Investment in Vikings unlikely to pay off; Walleye opener; Accretive answers

Posted at 8:00 AM on May 11, 2012 by Michael Olson
Filed under: Around MN

After years of wrangling, new Vikings stadium nearly a reality

MPR News: "The decade-long debate over a new, publicly subsidized Vikings stadium reached a conclusion Thursday, along with this year's legislative session, at the State Capitol. The Senate passed final legislation to build a $975 million stadium in Minneapolis by a vote of 36-30."

Wilf: 'We're here to stay'
Star Tribune: A video recap of VIkings stadium debate and post-vote reaction.

Duluth News Tribune: 'Skol, Vikings' heard 'round the Minnesota Capitol
Star Tribune: "Dayton deserves much of the credit, but he wasn't alone."
Field of Schemes: The deal "shows that if team owners ask for the moon and the stars, they can usually count on being bargained down by only a couple of lesser planets."

Minnesota Vikings set to get new stadium, investment unlikely to pay off
Wall Street Journal: "The deal makes Minnesota, population 5.3 million, the latest small market to shell out big bucks for a major sports stadium, despite evidence that such investments rarely pay off for taxpayers in purely economic terms."

LA Times: "This stadium is the best interest for the state," said Sen. Julie Rosen, a Republican from Fairmont who was lead sponsor of the bill. "This investment from three partners is the best for this state."

Sen. Scott Newman, a Republican from Hutchinson who opposed the bill, predicted it would pass. He said the state should be spending its money on things like healthcare and education.

"I know it happens across the nation, but it saddens me to think that our citizens believe that this is a wise expenditure of tax money," Newman said.

Also on Minnesota Today
Dept. of Commerce: Minnesota Power should close old coal plants
Duluth News Tribune: "The Minnesota Department of Commerce has come to the same conclusion as environmental groups, although for different reasons, that some of Minnesota Power's oldest coal-fired power plants should shut down sooner rather than later."

Fishing opener: Early spring may be good for fishing, bad for fish
Pioneer Press: "Among the reasons: A mild winter followed by an early-spring heat wave forced ice off lakes with record-breaking haste, allowing fish to spawn and recover before anglers could try to hook them."

Anglers see visions of walleyes
Duluth News Tribune: "John Chalstrom was in his leech office Thursday afternoon dealing hundreds of the wriggling black creatures into 50 waiting Styrofoam containers."

Accretive to comply with Franken's query, CEO says
Star Tribune: "Accretive Health CEO Mary Tolan has pledged to fully respond to questions that Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., posed last month about the company's debt-collection tactics and patient-privacy practices at Fairview hospitals."

Motoring in Moorhead
Forum of Fargo Moorhead: "As Bill Cullen started his bike here, a wave of Bike Night passersby circled around his 1925 Harley-Davidson and 1921 sidecar to hear the purr of the engine."