Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog

Here comes another round of happy-face headlines with the word "surplus" in them to describe the current condition of the Minnesota state economy. You're going to hear and read that the state's latest forecast has uncovered an extra $88 million, even after paying off the $93 million Minnesota borrowed from its public schools four years ago. When you do, keep a couple of salient facts in mind that might provide a more realistic appraisal of the state's current financial health.

On February 20th, Thomas Clayton Cadwell reported to the Dakota County Jail, in Hastings, to serve a sentence for driving after his license had been revoked. At approximately 7:30 p.m., while searching the 45-year-old Northfield resident's leather jacket, an officer allegedly discovered a plastic bag containing a white powder substance. Upon being questioned, according to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County District Court, Cadwell admitted taking crystal meth within the previous week. He also stated that he had checked his property roughly 20 times to make sure that he wasn't bringing any illegal substances into the jail. The powder in his jacket tested positive for meth. Cadwell faces one count of fifth degree possession of a controlled substance. According to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, he has 10 prior criminal convictions, including four citations for driving while impaired.

THESE DAYS

Effa Manley became the first woman elected to the baseball Hall of Fame when the former Newark Eagles executive was among 17 people from the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues chosen Monday by a special committee.

Abortions, pornography, and contraceptives will be banned in the new Florida town of Ave Maria created by Tom Monaghan, a former marine who was raised by nuns and is the founder of the Domino's Pizza.

A conference sponsored by a group that claims immigration is a global threat to whites is being held at the Dulles Hyatt in Herndon, Virginia, prompting criticism of the hotel for hosting the event. [via AmericaBlog]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

When was the last time you read a good peeing-on-a-raccoon story? Kevin M at the Insomnia Report doesn't let us down.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Malcolm Gladwell's blog

Steve Buscemi directs Casey Affleck as a failed writer who returns to his hometown in Indiana and falls for Liv Tyler in Lonesome Jim.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"We find an organization that is deeply troubled by bad management, by sex and corruption and by a growing lack of confidence in its ability to carry out missions that are given to them."

-- U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, on the United Nations

Guess which former Minnesota congressman is de-scandalizing the scandal?

Talking Points Memo has a scoop about the Gopher state's connection to the United Arab Emirates/Dubai Ports World issue. Which state politico would have the kind of reach into the higher echelons of Washington right-wing think tanks and policy firms required for such prestige?

That's right, it's Vin Weber! Weber, a six-time congressman from Minnesota who's been a busy little beaver since he left office, is working for Clark and Weinstock--a DC-based "consulting firm" that apparently has mastered the art of spin. Weber's firm will essentially deal with damage control.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has the latest Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

Molly Priesmeyer profiles local artist Jaron Childs at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

Jason Kottke, the web designer who quit his job to run his blog full-time, has abandoned his plan to make a living through blogging after exactly one year.

The internal logs of at least 40 touch-screen voting machines from Florida reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the 2004 election, sometimes in the middle of the night.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Five contributors discuss all things tech, from laser pointers to Xbox to RSS feeds and more at Technology Evangelist.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Cute and hurt: 50 Animals in Casts

President Bush's Thanksgiving 2003 trip to Iraq has been commemorated with this classy Turkey Dinner George W. Bush Action Figure.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"My view is that neither England or America are democratic societies. You can't really speak your mind and if you do you're investigated."

-- British rocker Morrissey, after being interrogated by FBI and British intelligence after speaking out against the American and British governments

Obfuscation and half-truths have been the norm from the outset with regards to the U.S. military's assessment of what's happening on the ground in Iraq. But the quotes from Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, as reported by Knight Ridder today, would seem to set some kind of new standard for disingenuousness.

Here's the money quote:

"We're not seeing civil war igniting in Iraq. We're not seeing 77, 80, 100 mosques damaged. We're not seeing death in the streets."

In recent years, the juggernaut that is the Minnesota real estate industry has inspired plenty of jeremiads. It's no mystery why. Minnesotans have long taken pride in the natural beauty of the place, and it is vanishing before their eyes at an appalling pace. With so much formerly pristine countryside being subdivided, paved or otherwise degraded, the time to act is now. Actually, the time to act was a decade or two back. But, as the man says, better late than never.

All this is addressed in considerable detail in a 56-page report released yesterday by the Minnesota Campaign for Conservation. The report opens on an optimistic note. The first passage, titled "Minnesota's Past Points the Way to a Proud Future," makes the usual high-minded points about the state's legacy as a leader in conservation and its ample natural resources.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Britt Robson has an interview with legendary rocker John Fogerty at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

Virgin Mobile says cellular phones "are now the cause of a reported 3.8 million cases of repetitive strain injuries per year" in Great Britain.

