeks ago, Marketplace reported, the percentage of mortgages that are adjustable rate, is inching up again. Is it that people haven't learned?

9:23 a.m. - Don't challenge your career path on a stage. Ruth tells a college student to get a second job. It's a stage, but we will get through it. The fundamentals are still in place. In other words, don't give up your dreams. Don't buy a house until you know you can afford it just because they're on sale. Consider deferring college loan debt.

9:26 a.m. - If you can do it without debt, it's a great time to buy things that are "deflating" (cars, campers etc.). Don't do things today that affect negatively later in your life. Taking money out of retirement "is a pristine example of that."

9:31 a.m. - This idea that it's just a stage... I get it, but it's not true for everybody. Let's take an example: You're an older worker in a dying industry. If you're cut, the chance of you being able to replace that job with a similar position -- I would think -- are relatively poor. Not that I object to a "the sun will come out tomorrow" approach to things, but is it really that simple? In looking at the survey above, I tend to think that's behind the discouragement. In contrast to that, however, is this article, that the older worker these days has a chance to redefine their retirement. In any event, the worker is a moving target.

9:39 a.m.- Even if times are tough, if your employer matches contributions to a retirement fund, contribute at least 4 percent.

9:40 a.m. - Caller -- single person -- with a house says he's taking in roommates. "We need to go back to being more practical in our approach," he said.

9:43 - Ruth advises getting your free credit report. Here's the URL she mentioned. annualcreditreport.com. I did this a few weeks ago, but here's the thing. What am I supposed to do with it?

9:46 a.m. - "The stock market is on sale. It's the perfect time to go into it," Ruth says. This one scares me, only because I watch too much CNBC. But if you're talking about taking advantage of a retirement plan at work, especially if an employer matches, that's another story.

9:50 a.m. - "Our economy is based on healthy personal economics." Don't spend your stimulus check. One of the reasons we're in trouble is we spent all this money based on debt. It's not sustainable. Hang on to the money. Pay off debt or put it in savings.

9:55 a.m. - Kerri reads Nathan's question below about wanting to consolidate student loans but not knowing who's credible. Ruth suggests going back to your financial department at school and asking.

10:06 - I fixed the link to the inflation calculator above. Apologies.

For those of you who are visiting News Cut for the first time, courtesy of Midmorning, thanks for stopping by. We look forward to having you here more often. We'd like to keep the conversation going through the day, here, so if you have some stories to share, advice etc., please feel free.

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Surf's up

Posted at 10:31 PM on April 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

I usually cringe when I hear the "only in Minnesota" stuff (usually it's from Paul Douglas citing some weather factoid that actually happens in about 18 other states).

However, I think Minnesota really is the only place people go surfing in a blizzard.

(Hat tip: Perfect Duluth Day)

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Secrets of the flame

Posted at 11:53 AM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Sports

Twin Citian Amy Hyatt-Blat, who works here at MPR, has a unique perspective on the Olympic torch relay that's become the focus of demonstrations against China and its human rights violations. That's her above, getting the torch for her part of the relay in Australia for the 2000 Olympics. She not only got to run a few blocks as part of the relay, she was one of the people in charge of setting it up, working on the advance team that accompanied the torch on its run to the Sydney Olympics. The logistics were massive with over 12,000 runners involved.

But let's get to the juicy "secrets" of the flame:

Cheney's sunglasses mystery

Posted at 1:09 PM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

Well, this is one of the more intriguing photographic mysteries, at least since the famous "Mark Kennedy has an extra finger" brouhaha of a couple of years ago.

As the world of the Internet tells it, there's a reflection of a naked woman in Vice President Cheney's sunglasses.

Cheney's office says that's his hand on a fly rod, a difficult thing to see, I have to admit, once you get your eyes accustomed to seeing a naked woman.

Newsday, however, turned its investigative photography unit loose and concluded:

In one lens of his sunglasses you can clearly tell it is a sleeved arm of Cheney or a fishing companion. The other lens has an extreme distortion that, without looking at it closely, could be misconstrued.

It looks like Mark Kennedy's finger to me.

(Hat tip: Chris Dall)

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Every picture tells a story

Posted at 3:15 PM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The military usually provides an official looking picture along with the notification when a soldier dies. They're usually serious looking kids, sitting in their military gear, before an American flag, and the picture offers no glimpse at all into the person behind the name.

Today, however, the picture furnished by the Minnesota National Guard of Pfc. Jacob J. Fairbanks, 22, of St. Paul tells us a lot about who he was and what his loss means.

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The Week-in-Review Quiz

Posted at 4:49 PM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)

There was the faint rumble of revolution from last week's quiz (or maybe it was because Jesse Ventura is back from Mexico). The people cry out for the clever graphic. And News Quiz is people-powered.

Here, then, is this week's quiz.

For the record, we've never been more confident in your ability to do well on it. Don't let us down; we're all depending on you.

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All's quiet at Media News

Posted at 4:11 PM on April 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

According to a blog in Denver, we won't be able to read the sad tales of financial life at the parent of the Pioneer Press anymore. The company, owned by Dean Singleton, has decided to stop making the financial numbers available.

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The Governor's Coin?

Posted at 4:51 PM on April 12, 2008 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty

At one of the MPR story meetings yesterday, an editor said "Gov. Pawlenty is at an undisclosed location," which means Iraq... except when it means Kosovo, I guess, because that's where he turned up today to visit members of the Minnesota National Guard.

A lot of folks have forgotten about Kosovo and the "peace-keeping" mission that President Clinton left for President Bush. It's been almost 9 years.

According to the governor's Web site, Gov. Pawlenty is shown awarding "Spc. Michael Anderson, the Governor's Coin after Anderson helped escort him to sites around Kosovo."

The Governor's Coin? What's on The Governor's Coin? How do you get one? How much are they worth?

I've sent a request to the gov's office for a picture and some history. If you have some insight into the coin, by all means post it in the comment section. (Update: Gov's office to send pictures on Monday.)

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Lukewarm on the weatherman

Posted at 10:19 AM on April 13, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Weather

Even more than a week later, the News Cut entries (and here) on the Paul Douglas firing/layoff at WCCO TV are among the most heavily-trafficked pages, a testament, I guess, to the popularity of Douglas.

The Star Tribune has carried a daily blurb from Douglas since he returned from his misadventure in Chicago and people have wondered whether he'd still have that gig after exiting WCCO.

Keep wondering.

Here was Strib editor Nancy Barnes' assessment in her Sunday column today:

We are working with Paul to determine the future of that column, and I'll let readers know where we end up. For now, the column will remain.

It's just business, dollars and cents - I get it. My only real regret: not saying goodbye to viewers and radio listeners, who I am indebted to for a glorious 22 year career in this market. I leave with fond memories, having worked with the best anchors, reports, producers, directors in the industry, people who I count as irreplaceable friends as well as colleagues.

Justin steered clear of examining the Douglas-Star Tribune relationship.

Unrelated, by the way, in the same Barnes column is a story I guess I missed (I generally avoid both C.J. and Hartman's stuff) when it happened. But Barnes apologizes for the botched apology regarding gossip columnist C.J. apparently following conjoined twins she spotted at the Mall of America.

"Now, there's something you don't see everyday," I remarked to Walker, returning to our previous conversation as the twins walked by Barnes & Noble. Seconds later, they came into view for Walker, who instantly became the personification of flappable: "Did I just see that? Did I just see what I saw?"

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Stockyards in the suburbs

Posted at 7:19 AM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

South St. Paul gets some national attention today... for what it doesn't have anymore.

The New York Times takes a look at stockyards in the suburbs, specifically the end of the line for the South St. Paul stockyard, with an article and a nifty audio slideshow.

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Counting the tax opposition

Posted at 8:25 AM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

This post has been updated with super scientific research at bottom

Every year, Republicans (mostly) have a rally at the Capitol to protest taxes. Every year, there's a minor controversy with a heavy dose of passion that the news media didn't say more people attended. It's a talk-radio thing to try to get more publicity for an event after the event, but it's an interesting exercise.

This year is no exception. The rally is the work -- mostly -- of KTLK talk radio host Jason Lewis, who -- for the record -- moved back to high-tax Minnesota after leaving here for a few years to work in North Carolina, the state that ranks 40th in tax burden. There's a metaphor there... somewhere.

According to an Associated Press story (MPR didn't cover the rally), 1,000 people showed up.

That led to a few e-mails like the following:

I am ashamed at MPR as well as the Associated Press for the HORRIBLY misleading story about the Tax Cut Rally at the MN State Capitol this past Saturday. The "1,000" number that was used by the AP is incredibly misleading, especially since the Pioneer Press reports accurately "several thousand" people at the rally. I find it insulting to my time and efforts at this event that the media would so poorly represent the 62% of Minnesotans do not want new taxes (based on a Minnesota Majority survey of 35,000 Minnesota residents.)

Additionally, quoting a former DFLer that was NOT at the rally, insults the numerous candidates that were there, running for office, and putting their actions into words about changing the way our government works.

The government can NOT spend my money better than me. And as far as I'm concerned, I will not be donating any money any time soon to MPR for their poor reporting and coverage of this important issue.

I have my own "counting system" for rallies at the Capitol. I've written about it several times on Polinaut. It involves how much "real estate" the protesters occupy. Organizer estimates are notoriously unreliable, as I noted in this post, in which attendance was pegged at 2,000 one year, and 6,000 another year, even though the protesters occupied roughly the same amount of real estate.

But using that gauge with this rally is a bit more difficult, because the pictures taken by organizers aren't from the same spot as with the abortion rally, held every year in January.

But here's one of several you can find on the KTLK site.

Which looks a lot like the abortion rally at which the attendance was listed as 3,000.

and it looks like the crowd goes back to the trees at both rallies...

But, it turns out, the stage was set up on the Capitol steps for the abortion rally, but it was set up significantly farther down the mall at the anti-tax rally.

Also, the crowd didn't spill off to the side of stage center as at the abortion rallies, because tents were set up at the anti-tax rally. You can see them on the right in the above picture, and you can see plenty of empty real estate on the left.

An educated guess here is that the demonstrators occupied, perhaps, a third of the real estate of the abortion rallies. The abortion rallies (as indicated in the link earlier) were pegged at anywhere between 2,000 and 6,000. That puts the weekend tax rally crowd at a range between 700 and 2,000. So, 1,000 is pretty close.

By the way, there are two signs in this picture that undercut the argument:

And one from the SCSU Scholars Web site. The person caught the error in time.

The site says 5,000-7,000. That seems, as I indicated, pretty high. Normally, that would put people in the street. Perhaps we should put an end to these debates by getting about 10,000 volunteers and in 1,000 increments, stand them in front of the Capitol, take pictures, and give us a fair measure.

Updated 11:27 a.m.

Here's a picture from the SCSU Scholars Web site:

The original full-size can be found here. It appears to be show center, and would appear to represent the largest part of the crowd. How many do you think are shown here?

395. I counted (hat tip to the person in the comments section who suggested a "punch") :

To be the 5-7,000 claimed, there would have to be a spillage to the left and right of the steps, 5-6 times the number shown here on each side of show center. And the above photos show that clearly isn't the case, especially with the tents on the right side showing there's no spillover on that side.

The 1,000 figure may not be dead on the mark, but it appears to be quite accurate.

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The ethanol tax

Posted at 1:52 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (57 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Energy, Pawlenty

For all the talk about the ruin to be caused by the gas tax increase in Minnesota, comparatively little is said in the state these days about the "ethanol tax," which has had a significant impact in the cost of operating a vehicle and may, according to some people, have a role in rapidly increasing food prices.

For the last few months, I've been conducting an unscientific experiment: filling up my car with regular gasoline and comparing the performance with the ethanol blends I'm required to use in Minnesota.

Although Wisconsin drivers get a choice, lawmakers are considering an ethanol mandate, which would require 10 percent of gasoline to be a blend of ethanol, rising to 25 percent by 2025. Here's a copy of the legislation. Minnesota, on the other hand, requires all gasoline sold to be at least 10 percent ethanol.

I snuck across the border several times to fill up the 2004 Chevy Cavalier (the official car of News Cut) with ethanol-free gasoline. The result? My car got about 32.6 miles per gallon. The Minnesota blend gave me almost 29 miles per gallon, a 12% drop in performance.

Calculating current prices (the average price of gasoline in Minnesota now is $3.235. In Wisconsin it's $3.40), driving 1000 miles on Minnesota gas costs $111.55 (11.2 cents per mile). On Wisconsin gas, 1,000 miles costs $104.29 (10.4 cents a mile), a $7.26 savings, even though the difference in the price of a gallon is almost 17 cents. The "ethanol tax" works out to 2.3 cents a gallon.

In addition to the increased fuel costs to consumers, taxpayers also support ethanol producers with a 20-cents-a-gallon subsidy. The feds chip in another 51 cents a gallon.

My little experiment showed me that I spend an additional $80 or so a year at the pump because of ethanol. It's not a huge deal, although some of the rhetoric surrounding similar numbers in the gas tax debate suggested it's the difference between me keeping and losing my home.

But the "tax" is about to go higher. In 2005, there was no bigger supporter of a 20-percent mandate than Gov. Pawlenty. He signed a bill raising the requirement for ethanol in a gallon of gasoline to 20-percent by 2013.

Six Republicans in the House this year ran into trouble for supporting an increase in the gas tax. In 2005, however, 48 Republicans voted for what's turned out to be "the ethanol tax."

The concerns about the ethanol mandate, of course, are years old. An MPR story in 2002 documented the steamrolling of politicians by the ethanol lobby.

As MPR's Cara Hetland reported last fall, the ethanol mandate is an economic development program for farmers. And Cargill today reported an 86-percent jump in profits. Good for them. Consumers? Not so much.

But there is plenty of dispute about the effect of ethanol on food prices and, hence, its role -- if any -- in inflation. Last week, Texas A&M released a report that suggests that corn prices -- corn is used to make ethanol -- would have risen substantially anyway as petroleum-based costs -- fertilizer, for example -- went up. The report said higher corn prices "do have a small effect on some food items."

Update Mon. 10:14 p.m. - An article in Tuesday's New York Times doesn't let ehtanol/biofuels quite so easily, and invokes the U of M's C. Ford Runge:

C. Ford Runge, an economist at the University of Minnesota, said it is "extremely difficult to disentangle" the impact of biofuels on food costs. Nevertheless, he said there was little that could be done to mitigate the impact of droughts and growing appetites in developing countries.

"Ethanol is the one thing we can do something about," he said. "It's about the only lever we have to pull, but none of the politicians have the courage to pull the lever."

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The cost of the high copay

Posted at 4:03 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

The New York's Times carried a sobering story today on the effect of high co-pays for certain drugs. According to the story, "Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases."

The health plans used to charge flat co-pays -- $30, for example -- but are now charging a percentage of the total cost. The problem is the total cost, in some cases, is astronomical. One woman now has a copay for Copaxone, used to treat multiple sclerosis, of about $4,000 a year.

Where would the insurance companies get the idea? According to an April 2006 story in the Times, Medicare patients with cancer got stuck with similar costs when the Part D program went into effect.

From time to time, we read about these cases, but how prevalent are they? And are people forgoing treatment because of the copays?

If you are or know someone in this situation, please e-mail me. I'd love to talk to you about your situation.

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End of the dancing tractors

Posted at 4:12 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

One of my favorite stories -- ever -- at MPR was this masterpiece from Dan Gunderson back in 2001 about a group of people who square-danced with tractors.

This zany dance troupe is Bill France's brainchild. An avid square dance caller for years, he convinced the local antique-tractor club to try dancing, and using blocks of wood on his kitchen table. He worked out the logistics of adapting square-dance moves to tractors.

There is one small concession. France took out all the dance moves that require dancers to back up, because it takes too long to shift the antique tractor transmissions. Seems the designers didn't have dance moves in mind.

Apparently, it's a dying art form. The Associated Press (via the Worthington Daily Globe - reg. possibly required) has announced the end of the Farmall Promenade Square Dancing Tractors.

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Civics lesson

Posted at 5:02 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

It is with great civic pride that I point out that Civic Fest is coming. Described by its organizers, who announced its existence today, as "a very Minnesota celebration," Civic Fest will start on the Friday before the Republican National Convention and continue until the convention closes on Thursday September 4.

Visitors will, "receive a commemorative credential, have their photos taken in a replica of the Oval Office, attend performances at the Live Stage, view simulcasts of convention sessions from a replica of the Convention Floor, shop in a 300-vendor Marketplace and view more than 35 exhibits including the Model White House."

It'll cost you $15 a pop to see a miniature White House, watch C-Span, shop for trinkets, and look at the winning submissions in a walleye art contest. If that doesn't do it for you, there's always the State Fair, which only costs $11 and has peoples' heads carved in butter.

We presume there's more to this event than the description so far, because the host committee hired Gerard McTernan, who produced a similar event during the 2000 GOP convention in Philadelphia, and has also put together shows around the 2002 Olympics, the 1996 Super Bowl and baseball's All-Star game.

"Civic Fest, more than anything else, is about saying to the local community, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has everything to do with the people who live here," said Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Nothing says "Minnesota" like a mock-up of Air Force One.

The mayors of the two cities hope it keeps people in town during the convention. A lot of folks won't have a choice. Minneapolis and St. Paul schools start on Tuesday the 2nd.

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Quietly making noise

Posted at 6:01 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The value of noise is in the ear of the beholder.

The New York Times today, profiled the perils of Cairo, where the average decibel level is 85. "It is literally like living day in and day out with a lawn mower running next to your head, according to scientists with the National Research Center," the article said.

Bad stuff, but at least it doesn't kill you like "quiet" can.

