News Cut

News Cut: April 5, 2012 Archive

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Who cares about 'women's issues?' (5x8 - 4/5/12)

Posted at 7:06 AM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Five by 8

Do women care more than men, 45 minutes of Helen, death of the cookie, politics and the Minnesota wolf, and a heaping helping of Minnesota.

Continue reading "Who cares about 'women's issues?' (5x8 - 4/5/12)"

History in a wheelchair

Posted at 11:16 AM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Regional history

It was a touching moment in Washington today when a group of Minnesota schoolkids was about to board a flight home after a trip to the East Coast.

honor_flight_jim_gray.jpg
(Photo: Jim Gray)

Aviation pal Jim Gray, who works at St. Cloud's KVSC by day, has been chaperoning the senior class at Buffalo Lake Hector high school, where his wife teaches.

For the last seven days, the kids have been getting a dose of history up close, visiting the historical sites in Washington, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, Jamestown and New York City.

Their brush with "history" this morning was more personal.

As they waited to board their Sun Country flight home, the inbound flight from Green Bay was disgorging its passengers.

" As we are waiting to load our group onto the plane, we were told this was an 'Honor Flight,' filled with WWII vets brought to DC to see their memorial and others," Gray reports.

So as the vets, many in wheelchairs, got off the plane, the kids gave them a standing ovation.

It was the Old Glory Honor Flight that left this morning from Appleton. An organization flies the vets to Washington free.

(2 Comments)

Analyzing bicyclists' behavior

Posted at 12:27 PM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Sports

A lot eyes fairly rolled in the cycling community when Talk of the Nation announced it would have a segment on today's show asking whether bicyclists are their own worst enemy.

The topic is a minefield for anyone to wade into; they don't come much more emotional as we've found on NewsCut a number of times.

Spawning today's show was Bill Strickland, the editor-at-large for Bicycling Magazine, which published a piece in the latest issue, "We Met the Enemy." The article details the fight between pedestrians and cyclists over more bike lanes in New York.

It theorizes that when bikes are few, protestations about occasional rule-breaking are also few. But now, cycling has increased, requiring more self-enforcement.

Tom Vanderbilt, author of the New York Times bestseller Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us), said, "A Harvard researcher talks about the 'four stages' of social norm change: silly, controversial, progressive, then obvious. In the first stage, we had a sort of reflexive denial: New York isn't Europe, that won't work here, etc. I think we're somewhere between the second and third stage when it comes to cycling in New York; opponents are finding they can't make viable arguments against cycling as a transportation mode on safety or traffic-flow reasons, so now it's more about the left-wing, Copenhagenizing cabal."

In the fourth stage, Vanderbilt explained as I joined him on a weekend ride out of the city to the pretty town of Nyack, on the Hudson River, changes such as bike lanes are widely considered not just positive elements but so desirable as to be obvious needs.

Vanderbilt is also on today's show.

(9 Comments)

Clowns at the Capitol

Posted at 2:39 PM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)

Some posts are too easy for the cheap shots, so we'll just pass along without comment that Sen. Amy Koch filed a resolution in the Minnesota Senate today recognizing International Clown Week, which begins in late July.

A Senate resolution honoring Tricia Manuel and recognizing International Clown Week.

WHEREAS, since 1996, Tricia Manuel has directed and operated the Mooseburger Clown Arts Camp, which provides training every year in all aspects of the clown's art to people from all over the country and the world; and

WHEREAS, the camp is one of the oldest and most comprehensive programs of its kind; and

WHEREAS, in 2012, the camp's schedule will coincide with International Clown Week, an event first celebrated in the 1950s and first proclaimed in 1971; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of Minnesota that it extends thanks and congratulations to Tricia Manuel for providing training to so many clowns who will be ambassadors of goodwill to people of all ages.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of the Senate is directed to prepare an nrolled copy of this resolution, to be authenticated by the Secretary's signature and that of the Chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, and transmit it to Tricia Manuel.

I've never had the problem with clowns that a lot of people seem to have, so I'm now stuck with the idea of going to a clown camp just to see what it's like. Who knew there was a clown camp of note in our area?

And who could be afraid of this? Tricia Manuel -- I hadn't heard of her before -- is a comic genius!

The Mooseburger Camp website reveals an impressive array of talents that need to be developed to be a clown. These workshops are available, for example:

-- What it takes to put comedy magic into your birthday party routines.
-- How to use a clown hat
-- Nursing home clowning
-- Library show know-how
-- Hospital clowning
-- Posing for pictures
-- Clown ministry

But clowning is serious business with obviously rewarding results. Check out this interview with Ms. Manuel about how clowning touched one man's life.

It's an activity that clearly is deserving of a Minnesota Senate honor.

(2 Comments)

What some people will do for an education

Posted at 2:40 PM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Schools

Some people see the value of an education; some people don't. Put Xiang Yuncui in the former category. Xiang Yuncui, 57, carries her granddaughter, Tan, to school every day. It's a three-mile trip she's made for the last three years. Tan has cerebral palsy and can't walk. Once at school, Xiang waits for her granddaughter, and then carries her home again.

She's never been late for school.

ITN has the full story.


(2 Comments)

Football in LA? Not anytime soon

Posted at 2:00 PM on April 5, 2012 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Politics, Sports

If the Minnesota Vikings actually do flee to Los Angeles, it'll be at least four years before they'd have a new stadium to play in.

That much was made clear today when the developer of a proposed stadium in downtown Los Angeles presented a 10,000 page environmental impact statement, ESPN reports:

If everything goes according to plan, Farmers Field would be in position to begin construction by March 2013, similar to a competing stadium proposed by real estate magnate Ed Roski in the City of Industry, which has been ready to push dirt since 2009. Both stadiums, however, need a long-term commitment from a team before construction can begin. And whenever construction does begin, Leiweke said it will be about four years until the stadium is finished.

"No one is going to push dirt until they know they have a team," Leiweke said. "If we have a full environmental impact report approved by the end of this year, we're in the same place the City of Industry is. The difference is we have a set of design drawings we've taken a risk on so we'd be a little further ahead there.

Whatever infrastructure has to be built in Minnesota for a Vikings stadium is nothing compared to what's facing Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times. The report says nearly 20,000 cars would be added to the traffic-choked highways on game days.

With "unavoidable significant impacts" expected at an array of downtown freeway offramps, stadium developer Anschutz Entertainment Group plans to provide an array of traffic measures, including $10 million to upgrade a light rail station on Pico Boulevard and $2.4 million to help Caltrans add a lane to the Hollywood Freeway between the four-level interchange and Alvarado Street.

Nothing is going to happen now for at least six months. The filing of the impact report opens a 6-month window for comment.

(1 Comments)
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