Palestinian beermaker Nadim Khoury has developed a nonalcoholic microbrew named after the Islamists of Hamas.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Brad Bellaver blogs on internal communication, knowledge management, and corporate blogging at The Memo.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Athiest Pin-Ups

Time 4 Bed: My bear's on my hip and I'm tucked in tight!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Danish flags are good, or posters reading 'Stand By Denmark' and any variation on this theme (such as 'Buy Carlsberg/Havarti/Lego')."

-- Slate contributor Christopher Hitchens, organizing a supportive rally to be held today in front of the Danish Embassy in response to the Mohammed cartoon fracas

Robbery rate increases citywide for first weeks of 2006

This summer saw one of the better media larks in recent memory, when a local TV station did an expose on crime in Uptown: Purse-snatchings, wallet-grabs and register-lootings were so widespread that some businesses pooled their resources to hire off-duty cops for extra security in the area.

Soon other media outlets bit on the story without checking one simple fact: According the Minneapolis Police Department's own statistics, robberies hadn't increased in the area significantly for the last three years.

But if things were relatively the same in Uptown, it was not so in the rest of the city. Robberies have been on the steady increase in all precincts for more than the last year and a half.

THESE DAYS

Lovers know that men usually need a "recovery period" after orgasm, and that sexual intercourse with orgasm is more satisfying than an orgasm from masturbation alone. Now scientists think the two phenomena might be linked.

Recent statistics show that the fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. also happen to be those with the lowest compensation. At the same time, the minimum wage is, in real dollar terms, the lowest it has been since its enactment in 1947.

A garbage hauling company that collects San Francisco's trash will begin a pilot program under which it will use biodegradable bags and dog-waste carts to pick up dog poop which will be tossed into a methane digester, a tank in which bacteria feed on feces for weeks to create methane gas. [via Sploid]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Vox Verax is a group blog recently launched by retired U.S. Foreign Service officer Tom Maertens, writer and former DFL House candidate Leigh Pomeroy, former Strib columnist Jim Klobuchar, and retired school teacher and Rochester city councilman Joe Mayer. Their stated goal is to analyze political issues from the left, right, and center.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Vote for Lando: Napoleon Skywalker

Dick Cheney: A Big Bowl of Bad

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It was great to have an opening act that was also us. That way if we got booed off, we'd just go right back again."

-- Actor Michael McKean, on NPR, discussing his faux folk trio, featuring Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, opening for their more famous fake band, Spinal Tap, on a tour

Today's Pioneer Press features a Q&A with Apprentice runner-up Rebecca Jarvis. This wouldn't be particularly noteworthy if not for the bizarre obsession that the St. Paul newspaper has recently developed for reality-TV contestants with Minnesota ties--Jarvis in particular.

According to a Nexis search this was the 20th Pi Press story since September mentioning the game-show contestant. Of those articles, 12 were primarily about Jarvis. The newspaper has now devoted more than 5,000 words to chronicling the would-be Trump employee, almost all of them penned by entertainment scribe Amy Carlson Gustafson. Perhaps most amazingly this was not the first Q&A with Jarvis to make the paper: two months ago a similar heart-to-heart with the St. Paul Academy graduate ran. Making matters even more ridiculous is the fact that Jarvis' mother is a former business columnist at the newspaper.

The Pi Press might not bother covering Minneapolis anymore, but it has become the authoritative source on Minnesotans who appear on reality-TV shows. Quite a journalistic accomplishment.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Peter S. Scholtes highlights local Mardi Gras events at Complicated Fun.

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves games at Balls!

Behold, Diablo Cody, domestic diva at the Pussy Ranch.

THESE DAYS

Yahoo! is banning the use of allah in email names - even if the letters are included within another name.

Sexually abusing a teenager is less serious a crime if the girl is not a virgin, Italy's higher court said on Friday in a controversial ruling that immediately drew a barrage of criticism. [via the Freakonomics blog]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Be so kind as to visit Tild and inform her that her hiatus from the Minnesota blogosphere will no longer be tolerated.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Scooter Libby launches a website pleading for donations to his legal defense fund.

Ron Bergundy's SportsCenter Audition

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Sometimes being that thin doesn't look healthy. I kind of didn't realize that."

-- Lindsay Lohan, in the March issue of Allure

The senator best known for his dental and Wikipedia work has cosponsored a resolution congratulating the American Dental Association. Last year, when a cosmetic dentist displayed photos on his website of Coleman's before-and-after work in an effort to drum up new business, questions arose as to whether Coleman ever paid the dentist for his mouth makeover and if taking the free or discounted smile was a violation of Senate ethics rules.