The electric car, It turns out, is so quiet it can kill you.

From the University of California Riverside:

Preliminary results of the on-going research project show that hybrid cars operating at very slow speeds must be 40 percent closer to pedestrians than combustion-engine vehicles before their location can be audibly detected, said Lawrence Rosenblum, professor of psychology. Those findings have implications for pedestrians who are blind, runners, cyclists, small children, and others, he said.

H/T: Wired

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What's it mean to me?

Posted at 6:15 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

The merger of Northwest and Delta is a done deal. I'm resisting the urge to go buy Northwest Airlines trinkets to sell 20 years from now on EBay, and instead am turning my attention to monitoring your most pressing questions on the merger. We started this the last time we thought the merger was at hand.

Delta, for the record, took honors for announcing the merger. As of 7:30 p.m., the airline had set up a section on its Web site about the merger. NWA.com, by contrast, had zip.

Submit the questions and we'll do our best to get them answered as details spill out on Tuesday. A news conference is planned for 9:30 a.m.

Here are the main questions submitted so far:

Gary Chaison on the NWA-Delta merger

Posted at 8:09 PM on April 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Just got off the phone with Gary Chaison, a labor studies professor at Clark University in Worcester, Ma., who follows the airline industry.

Here's the full interview. (MP3)

NWA-Delta: Who benefits?

Posted at 7:10 AM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Keeping up with the analysts and experts and continuing to pass along your question. Add yours to the comments section here?

Live blogging the NWA-Delta conference call

Posted at 8:01 AM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

8:04 a.m. Richard Anderson of Delta and Doug Steenland, boss at Northwest, are holding a conference call for investors.

(Latest factoids are added at the bottom)

8:04 - Anderson: "With fuel prices what they are, the changes in the open skies area, we think it's a really good fit. The balance sheets are in great shape. The route structures have been rationalized. Strong cash position with about $7 billion in liquidity."

8:07 - Steenland: "Merger by addition." He cites relatively little route overlap.

8:09 - Steenland: "Combining functions such as I.T." There's your first clue of whose jobs are in peril, I guess.

8:13 - Steenland tries to downplay anti-trust concerns. Here's a graphic he used:

8:15 - Anderson: "No need for hub closures."

8:19 - How long will this merger take. "We plan to achieve all synergies by 2012," Anderson says.

>> $$$ Alert! NWA stock preopen price up $1.03 at $12.25. Delta opens up .27 at $10.25. The premium is now down to 56 cents based on Northwest stockholders getting 1.25 shares for every share of NWA stock owned. It was $1.88 based on the closing numbers yesterday. This number is changing quickly. See Delta stock details here. See NWA stock details here. <<

8:28 - Anderson expects regulatory approval by the end of the year.

8:29 - Time for questions (Operator: It's not pronounced AX a question!)

8:30 - Company anticipates more use of 100-seat airplanes. But that's not good news for aircraft manufacturers. It'll involve use of existing aircraft. Plans to use DC-9s more; that's the plane Northwest had been trying to phase out.

8:38 - Both of Northwest and Delta coming up on "affinity card relationships." "We'll be in a position to maximize our position for our shareholders." English translation: Between U.S. Bank (Northwest) and American Express (Delta), someone's going to lose some money.

>> The best-laid plans alert!! -- Oil just passed $113 a barrel -- up $1.57. A new record high. <<

8:45 - Steenland: Would like Continental to stay in the "Sky Team" relationship (frequent flier miles and code sharing).

8:54 - "Revenue synergies" (i.e. saving money) depends on pilots getting on board.

8:56 - Analyst Ray Niedel asks "what made you finally decide to do this merger" considering failure of other airline merger attempts. "Not all mergers are created equal," Anderson said. Says two airlines already have alliance "so we're already well down the road and unlike a lot of the mergers you're talking about, those mergers involved carriers -- one or the other or both -- that were in distress." Says the two different "fleets" work better because 'we don't have to sit down and merge a lot of maintenance operations." Large differences in fleets (types of airplanes) gives the new airline more ability to size the jet to the market being served.

9:02 - >>> Disappearing dollars alert!! NWA stock now down 72 cents to $10.50. Delta down almost a $1 a share. That's what a runaway day in the oil market (now up almost $2 a barrel on the day) will do. <<<

9:07 -- End of conference call. During the conference call Delta's stock dropped $1.35 from the preopen price. Northwest dropped $1.65 a share.

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Union's letter to NWA pilots

Posted at 9:46 AM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

TO: All Northwest Pilots

FROM: Dave Stevens

DATE: April 14, 2008

In the wake of the Delta-Northwest merger announcement today, I am writing to update the Northwest pilots. I will start by giving you the conclusion. Since January 2008, we have been working hard to put together a cooperative merger between the Northwest pilots, Delta management and the Delta pilot leadership. Agreement on the terms for a cooperative merger was in all stakeholders' best interest in better times, with oil below $90 per barrel. With oil over $110 and an economy facing recession, and given the recent activities of the two managements and the Delta MEC, a merger with Delta may no longer be in the best interests of all Northwest stakeholders, including the Northwest pilot group. Northwest Airlines has strong standalone prospects given its cash position (best of the legacy carriers) and the flexibility of the NWA fleet, among other things. We are in a good position to weather the potential economic storm.

As a quick review, we started exploration of a cooperative merger with four key requirements from NWA MEC Resolution 08-01:

1. Creation of a profitable merged company with sufficient market presence and network scope to provide a stable platform for growth and sustainable profits;

2. Fair and equitable seniority list integration;

3. Collective bargaining agreement for the merged company with substantial improvements; and

4. Share in the equity of the merged company.

A cooperative merger provides a win-win formula for labor and management. By achieving a joint contract and seniority list prior to the effective date of the merger, revenue synergies and cost efficiencies are generated immediately (worth many hundreds of millions of dollars per year), and a portion of this economic upside could go to the pilot groups in the form of contract improvements and equity.

Since January, we have met with the Delta pilot leadership and Delta management in three extended efforts to accomplish the above requirements. By the end of the second session, we had accomplished requirements #3 and #4. However, we were unable to reach agreement on #2, an equitable seniority list, which is essential to accomplish #1. There was a great deal of collaborative effort expended by the Delta pilot leadership and Delta management to convince us to accept inequities in a seniority list in return for improved economics in a joint contract. As you know all too well, seniority is forever while economic provisions can be short lived.

The first two negotiations took place in New York City with oil below $90 per barrel. While we achieved agreement on a joint contract and equity and made progress on a seniority list, we did not achieve an equitable seniority list. The third negotiation took place in Washington, D.C., and while more progress was made on seniority, a seniority list agreement was not reached.

The seniority negotiations broke down over the Delta pilot leadership's desire to include aircraft options, not just orders, in the seniority integration ratio. We were not willing to adjust the seniority integration ratio in favor of Delta pilots based on options, particularly when such options were unlikely to be exercised, other than as replacement aircraft, in the worsening economic environment. There were additional problems concerning calculation of the number of active pilots at each carrier and staffing assumptions for the future. The resulting difference in our respective positions on a ratio was substantial. The actual breakdown occurred when, in response to my suggestion that we both compromise and bring that to our respective MECs for their consideration, we were advised that the Delta pilot group could not move off their last ratio proposal.

As we had several times before, we then suggested to the Delta pilot leadership that we agree on expedited arbitration of the outstanding issues by a date certain. The result of an expedited arbitration would have been functionally the same as an immediate negotiated agreement since there would have been one seniority list and a joint contract in place on the transaction effective date.

By use of this process, much of the transaction risk would have been taken out of the merger and additional funds would have been generated to pay for one-time transition costs. In the uncertain world of airline economics, this was a key consideration. When two airlines merge, they attempt to realize the benefits of the created synergies before they run out of cash on hand to pay for the transition costs. In our current environment, there is no more money to borrow and airlines have few assets left to encumber.

Unfortunately, the Delta pilot leadership rejected arbitration, whether expedited or not, as a means to resolve the seniority list dispute. From that point, Delta management, the Delta pilot leadership and Northwest management chose a different path. NWA management proposed a traditional merger to Delta management. Then Delta management entered into bilateral negotiations with the representatives of the Delta MEC. The representatives of the Northwest pilots were excluded from the negotiations. Inexplicably, the Delta pilot leadership reversed its position. They are now willing to arbitrate the seniority list issues under ALPA merger policy. At the same time, they abandoned the joint pilot contract approach and have, instead, agreed to a Delta pilot contract amendment which will increase the pay and benefits for only Delta pilots. The Northwest pilots are excluded from the economic benefits. Both managements have cooperated in this change in course.

Yesterday we met with Delta CEO Anderson, President Bastian and EVP Campbell. At that meeting, we suggested that they delay the merger announcement and spend a short period negotiating a joint contract with a focus on their harmonization issues. This suggestion was rejected in favor of the plan they are currently pursuing. In explanation, they said we were out of time to negotiate prior to a merger announcement date (despite the fact they found two weeks to negotiate a deal with the Delta pilot leadership).

As a result, there will be seniority arbitration in a traditional merger process and it may take a long time. The Delta pilot leadership may choose not to cooperate on a joint contract for the benefit of the Northwest pilots while they seek an agreement on seniority that favors the Delta pilots.

Now we reach the question your MEC considered at its meeting yesterday - Should the pilots, employees and customers of Northwest support this merger as it is currently contemplated? The managements are betting on the merger models of old: Pay the employees of one group less and focus on lowering costs (instead of many of the revenue synergies that are far more likely to improve the bottom line); hope for cost savings going forward from employee division with no concern for the dis-synergies caused by labor dissatisfaction. The point has already been made to us by Delta management that they already have a "B scale" at Northwest, and that they will need to maintain it by phasing in harmonized wages. Mergers based on this model have never worked well, but trying to make this work at $110/bbl fuel, with a looming recession and no access to credit markets, is putting everything at risk.

One can only conclude that the Delta pilot leadership and Delta management have made an arrangement to try to disadvantage the Northwest pilots economically and with respect to our seniority. No pilot group is going to put up with this. No amount of money can sustain a carrier which creates this level of discord. This is a recipe for failure. Under these conditions, Northwest Airlines and all the stakeholders, including the pilots, other employees and customers, are better served by a standalone airline. Under these circumstances, it is Northwest's best option, with its strong international and domestic route structure, a flexible fleet, an order book with fuel-efficient aircraft and the best cash position of any legacy carrier, to remain an independent carrier.

Your MEC reached this conclusion with reluctance. We were very close to concluding a truly cooperative merger which would have served the interests of everyone. We regret that an agreement was not obtained. However, the past is past. The Northwest pilot group now has to face a difficult future. As hard as a standalone course may be in these economic times, it is our judgment that it carries less risk than the merger path which now lies before us. For that reason, we will be turning our efforts to stopping this merger. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will be sending you more information on the MEC's plans. Look for a road show schedule to be posted soon.

Fraternally and in Unity,

Dave Stevens
MEC Chairman

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Delta-NWA news conference

Posted at 11:33 AM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

After the investor conference call, the same three airline officials had a press conference for the ink-stained wretches.

Here's the audio. (Sorry, it's RealAudio. Just pretend it's 1999 and airlines are profitable.)

The most frequently asked questions of the last few months were once again frequently asked.

Q: What about the NWA pilots?
A: "We still have 8 or 9 months to 'bring them on board,' and if we do, it'll be a game changer. If we go past that date it's the traditional policy, which is normally the way these things proceed during a merger. (Translation: There'll be a labor battle)

Q: How quickly do you think you'll achieve profitability?
A: "We expect the combination to be profitable in the first year of operation." (2009)

Q: When did the decision to merge come up?
A: December.

Q: Surveys show a decline in service of major carriers, will these combined companies potentially weaken the level of service?
A: Northwest was tops on network carriers, Delta was second on J.D. Power survey. "At a baseline level, these two carriers have good operating performance." (Reaction, anyone?) Gives more service options to consumers. Frequent flier program will be much more valuable. More capital available to "enhance experience for our customers.

Q: Why is there a need to have hubs in Memphis and Cincinnati? And why use less efficient aircraft?
A: We have the right size of operation to make Memphis profitable (Steenland). It offers its own unique sense of destinations. All of the hubs have a "very secure future." It's not a political decision.

Q: If oil had remained at $60 a barrel, would you be here today?
A: "The strategic basis for this announcement is a sound strategic basis whether fuel is at $60 or what it is today." (English translation: "Yes, because the hedge fund that owned a bunch of our stock made us merge with another carrier.")

Q: Why is getting bigger better?
A: Steenland: Northwest is pre-eminent airline, particularly to Japan. Our domestic operation is not "appropriately sized." Now, because of the strong presence that Delta has -- at JFK, for example -- we can get back into the JFK-Tokyo market. Larger scale domestically allows us to better use that resource."

Combined carriers will have an unprecedented scale and scope. Our ability to go to caterers, suppliers to "streamline operations" will be considerable.

Q: What about non-frontline employees?
A: Administrative and management, we are going to have voluntary programs to avoid "involuntary." But at the end of the day there may be involuntary action. (Translation: Well, do I really need to translate that?)

Q: How merger will affect regional partners?
A: Will be operating combined fleet of 600 regional airplanes. Northwest owns two very good regional carriers -- Mesaba and Compass. Delta owns Comair. "We'll be optimizing the number of carriers to maximize the efficiency of the carriers. Our goal is to have the margins in that business to be equivalent to mainline airlines." (Translation: Cuts)

Q: Worried about strikes or job actions?
A: We''ll continue to discuss the benefits of the combination. Confident we'll continue to provide an excellent product. (Translation: The fact there was no yes or no answer allows you to fill in your own.)

Q: In the future, will you be more Boeing or more Airbus?
A: Both Boeing and Airbus make very good airplanes. The combined airline will be the largest operator of A330s and 757s. We would expect that balance to be the case going forward. The combined enterprise has 80 airplanes on order over the next five years; the vast majority have "backstop financing." Airplanes are financeable assets. We will not buy an airplane that doesn't make economic sense.

Q: What does it mean for consumers if there are only 3 big carriers.
A: We can't predict the future but confident the U.S. market will be competitive. "Let's not forget we have Southwest out there. It will provide 'pricing discipline.' Entry in this business is wide open; there's plenty of airport gates, facilities, airplane manufacturers are willing to finance. The market will remain competitive. There's no other business out there that has as much transparency in selling their products. You can go online and see every choice available to you (Bob notes: Do they actually look at Travelocity and see that every airline seems to charge the same price?)

Q: Experts say there's needs to be capacity cuts. Are you planning that?
A: We already are cutting capacity. We're pulling back unprofitable routes. Delta will be down 10 percent compared to last year. Northwest is making a 5 percent cut. The merger isn't predicated on cutting capacity.

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Your frequent flier miles and you

Posted at 1:12 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Ask a passenger about the effect of the Delta-Northwest arrangement, and the first thing they want to know is "what about my frequent flier miles?" For the record, both airlines say there'll be no change, that Sky Miles and World Perks will be "integrated seamlessly." But you'll likely see some changes. First, depending on which bank card you use to accumulate miles, you may be doing business with another bank. In an investor conference call this morning, airline officials said agreements with both US Bank (World Perks card) and American Express (Sky Miles card) are up for renewal. It's likely the new airline will sell its miles at a higher price to one or the other. That changes the bank you do business with -- maybe -- and potentially how many miles you get for each dollar purchased.

Even without the merger, says Mark Ashley, who runs the travel site, Upgrade: Travel Better, there are plenty of changes coming.

Here's my full interview.

I'll be posting the Cliff Notes version over the next few minutes.

Airline Branding for Dummies

Posted at 2:38 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Somewhere, deep in the bowels of the Delta corporate headquarters, someone is working on "branding" the "new" Northwest-Delta Airline. But it may take up to three years to wipe out the Northwest Airlines name, and even longer to integrate cultures. A pilot friend told me today that there's still angst at the soon-to-be-former Northwest that stems from the different cultures of Northwest Orient and Republic airlines.

In the end, though, it's all about the perception -- the message -- that a Delta name (as opposed to an NWA name) gives to fliers.

I talked this afternoon with Barbara Schenck, an expert on branding, and the author of Small Business Marketing for Dummies, Business Plans Kit for Dummies, and Branding for Dummies, about the marketing challenges companies face when merging.

Here's the full interview (mp3). I'll add the Cliff Notes versions over the next few minutes.

The investors have spoken

Posted at 3:50 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Wall Street has just closed up shop for the day. Delta lost 12 percent of its value, closing down $1.32 (Chart here). Northwest lost about $1 a share; that's an 8 percent drop in value (See chart).

What were the investors telling us?

They want more cuts.

Here's Nathan Grawe's take on it. He's associate professor of economics at Carleton College

"The argument they (Northwest and Delta) are trying to make is that by providing a better network for consumers, they will increase revenues and so they don't have to touch the cost side. And if you look at what happened to Delta and Northwest stock today, I think what you saw is investors were frankly disappointed by what they heard because they thought the whole point of the merger was to weed out unnecessary costs and we could gain economy of scale by having a larger company and eliminating redundancy." (Listen to his full answer)

"It seems that almost inevitably in the long run, you'd have to have some jobs become redundant," he says. He expects more job cuts. "The only question is how big and how painful."

Here's my entire interview.

By the way, perhaps you -- like me -- have been blown away by the sheer jargon of this thing. "City pairs?" "Revenue synergies?" "Wage harmony?" What language are they speaking?

Here's a couple of explanations, thanks to Grawe.

City Pair -- Start in one city, end in another city. Those two cities are "paired." Minneapolis to Boston, for example, makes Minneapolis in Boston one city pair.

