News Cut: February 23, 2009 Archive
Mosque hosts community dinner
Posted at 6:46 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(0 Comments)
The Minneapolis mosque whose leaders condemned the assertion that it had something to do with the disappearance of several Somali youth, is hosting a community dinner on Wednesday.
A local Islamic organization says the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center "has received an increasing number of hate calls and e-mails since several Somali youth left the Twin Cities area, sparking rumors they were going to Somalia to join warring militias," according to a press release.
After a series of articles in the Star Tribune, members of the Somali community and representatives of the local news media held a forum to discuss what they said was an unfair portrayal of the Somali community. Judging by the comments on a News Cut post about the forum, however, there is certainly a split within the community.
The dinner will be held 5-8 p.m. Wednesday at 2824 13th Ave. S.
Where are the economists?
Posted at 7:00 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Media
Conservative and liberal groups don't agree on much, but they agree on this: TV did a very questionable job covering the economic stimulus bill signed by President Obama last week.
The liberal Media Matters for America said of the 681 people who appeared as guests on cable news and Sunday TV talk shows, only 6 percent, were economists, said the Associated Press.
While Media Matters didn't survey the network evening news shows, the conservative Media Research Center did, and found that only 13 percent of those interviewed were economists.
The rest were the usual suspects -- reporters, political "experts" and talking heads.
The producer of ABC's This Week said the guest selections mirror the need for news shows to have verbal battles between contrasting viewpoints.
Math tests not adding up to graduation for Minnesota students
Posted at 7:26 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(5 Comments)
Filed under: Schools
Minnesota has new graduation standards for math and thousands of Minnesota high schoolers aren't going to pass them. What should the state do? Prevent them from graduating and keep them in school until they get it right? Or change the law and allow them to move on?
The current crop of seniors is the first class to graduate -- maybe -- under the new rules.
"The bottom line is that the majority of Minnesota's 11th-graders are probably not going to meet the proficiency level," Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, told the Mankato Free Press. He's filed legislation to give the two-thirds of the students who took -- and failed -- the test an option to graduate with math remediation.
Not everyone likes the idea. "If we go in this direction, we're largely taking a leap of faith at this point," Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul told MPR's Tom Weber earlier this month. "It's not going to be informed by any data or research. I'm not seeing the rationale behind that, and I don't want to make a decision just to make a decision. I think we have to slow things down and explore things further."
The trouble is the clock is ticking for the class of 2010.
Part of the problem is schools are still developing curricula for the standards that are already being employed.
"Parents don't know this is even coming down the pipeline," Edina School Board member Peyton Robb told a hearing at the Capitol in December. "Basically, they're going to be faced with this result at the end of their 11th grade year. Their senior year is likely to be trashed, in large part, because of the remediation that will be needed."
If you're a Minnesota high school senior caught up in this, please contact me.
Reversal of fortune
Posted at 9:10 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
It's a small step; a very, very small step. But US Airways announced today they're bringing back free drinks. US Airways was one of the few airlines to charge $1 for coffee and $2 for soft drinks and water, but there was always the danger other airlines would follow suit.
Now, about those checked baggage fees...
The virtual deputies
Posted at 10:26 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice
National Public Radio's All Things Considered will run a story tonight on the program to set up border cameras and then let people throughout the country watch them on their computers.
Here's a preview: The program has been a bust.
Only 15 private landowners agreed to post the cameras. Organizers had hoped for 100, according to mysanantonio.com. They had also planned on 1,200 arrests. So far, there've been three.
It's not as though people aren't trying. More than 14 million people have logged onto the camera site to watch.
Long. But not that long.
Posted at 10:52 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice
Could Minnesota's election trial be the longest "trial" in state history? If so, it's got a long way to go.
Minnesota elections director Gary Poser is answering questions today in former Sen. Norm Coleman's appeal of the Senate election recount process that showed Al Franken the winner by 225 votes
This is the fifth week of the trial, not even a third of the way toward equaling the 1998 Minnesota tobacco trial.
"Where we are is we're in the middle of their case," Franken lawyer Marc Elias said during a break Friday. "I don't know how much longer it will go on. That's a question you should ask the other side."
Eleven years ago, Minnesota prosecutors opened a trial that few gave them a chance to win. No one had ever beaten "big tobacco." They, along with attorneys for Blue Cross Blue Shield, took two months to present their case. The tobacco industry took six weeks.
It wasn't until May that the two sides reached a deal. One big difference with the Franken-Coleman trial: There are no jurors to undergo the financial hardship of a long trial.
The prison economy
Posted at 11:28 AM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy
At least one business made money and doesn't foresee any layoffs. MINNCOR Industries, the "company" that uses prison labor. The company was created by the state during the economic slowdown of the early '90s, to encourage prison industries to operate in a more business-like fashion.
According to a report from the Legislative Auditor, that presents some challenges because most businesses don't have to take a headcount in the middle of the day to make sure nobody has escaped, and some inmates not only don't have skills for the job, but often aren't all that interested in showing up to work on time or putting in a full day of work. (Fill in joke about your workplace here.)
