Saving Thanksgiving, sick-time bonus, Minn. children falling behind

Posted at 8:00 AM on November 21, 2011 by Michael Olson
Filed under: Around MN

Northfield Target employee to deliver 'Save Thanksgiving' petition to CEO Gregg Steinhafel
On Monday afternoon, Seth Coleman, a seasonal Target employee in Northfield, will deliver a hard copy version of the "Save Thanksgiving" petition to the retailer's headquarters on Nicollet Mall (City Pages).

Sick-time payouts spike as Minnesota state employee retirements rise
State of Minnesota employees can go into retirement with an extra nest egg that's almost unheard of in the private sector.Some get $100 or less. A few get more than $100,000. Most take home $10,000 to $30,000 (Pioneer Press).

Several Duluth Occupiers dig in their heels
In spite of a police demand that protesters clear the Duluth Civic Center courtyard by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, several demonstrators were busy making preparations to spend the night (Duluth News Tribune). ​Occupy protesters moved into a foreclosed south Minneapolis home Saturday night.The protest almost failed at the beginning: two occupiers were arrested after police descended on the house to evict the demonstrators (City Pages).

Monticello nuclear plant shuts down automatically
The Monticello nuclear power plant was automatically shut down over the weekend as a result of safety concerns, Xcel Energy officials said Sunday (Star Tribune).

Achievement gap exists for kids even before kindergarten
The study finds children of color and those who live in poverty are less likely to be considered ready for kindergarten than white students and those living above the poverty line (MPR News). Only a little more than half of the Minnesota children who started kindergarten in 2010 were ready for the experience, according to a study released today (Saint Cloud Times).

Minnesota Power looks at less coal
Even as Minnesota Power plunges headlong toward making more electricity from hydroelectric dams and wind turbines, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is asking for much more from the Duluth-based utility, including a study on how to shut down two of its coal-burning power plants (Duluth News Tribune).

St. Cloud-area legislators warm toward state gambling
It's a move that could defy their party's platform, alienate key constituencies or land the state in court.Yet many St. Cloud-area legislators are eying proposals to expand gambling in Minnesota (Saint Cloud Times).

The big money behind Block E stays out of view
Irv Kessler avoids the public eye, but he's the largest investor in the site proposed for a casino (Star Tribune).

Proposed DFL redistricting map irks McCollum
The Minnesota DFL Party submitted a congressional redistricting plan Friday that would place Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum into a district with GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann (MPR News). DFLers decry redistricting plan of ... DFL (Star Tribune).

Vikings test new security, fans give bad reviews
Some of those fans we talked to told us they were angry that they missed most of the first quarter due to the delay from using the metal detectors (KSTP).

David Bedford and SweeTango apples
Building a better apple (New Yorker).

Bachmann to have 4th meeting with Donald Trump on Monday in New York
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann will meet with real estate mogul Donald Trump on Monday in New York City, her spokeswoman said Sunday (CNN).

14-year-old Paula Shires of Bovey tears it up on the Chemielewski Fun Time show

It's ladies' night and the feeling is right. Hats off to Paul Broman for finding this video (Perfect Duluth Day).

Unoccupying Duluth, home sales up, Bachmann's memoir whopper

Posted at 4:00 PM on November 21, 2011 by Michael Olson
Filed under: Around MN

Police tell Occupy Duluth members to leave
Duluth police officers, including Chief Gordon Ramsay, reiterated to Occupy Duluth protesters today that they must leave the Civic Center unless they obtain a permit (Duluth News Tribune). The paper also reports on an effort to waive the permit fee and requirement to carry liability insurance.

Minnesota home sales surge in October, but prices still falling
Minnesota's home sales shot up 24 percent in October from a year earlier, though the median price declined to $140,000 (Pioneer Press).

Day care union vote meeting ends with plenty of questions
The morning-long committee meeting ended with many questions, including some that the Dayton administration officials who plans to conduct the unionization election could not answer (Capitol Chat).

UMD med school profs say school cannot post lectures
A move to record lectures and make them available online at the University of Minnesota-Duluth Medical School is creating a stir among the faculty and causing tension with students (MN Daily).

Mayo Clinic's Mall of America store opening early for Black Friday
The clinic today is announcing a series of changes to the store, which is a prototype for a possible permanent Mayo Clinic facility as part of a proposed expansion of the Bloomington mall (Pioneer Press).

Michele Bachmann's memoir, fact-checked
The GOP presidential candidate spins lots of good yarns in her new memoir--none more audacious than her pledge to tell the reader the truth (Mother Jones).

Rochester woman living a year on WWII rations

Saying she wants to better understand what her grandparents experienced during World War II, a 31-year-old Rochester woman is spending a year living as close as she can to the ration mandates Americans were under during the war (MPR News).

Op-Ed: Don't like turkey day creep? Don't participate
It would be nice if all businesses could give all of their employees all holidays off. And I know some people would like to go back to the old blue law days when it wasn't legal for most businesses to open on Sunday. But that's not the world we live in anymore. A lot of people work nights. A lot of people work holidays. And when they're not working, some of them like to shop (Rochester Post Bulletin).

Paintings of Western Lake Superior

Community, life and landscape around the western shores of Lake Superior, from Grand Marais and the North Shore to the Apostle Islands and the South Shore.
(Dana Johnson)