Wage harmonization - When one group isn't paid more -- or less -- than another group of workers for doing the same thing. There are, of course, two ways to achieve "harmony:" Bring the lower-paid worker up or bring the higher-paid worker down. That of creates disharmony.

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Whither the NWA headquarters?

Posted at 3:12 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Here's the letter Gov. Pawlenty said to the Delta-NWA bosses this afternoon, seeking clarification of just what the future is for the Eagan executive offices.

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How long will it take to paint over Northwest?

Posted at 5:28 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

In order to "brand" (see interview below) the current Northwest jets into Delta's colors, there'll be a fair amount of work involved. When Northwest last changed its logo, the new paintjobs were done on a staggered basis, as the jets went in for maintenance. There might still be "old" colors on some NWA jets, and that project started in 2003.

The airline can't ground its entire fleet for a paint job, so becoming branded will take time. How much? According to one expert on a forum:

I saw UAL 747-400's get painted in about 10-14 days working 3 shifts.... I've seen Piedmont Dash-8 get painted in about 7 days. Keep in mind a lot of that is driven by the number of people you have working the job. We did an E135.... not a Legacy... for a corporate client last year that was in the paint shop for 3 weeks.

Most agree an average of a week per plane. With 500 airplanes, that would be 9-10 years if they only did one airplane at a time (recognizing they don't paint just one airplane at a time). New airplanes, of course, will be delivered with Delta's colors if the merger is approved.

And in this video, you can see how many coats it takes:

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The Southwest Airlines Factor and more answers to your questions

Posted at 7:02 PM on April 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

During the day, we've been getting answers to the questions you've submitted. After the frequent flier question, the most often asked question is "Can we get Southwest Airlines to come here?" The short answer is "probably not." But Southwest is playing a big role in this merger. Late this afternoon, a lot of questions came in about the future of regional airlines. A lot of regional pilots go to school in these parts and then sign on. So we've got some answers. Sort of. (By the way if you want to read a good blog by a regional pilot, go here)

The last interview I have for you today is with Dr. Dan Petree of Embry Ridle Aeronautical University, who once was "one of us," having taught at Concordia College in Moorhead. I tracked him down at a conference in Hawaii, and he turned out to be a fabulous interview.

I'll be writing up the Cliff Notes version but as I do, Here's the whole interview. Oh, and here's audio of my appearance with Tom Crann on All Things Considered tonight. Many thanks for your questions.

With that, let's get to your questions and Dr. Petree's answers.

Q: Northwest/Delta says anti-trust concerns should be allayed by the fact Southwest is still out there providing "price discipline." How big of a factor is Southwest in all of this?

A: Southwest is a metaphor for low-cost carriers that do provide some assurance against predatory pricing or extraordinary rents being attracted by markets that lack competition. We don't really know if Southwest will offset the effect of large airlines, but we do know their impact has been profound. It's hard for a lot of us to understand how you take two high-cost competitors and suddenly make them low-cost competitors, but the market is significantly different today than 20 years ago and the low-cost carriers are playing the tune. Low-cost carriers shouldn't be too worried about the merger. (Listen - 5:55)

Q: Any chance of Southwest coming to Minneapolis-St. Paul?

A: Unlikely. The conditions have to be exactly right for Southwest. They don't take on people just for the sake of competing. They take people head-on because they think they can get market share and sustain it. They look for available gates at underserved airports, the right mix of business and leisure travel, they look to establish brands in markets where the existing airline appears to have a weakness. The last head-to-head competition was AirTran's entry into Milwaukee. It was resisted by Midwest but at the end of the day it looks to have been successful by AirTran, capturing a large share of the Milwaukee market. They did that because it made sense for them and they perceived a weakness. And Milwaukee is close enough to Chicago that it wasn't considered a major market anyway. Southwest doesn't go head-to-head against major established networked carriers in heavily utilized airports. (Listen - 3:35)

Q: Mia, of St. James, Minn., was one of many people who asked, "What is going to hapen with the regionals that fly for both. Northwest uses Mesaba, Compass, and Pinnacle for their regional routes. Obviously they will not need all three anymore.

A: They have different strategy. Delta has gone from owning the regionals to spinning them off and then competing head-to-head with them. If I were looking at a map, I'd be most concerned if I were in Cincinnati with ComAir. How can you maintain that many hubs and do it efficiently? Clearly they're going to want discipline to flow through the whole system. We just saw Delta just discipline Mesa Airlines, who they had a long-time relationship with. They basically said "you're done." I don't think there's any reason to think these relationships will go on forever just because they always have. The expectations are going to change and the regionals will have to figure out if they can compete. The real question is the communities served by the regionals. Do they have reason to expect their service will increase under this new regime; that goes to the economic vitality to a particular 'city pair.' (Listen - 3:48)

Q: A pilot on a closed pilots' forum online asked us to ask, "What does the combined carrier plan to do about a 100-seat aircraft replacement? Our DC-9s are the only true 100 seaters that the combined carrier owns. There is clearly a need to have a 100-seat airplane, but the 9's are old and need to be replaced. Obviously, we want a mainline replacement airplane, and not another attempt to outsource more of our flying."

A: It's hard to make money with jets under 100 seats. What you're likely to see is an investment in Embraers and additional regional jets at 120-150 seats and get rid of the smaller regional jets, it could lead to higher volume operations in some of the smaller communities. They're going to rationalize their service around demand. If demand for 200 seats, and they're doing it with three flights in a 70-seat aircraft, chances are they're going to reduce service to two 100-seat aircraft until demand demonstrates that they need to add additional aircraft. The DC-9 isn't done. These things take time to work themselves out. If a particular market can sustain the economics of an inefficient and relatively old aircraft and it's available, there's no reason why they wouldn't use a DC-9. Longer term, they're signaling that the current economics do not favor regional jets or any jet that's below 100 seats, primarily because of the price of fuel. They might be trying to buy additional larger RJs, in the 115 seat category as opposed to taking delivery on some orders they may already have in place for 70-seat RJs. (Listen - 2:46)

Q: Jason Voiovich of St. Paul asked, "Another angle on the Northwest/Delta merger is what that merger means not just for the airline industry, but for the Minnesota "brand". Losing the corporate headquarters makes it harder for the state to "sell" itself nationally as relevant in the airline industry (the action will now take place in Atlanta). The more we corporate HQ's we lose at the "top end" of an industry spectrum - like NWA - , the more difficult it will be for the state to attract and retain top talent, investment, and satellite companies that grow up around it. In other words, the economic impact could be deeper than just this specific company.

A: For the answer -- sort of -- we turn to Jason Voiovich who writes about branding on a blog called State of the Brand 2008. He writes:

Minnesota is a "biotech leader" because of Medtronic and Mayo Clinic. Minnesota is a "manufacturing/innovation" leader because of 3M. Minnesota is a "retail powerhouse" because of Target. The state is an agricultural/food innovator because of Cargill and SuperValu.

Until now, Minnesota was an "aviation center" because of Northwest Airlines.

It's a fascinating essay and one well worth reading and discussing. Also see some interesting comments from former Norwest Bank boss Jim Campbell in Brandt Williams' story.

This pretty much wraps up "Northwest-Delta Day" on News Cut. It's a different approach to covering breaking news and I hope you've been able to follow along.

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What we've learned

Posted at 8:05 AM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Health

Today is the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech that left 32 people dead. What have we learned? Perhaps quite a bit, a story in the Fargo Forum newspaper (reg. possibly required) suggests. It details how colleges and universities in that region are responding to the mental health needs of the students.

In some cases the efforts were underway even before last year's killings, but a subsequent study of Minnesota college students showed a significant number have been diagnosed with a mental health condition at some point in their lives.

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The Wayback Machine: Gas prices

Posted at 8:20 AM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Those predictions of $4 a gallon gas prices don't appear quite so radical anymore. Late yesterday, the price hit $3.35 a gallon in the Twin Cities, according to the gasprices.com Web site. Yeah, that's a record.

Step into the Wayback Machine. It was the evening of the September 11 attacks on the United States and drivers were shocked by an unbelievable jump in the price of gasoline, double and triple the price that was posted on the drive in to work that day.

The price?

$2.99? We'd line up for blocks to pay that now. Back then, however, it unleashed the bureaucratic guns.

OK, now, here's what I'm looking for. People who ride their bikes to work. People who ride their bikes a long way to work; the kind of route that leaves you a stinking mess by the time you get there. I feel a "three minute tale" coming on about you. So e-mail me, if you'd like some slow-pedaling, journalistic (sort of) company some morning.

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Doodling the news

Posted at 11:04 AM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Politics

Have you ever wondered what guests on MPR's Midmorning do while they're on the show? Me neither, but we get our jollies from different sources.

Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel is in town today, pushing his book, "America: Our Next Chapter." His appearance on Midmorning was fascinating. Listen to the interview here.

More fascinating than the doodles he left behind? You decide.

On the air, Hagel referred to Iraq as a "noble cause." On the doodles, it's a "Nobel Cause."

Doodling, All Things Considered host Tom Crann reminds me, is a very presidential thing, as evidenced by this collection gathered on an NPR story a couple of years ago.

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Plant with sick workers wins health award

Posted at 2:31 PM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

Around the same time this month that an Austin meatpacking plant was denying workers compensation claims to more than a dozen workers who got sick, it was picking up an award from an industry group for its health and safety program.

The American Meat Institute has awarded The Quality Pork Processors plant in Austin its Award of Honor. It apparently is the highest honor in the business and recognizes worker safety.

It's the same plant being sued by a worker because of a mysterious neurological illness that she and 12 co-workers developed, and the company has refused their claim for workers compensation.

Health investigators, MPR's Sea Stachura reported earlier this month, have been trying to determine whether the brain tissue, sprayed into the air as droplets, made the workers sick.

Coincidentally, the award was announced on the day the lawsuit was made public.

So, what do you have to do to win the award? Let's go to the guidelines:

The primary program goals are to motivate participants to improve their safety performance through the establishment of sound safety and health programs at the plant level and to recognize those plants that have achieved a high level of safety performance as part of the continuing effort to reduce occupational injury and illness.

and...

The program can boost employee morale, reduce expenses associated with injuries and illness in the workplace and enhance the meat and poultry industry's overall image regarding employee safety and health.

"Explain this to me," I asked David Ray, the vice president for public affairs for the American Meat Institute.

"Well, the award is not a measurement of the response to a single situation, rather it's the measurement of the total health and safety program of the plant," he said.

"But if it has a good health and safety program of the plant, would 13 people have gotten sick because of what they do for a living and then be denied workers compensation?" I asked.

That's when I find out that the person I needed to talk to is on a plane this afternoon.

I wonder how things are at the plants that didn't win the award.

Update 5:06 p.m. - Even more workers have gotten sick.

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Are we more talk than walk?

Posted at 4:08 PM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

I'm reviewing the national poll released today by the Northwest Area Foundation. MPR's Greta Cunningham has a blurb about it here. The headline suggests widespread worry in Minnesota, noting that nearly a third of those polled are worried that their incomes won't cover expenses this year.

In rural Minnesota, 71 percent of those surveyed rate the economy fair or poor. The rest of the report is filled with anxiety.

But then there's this:

It would seem that if the 87% who would like to do more, actually did more, then not quite as many people would be struggling. Armed with only anecdotal evidence, I'm going to theorize that 87% of the people are not going to do more and a sizeable number aren't doing that much now.

Why not?

Maybe the answer is in this graph, which takes into account the answers of all the respondents in the northwest area.

Maybe we don't think our help will make a difference, so we don't "do more" to help. Or maybe we each speak a different language when it comes to "doing more." A closer look at the survey shows that a large percentage said they would be willing to get together to talk about ways to help. Others said they would be willing to talk to an elected official. Seventy-eight percent said they would take part in a church project to help someone. A somewhat smaller group said they would adopt a family temporarily if they were struggling. About the same number said they would pay another $50 in taxes.

Times are tough for a lot of people, of course, but could it be different if we did as we say? As individuals, what's stopping us, aside from our belief it won't make a difference? And what do you consider to be a definition of doing something?

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Love Yemeni style

Posted at 5:43 PM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

A court in Yemen has annulled the marriage of an 8 year old girl to a 20-something man after she filed for divorce.

Says the BBC:

The girl told the court she had signed the marriage contract two-and-a-half months ago on the understanding she would stay in her parents' house until she was 18.

"But a week after signing, my mother and father forced me to go and live with him."

Her former husband, Faez Ali Thameur, told the court the marriage was consummated, but he denied Nojoud's claims that he beat her. It is understood that one person attending the hearing has decided to repay Faez the dowry he gave the Nojoud's father before marriage.

Her father, Mohammad Ali Al-Ahdal told the court he felt obliged to marry off his daughter after receiving repeated threats from the would-be husband and his entourage.

He said was frightened because his oldest daughter had been kidnapped several years earlier and had been forced to marry her abductor.

Weird? Possibly. But who are we to judge what's weird and what's not in matters of Mr. or Mrs. Right?

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I've got a secret

Posted at 6:08 PM on April 16, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Media

Let's suppose you saw a boatload of people overturn not far from shore. You could save their lives by wading out a short distance. Would you do it? It's a no-brainer. Of course you would.

So does it say something about the problem with the journalistic community that it caused some outrage in 1979 when the late Ed Bradley, who was covering the boat people escaping from Vietnam, waded into the water to help people get to shore after Malaysians on the beach started stoning them? There's a clip of it here if you can stand waiting for the commercial to end.

"You shouldn't get involved in the story," was some of the milder criticism. To the journalism community's credit, the criticism died down after the documentary won just about every award for journalism.

I'm reminded of the Bradley story because an incident in Ohio this week shows that there's still a mentality that it's ethical for journalists not to get involved in certain stories, even if people get hurt because of that conviction.

The way my blogging friend, Dave Gamble, tells it, the reporters and editors at the Columbus Dispatch newspaper got a tip that Skybus Airlines would go belly-up at midnight earlier this month. Sensing a story, the paper bought tickets and...

They didn't tell any of the passengers departing on flights on the last day of the company's operations that their trips were now involuntarily one-way. In other words, they knowingly and deliberately allowed passengers to get on an airplane and fly hundreds of miles away without telling them that they would be stranded with no way back....

Dispatch editor Benjamin Marrison confirmed in his column earlier this week that his reporters were not allowed to tell anyone that they were about to be stranded far from home:

But because we agreed to the 9:30 embargo, (Reporter Amy) Saunders was told to keep quiet about the looming airline shutdown. Her assignment was to report on passengers' reactions after learning Skybus had folded. When the plane landed, Saunders knew she could tell the passengers. "I was anxious," she said, because she didn't know how they'd take the news.

Marrison's rationalization?

We don't interfere with the course of news except in extreme circumstances, such as when our silence on an impending event would put someone in harm's way.

But wouldn't that require the editors/reporters to know all of the passengers ahead of time on all of the flights, to be able to determine whether their being stuck away from home puts them in harm's way?

On Monday, in the face of criticism that wouldn't go away, Marrison took another stab at it:

In summary, we don't violate embargoes or source agreements.

If only Ed Bradley were still around to straighten them out.

Update 9:36 a.m. Thurs. - Another angle, there's a financial connection between the newspaper and the airline. See the comments.

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Theology vs. trivia

Posted at 9:29 AM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Religion

Pope Benedict XVI is celebrating mass in Washington today and a nation that walks a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning, as the Rev. Jimmy Buffet once said, is struggling when it comes to discussions about the visit.

Last night, for example, the pontiff told bishops, the Boston Globe said, "to do better communicating with the public, connecting with priests, and educating children; he also exhorted them to demonstrate unfettered support for immigrants. And he offered an analysis of the role of religion in America, suggesting that the freedom here has at the same time allowed faith to flourish but also can 'subtly reduce religious belief to a lowest common denominator.'"

OK, let's talk about that.

"The pontiff doesn't like to drink wine with dinner, and at dinner last night he was seen with a can of orange Fanta, and some Cracker Jack was also seen," the commentator on CNN noted during live coverage of the mass this morning. That was a few minutes after noted theologian Mike Piazza, who conducted services for years behind the plate at Shea Stadium, described the differences between Pope Benedict and his predecessors.

So what are viewers left with? Here's a review of the coverage so far from Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times:

Cable news channels and the networks interrupted their regular programming to provide live coverage of the pope at the White House as he read his speech precisely and evenly in a slight German accent. He graciously shook hands with cabinet members and elected officials (Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, kissed his ring). The pope, who turned 81 on Wednesday, smiled winningly when the crowd broke out in a ragged version of "Happy Birthday." He looked pleased -- he smiled and stretched out his arms to well-wishers -- when the soprano Kathleen Battle led a more expert rendition of the song. But it provided, at best, a fleeting look at the pope. TV commentators tried to compensate, extolling the excitement of the crowds and the geniality of the guest of honor. One anchor declared that the pope looked "thoroughly overjoyed."

The challenge in covering a papal visit, then, is fairly enormous: don't make it an infomercial for the Vatican, explore the issues -- good and bad -- that have challenged the church and its followers, and don't come off looking anti-Catholic.

Consider this letter today in the Star Tribune:

The Star Tribune covers it by running an Associated Press article with 35 column inches of written copy (plus some pictures). The first 28 of those 35 inches deal with sexual abuse by Catholic clergy over the past half-century. Only the last 7 inches refer to other aspects of the pope's visit.

Some Americans feel the media are anti-Catholic. Where in the world might they ever get such an idea?

