News Cut: January 25, 2009 Archive

A flight to safety

Posted at 8:46 AM on January 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

Would you take less money in exchange for a guarantee you'll have a job? How much?

Those are questions that many American workers are facing and answering "yes" and "plenty," according to the New York Times.

America is on the hunt for a secure job.

Profiling workers in Wisconsin, the Times reports, for example, that people who've worked in a paper mill, are now training to be truckers and welders -- two jobs thought to be relatively safe. In many cases, they're not trying to replace lost wages. Behold, the declining standard of living!

"Two of my classmates just this week applied at a trucking company advertising for tractor-trailer drivers," Mr. Geneen said. "They were hired on the spot and told to report for work on Feb. 1. They didn't even meet with the personnel people."

Mr. Geneen says he plans to drive a truck, preferably within Wisconsin. But with his wife, Kathy, earning $40,000 a year as a certified public accountant and with enough severance from his mill job to help care the family for a while, Mr. Geneen has enrolled in a yearlong course to qualify as a welder. It is another occupation chronically short of qualified people, even in a recession. At $40,000 a year or so, welders' work would not match his old pay but would provide a backup plan for the future.

Which brings up another question. Can people afford to train for new jobs if they don't have a working spouse making $40,000 a year and a fat severance package to help bankroll it?

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Notes from the freezer

Posted at 11:02 AM on January 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Weather

MPR's Tom Weber, purely for the fun of it, stopped by the Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Nokomis on Saturday. There were, from the looks of things, plenty of people staying warm by playing, but not a lot of people freezing by watching.

It was the same story in St. Paul where about a dozen floats and their participants dropped out of the Winter Carnival Parade on Saturday because of the cold. And the sidewalks weren't exactly crammed, although you really have to admire the people who stood and watched (good pictures here).

The Winter Carnival Marathon distance was cut in half. Two octogenarians ran it -- and completed it. Where did you say you were, again?

Meanwhile, in Bemidji, the classic snowmobile races went on as scheduled.

And so did some indoor things to do.

If we make it through six more days like this, we'll have gone the entire month of January without the thermometer getting above freezing. That hasn't happened since 1979, according to meteorologist Craig Edwards. Much of our super-warming winter clothing hadn't been invented yet.

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Rock the Cradle

Posted at 12:08 PM on January 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Surveys and trivia

MPR's John Nicholson suggests that The Current's Mary Lucia is interviewing a replacement for the afternoon "news" guy at today's Rock the Cradle event that's underway.

Don't even think about it, kid.

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Life as a bad boy

Posted at 4:04 PM on January 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

I got a speeding ticket on Sunday; my first speeding ticket since 1973. That's not the news. I didn't get a warning. That's the news.

Here's the story: I was looking for an outdoor hockey rink, hidden among the crooked back streets of White Bear Lake. After a half hour of looking, I needed to get back to where I started to try my directions again. I was frustrated that I didn't know where I was. Anxious to get back to a spot I recognized, I didn't pay attention to my speed.

I saw the 30 mph speed limit sign and the police car at the same time. I started pulling over, I think, even before the guy put his lights on.

Now, keep in mind that one of the benefits of becoming a senior citizen is you become a more sympathetic character during times like this. I pulled the license out of the wallet even before the officer came to the car. And when he did, I didn't waste time, admitting I wasn't paying attention, I was going as fast as however he thought I was going, acknowledging that I deserve a ticket, and -- by the way -- where's that hockey rink?

In the old days, that would get you a warning (or at least a lowering of the indicated speed you were going), especially if you're a senior citizen, and an adorable one at that.

Those days are gone. The officer -- one of the few police officers left who is older than I am, I noticed -- explained that he doesn't have a choice these days. "The man" is really on them to write people up, he explained. In the old days, I thought "the man" was the guy in the police car, but I guess that's changed, too.

But I got his drift. Times are tough. Local government aid is being cut, and guys like me -- guilty scofflaws -- are a boon to cash-strapped counties and communities.

He went back to his car to write up the ticket and when he came back, he told me -- apologetically, it seemed -- what I should do to appeal it. "I'm not going to appeal it," I said. "I'm guilty."

That's when he gave me a police escort to the hockey rink, which was almost worth the $131 it cost me. He was a nice guy doing a tough job.

Ironically, MPR just finished a week profiling how tough White Bear Lake has it in this economy, and nowhere was it mentioned that a partial cure for the state budget crisis on communities might be to lower the speed limit by 5 miles per hour, and hope more people get lost in your town.

On MPR's Midday on Monday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty will join Gary Eichten for a discussion about his proposed budget fix, which he'll unveil this week. The governor has said there'll be no new taxes to balance a $5 billion shortfall.

What does that mean to us? It means we should slow down, try not to get lost, and pay attention to the speed limit.

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