But the economy is putting a squeeze on MINNCOR in its own way, according to today's report. The number of inmates is increasing so rapidly, it's getting difficult to find jobs for them.
The company also has a turnover problem. The majority of "employees" have less than a year remaining on their sentence, the report said.
Required reading: The Kennedy series
Posted at 1:35 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
The Boston Globe is running a series on the life of Ted Kennedy. Its online component should be a warning shot across the bow of the newfangled media that predicts the demise of the newspaper newsroom. People in the business are still kicking.
In the second chapter, there is a compelling segment when Minnesota's Walter Mondale recalls the funeral of Bobby Kennedy at about the 6 minute part of the Chapter 2 video.
Coming and going
Posted at 2:30 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
The economic stimulus package, at least where Minnesota cities are concerned, may have a short shelf life.
President Obama met with the nation's governors today at the White House (Gov. Pawlenty was among them) and said this:
"Because of what we did together, this plan will save or create at least 3.5 million jobs in every state across the country. It will keep your police officers on the beat, your firefighters on the job, your teachers in the classroom."
Meanwhile, today in Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak announced plans to close a gap in the city budget from state budget cuts. He said more than 100 cops and three dozen firefighters could be eliminated in 2010.
That would be more than 10 percent of the police force.
Find the Republican governors
Posted at 3:00 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(10 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
From what we can tell, Gov. Tim Pawlenty didn't get a prime seat at the White House today when the nation's governors met with President Barack Obama. You'll have to click these to see the larger images.
We can't find him to Obama's right.
We don't see him to the left:
And he didn't make the photo op in front of the White House, which he's considering running for in 2012.
Truth be told, though, we don't see good seats being given to many of the Republican governors who aren't making their presidential aspirations a secret. But, Bobby Jindal got a corner seat (in the first image).
(Photos by Dennis Brack-Pool/Getty Images)
If not a cherry...
Posted at 5:43 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Arts, Surveys and trivia
The removal of the cherry from the spoon at the Walker's sculpture garden is the most covered story involving a fruit in the history of Minnesota, it would appear.
This picture is from MPR senior producer Jim Bickal. Though the spoon looks lost, it got me to thinking in my patented there-are-no-problems-only-opportunities way.
What might be a fitting food to put there instead? Cheerios to honor our unofficial state oat cereal? Porridge to accurately portray the budget situation?
Body language
Posted at 6:17 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(3 Comments)
Filed under: Economy, Politics
It was another horrible day in the equity markets. The last time the market was this low -- 1997 -- Brad Radke was winning 20 games as a 24-year old for the Minnesota Twins. Yeah, that long ago.
Usually, stories about rough days on Wall Street are accompanied by the cliche picture of a stock exchange trader.
Today, however, let's look at the body language of the nation's governors and the president and vice president as they met in Washington.
Where have I seen this expression before?
(Photos via Getty Images)
FBI director raises Minneapolis terror connection
Posted at 10:02 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice
The head of the FBI says a Minnesota Somali man, who blew himself up in Somalia last year, was "radicalized" in Minnesota.
"A man from Minneapolis became what we believe to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing," Robert Mueller said of Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen.
According to ABC News, Mueller did not say who or how the Minneapolis man was recruited.
U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have confirmed to ABC News that some of the individuals who have fought in Somalia have returned to the United States. The FBI has looked at possible cases in Minneapolis; Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Seattle; San Diego; and Washington, D.C.
In a question and answer session moderated by ABC News' Terry Moran after his speech, Mueller said about Ahmed, "We believe he was recruited here in the United States and that others may have been radicalized."
Mueller said cities like Minneapolis are at risk because of failed third-world states. "World politics often shape terrorist and criminal threats against the United States... A crisis in the Horn of Africa may well have a ripple effect in Minneapolis," he said.
"It raises the question of whether these young men will one day come home, and, if so, what might they undertake here," Mueller said.
Up to two dozen Somali men have disappeared from the Minneapolis area.
Bachmann: 'Democrats... will be coming after you, too.'
Posted at 10:36 PM on February 23, 2009
by Bob Collins
(9 Comments)
Filed under: Politics
There's a seemingly endless political loop playing. Rep. Michele Bachmann says something controversial on one of her national media appearances. The Democrats send out a news release pointing out her statements and asking for cash. Rep. Bachmann counters with a fundraising e-mail letter.
Here's the version that just arrived:
The Democrats claim they just want the "rich" to pay their fair share. But, we all know their definition of rich includes more and more middle class Americans each year. Just ask any struggling family farmer who worries about the cost of the death tax. Or ask any middle class family that suddenly realizes it has to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).
The Democrats' wealth redistribution scheme can't continue on this runaway path. Sooner or later, they'll be coming after you too.
And, because I dare to say so, they're targeting all their resources to defeat me. They'll stop at nothing to take your voice away in Congress.
On the AMT issue, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week that 18 percent more filers will escape the tax this year.
If some of the stopgaps from recent years hadn't been passed, according to Brookings, about 37 percent of households with adjusted gross incomes of $50,000 to $75,000 would have had to pay AMT in tax year 2010, as would 73 percent of those with incomes of $75,000 to $100,000.
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