Peter Steinfels, a religion columnist for the Times and professor at Fordham University provided one of the more insightful comments on the visit last night on... of all places ... The Daily Show (Video here):

"I think he'll probably deliver messages that are complicated and deserve analysis and parsing, but he'll leave the country and we'll never pay any attention again to those complicated messages," he said

So maybe the visit is about us. Steinfels says we only discuss religion when it intersects with the culture wars. "We have a hard time dealing with genuine, religious, profound messages, and I think that this pope really does think that religion is not a set of propositions that you believe in some fundamental orientation toward the universe which he thinks is love, and we've got to find a political thing on page 82 when he writes an encyclical."

If you'd like to discuss the papal visit, be sure to listen to Midday today at 11.

(Photo: Mandal Ngan, AFP/Getty Images)

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The reports of nuclear's demise were greatly exaggerated

Posted at 1:58 PM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

With relatively little fanfare, Xcel Energy this week released its plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions under goals set by the Legislature last year. It wants to crank up the juice at the Prairie Island nuclear plant and add another 35 "dry casks" to store the nuclear waste.

As cranky as the global warming debate is in general, no other environmental issue in these parts has been more contentious in the last 20 years than the dry casks at Prairie Island.

Check out this description of the 1994 debate from a 2003 story from MPR on how little had changed in the intervening years:

"Even before the first meeting began, 83-year-old State Representative Willard Munger was overheard challenging 44-year-old Senator Steve Novak to a fistfight, because Novak accused Munger of wanting to shut down the Prairie Island plant," (Capitol reporter Mike) Mulcahy reported. Novak was waste bill's chief sponsor. As his bill struggled through endless committees, he argued that what NSP needed was time to ease itself away from nuclear energy. He said his bill would buy that time.

Anti-nuclear forces wanted the plant shut down when the utility -- then Northern States Power -- first asked the Legislature for permission to store the waste on site in 1994. After an administrative law judge denied the request, the Legislature -- after a contentious debate -- cut a deal to allow 17 casks (the utility wanted 48) with a deal that it would provide 200 megawatts of windpower and 75 megawatts of biomass by the end of 2002.

As soon as a national storage facility for radioactive waste was completed, the agreement said, the Minnesota waste would be sent to the site -- Yucca Mountain in Nevada. That was supposed to happen in 1998. It never happened.

In 2003, the Legislature allowed the expansion to 48 casks.

In 1994, the Legislature thought it was setting the stage for the end of nuclear power in Minnesota. It hasn't turned out that way. The percentage of electricity generated by Prairie Island in 1994 was 20 percent; it generates 20 percent of it now.

But maybe this is an issue with declining passion at the Capitol. At a hearing today on the issue, no legislator asked a question.

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Abstaining for Oliva

Posted at 10:06 PM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)

The Minnesota House has passed a resolution to end trade and financial restrictions to Cuba, on an 86-9 vote. Legislators don't have to vote on resolutions, but that didn't explain why 39 of them took a pass on an issue that, at least at first blush, doesn't seem like something that's going to bite them in the election-year behind. It's not as if we're Florida.

So I sent an email to a few dozen of them to see what i was missing.

I was missing Tony Oliva, the star of the Minnesota Twins in the '60s.

Everyone's boyhood hero (OK, not everyone's, but he was one of mine, and I'm from Boston.) was in the House chambers. Oliva is a native of Cuba and favors an easing of the restrictions. Oliva didn't want to leave his mother, father, and nine brothers and sisters when he was a kid. But his father told him to go to America and be "rich and famous."

The only legislator to respond to my e-mail was Rep. Tom Emmer, the one legislator I was pretty sure would.

Bob, thanks for your note. I thought we had more important things to do & I didn't agree with the res. Out of respect for Mr. Oliva, I chose not to vote rather than no.

You can't say no to heroes.

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The brains behind the award

Posted at 4:39 PM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Things that are puzzling

How does a meatpacking plant where 18 workers have gotten a mysterious neurological illness, possibly because of the work they did, win a health and safety award from the American Meat Institute?

It's an apparent head-scratcher to a lot of people, Dan McCoslin, AMI's director of worker safety and human resources, acknowledged to me this afternoon. But there actually is a decent explanation for the award to Quality Pork Products in Austin.

"Performance is 60-percent of the total awards points," he said, "measured between the total number of incidents reported to OSHA (treatment beyond first aid) and... the rate of the number of days away from work. On the program side, it's how the facility measures up... on training, employee involvement, adherence to standards; that sort of thing." (Listen to full description)

So how did the Austin plant win?

"Their overall performance is, in fact, excellent. They're consistently below the industry average in both total cases and the days away," McCoslin said. "Their overall safety program is excellent. (Listen)

Quality Pork has between 1,200 and 1,400 employees, according to McCoslin, and from a numbers point of view, 18 "incidents", though serious, is less than 1 percent of the total workforce. "Although this is vexing and everyone is still trying to get to the bottom of it, it doesn't mean they don't have a good safety program."

McCoslin says the plant "deserves something of a pat on the back for the way they handled this incident. As soon as the nurses there realized that there was something different and unique going on with these particular symptoms, they notified management, management notified the Minnesota Department of Health, the Mayo Clinic... was brought in as well, Minnesota Department of Health brought in the CDC in Atlanta. All of this started when QPP stepped forward and did the right thing and said, 'Hey, we've got something going on here and we don't know whether it's a big problem or a little problem but we do know that it's more than we can deal with.'" (Listen)

Point taken. The reason we know about it is a reflection on the plant's safety program.

Nothing is proven yet, that the the practices at the Austin plant is what is responsible for the mysterious illness, but McCoslin says the industry is watching, even though most plants don't "harvest" pig brains the way the workers at QPP did.

"I had never heard... and I've been in the industry for 40 years ... of harvesting brain tissue with compressed air," according to McCoslin. " That's not the way it's normally done. Normally, at the end of the line the reminder of the skull is split in half and brains are simply scooped out and placed in containers, chilled, packed, and sold. And the other part of that is, as you may imagine, there's not a tremendous market for pork brains these days." (Listen)

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Live-blogging 'Energy and National Security'

Posted at 7:04 PM on April 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Energy

I wrote a post earlier this week about my experience with ethanol vs. non-ethanol blended-gasoline and it spawned a lengthy debate about the issue. Tonight (Thursday) MPR's Kerri Miller is hosting a discussion in the UBS Forum at MPR with Anne Korin, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security and chair of the Set America Free Coalition, and Ed Garvey, director of the Minnesota Office of Energy Security. Matthew Wald, who covers energy issues for the New York Times, was supposed to be here but he's been dispatched to Louisiana to cover the American Airlines maintenance woes (or so I'm told).

It's not about ethanol per se but it's close enough to warrant sticking around for a little live-blogging. You can listen here and if you'd like to add your comments during the event, so much the better.

7:05 - We're underway. Here's the theme. How does our reliance on foreign oil change influence our foreign policy? How real are the claims that the U.S. can be truly 'independent' of foreign oil and what will the next president's energy policy look like, given the way oil prices are headed. Four years ago, a barrel of oil hit $50 and drivers were grumbling as a gallon passed $2. Oil closed today at almost $115. At a gas station in Blaine gasoline is going for $3.52 tonight.

7:11 - Korin: "We paying for both sides of the war. Every time we go to the gas station, some of the money goes to Saudi Arabia, which funds terrorist groups around the world."

(Continued below the fold)

Continue reading "Live-blogging 'Energy and National Security'"

Question the news

Posted at 8:37 AM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Nice to have you here. Here's what's coming up today on News Cut:

The Ectomobile in Minnesota

Posted at 9:16 AM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Why didn't someone tell me the Ectomobile was parked at Best Buy headquarters in Richfield yesterday?

The Ectomobile, as you may know, was the vehicle of choice in Ghostbusters, and apparently Vivendi has built one to promote a coming video game, I guess. Find a ton of pictures, here.

Here's the thing, though. Apparently the "community" of Ghostbusters fans has more than a few people who have built their own... sort of.

Like I needed something else to scare me. Help us, Mr. Stay Puft man!

(H/T: Michael Wells)

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Earthquakes in Minnesota?

Posted at 9:52 AM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

There was an earthquake in the Midwest today. The epicenter was in southern Illinois and apparently caused only minor damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey, keeper of the cool instruments that tell us the numbers, has a great idea: an online space where people can report how violent -- or not -- the earthquake was in their area. Unfortunately, at this point, it's all about the numbers, and there's no "community" space yet where people can share their stories, but the possibilities for quickly getting the information and then being able to plot it all on a map are enormous.

How common are earthquakes in Minnesota? Not very. The last one was February 9, 1994, a rip-roaring 3.1 centered in south-central Minnesota. In November 1968, another earthquake in south-central Illinois was strong enough to be felt in the Austin-to-Rochester area. The last strong earthquake in Minnesota was a 4.6 quake that cracked foundations in Stevens and Morris counties in 1975.

So I'm probably wasting my time asking you for stories of any time you felt an earthquake. I was in San Francisco last October for our 25th wedding anniversary. A fairly strong earthquake -- at least by Minnesota standards -- struck the San Jose area. We didn't feel a thing although everyone on the street was talking about it. On the day after my first son was born, a 5.3 earthquake struck nearby Armonk, Minnesota New York (Westchester County). I felt that one, and took it as a sign.

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The freedom to water?

Posted at 12:11 PM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia

Now that freedom is on the march and there's a movement afoot to allow us to burn incandescent light bulbs if that's what we want, perhaps the next battleground is water.

As the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports today, there's a coming "crackdown" on people who use too much water on their lawns.

"To crack down on such water wasters, Woodbury is pioneering a new water-conservation tool -- water audits."

because...

"Officials were outraged to learn that a single user -- a home in the ritzy Powers Lake Point area -- used 471,000 gallons last summer."

A "crackdown"? "Outrage?" You'd think the "targeted" homeowners were breaking the law. But, in fact, they aren't. While these homeowners may be gluttonous, earth-destroying, sloths, there's no law to stop them. Should there be?

As usual, the greatest show on earth, is the comments section of a newspaper's Web site, with opinion ranging from:

More liberals controlling our lives-Kids are starving in Haiti due to ethonal and we wnat to monitor water usage in Woodbury. Great!!!!!

...to...

The state legislature needs to get involved in this water debacle. We need to implement a state-wide tax of at least $1 per gallon of water used.

That last one came from someone from North Dakota. Three words, Fargo: You go first.

As any newspaper carrier can tell you, an early-morning drive around Woodbury, especially in the rain, will find lots of automatic sprinklers in action (usually in townhome developments where no single person appears to be in charge anyway).

There actually is a law in Minnesota that requires rain sensors to be installed on lawn-irrigation systems. It passed by wide margins in the Republican-controlled House, the DFL-controlled Senate and was signed by the Republican governor.

The real mystery here is what is it about green lawns that drives Minnesota into such irrational exuberance? I have friends -- yeah, in Woodbury -- who weren't sucked into the lawn-care marketing and when dandelions sprouted, their neighbor came in the dark of night and applied weed-killer to their lawn. What is it we think a green lawn says about us that we're so desperate to have it say?

Ted Steinberg, author of "American Green: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn," says it's a Post World War II thing:

As American industry became more efficient in turning out innovations people needed--such as washing machines, stoves, cars and more--there still was plenty of capacity left over to turn out even more products that were less essential--such as those that could be used to create and maintain perfect lawns.

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Time Wasters: Tom Lehrer

Posted at 11:53 AM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Tom Lehrer turned 80 last week. Good grief, that's more depressing than watching a M*A*S*H reunion special. 80.

Jonathan J. Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management at Google posts a tribute to the Harvard mathematician.

From "The Masochism Tango" to "Who's Next" to "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" (trust us, you have to hear it), Mr. Lehrer's unique music carved out a distinctive place in popular music in the 1950s and '60s. He made his fans feel smart. An entrepreneur -- and we like entrepreneurs -- he self-produced and sold his songs via mail order. And for all the edginess in his humor, he ended up writing some ten clever songs for the '70s public television children's program The Electric Company, including a tune about the letter 'e.'

Lehrer turned math into comedy and made it OK -- even cool -- for us victims of "new math" to say "I don't get it."

Math is easy. It's comedy that's hard.

(H/T: Jeff Jarvis)

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The patriarch of International Falls

Posted at 12:46 PM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Every now and again I come upon an obituary of someone I didn't know, and wish I had.

John Bartkowski of International Falls died this week at age 93. He was a well-known guy in that neck of the woods; he started the Coca Cola bottling plant there, distributed Budweiser, and apparently touched hundreds of lives there.

Insight into the man was provided today by Faye Whitbeck in the International Falls Daily Journal.

My favorite anecdote was one of a man who encountered Bartkowski while he was having a teenage keg party on Bartkowski's property:

We were having a great time at this perfect spot, with a little road to a beach," said Davis. "Then a dump truck comes along and an old guy (seemed like it then) gets out."
"You know, this is private property," said Bartkowski. After a few moments, Bartkowski continued: "Well, you guys have a good time and don't be tearing the bark off the trees." Then Bartkowski went on his way, but offered one last quip: "That keg better be Budweiser." (The beer he sold at the time.)

... or maybe this one is my favorite:

Ladd Kocinski said Bartkowski knew how to work hard as well as have fun. Kocinski, who is a building craftsman and instructor, remembers roofing a garage for him at his Dove Island residence. "Amelia was out of town and John told me to be there early," said Kocinski. "Now apparently his early was different than my early." Bartkowski gave the carpenter a lecture but softened it by concluding that "Getting chewed out is an educational experience." It's a quote Kocinski has never forgotten. "He was a fair man, and he always treated me well."

Here's his obituary, which appeared separately in the paper today.

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Political ads: You can't escape

Posted at 12:37 PM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

A lot of folks had a bad feeling when video monitors started popping up at the gas pump. It started with weather reports and then some local news, maybe an occasional blurb about a sale on beef jerky inside. But this? Now we're going to have to be subjected to political ads while we fill-up.

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The 'more to the story' story

Posted at 3:24 PM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Media

There are a couple of intersecting stories in the news today; the thread between them is that there's always more to the story.

Item #1

The story: Katherine Kersten's article "Teacher questions Muslim practices at charter school," documented the experiences of a substitute teacher to conclude that Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights is "an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers."

The "more to the story" - MinnPost's David Brauer reports the sub was a conservative Republican activist in college, who had been shown a previous Kersten column on the school by her parents.

Item #2:

The story: During the presidential debate on Wednesday in Philadelphia, a video of a woman was shown, in which she asked Barack Obama if he "believed in the American flag."

The more to the story: McClatchy reports that the woman appeared in a feature in the Washington Post awhile ago, critical of Obama for not wearing a flag pin. ABC tracked her down specifically to ask the question, as opposed to having randomly submitted video questions from which this was plucked.

For the record, the "more to the story" doesn't render "the story" false. But when the full story isn't told, it makes it far too easy to question the motives involved, even though they may be pure. Plus, in the age of blogs, it's really a dumb idea not to disclose these things.

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The Week in Review Quiz

Posted at 5:40 PM on April 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

Off to the Indians-Twins game tonight, so no time for the clever graphic, which -- judging by the scores some of you revealed in last week's quiz -- isn't helping you all that much, anyway.

So here's this week's News Cut Quiz. You know the drill. Take it. Report back here. Vow to read News Cut more often next week.

Just remember: There's no crying allowed.

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Darkness on the edge of the E Street Band

Posted at 10:33 AM on April 19, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Arts, Icons

"Danny sends his best," Hall of Fame rocker Bruce Springsteen said at the beginning of his concert in St. Paul last month, "and he hopes to be back with us later in the tour."

But you had the feeling it was a comment borne more of hope than reality.

And, mostly, it was. On Thursday, Danny Federici, 58, who goes as far back with Springsteen as a non-blood relative can, died of skin cancer.

Says the Times:

Mr. Federici and Mr. Lopez started their own band and invited Mr. Springsteen to become a member. "This skinny guy with long hair and a ratty T-shirt was an incredible guitar player and a good singer, so we asked him to join," Mr. Federici once said.

One of the most compelling tributes to Federici, was written by local blogger Mitch Berg, on his blog "Shot in the Dark."

I'm no music expert, to be sure, so I am fascinated by the reminder of the extent to which a note soars above a word.

Chris Phillips, editor of the North Carolina-based Backstreets, a Springsteen fanzine, said Federici added to the mystique of the band.

"I've been listening to the live version of "You're Missing,' " Phillips said, "and it's a fine example of Max (Weinberg) hits the snare and Bruce points it over to Danny. And it's not that anything jawbreakingly technical is going on, but those notes Danny plays say as much or more than the lyrics. Sometimes he would bring that Jersey Shore sunshine part of the song, or maybe even some circus tones, but his music also was haunting at times, bringing in a whole different color to a song.

A video of Federici's last appearance with Springsteen -- four days after the St. Paul concert -- is on the Springsteen Web site.

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Minnesota's flying circus

Posted at 9:14 AM on April 20, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

The pending -- maybe -- end of Northwest Airlines has sparked a fair amount of nostalgia in the sky.

Out in Worthington, Daily Globe columnist Ray Crippen recalls the time when the city was on the aviation map -- every city was on the aviation map. Heroes of the day like Speed Holman (whose plane is shown above) were yesterday's rock stars:

That Saturday evening, Holman made a short visit to a benefit armory dance. Worthington scrambled to find him a razor. (The newspaper reported another pilot was the star of the evening: "Beyond question, the life of the party was the irrepressible Elizabeth Klingenschmidt who, informed by the local committee that there was no funds available to pay visiting pilots, came anyway and worked like a pert little Trojan all the while she was here.")

There's an aviation museum in Minnesota. It's online.

