News Cut: April 28, 2008 Archive

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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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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