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Call for pictures: The junk by the side of the road

Posted at 7:51 AM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

The fourth annual "Operation Cleanup" begins today, according to the office of Gov.Tim Pawlenty. A work crew from the correctional facility in Stillwater will be picking up the trash at the intersection of I-35 and Kellogg Blvd in St. Paul this morning, according to a news release from the governor's office, suggesting that photographers for the news media come snap pictures of them.

Here's a better idea. Take pictures of the trash. During "lean" times, the litter tends to pile up on the side of the highways. Let's see what's in your neck of the woods. Grab a camera this week, shoot a picture of the trash (all the cigarette butts at intersections is always a good shot. Then, send it to me.

According to the state's Adopt A Highway Web site, volunteers pick up "litter" along 12,000 miles of Minnesota roadways, picking up 26,000 tons of trash. That number is either wrong, or we're bigger pigs than many of us thought. That works out to two tons of trash per mile per year.

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The merits of public service explored

Posted at 8:15 AM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

As much as the world loves to skewer legislators on a regular basis, there simply has to be one truism: It must really be lousy for family life to be an outstate legislator. Mondays can't be any fun.

One can't imagine that a per diem makes up for the privilege of living alone during the week, while your family musters on back home, and your kids get older.

From the sound of the article in the Bemidji Pioneer this morning, that's the reality that led Rep. Frank Moe to announce over the weekend that he's done at the end of this session.

"It's growing increasingly difficult for Sherri and me, with me being away all week for months at a time," Moe told the paper. "Many of the goals that I set out to do four years ago have been accomplished and I guess I want to take my marriage off the back burner."

Moe also got a Bush Fellowship grant that allows him to study at the University of Minnesota for the next 18 months.

Iron Range writer Aaron Brown says on his blog:

It's remarkable that anyone in the legislature can stay married or loved by their children. It's not necessarily a difficult job but the time commitment is vast and you're never off the clock. There are tremendous advantages for any legislator who is either single or whose family has grown and left the house. Anyone with a busy family life or another career faces difficult decisions about time every day. Living outside the metro area only compounds this problem (For my metro friends; Picture the busiest time of your life and add a four hour drive to a home you see once a week). In this regard Moe's decision is quite easy to understand.

These sacrifices aren't a "DFL thing," Republicans are doing the same thing. It is mostly, however, an outstate Minnesota "thing," that makes one wonder why they think it's worth it in the first place.

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Why Johnny can't run

Posted at 11:26 AM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

In a previous life, I covered the Boston Marathon and at that time the only question was by how much Bill Rogers would win. He was the Tiger Woods of marathoning back in the late '70s and early '80s. Likewise, Joan Benoit (now Joan Benoit Samuelson), was the dominant woman in a race that for a long time did not allow women to race. That they were both New Englanders made the race all the more, well, New Englandy.

Those days are gone. Looking at the leaderboard in today's running of the marathon, we see Kenya, Romania, Russia, Ethiopia, Italy, and Japn well represented. There isn't a North American in the bunch, unless you check the wheelchair division.

Why can't Johnny run?

True, it's a more competitive field these days, and the Boston event got to be too successful for its own good, and is no longer the pretty-much-for-fun, just-for-us kind of race it used to be. But American marathoners aren't even keeping up with their predecessors from yesteryear.

Marathon expert Jim Fortner has done a couple of studies on this, the latest using evidence from races, including Grandma's Marathon in Duluth.

Despite more than double the number of male marathon finishers today, the number of U.S. male sub-3:30 marathoners actually did decline and is about a third less today than it was a generation ago. The front of the men's pack has shrunk in absolute terms.

The women's side appears to be healthier with more than a four-fold increase in the number of sub-4 hour finishers out of more than twelve-fold growth in the total number of female marathon finishers. However, that picture is distorted because there were relatively few women marathoners 25 years ago, as compared to the number of women marathon finishers approaching parity with men today.

Many marathons, the Twin Cities Marathon included, have tried to kick-start Americans by offering prize money only to American finishers.

How'd that work? Meet Ukrainian Mykola Antonenko, who smoked the Twin Cities' field last year, and rubbed it in by pointing out -- through a translator -- that he would've run faster if he'd had some competition. "Psychologically, it's hard to run by yourself that early in the race. I looked back and was surprised, why weren't they running?" The surprise there, one supposes, is that he was surprised.

On the other hand, the "spirit" of the marathons is more aligned, perhaps, to those who are competing with themselves, challenging themselves just to finish.

And that's why we're all rooting for MPR's Tom Weber, who is -- the last time we checked -- on a pace to finish in 4 hours 31 minutes 5:01:30 5:23:34, about 2 3 1/2 hours later than the winner, and about 4 hours and 30 minutes 5 hours 22 minutes more than most of us could run on our best day with the wind at our backs.

(Photo of 2007 Boston Marathon by Elsa/Getty Images)

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The naked truth?

Posted at 11:25 AM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Temple Restaurant in Minneapolis has closed, according to WCCO TV. Most of you have never heard of it because if you had, the theory goes, it wouldn't be closed.

The closing is being blamed on higher food costs, the lack of other eateries, and the lousy economy.

Isn't it possible, though, that if you have to resort to offering the opportunities for customers to eat sushi off naked women, that maybe there's another problem?

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The view from the cockpit

Posted at 1:13 PM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

When you end up sitting on an airplane for six hours (much of it on the ground), what's going on up there in the cockpit?

A pilot/blogger at a regional airline offers a fascinating glimpse of his flight during that snowstorm a week and a half ago, full of in-air diversions and on-the-ground gridlock, security agents that go home, and passengers who can't get food or drink.

It's a first-hand account of just how broken the nation's air-traffic system is.

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Tightwad or spendthrift?

Posted at 4:30 PM on April 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia

Are you a spendthrift or a tightwad?

On Tuesday's Midmorning on Minnesota Public Radio, we're going to examine some research that recently came out that found:

Live-blogging: How you spend

Posted at 9:43 AM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (68 Comments)

Here's the thread for the liveblogging of today's Midmorning regarding the study, "Tightwads and Spendthrifts," examining how we handle our spending. You can find background on the study in the next thread. Post your comments/stories here and we'll pick out the most intriguing ones for the broadcast.

Guests: Scott Rick, author of the study; :Larry Compeau, professor of Marketing at Clarkson University School of Business. He was quoted in an interesting article in January about the symbolic tightening of the belt.

10:07 - We're off and running. Question: How well do you and your friends really understand and believe in the concept of frugality. Parents? What do you think your kids' perception of frugality is?

10:11 - Scott Rick, who did this study as part of his dissertation, says people usually consider what else the money they're about to spend could be used for. He concludes that Gen Y doesn't do this comparison.

10:13 - Tyler (in comments) raises the possibility that much of this difference in how people spend is the bank instrument involved; that with debit cards (used widely by Gen Y) creates an illusion of it not really being money, whereas people who hand over the cash (or even write a check) have more of a connection to the money being spent.

10:15 - We tend to be more frugal as we get older because we have more "pain" experiences. Larry says "this particular generation has never had to suffer a protracted economic downtown.

10:20 Women vs. men. OK, here we go. Women, the authors say, approach spending differently, that women tend to see spending as more therapeutic. "It's not clear if their theory is correct," Scott said.

10:24 : Gen Xer married to Gen Yer on the phone. "We're very different," she says.

10:26 - Scott: "There's a genetic component to this."

10:32 - In comments, Jessica raises the possibility that it's the parents' fault for raising Xers and Yers with a sense of the value of acquiring things. Lynn, on the other hand, is as frugal as they come and objects to being lumped into a generational stereotype. And David, father of a 24 year old, says he has to ask his daughter to spend money, she's so frugal.

10:36 - How is debt viewed by "this" generation. Scott says he did in-depth interviews with a wide variety of people who had gone through bad credit and bankruptcy problems. The interviews spanned ages and household incomes. Says he got a difference in the role debt plays. Younger people tended to view being in debt as a natural part of financial accounting. Older people tended to view debt as something that was reserved for special occasions.

10:42 - A father calls and says son went from a spendthrift to a tightwad as soon as he moved out.

10:45 - Talk about conflicted. Jon Paul in comments writes:

I am a tightwad and a Spendtrift. I take responsibility seriously and I could not afford to be anythign else. I am not spending any money on anything other than Child Support, student loans, cell phone, and transportation. ( I am getting rent realatively for free) I am still not able to save.

I'll try to pass this on to the guests next time Kerri comes to me.

10:49 - Larry: There's a mentality on consumers behalf that they don't want to "fix" anything (see comment below from the wife of a surgeon who says he fixes the cars).

10:53 - Scott: There's an evolutionary ancient system that wants pleasure now, but a newer system that can override those desires. He theorizes, though, that there may not be a connection between various generations on how the brain works.

10:56 - Scott says his next study is going to be among couples. Do opposites attract? Can't wait for that one.

This was fun. Keep talking in comments. We'll be here all day.

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Where's MNSpeak?

Posted at 9:04 AM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

Fans of the social networking/discussion/gossip site for Minnesota may be suffering pangs of withdrawal today. The site apparently didn't auto renew its domain name registration so it is, basically, down. I'm sure there's a smarmy comment to be made here, except I'm pretty sure MPR made the same mistake a few months ago.

Update 11:47 a.m. - Back online.

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Earth, best friends, cricket and the things that we hold dear

Posted at 12:21 PM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Completely unrelated news stories... unless you work hard to connect them.

First, on this Earth Day, a reminder that we have to leave it behind... someday. Stephen Hawking, genius, gave a speech on the occasion of NASA's 50th birthday and made it clear if we're to survive, we have to get off the planet. "There will be those who will argue that it would be better to spend our money solving the problems of this planet, like climate change and pollution, rather than possibly wasting it on a fruitless search for a new planet. But we can do that and still spare a quarter of a percent of world GDP for space. Isn't our future worth a quarter of a percent?"

When we leave, perhaps we'll be allowed to take a friend with us. Who should you choose? According to the Physorg.com (by way of the NYT Lede blog), it better be someone that you keep in touch with at least once every 15 days, because otherwise the two of you will never make the forever requirement of B.F.F.

Where can you find a friend? If you're into Bollywood stars, cheerleading girls, stilt walkers, cyclists furiously riding around the ground, acrobats hanging from the stadium roof, at a local cricket match. It's only a matter of time before the soccer fans stop trying to convince us it'll catch on in America, anyway.

Just be sure to stay in the shade. Earth is a dangerous place.

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Is there a (photo) doctor in the house?

Posted at 2:05 PM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Media, Media

Is this offensive? On the blog Visual Editors, a site for people mostly in the design/photojournalism end of the news business, there are a couple of controversies being debated. One is the doctoring of images to enhance their impact -- a subject I'll leave alone, and the other is the picture shown above.

The site says the Business & Media Institute has carried several objections to the photograph -- mostly from Iwo Jima vets, who call it "a disgrace." Is it the picture? Or the assertion that global warming is likened to World War II?

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The 24/7 boss

Posted at 3:07 PM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Appropriate clarification or horrible precedent? You decide.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled today that your boss doesn't get a "get out of jail" card just because his (or hers, but it's usually his) transgressions happen outside of work.

The case involves the boss of a restaurant cook. After hours, the boss bought the kid a few drinks and then the two engaged in some acts (you can read the particulars in the decision) that the cook says he wouldn't have engaged in if it weren't for the fact that the guy was his boss.

The boss claimed that since they were both "off duty," it was a case of "anything goes." But the court said that the boss still has the power to intimidate employees and coerce them into behavior that they would otherwise be unwilling to engage in.

Buzz.mn writer James Lileks calls it the most frightening piece of news out today:

I understand that this applies to sexual harassment, but it's a horrible precedent. You meet your boss in the grocery store, and he says "meet me in refrigerated dairy in ten minutes with some ideas for supper," and you have no choice but to obey.

But, in fact, you do have a choice. You have the same choice as a non-employee to be able to tell the boss to get lost. The court didn't rule that you have to comply with what your boss says outside of work because he's still the boss. It ruled, basically, that the guidelines for violating his authority are the same outside of work as they are within the hallowed halls of the workplace.

The boss, in this case, was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct

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Drunks on the road

Posted at 12:03 AM on April 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Health

It's established fact that the upper Midwest can -- and does -- outdrink the rest of the nation. And one out of three high school students binge drinks, so it's not a problem that's going to disappear anytime soon.

What happens to all these people? They get in their cars. A government report out today says the upper Midwest has the worst drunk driving rates in the country. Nationally, nearly one out of 6 drivers on the road has driven drunk in the last year.

Wisconsin -- and this will knock you over with a feather -- is the worst with more than a quarter of the adult drivers reporting they've driven drunk. North Dakota is #2, Minnesota 3, Nebraska 4 and South Dakota rounds out the top five.

"It's not surprising, but it means that these jurisdictions should take this data and think about how they approach public education campaigns and enforcement campaigns," said Dr. H. Westley Clark of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Another expert, Eric Goplerud, research professor at George Washington
University Medical Center, cites cultural and demographic issues for the high rates of drunk driving in these parts. He said strong religion in the southeast discourages drinking, which perhaps is a slap at the heathens in this neck of the woods.

This area, the experts say, is also suspect because of its predominantly white racial makeup. Blacks, they say, drink at substantially lower rates than whites.

(Posting will be light this morning; I'm speaking to a journalism class at the U and then will hunker down on stuff later.)

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A poke in the 'eye'

Posted at 10:30 PM on April 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Media

Can the Paul Douglas saga get any weirder?

Let's review. Douglas Paul Kruhoeffer, popular weatherman with WCCO TV, is fired by Channel 4 while he's on vacation. He's asked to stay through the end of May. He declines and then, shall we say, doesn't go out of his way to dispel the uproar from fans who reached the conclusion that he'd surely say goodbye to them if it weren't for CBS.

Tonight he pops up on TV, this time on KARE 11, whom he left years ago in search of fame and fortune in Chicago. KARE 11 is going to make Douglas the centerpiece of its Extra segment on Thursday, giving it an opportunity for a ratings boost and a chance to rub the competition's nose in it.

Meanwhile, the Star Tribune, which bumped then KARE 11 weather dude Ken Barlow from its weather page when Douglas returned from Chicago, gives Douglas a less-than-lukewarm reassurance that "for now," Douglas' weather column will stay. Where's the love for Paul?

The attention seems to undermine the notion that the era of the "celebrity" newscast personality on TV is over, at least in the Twin Cities, which should, no doubt, make weathercasters at WCCO's competitors nervous.

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Merger math

Posted at 2:14 PM on April 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

How do you make a small fortune in the airline business? You start with a big fortune.

Northwest Airlines lost $4.14 billiion in the first quarter of the year. What does burning through that kind of cash look like? Something like this, maybe:

That's $540 in $10 bills sucked into the jet engine every second. Do that every second of the day for three months and you'd be Northwest Airlines.

Up it to $887 a second and you'd be Delta.

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A small slice of the federal pie

Posted at 5:04 PM on April 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Now that you've paid your federal taxes, Minnesota, you can await a thank-you note from Louisiana. Or Alaska. Or Mississippi.

According to a Census Bureau report out today (pdf here), those are the big winners in the "federal spending sweepstakes." The report lists the total amount of federal dollars that flow to states in the form of salaries or programs or projects.

Here's the national map:

Minnesota? We're #48 with a little over $6,000 in per capita federal spending; that puts us just ahead of Utah and Nevada and just behind Wisconsin.

The report is based on 2006 data. A survey in 2005 showed that Minnesota received 73 cents in federal spending for every dollar paid in federal taxes, which tied the state with Connecticut for the bottom of the heap. Mississippi, by contrast, got $2 back for every $1 paid in. (Hurricane Katrina recovery at work.)

Today's report does not suggest that ranking is going to change.

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Where are all the bingo players?

Posted at 6:52 AM on April 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

Minnesota gets center-stage in the country's newspaper of record today. A front-page New York Times article explores the reason why bingo parlors and charitable gambling efforts are stumbling badly.

"We've sponsored several baseball teams here in the past, but we can't give as much now because the smoking ban has really reduced our revenue," said Charlie Lindstrom at the American Legion in Fergus Falls." The same appears to be true at charity bingo locations in California, new Jersey, New York, and Washington.

Proponents of the smoking ban suggest everyone just suck it up.

"Around the country, whenever places have put in smoking bans, there is a six-month period where there is a drop in business in bars and restaurants, which where this gambling takes place, and after that, it starts to rebound," said Rep. Tom Huntley, DFL-Duluth.

That should be any minute now. The smoking ban took effect six months ago next week.

What's happening on News Cut today: I'm working on putting together a series of presentations with women veterans of World War II. I've got one interview scheduled for early this afternoon. Maybe I can turn it around by tonight; we'll see. There'll be an event honoring the women veterans next month. More on that later. And you? What's on your mind today?

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A question of student safety

Posted at 8:39 AM on April 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)

A couple of students from Eagan and Apple Valley have been expelled from school, because they bought souvenir samurai swords while on a spring-break choir trip to the UK, thus violating, apparently, the rule against buying samurai swords on spring break trips.

"The severity of the punishment didn't fit the crime here," Brad Briggs the father of one of the expelled teens, told the school board the other night according to the Pioneer Press.

The other student -- a she -- had bought a Lord of the Rings replica sword for her father for Father's Day.

The expelled student is a Boy Scout, Sunday school teacher, and member of the choir and while it's not out of the question that a Boy Scouting , Sunday school teaching singer could inflict some harm with a sword all duct-taped up in a cardboard box, where exactly is the threat that justifies an expulsion?

"Schools are in a real Catch-22," said Charlie Kyte, executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. He cited a case of a popular student who brought a toy gun to school when he was the boss in Northfield. He had to expel him. He said another student was expelled for bringing "a big knife" to school.

Similar? How?

The kids who've been expelled didn't bring anything to school; they bought something while on a class trip. A chaperone confiscated the swords in the UK and they never made it to the New World. The administrators say they had to protect the other kids and the board cited the district's student policy. Here's the rules and policies section of the district's Web site.

Perhaps there's more to the story that "confidentiality" is preventing from being discussed. According to the policy, had the students been found in "possession of bullets, other projectiles designed to be used in a weapon or other material designed to cause pain or injury," the punishment is a 5-day suspension for the first offense and expulsion on the second offense. In that school district, you get a 3-day suspension for actually inflicting bodily harm, and that's only after the second time you do it.

What do you think? We expect our schools to protect students. Is this appropriate punishment or overreaction?

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The dinosaur diaries

Posted at 12:32 PM on April 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

It must have been easier being a dinosaur. You didn't have to worry about people telling you the end was coming and that some asteroid was on its way to kill you. One day you're munching on a tree; the next minute you're tomorrow's unleaded gasoline.

Last night PBS broadcast a National Geographic special that blamed the kill-off of fish around the world on undersea methane explosions that had something to do with plankton settling near the bottom of the ocean and the only reason that happened is because sardines, which were once in abundance in Namibia and now aren't, used to eat the plankton, preventing the methane explosions, preventing the fish kill, preventing the... well, you know; you're not a dinosaur. All because of sardines. Ain't that a killer?

That was on right after another documentary (Nova) in which Tom and Ray Magliozzi (the Car Talk guys), who laugh hysterically about the coming end of the world, nevertheless tell us all about the ideas for no-emission automobiles that haven't got a prayer of being perfected in time to save us.

Years ago, we were told drinking 8 glasses of water a day was good for us. So we did. Then, we drank not only water, but water from a spring in the French Alps, personally bottled by fair maidens whose skin had never been exposed to direct sunlight. And we didn't just suck it out of the plastic bottle -- which we know can kill us -- we occasionally dumped it into our "hydration gear," which we also find now, can kill us.

That's if we're lucky. Because otherwise, scientists say, water from plastic bottles can lead to early puberty, which will make your 8 year old sound like Barry White, which, in turn, will lead us to literally eat plastic bottles to escape the suffering caused by an 8 year old's non-stop rendition of "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe."

Oh, and the 8 glasses of water a day? Forget it. The scientists haven't said it can kill us. But they will. It can all kill us.

In the meantime, while we're waiting to become the next fuel for tomorrow's civilization of highly-developed cockroaches, we're fielding questions about the things that can kill us.

Here's one that came in yesterday that I've been asked to address:

I'm having trouble identifying bottles that have BPA. the students in your story report that bottles with numbers 1,2,4 and 5 are safe.

I notice on my bottle that there are two numbers. First there is the number 7 that is enclosed in a recycling symbol triangle (three arrows forming a triangle), next there is simply a number 4. Which of these numbers am I supposed to go by? The New York Times this week had an article and an image of the number 7 within the recycling symbol it seemed to indicate that this symbol was on BPA treated bottles...

CamelBak's Web site states that a number 7 bottle is safe (but where do i look for the number 7? within the triangle or outside?). Wikipedia notes that bottles with a number 7 and a the initials PC are created with BPA.

I'm very confused. Also please help me figure out what to do with these bottles if they do have BPA. I don't want to use them. Recycling doesn't seem to make sense, and I don't want to just dump them, and have the BPA end up in the landfills. HELP!!!

For the answer, I turned to William Toscano, head of the Division of Health Sciences at the University of Minnesota:

I believe the number outside the recycling symbol is the number from the injection mold. In the case she cites it is from the fourth position. Plastic manufacturers use those numbers fo check the quality of the mold. So, for example, if defective bottles with a number 4 were found, it would indicate that position would have to be repaired by the tool and die maker. The number within the recycling symbol is the one that shows the type of plastic.

Her second question, I have been suggesting recycling. Hope this is useful.

Your news questions, cheerfully answered here.

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Your home. Your heart.

Posted at 10:45 AM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

(I changed the time stamp on this to push it back to the top.)

Here's the little presentation I promised I'd have a week ago. Here's the premise: We (the media) often miss a piece of the story with the current housing crisis. Sure, it's about bank instruments, late payments, declining values, and, quite often, the sadness of losing a home and having to find another way to survive. Part of this is because of how we came to view our homes during the "boom" times. They were bank accounts we could cash out. We forgot that you can't cash out the way the things that happen in your home, end up in your heart.

If you get all misty eyed thinking about these sorts of things, then you're the person I want to hear from. Here's a little form to fill out. I'll take it from there.

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Are you addicted to your computer?

Posted at 10:40 AM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia

For the sake of the future of the little children on the News Cut staff (OK, there aren't any little children and there isn't any News Cut staff, but let's just pretend.), I certainly hope so.

Take this quiz.

This question, in particular, creeps me out:

How often do you prefer the excitement of the Internet to intimacy with your partner?

and so does this one:

How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Internet?

Soothing thoughts of the Internet? Oh, bandwidth, you gorgeous bandwidth! Reveal to me the underlying source code of this page. Yes. Yes. Oh, yes.

Full disclosure: I scored a 30. Which means, "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

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The 'ethanol tax' revisited

Posted at 9:30 AM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Energy

There are two current "shows that never end" on News Cut. One is the "WCCO fires Paul Douglas" entry. The other is the "ethanol tax" entry with my unscientific "study" that revealed how much more per gallon I have to spend for ethanol-blended gasoline than your basic "let's toast the Saudis" blend.

The Wall Street Journal blog picks up the theme of the latter -- without crediting, or probably reading, the genius of my 'study' -- by pointing out that at least one Web site is actively tracking this gap between the blends.

AAA, it says, has been posting the "adjusted E-85 price" as part of its daily gas price survey. Here's how the adjusted price is calculated:

The BTU-adjusted price ... is not an actual retail average price paid by consumers. According to the Energy Information Administration E-85 delivers approximately 25 percent fewer BTUs by volume than conventional gasoline. Because "flexible fuel" vehicles can operate on conventional fuel and E-85,the BTU-adjusted price of E-85 is essential to understanding the cost implications of each fuel choice for consumers.

I had calculated -- very conservatively -- a 2 or 3 cents per gallon "ethanol tax." The Journal blog says it's closer to 8%:

If that spread persists as E85 gains widespread use in America's cars, rather than the niche of vehicles now equipped for the fuel, the hidden costs for drivers would be akin to upgrading in the current gasoline-oriented world from regular to mid-grade. When was the last time you did that?

Wondering if this is the water-cooler talk at the Ethanol and Biodiesel University convention this weekend in Las Vegas?

3:19 p.m. - Dan McCullough E85prices.com posted a long commentary in the original "ethanol tax" topic (see link above). For straight price comparison, his site is pretty fascinating.

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Wanted: Weather anchor

Posted at 8:59 AM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Media

Hat tip to commenter Tim T. for catching this ad looking for a weather anchor on WCCO, which, of course, fired Paul Douglas a few weeks ago.

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Gas Pump Chronicles

Posted at 1:05 PM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

I heard a rumor this morning that gas prices were going to go up 22 cents a gallon, so since I needed gas and since I always wanted to start a panic, I raced to the pump. I was sure I would find a long line there, as happened in New Jersey yesterday (that's where I heard the rumor).

There were no lines; everyone was out trying to find rice, apparently.

I often dig the ATM receipts out of the trash at the bank, just so I can see the balances that people have in their accounts. Now I've developed a new hobby: Seeing what they're paying for gas and what blend their pumping.

There's no science here. Just eavesdropping.

A Ford Explorer:

Honda Civic:

Ford Taurus:

Prius. She might've only pumped to $30, however. People still do that, but good luck trying to get the thing to stop right on the .00.

For the record, there's no 22-cent price jump coming today. New Jersey was just catching up to the rest of the county.

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The women of World War II: Virginia Claudon Allen

Posted at 6:36 PM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

Next month, female veterans of World War II will be given a well-deserved honor in Minnesota: a recognition that they did their part. Virginia Allen of Minneapolis would like to see volunteers officially recognized as veterans, too.

The word volunteer doesn't begin to convey her service, which took her from helping the most seriously injured fliers at a Florida hospital to rallying morale in Burma as "G.I. Jill," the antidote to the anti-American messages of Tokyo Rose.

When the war broke out, she told me recently, she knew she had to do something. "Anyone who was not patriotic was totally ignored and rejected by one and all," she said. "The more involved you were, the more important you felt because you were doing something for the country."

Allen, now 89, had graduated from William and Mary and had hoped to move to France, but the war had other ideas and she volunteered at a hospital in Florida.

"The hospital I worked in had the worst possible injured, poor flying guys I've ever seen. I was supposed to be a secretary. I was very bad at that. I could sort of type so they kept me there in the physical therapy department in order to be sure that I could handle what I was going to see. I worked with these guys and my job literally was to look at them, chat with them, and maybe they wouldn't even have a face left. Maybe they were just like a stick for a leg or something. We'd talk about, 'OK if you aren't really working out, how are we going to dance?' It was that type of lingo that went over and I soon became quite comfortable looking at bashed-up people, which is unusual since I'd never seen anything like that."

Virginia worked as a civilian employee for Army Intelligence, which gave her more information about what was going on than many of her contemporaries. And when a young soldier to whom she was engaged was killed in a plane crash in Africa, she decided she wouldn't get involved with anybody until after the war. Still, she had a sense of wanting to do more. She headed overseas.

She and her best friend joined the Red Cross, got on a special train and headed to New York and, she presumed, France. "When we woke up, we saw cornfields. We were heading west. After training at a California Marine base, she and her best friend boarded a ship, the destination of which was secret. They ended up in Calcutta. "I had seen the bashed-up GIs, thank God, because I don't know if I would've been able to make it through all that happened in India," she said.

She ended up in Agra, a desert outpost full of C-46 cargo plane repairmen where she set up a Red Cross club, broadcast as G.I. Jill, and worked to keep morale up. "I took the GIs to see the Taj Mahal, we held dances, and we went to leper colonies."

"I was over at the hospital one night because a GI sent for me and he asked me if I would write a letter to his parents because he had a rotten cold. I sat down beside him and we talked, and he really looked terrible. The next day he died. It was the first (case of) polio among GIs. Then we had an epidemic," she said. To keep morale up, "you simply did not advertise it. We held volleyball games, we dug a golf course out of the ground, horseshoes, anything we could think of. Nobody knew how to treat polio."

"You don't have time to think of your morale, you're too busy to think about their morale. That's the thing that saved us. If they were down we had to dream up something. We even had a program called 'manners.' These guys requested that over and over again. We did it as an experiment," she said.

Her G.I. Jill radio program competed for the same audience as Tokyo Rose: the American G.I. Virginia said she never thought about countering Tokyo Rose by trying to direct propaganda to Japanese soldiers. "We didn't give a hoot what they heard. I didn't want to be responsible for giving them any information at all. We could break down an awful lot of the stuff that she was telling us as just hogwash."

"Did you listen to her?" I asked.

"Yes," she said. "Whenever I had a minute."

"Did you see her as your competition?"

"We were coming from two different places. And she lied and I didn't," she said.

Through the war in China-Burma, Virginia Allen did her job, putting on shows, playing music, teaching manners, writing the last letters home for soldiers. She is one of 16 people to be put in a Library of Congress collection on the China-Burma theater of war, considered the "forgotten theater."

She wants to be sure the volunteers in the war aren't forgotten, too.

"We are treated like veterans in every way except we have no benefits whatsoever," she said. "There were a number of people who needed help, who really would've liked to have been able to go to a veterans' hospital for help. (They treated) us as veterans whenever it looked good, but never really recognized us completely as veterans. We went off to war. There were guys who were enlisted who (had to be ) dragged to go off... hated it. We could've stayed home and danced with all those people. That was the easy way out."

"You were required to be brave. There were people who dropped out and went home," she said. "But most of us didn't."

Audio highlights with Virginia Allen

Chuck Doyle's journey

Posted at 3:45 PM on April 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

If you went to the Minnesota State Fair in the '60s, chances are you saw skywriting for the first time. Or maybe you saw the biplane pulling an advertising banner over Memorial Stadium at a Gopher game. That was Chuck Doyle at work.

Chuck died today in St. Cloud. His son, Chuck Jr., penned a tribute to him which crossed my cubicle and I'm pleased to share it with you.

Charles Peter "Chuck" Doyle was born to be a pilot and stuntman. Impressed with Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo flight to Europe, Doyle talked his father into taking him to the Minneapolis Airport where he was given an air ride in a Navy trainer. In his teens, Doyle owned a Harley Davidson motorcycle and cut classes at Washburn High School to ride to the airport and hang out. In the summer after his junior year, he offered to trade the motorcycle for flying lessons, but instead was given work helping to rebuild airplanes. He soloed in an airplane that summer and borrowed money to purchase his own Travel Air biplane. During the 1933 fall homecoming football game at the high school, Doyle buzzed the field and was promptly dismissed from school. He would finally graduate from Washburn in a colorful 2002 ceremony!

At the airport, Doyle earned a living working on airplanes, selling tickets for barnstormers, and performing daredevil stunts. In 1935, Doyle made his first parachute jump at the Minnesota State Fair and towed his first aerial banner for Griffith Shoe Polish. He had learned the fine art of skywriting from local veterans and rigged his plane to fulfill local Pepsi Cola assignments. In addition to the flying, Doyle also began to take part in other thrill show events at fairs and celebrations across the country, performing such stunts as driving his motorcycle through burning board walls, head-on auto crashes, crashing airplanes through 'houses' built within fairgrounds, as well as climbing from his speeding motorcycle to an airplane by means of a rope ladder hung from the airplane. He used his motorcycle and ramps to jump over cars long before Evel Knievel was born. Despite the spectacular lifestyle, Doyle was never injured.

During WWII, Doyle worked briefly for Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation in St. Paul, building gliders that were used by the Army to land troops behind enemy lines. Despite having no college education, he was hired by Northwest Airlines in January of 1942 after Pearl Harbor as a training instructor and taught at Rochester, Minnesota. When Northwest was contracted by the Army Air Transport Command, he was assigned to fly Northwest transports in Alaska, making flights as far out as the Aleutian Islands.

Following the war, Doyle bought war surplus aircraft, flying, restoring and racing them at Reno NV. Many of his airplanes found their way into museums, including three in the Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio, and a Curtiss Pusher aircraft that hangs in the MSP Airport's Lindbergh terminal. Doyle's airline career with Northwest continued until his retirement at age 60 in 1976 after 34 years, but his flying career wasn't over. From his home airstrip in Apple Valley, Doyle continued to sky-write and tow banners. The airstrip's signboard heralded "UFOs Welcome." He owned and flew dozens of aircraft and had his hand in many Minnesota aviation projects, including the publishing of a Minnesota aviation history book.

When the City of Apple Valley condemned his property for a highway right-of-way, Doyle moved his planes to Fleming Field in South St. Paul. He knew everybody in aviation and lived flying and restoring airplanes every day of his life. Both Chuck Jr. and Brian were taught to learn to fly by their father and are pilots and continue the family's tradition for the love of aviation Shannon would fly only with her Father but respects their love for flying.

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The sting of spring

Posted at 8:54 AM on April 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

Minnesota politicians are dumbfounded. Why wouldn't the execs of Delta Airlines want to locate their headquarters in Minnesota? Today's forecast for Atlanta? 79 with a late-day thunderstorm.

In the Strib today, a columnist remembers former Minnesota Twin pitcher Joe Mays, who -- given the choice of anywhere to live -- chose to move the family to Minnesota. How'd that work out, Joe?

We gave it a shot, but we can't handle it,'' Mays said. "Back to Bradenton [Fla.] at the end of summer. We're done.''

In Pelican Rapids today, they've got 18 inches of snow on the ground and, no doubt, dozens of suicidal pelicans about town. In Duluth, it's freezing fog.

Wouldn't mind seeing pictures of the weather out your window -- or your winter trip to the Caribbean. Your choice.

Contributions:

Yeah, Dave Jungst of Morris, you pushed the season:

In Pelican Rapids, according to this picture from Jim Christianson, a bird waits its turn near a feeder. I guess the pelicans get to go first. And what's the deal with the shovel? They don't put snow shovels away in Pelican Rapids until July.

(More under the fold)

Continue reading "The sting of spring"

Tell it to the hands

Posted at 9:37 AM on April 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Somewhere an alien species is interpreting our TV broadcasts and trying to figure out what sort of life exists on the third rock from the sun.

CBS' Sunday Morning today profiled models of body parts. You know the usual type of model. But the big money is in hands. The model's face never enters the picture. And apparently the $1,000 an hour is worth giving up the rest of life and packaging up your hand like a hit man's gun.

"No cooking. No cleaning. No taking out the garbage. No opening cans. No opening windows. No opening doors. No gardening. No sports," one model says. Basically no touching anything that's not being photographed.

What do you think of that, aliens?

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Is Tim Pawlenty ready to be president?

Posted at 10:42 AM on April 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (23 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty, Politics

The chatter about the possibility of Gov. Tim Pawlenty joining the ticket with Sen. John McCain has had a familiar undertone to it in Minnesota: the "one of us" syndrome. For example, the Celtics will win the NBA championship and it will be covered here as a local story because Kevin Garnett, raised in Chicago, working in Boston, living in California is "one of us" because he used to play basketball here. Diablo Cody, from Illinois, living in California, is a local story when she won an Oscar because she once worked for City Pages and stripped.

Same with Pawlenty. It's a "Minnesota makes the bigtime" angle.

But now that people are starting to realize that John McCain can actually win the presidency of the United States, isn't it time to start covering this story from another perspective?

Is Tim Pawlenty ready to be president of the United States?

The choice of a VP candidate has been trivialized to "how does it help the guy at the top of the ticket to get elected?" Pawlenty has some strengths there. But let's keep in mind what the job of VP entails. It entails primarily being ready to step in if the president goes toes up.

Pawlenty has been working the national circuit for years. His stint as head of the National Governors Association gives him cover to burnish foreign policy credentials (such as his trip to Europe to attend an anti-terrorism conference), his focus on illegal immigration plays to his Republican base and even his veto the other day of a resolution on trade in Cuba provided an opportunity for him to weigh in on foreign policy, while ostensibly saying it's none of the business of Minnesota politicians.

Politically, he may be ready to be a vice presidential candidate. Is he ready to be president?

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The status of girls in Minnesota

Posted at 8:01 AM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

The Women's Foundation of Minnesota is releasing a report, The Status of Girls in Minnesota today. We'll check it out. It sounds like something worth talking about.

There'll be a series of meetings around the state in May asking the question, "How are women and girls faring in your Minnesota community?"

Let's compare notes.

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No end to the bad news

Posted at 9:43 AM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Editor & Publisher Web site has the March circulation figures for the top 25 newspapers in the country. The Star Tribune was behind only the Boston Globe, the Newark Star Ledger and the Dallas Morning News. USA Today and Rupert Murdoch's Wall St. Journal were the only ones to show (very slight) circulation gains.

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Live blogging: The status of girls in Minnesota

Posted at 11:05 AM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)

(Update: Here's the full report - pdf)
11:07 a.m. Erica Williams, study director, Institute for Women's Policy Research. (this section was incorrectly identified earlier.)

Strong predictor of health for girls in Minnesota is laid in family's economic situation. Girls more likely than boys to grow into poverty. Female-headed families make up the largest share of poor families (71% of poor African American families are headed by a woman).

Tells a story of two Minnesota. "Girls of color in Minnesota are more likely to be poor than girls of color as a whole."

11:09 a.m. Rep. Neva Walker

Focuses on girls' reproductive health. Teens of color more likely to be pregnant than white girls. Highest birth rates are among Hispanic girls. "On the whole, Minnesota girls feel worse among themselves than boys do." Girls' self esteem declines around 9th grade.

American Indian girls most likely of all groups to commit suicide.

"As a parent of a 20-year-old myself, I now firsthand the need to delay pregnancy."

11:13 Suzanne Koepplinger, exec. dir. Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center.

While most Minnesota girls see school as a safe place, responses from students of color paint a different picture. American Indian girls -- 1 of 5 -- are more likely to report sexual abuse. Girls are engaged in negative behavior to complicate the problems. Girls are more likely to do drugs. American Indian girls are more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol to escape their feelings. "It's three times as bad, and 70-percent of sexual violence isn't reported, so we don't even know how bad it is."

"No one seems to be paying attention to this disproportionate share of the problem."

11:17Sandra Vargas, pres of The Minneapolis Foundation:

Girls in Minnesota are substantially less prepared for college than boys.
(ed note: will up some graphics later)

Girls are being trained to start family role at an early age, limiting their opportunities. In the Latino community "we have the highest number of dropouts. If they get to high school, the kids aren't finding the welcoming kind of environment, where their academic achievements are supported."

Girls of color don't get supportive messages from the system. "It is a problem that we are counting on these young girls to positively affect our economic quality of life and yet we have not done much of anything to change the kind of attitudes and interface that these young girls have with institutions they face every day. After awhile, when you get the message that you don't matter, you begin to think that of yourself."

She says the problem is acute among people here illegally. "When your parents are trying to be invisible and they're telling you to be invisible, we're all in trouble."

Q&A

Q: Surprised or does this affirm existing understanding?
A: We had some "ah ha's". Shocking to learn ACT disparities even though they're working harder in school (than boys). Disparity in girls of color among every facet of the research tells us we need to do something.

Walker: I blame the press and policy makers. We've known this for years.

Q: What is the solution?
A: That's a big question. Why don't we have mandated comprehensive sexual education in our schools? How do we ensure there's extracurricular after-school funding?

"We need more women of color to run for office."

Vargas: "We don't have the political will to do intervention and prevention. We have the political will to build more prisons."

(Observation: The hearing room at the Capitol is full. The only men here appear to be reporters/photographers)

Q: We are neglecting the core problem which is male. (I don't think this is a reporter asking the question). I don't see any men here. How are you involving them.

A: The Women's Foundation has been around for 25 years. Like a lot of different movements, you kind of start with an empowerment basis and model. These are the type of strategic questions our board is looking at because we know if we want to make cultural change, we have to involve men.

Walker: "Our kids are going through something vastly different than what we went through. If you're a white , 60 year old man, it's very difficult for you to understand what a 10-year-old Latino girl is going through."

Q: This battle has been going on for years. Why is this not happening? I assume you agree there has to be a fundamental change in attitude to eliminate these disparities. How can you get at changing these basic attitudes and has there been any progress?

A: Walker: We have 70 of 201 legislators who are women. One of the difficulties is the Legislature does not move quickly. Things take time. Even though we know what the statistics say, we wouldn't get it all. Sometimes it takes a couple of years. Out of 134 reps, 56 individuals have less seniority than me. That's an opportunity for Minnesota to talk to their legislators. That change is coming.

(Walker is not running for re-election)

(End)

Discuss this in the comments section.

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Newspapers cutting carriers

Posted at 12:31 PM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)

I don't mean this to be "pick on newspapers" day, but an item today is too interesting to ignore.

As a long-time carrier for a local metropolitan newspaper (retiring after 10 years of early mornings a few years ago), I had a unique insight into the operations. You work 7 days a week, you get in around 2 a.m. (earlier on Sunday morning) and when you a customer would call to complain that you he had to actually stick a foot outside to pick up the paper, the carrier gets charged a $1 penalty ($3 on Sundays). For a successful delivery, the carrier gets about 8.5 cents. So one complaint, and the next 12 papers on a route are delivered at no profit for the carrier. And forget about being reimbursed for the gas.

It's rough work. It's rougher when the newspaper itself really doesn't "get" how important the person who actually brings the paper is to the bottom line.

Take the Washington Times-Herald (Indiana), which let its readers know on Friday that the carriers are being eliminated in favor of the Postal Service.

Says the editor:

I want to emphasize that you will receive your newspaper the same day it is published. It is important for us to give the same great service that your carriers have provided these past several years.

The same day?

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IDs at the polling place

Posted at 12:48 PM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Politics

I went into the local hardware store yesterday looking for a 1 1/2" socket. They didn't have any (Excuse for the new American economy: "they're held up in customs."), but I picked up some other doodads, went to the checkout, swiped my bank card through the machine when the cashier asked me for identification.

The step-back moment: I had to show my identification to buy a pair of work gloves at a hardware store. If I want to vote for president of the United States, all I have to do is sign a paper on a line next to the name of the person I claim to be.

When you bring up the idea of requiring proof of identity to vote, it starts a big fight, which the U.S. Supreme Court put an end to -- sort of -- today when it ruled that an Indiana law requiring ID is constitutional and does not impose an undue burden on voting. A lower court judge had said the opponents of the law had not presented a single Indiana resident who would be unable to vote under the law. The opponents had claimed almost a million people didn't possess the needed documentation.

Rep. Keith Ellison filed a brief in the Indiana case opposed to the ID requirement.

Justice Paul Stevens' money quote in his opinion:

But just as other States provide free voter registration cards, the photo identification cards issued by Indiana's BMV are also free. For most voters who need them, the inconvenience of making a trip to the BMV, gathering the required documents, and posing for a photograph surely does not qualify as a substantial burden on the right to vote, or even represent a significant increase over the usual burdens of voting.

Indiana has a high number of Amish residents. For the Amish, photographs are not acceptable, leading to an assertion that the law there infringes of religious freedom.

In Indiana, as in Minnesota, this appears to be a partisan issue. Republicans voted for the law. Democrats voted against it. Just take a look at the party breakdown on the vote on an amendment earlier this month that would have required more stringent identification in Minnesota.

Republicans will says Democrats just want to engage in voter fraud (the Supreme Court ruling acknowledged there's no evidence of it in the Indiana case). Democrats will say Republicans are just trying to limit voting to whites and affluent people.

I have a request in to Minnesota's Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, to talk about the issue in Minnesota. Stay tuned. (Update: Ritchie talked to MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki awhile ago saying he hadn't read the decision and it doesn't affect Minn., which kind of misses the point of kicking the issue around a bit more.)

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Video game - violence link debunked

Posted at 4:17 PM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)

The video game Grand Theft Auto IV comes out on Tuesday.

Says the BBC:

Reviews for Grand Theft Auto IV have been unanimous in their praise.
UK-based games website Eurogamer called it "game of the year" and handed it a 10 out of 10 review score, while the New York Times said it delivered a "new level of depth for an interactive entertainment experience".

Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair photos have momentarily distracted many of the parents of impressionable children.

Three UPS drivers have been fired for stealing copies of it that were destined for retailers.

Bracing for the "it'll lead to more violence by children" stories? Maybe you shouldn't. The co-directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media say the supposed link isn't there.

Video game popularity and real-world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions. Violent juvenile crime in the United States reached a peak in 1993 and has been declining ever since. School violence has also gone down. The U.S. Secret Service intensely studied each of the 37 non-gang and non-drug-related school shootings and stabbings that were considered "targeted attacks" that took place nationally from 1974 through 2000.

The Secret Service found that there was no accurate profile. Only one in eight school shooters showed any interest in violent video games; only one in four liked violent movies.

Update 6:33 p.m.

Inspired by MR's comment below....

update 7:18 a.m. Tue - Interviewed on Morning Edition (link later Here you go.). M.E. producer Jim Bickal sends along an old Chicago on the effects of video games. It reads a little bit like "Reefer Madness."

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Anti gas-tax ads released

Posted at 4:14 PM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

The Republicans unleashed a round of gas tax ads against DFLers today.

Here's one:

House Republican boss Marty Seifert says the GOP hopes to show the ads on SuperAmerica video screens on their pumps, which should come as a surprise to SuperAmerica since they don't have video screens at their pumps.

Now will someone please go fill the gaping holes on I-694 in the Oakdale area?

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The Youth Caucus

Posted at 6:01 AM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

What's up on News Cut today?

Late this afternoon I'll be live blogging a conversation that my colleague says will likely consist of "disjointed candor."

The Youth Caucus: Why kids care about community/civic life? A Public Insight Forum by MPR and the Humphrey Institute

The long-standing knock on young people is that they aren't involved. But try telling that to the kids getting interested in this presidential race - or the young people using social networking to make connections.

There is evidence that kids are engaging more. But is it enough? Does it include teens from all walks of life and backgrounds? Minnesota Public Radio news and the Humphrey Institute are teaming up for a forum that will start this conversation. And the idea is to hear from kids.

I'm heading out for two weeks of vacation (back to New England to help my mother), so I have two interviews to do for the "Women of World War II" series (First one is here). I'll be in Two Harbors on Wednesday and have another in Bloomington on Thursday. Any readers in Two Harbors? What's interesting to you there that I should be writing about? I might as well take advantage of the drive up.

The weather has delayed my Bike with Bob series (or rather the "Oh, please, let me tag along with you" series).

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Who can figure airline pricing methods?

Posted at 6:27 PM on April 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

The Associated Press reports today that Delta is adding a $10 to $40 round trip fuel surcharge. Northwest and US Airways say they are studying Delta's move. Last Friday, Northwest was the last of the big carriers to agree to a 3-to-5 percent price increase first announced by United.

Every few days, it seems, there's another story of an airline increase so if you haven't looked at a while, perhaps you're steeling yourself for sticker shock.

But it doesn't always work out that way.

A month ago, I wrote that fares were expected to go up when ATA announced it was ending its Minneapolis to Chicago (Midway) run. The Northwest fare to Midway almost doubled -- from $114 roundtrip to $210 roundtrip -- once the ATA competition disappeared.

However, at the time, Northwest was charging $384 for a roundtrip flight to O'Hare. Today, even after all the news reports of price increases, a roundtrip ticket to O'Hare is half of what it was a month ago ($193).

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Blogging President Bush's news conference

Posted at 9:44 AM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (15 Comments)

A nice day for a news conference in the Rose Garden.

Main points of the president's morning news conference:

9:30 - Gas prices up $1.40 a gallon. Blasts Congress for not passing major legislation. Says it has blocked search for oil in ANWR. Says it could lead to 27 million gallons of gasoline a day and "likely mean lower gas prices."

9:33 - "It's been more than 30 years since America built a refinery." Blames Congress for that. Also blames Congress for lack of nuclear power.

>> Side note. Favorite saying, "The cure for high prices is high prices." New York Times reports today that's not working out this time.

9:36 - Says Congress is passing a "bloated" farm bill that fails to eliminate subsidies for "millionaire farmers." Notes that times are good right now for the farmer.

9:38 - Wants Congress to stop "sending bills that look like political statements."

Q&A

Q: You said we need to wait until stimulus package is taken effect to act again but since it was passed foreclosures are up, gas prices up etc.? Time for further action and would you support moratorium on federal gas tax?

A: Money is just now making it into peoples' bank accounts. Wait and see. If Congress is "truly interested," they can send the right signal by saying "we're going to explore for oil and gas in U.S. territories, starting with ANWR." Proposes refineries on abandoned military bases.

Q; Were you premature in saying the U.S. economy was not in recession when food and energy prices are soaring. What more can you do to persuade Saudis to increase oil output?

A: The words on how to define economy don't reflect the anxiety of the American public. The average person doesn't care what we call it; the average person wants to know whether or not we know that they're paying higher gasoline prices and that they're worried about staying in their homes and I do understand that. That's why I call upon Congress to pass legislation that will enable people to... stay in their homes. These are tough times. Economists can argue over the terminology. The American people want to know whether Congress knows it (that these are tough times).

We're transitioning to a new era, by the way. An era where we're going to have batteries in our cars that are going to... enable people to drive 40 miles. More ethanol, alternative fuels. Our driving habits will change. (Repeats call for more refineries - See list of coming refinery shutdowns here.)

Q: Do you believe the alleged link between high food prices and biofuels?

A: I think 85% of world food prices are caused by weather, increased demand, and energy prices. 15% has been caused by ethanol. High price of gas is going to spur more investment in ethanol. It's in our national interest that our farmers grow energy. We are concerned about food prices. We should buy food from local farmers as a way to deal with scarcity and put infrastructure in place so we could be self-sustaining.

Q: Flesh out thinking on why gas tax moratorium is a good idea or not.

A: Appreciate you trying to drag me into the '08 race. We're concerned about high gasoline prices. I'm not going to jump into the middle of a presidential campaign.

Q: Do you think we've neared peak oil and if so, why haven't you put more emphasis on renewable energy?

A: We put a lot into ethanol. The solution is making ethanol out of switchgrasses or wood chips. Energy policy needs to be comprehensive. The problem is there's been a lot of focus in the intermediate steps but not enough emphasis on the hear here (dangit!) and now. (Bob notes: "Immediate" is not "hearhere and now?") More riffs on ANWR.

Q: Should the U.S. stop filling the strategic petroleum reserve?

A: Wouldn't affect price. We're buying about 67,000-68,000 barrels of oil a day. World demand is 85 million barrels a day. The purchases account for 1/10 of 1 percent of global demand. I don't think that's going to affect price. It is in our national interest to get reserve filled. Al Qaeda wants to blow up oil facilities.

Q: Are we winning in Afghanistan?

A: We're making progress but there's a resilient enemy. Important to remember what life was like in Afghanistan before the country was liberated. Pleased with roads that have been built. Pleased with little girls being allowed to go to school.

Q: But do you think we're winning?

A: I do.

Q: In Iraq in 2006, you said we were winning and the strategy was working to boost troop morale. How can we believe you're not doing the same thing...

A: Are you trying to answer my question before? The question you asked me before -- and the exclusive I gave you at the ranch (this is to Martha Radatz) -- was 'you said we were winning in the past,' I also said that there was tough fighting. Make sure you put the comments in place. What I will tell you now is we're making progress in Afghanistan but it's tough fighting. I'm under no illusions that this isn't tough.

The notion that we can let these people have their way... let's don't stir 'em up... is naive or disingenuous and it's not in our nation's interest. We're in a global fight against thugs and killers and the United States of America has got to continue to take the lead.

Q: Last week you released classified photos of Israeli bombing of Syrian nuclear facility after earlier refusing to discuss it. Why the turnaround?

A: We briefed 22 members of Congress on what I'm about to tell you. We were concerned that an early disclosure would increase the risk of a confrontation in the Middle East or retaliation. We wanted to include more members of Congress when the risk of retaliation was reduced. That time came upon us. We want to let the North Koreans know that "we may know more about you than you think." Wanted to send message to Syria and Iran.

Q: (Softball) Are you frustrated, angry with Congress?

A: They're letting the American people down. It's either lack of leadership or the lack of understanding of the issue (FISA), but either way it's not good for the American people.

Q: I'm still waiting for my exclusive at the ranch .

A: Yeah....(laughs)... I'm at a loss for words. If only you'd have been at the White House Correspondents Dinner, I would've invited you. (Bob notes: This must be a NY Times reporter. The Times skipped the dinner. Good line.)

Q: ANWR, oil refineries are long-term solutions to gas prices. What are you doing in the short term?

A: It's intermediate term (ANWR). Market's going to encourage conservation. If there was a magic wand to wave I'd be waving it.

Q: Has Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas leaders undercut foreign policy?

A: Hamas is undercutting foreign policy. It's important for people to understand we're witnessing a struggle between those who understand liberty and those who want to stop it. Anybody can talk to anybody they want.

Q: Did any good come out of Carter's talk with Hamas.

A: I didn't talk to him and I don't know.

Q: Are you worried your successor will neglect war on terror?

A: I don't think John McCain is going to neglect the war on terror and I do think he will be the president (acknowledges that earlier said he wouldn't inject himself into the campaign).

Q; What will it take for you to say "we are in a recession"?

A: I've answered the question on the words. These are very difficult times, we'll let the economists define it for what it is. Calls for making tax cuts permanent.

(end)

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More retro police cruisers

Posted at 11:27 AM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)

Area police departments continue to turn back the clock on squad car designs. Last month, the State Patrol went back to its maroon and white look. Today, the Minneapolis Police Department took a stand for the retro look:

Says a news release this morning:

MPD will gradually replace its fleet of approximately 200 squad cars with these redesigned Fords which feature black front and rear ends with a large police badge on a white midsection. If this design looks familiar, it's because it is. The black and white design was last seen on Minneapolis streets in 1973 when MPD drove Dodge Coronets. In 1974, MPD went to the current all-white design on its Plymouth Furys.

Pictures pending.

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A cure for jet fuel blues?

Posted at 12:49 PM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Energy

The cost of jet fuel is bankrupting airlines. Maybe there's a cure coming.

Biomass Magazine reports on Solena Group Technology's intention to build a biobased jet fuel facility in Gilroy, California. It will produce jet fuel from "municipal, agricultural and forestry waste."

The plan involves the use of "plasma gasification," which Matternetwork describesas " super-heating biomass with plasma torches (aka, death rays), rapidly breaking down the material into their component compounds, resulting in synthetic gas, or syngas."

Perhaps the biggest key in the idea is the fact that Gilroy wants the plant in their community.

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Sex education in Minnesota schools

Posted at 2:39 PM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

(Subject/language warning)

The Minnesota House, you may have heard in Tim Pugmire's story this morning, has approved a bill establishing a sex education requirement for Minnesota schools. Some people, however, don't care for a one-size-fits-all approach to the subject.

Which brings us to condoms, specifically Rep. Sondra Erickson's reading from "a sex education curriculum:"

"Barriers and methods for preventions. Is the condom going to be used for anal sex, vaginal sex or oral sex? Parents, I hope you're listening. That's what can be in these curricula that parents may choose, some parents choose that you don't want. Your children need to be excused. Under safer choices explicitly how to put a condom on. What's that about for 7th through 12th graders.

Well, yes, that's what can be in "these curricula," but is that what's in this curriculum? No. It hasn't been written yet. Here's the requirement as specified in the bill:

Curriculum requirements. (a) Consistent with its curriculum review cycle under section 120B.11, or no later than the start of the 2011-2012 school year, whichever comes first, a school district must offer and may independently establish policies, procedures, curriculum, and services for providing responsible family life and sexuality education that is age-appropriate and medically accurate for grades 7 through 12.

So what was Erickson citing? It appears to be the curriculum of the Birds and Bees Project (see it here - pdf), a Minnesota-based group that claims to be presenting it to 8,000 students and adults in "area high schools, alternative learning centers, correctional facilities, churches, synagogues and adult-education programs."

Which ones in particular? They haven't yet told MPR's Tim Nelson, who's working the story today.

Here's an "exercise" that's aimed to 15-18 year olds:

For questions 4-5 have the teens focus only on the lists for Vaginal Sex, Anal Sex and Oral Sex.

4. Let's say you are trying to communicate your feelings, desires and boundaries with your sexual partner. If all the above words listed are synonyms for sex, how would your sexual partner understand what specifically you meant if you said "do you want to have sex?" Could the same problems occur that we listed earlier when we talked about styles of communication? What additional problems might we add to the list? How can you be sure that your sexual partner is consenting to the same sexual experience as you if the words you use are vague or if you are using different communication styles?

Well, OK, that's... uncomfortable, and I know it is based on the number of folks who've reacted to hearing Erickson's comments on the radio this morning while their kids were in the car.

Where it's likely to get testy, if this curriculum should actually be adopted in schools statewide, are sections such as this:

This activity illustrates the fact that whether or not abortion is legal, there is a need for the procedure. Making abortion legal makes it safe for the women who access these services. 1. Write "1973" on the board. 2. Explain that 1973 was the year when abortion became legal in the U.S., but that women had abortions before then. 3. Ask students to think of reasons why a woman would have an illegal abortion and write all of their responses in a column to the left of "1973". 4. Next, have students think about why women have abortions today, and list all of their responses in a column to the right of "1973".

Over to you, governor.

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Ethanol gets high marks

Posted at 1:34 PM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Energy

The Minnesota Corn Growers Association is out with a survey of 800 people that generally gives high marks to corn growers and ethanol. A spokesperson says the survey was not undertaken to be released to the media, but it subsequently was.

Since we've talked about the cost of ethanol-blended gasoline vs. the cost of straight gasoline on News Cut several times in the last month, it's worth pointing out that 55% of the people surveyed don't think it is less expensive and support its production for other reasons.

By the way, 70 percent of those surveyed believe global warming is a fact.

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The death of Chris Jenkins

Posted at 3:12 PM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

It's sweeps month in local TV and that usually spawns a round of "I'm not saying, I'm just saying" investigations that create more heat than light. KSTP's story on the death of Chris Jenkins in Minneapolis in 2002 suggests a conspiracy to kill young men around the country, leaving behind a "smiley face" at the point where a body went in nearby water.

But even the reporter involved says she's not all that interested in knowing whether the conspiracy theory is true.

"I totally agree that it is a way-out there theory that sounds pretty far-fetched. But it's not my job to say if they are right. I'm just reporting on what they think," reporter Kristi Piehl told media critic Brian Lambert

This afternoon, the Minneapolis Police Department released a statement on Jenkins' death and investigation:

Investigators with the Minneapolis Police Department Homicide Unit have been investigating the circumstances surrounding the disappearance and tragic death of Chris Jenkins since 2002. Although we have collaborated with investigators from the FBI and communicated with other jurisdictions in which similar drownings have occurred, we can neither confirm nor endorse the 'Smiley Face Murders' theory currently being publicized.

The investigation into Chris Jenkins' murder remains open. Investigators are assigned to the case and will follow-up on any credible leads. There is no shortage of theories about what happened to Chris Jenkins on Halloween night in 2002; however, there simply is not sufficient, demonstrable evidence to support a criminal prosecution. As in every unsolved murder, it is our goal not only to uncover the facts surrounding Chris Jenkins' death, but to identify evidence which objectively proves those facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Until the day when those facts may be proven, our investigation will remain active.

Our sympathy continues to be with the Jenkins family and all of those who have suffered the loss of a child in these incidents.

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Live-blogging: The Youth Caucus

Posted at 5:47 PM on April 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

What does it take to get dozens of young people to come inside on a gorgeous afternoon to talk about increasing their involvement in civic life? An invitation. I'm live blogging an event in MPR's UBS Forum organized by MPR and the Humphrey Institute, called "The Youth Caucus: Why kids care about community/civic life?"

The young people -- it feels wrong to say "kids" -- have just broken into small groups to talk about various issues before returning at 6:30 for a group discussion. The group I'm listening to at the moment is talking about the concept of mandatory service. Should young people be required to perform some sort of community service.

"Can you kids think of anything you're required to do now that you enjoy?" a facilitator asked.

One person said she was required to perform community service as part of some sort of punishment and said while she liked what she was assigned to do, she would rather have done it on her own.

"Picking up trash is good; you're picking up trash. But are you really building up virtues by doing so?" one teen said.

Maybe so, another said. "I used to work in a gift shop and now I'm really nice when I go into a store," she said. So maybe next time you won't throw trash on the ground.

Students also talking about school and how the election is not being talked about in their classes.

Your turn (in comments). Mandatory service for young people: good or bad?

6:32 - Groups about to get together for large session. This smaller group I've been listening to was just told that "stakeholders" (I have no idea who they are. The facilitator is a government affairs lobbyist for Target.) will be attending. "You mean what we're saying might make a difference?" one young person asked. "Yes," the reply. Gasps. So young to think they can't make a difference.

6:50 - Six people have showed up to listen to what the kids have to say. Among them: Beth Fraser, dir. of government affairs, Secy. of State; Mary Jo McGuire, former state rep. and coordinator of Project Citizen; Jennifer Bloom, learning law and democracy project; Lars Sandstrom, statewide kids voting initiative in Duluth;

Panelists say what they want to hear: What obstacles exist for you (the kids) to get involved, how they can learn without teachers boring them to death, peer pressure and peer leadership.

6:57 To the kids. Laurel, a junior from Roseville Area High School says they used to have civics but now not until senior year. Says in discussions with fellow students it was clear "we didn't know our senators, we didn't know our mayors. When civics is taught, it's not taught in a way that kids can understand."

6:59 Student: "Teachers lecture us. She's talking...talking...talking. It doesn't mean anything to us. Kids know Desmond Tutu but they don't know their own mayor."

7:00 Student - "Our mayor came to speak to our class to talk about how we should be involved and all the time I was thinking, 'maybe I should get involved.' But when I kept asking the question how, I never got an answer."

The question of mandatory service comes up. Student says they shouldn't be forced to do so, they should be taught to do so.

Tracy, Minneapolis Youth Congress and North Side Resident: "If I feel a politician doesn't relate to me, teachers come to our area but don't come from my area, I really don't want that person talking to me. Teachers don't facilitate the classroom, they direct."

Cara from Irondale Senior High : When something is forced on a teenager, they'll automatically oppose it. (Politics) goes right over my head. It should be taught to us. There should be a happy medium. It breaks down to the will of the teenager about what they want to know.

7:04 Panelist: "No Child Left Behind" creates real challenges for elementary schools. She talks to teachers who say they have no time to teach civics.

Elijah James - Minneapolis Youth Congress: There's a language barrier with kids when you talk about politics. His knowledge, he said, didn't come from "my school, it came from my father. They had to teach me the language of politics."

Student - If you don't have a stable environment at home and your basic needs aren't being met, why should you go vote for a guy you never met? "Our governor and mayor has never come to our school or done anything to get to know us."

7:11 Frederick: "It's not just about voting; whether it's lobbying or speaking with city's representatives, just being aware of that information can make a big difference. My school is suffering from levy referendums and I can't vote. But I can use the two feed God gave me and tell people in my community why they should vote for it (referendum)."

7:17 Brett, Avalon Charter School - Problems with funding at our school is you can't fund something without it being taken from somewhere else.

McGuire reponds: "It really matters if you talk to your local elected officials." (LOTS of hands go up)

7:19 Student speaks from group I'd never heard of before. Youth Farm. Interesting.

7:20 - Student says walkouts work but students can't do it without being suspended. "It's hard to be involved when teachers are telling you to shut up."

7:22 Panelist: "How many of you who have family members who are politically active?" (About half the hands go up.) Asks those whose hands aren't up how they got here.

Student; Joined organizations outside of school because we was curious. "When I try to voice my opinion, there's always someone to say 'don't say that.' A lot of people don't want us to voice our opinion."

7:27 Patrick from Central High School. Voting is one small part. The other part is "service." "The real problem lies in the kids who aren't here. Most kids need changes they can see and one of the big problem is legislators are doing things you never hear about or see in your neighborhood."

7:29 - Taylor, Blake School: Adults want to reach out and help kids but they don't know how.

7:37 - Malcolm from Central High School: Whose duty is it to get us involved? "It's unfair to say other people should be getting me involved."

7:38 - Student: "I don't watch CNN. I'm youth. I watch MTV so why not spend some of that (campaign) money into MTV that says, 'this is what affects you as a youth."

Q: What is the message you want to leave with the panel?

Answers: "Let kids know at a young age that they have a voice and they have power."

"Support us. Be behind us. If we have an idea, don't shut it down automatically."

"Change our advertising. Change our approach."

"Youth need to be involved in the implementation of everything there is."

"Give us an opportunity to voice our opinion. We want to get our voice out. Make us be as important as you."

Panel reax. What's one thing you heard you might walk away with?

Zoey Haas, Youth Farm: "Start local. Meet your neighbors. Go to centers and find out what's going on in your neighborhood. If they tell you they don't have a program for people your age, start something."

Jennifer Bloom: "Struck by your passion. I'm going to push hard to think of ways to teach you your rights to speak in school."

Lars Sandstrom: "A frustration that your teachers are scared to allow political candidate discussions to go on in the classroom."

"I'm going to go back and write elected officials and let them know they should hear this MPR event when it's on."

McGuire: "Embrace your rights as a citizen. Don't take 'no' for an answer from elected officials if they don't want to talk to you."

Fraser: "It's a legislative election. There's someone running in every one of your neighborhoods. Wants to work to help kids to get to know candidates more."

-- End --

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Your happiness/health index

Posted at 7:25 AM on April 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia

I'm on the road to Two Harbors today so posting will be light. Thus, it falls on your to pick up the slack. But, no pressure.

Fortunately, we've got The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. It's based on interviews of more than 100,000 people and it, shows that 47 percent of Americans
are struggling and 4 percent are suffering. Forty-nine percent of respondents are reported to be thriving based on a personal assessment of how they feel about their lives at the time of the survey, and where they think they'll be in five years.

The survey is done every day and Gallup says it will do it for the next 25 years.

Findings so far indicate that peoples' workplaces and any health problems are the two major contributors to whether people are happy.

You know what's coming, right? Sooner or later, Gallup is going to be in workplace. So tell me first. What are they going to find?

Oh, and what do you think your life is going to be like in five years.

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Fielders hit a home run

Posted at 6:42 AM on April 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

This might be the story of this or any other day.

At a college softball game in Washington state last weekend a woman hit a home run, but fell rounding first, ruining her knee. Had her teammates touched her, she would've been declared out. So two of the fielders on the opposing team picked her up and carried her around the bases.

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A day in the life of Minnesota?

Posted at 4:15 PM on April 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Driving back from Two Harbors today, I had this thought: Could we organize a day in Minnesota in which as many people as possible take a single picture that describes their town and/or the people in it on a single day and organize it into an online presentation, and accompany it with audio of the photographer?

This, I'm sure you know, has been done on a much grander scale with the America 24/7 Project, and the famous 1986 project, A Day in the Life of America.

The picture above wouldn't qualify; it's just scenery. Nothing is happening but the ore docks sitting there in Two Harbors. But what if we took a day this summer and tried to make a scrapbook of ... well... us?

Chew on that for a bit and we'll talk about it when I return from vacation later this month.

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The Women of World War II: Two Harbors' vets

Posted at 6:33 PM on April 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

Alice Iverson, 88, of Two Harbors, Minn., (above right) probably wouldn't have joined the Marines if it hadn't been for Kenny Trowbridge. She was engaged to be married to him when he was killed in the battle of Tarawa in the South Pacific in late 1943. He had just written his mother asking her to take Iverson to Duluth to buy a cedar chest. Instead, she says, all she wanted was a locket with his picture. She took it with her into the Marines. Two brothers had already enlisted. One of them was killed in the Philippines earlier in World War II.

Haily Smoger, 87, (above middle) was making parts for submarines at a defense plant in Milwaukee when she got fed up with making less money than the man who worked next to her. "That's all it took," for her to join the Air Corps. "I thought it would get me off the ground a little bit," she told me Wednesday. She lost a brother in the war, too. Clarence was killed in Germany.

June Johnson, 88, of Two Harbors (above left) joined the Marines because her husband had left for the war a week before Christmas, just a few months after they were married in 1942. She worked in Duluth servicing juke boxes and slot machines. During a lunch break, she says, she decided to join the Marines. She shipped out on her and her husband's anniversary.

Over coffee and cookies in Iverson's home, a couple of blocks from Lake Superior, all three spoke of their service -- and sacrifice -- in another time of war.

"We all had a cause," June Johnson said. "Ours was to relieve the men for duty."

Sgt. Smoger spent most of the war working at a B-24 maintenance facility in Mountain Home, Idaho. Cpl. Iverson worked at a PX in North Carolina. Johnson was among the first women Marines at Camp Pendleton, where she was in charge of a refueling station. They also serve who pump gas.

After the war ended, all three returned to the lake. June became the Civil Defense director for her town. Her husband worked for years as a plumber. "A lot of widows cried the day he died," she said. Alice's first date after the war was with the same man who was her first date before the war: the man she married. A few years ago, she was asked to introduce John Kerry during a presidential campaign stop on the North Shore.

Haily wasn't finished sacrificing. Her son, Michael, was killed in an ambush in Vietnam. She recalled the day in the late '90s when she got a phone call from the Two Harbors tourist booth. It was from a Kansas attorney who had wanted for 30 years to visit her son's grave. "He had been wounded and Michael gave up a spot on an evacuation helicopter. He said Michael told him, 'Don't worry, I'll get the next one.' There was no next one."

The three Two Harbors veterans will be honored, along with other Minnesota women veterans of World War II next week. All three say it's long overdue. "We couldn't live at home like other women did," Johnson said. "It was a different life, but it was a good life."

They don't say that about the life for today's veterans. Johnson volunteers at a Veteran's Administration Hospital in West Palm Beach, Florida. "I see a lot of young men just hobbling around; it's all you see," she said. "There are homeless veterans and I saw a nurse give one a plastic bag with a banana and a piece of cake; he was homeless."

"We're not doing right by our veterans," Smoger says.

"A disgrace," says Alice Iverson.

Listen to a portion of the conversation. (mp3)

(See part one of the series.)

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