Coleman's dentist, Dr. Frank J. Milnar, told the press the then-St. Paul Mayor received a 20 percent discount for his seemingly permanent and disingenuous grin. Coleman's Wikipedia-rewriting staff attempted to squash the teeth chatter, but it didn't help matters much when Coleman's spokesperson told the press, "The closest Senator Coleman has come to drilling [in ANWR] was in the dentist's chair."

Now Norm Coleman is giving back to dentists by cosponsoring a resolution that congratulates the American Dental Association for sponsoring the fourth annual 'Give Kids a Smile' program and thanks dentists for volunteering their time to help provide needed dental care. The resolution passed in Senate on February 7. Coleman's before-teeth could not be reached for comment.

Some salve for the departed CEO of RadioShack

The Associated Press is reporting that David Edmondson, the CEO of RadioShack Corp., is stepping down for lying on his resume. Coincidentally, a press release came over the transom today proving that Edmondson is hardly alone--a survey found that nearly half of some 1,000 resumes contain a "significant" inaccuracy.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco brings you the latest edition of Greil Monaco's No-Life Top 10 -- The Even-Less-than-Usual Edition -- at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

Initially proposed by the bipartisan commission that investigated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was created by the intelligence overhaul that President Bush signed into law in December 2004. According to the L.A. Times, more than a year later, it exists only on paper.

Mississippi plans to put the names and faces of convicted sex offenders on roadside billboards.

American punk rock icon and writer Henry Rollins was reported to the National Security hotline during his recent Australian tour because of a book, "Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam In Central Asia," he was reading on a flight to Brisbane. [via James Wolcott]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Headlines like "I'd Rather Have Pubic Chiggers Than Use FedEx" by Julie will keep you coming back to Cake for Breakfast.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Time to grab your Weinerwhistle and learn to toot!

Antarctica penguin cam [via Incoming Signals]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I'm very grateful that my career is not at the height it once was."

-- Has-been Neve Campbell

This is odd. According to the latest Survey USA round-up, George Bush has a higher approval rating in Minnesota than in any other "blue" state. In other words, the president is more highly regarded in Minnesota than in any of the 17 other states that voted Kerry in 2004. Of course, that's not saying much.

Just two years ago, the Minneapolis Fire Department drew some criticism for selling out. The department, facing a severe budget crunch, sold advertising space on its trucks as a potential revenue generator. The criticism passed, but apparently the need for money didn't: The contract was renewed, and likely will be again.

The ad space went to Quit Plan, a smoking cessation program that is funded by the Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco. MPAAT, some may recall, was created out of the state's 1998 lawsuit against Big Tobacco--the money spent advertising Quit Plan is in fact public money.

Two years ago, the MFD agreed to sell the space on six engines to the tune of $50,000. The offer will apparently be extended for 2006, winding its way through two council committees and coming before the full council this Friday. This year the Quit Plan ads will give the department $32,130. In case you're wondering, the MFD's entire budget for 2006 is around $50 million.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has your Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

Jeff Chester of The Nation reports that the nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

Freedom Fries redux: Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad" in response to Danish newspapers reprinting cartoons featuring the Muslim prophet. [via AMERICAblog]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

The gay 20-something Minneapolitan blogging at Welcome to My Life longs to be a married Toronto resident, see President Bush get impeached, and get a decent job.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Academy Award Winner Robin Williams needs a new agent if he's now accepting Chevy Chase roles: RV

Stephen and the Colberts perform their 1980s hit Charlene.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I've pulled over and asked the cops, 'Could you please help me? They've been driving recklessly back there.' And they say, 'Sorry ma'am, I can't help you. This is how it is.' I mean, Princess Diana got killed by one of these people."

-- Britney Spears, bemoaning the paparazzi

"If he'd been in the military, he would have learned gun safety."

-- Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), taking a shot at Vice President Dick Cheney

Rumors were flying last week about the 418 Club, the downtown Minneapolis gentlemen's establishment that has been a sticky wicket in the city's efforts to outlaw smoking just about anywhere inside. As far as gossip goes, this tidbit was just too hard to ignore: Dick Wise, owner of what is legally called Jennifer's 418 Club, was supposedly handcuffed and hauled away during peak business hours last Friday night.

His crime? Allowing patrons to smoke, as the improbably named Wise has since the ban went into effect last spring.

"It was like they had a whole frickin' SWAT team in there," grumbled one prominent bar owner.

Predictably, alas, the tale was too good to be true.

THESE DAYS

A futuristic flexible material that instantly hardens into armor upon impact will protect U.S. and Canadian skiers from injury on the slalom runs at this year's Winter Olympics.

A midlevel state appeals court on Thursday upheld the state's marriage law as constitutional, handing a defeat to same-sex couples seeking to be married in New York.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Rural Democrats have an open public forum to share their political views at Blue Is Beautiful.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Track the last-place finishers at the Olympics at DFL.

Which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? FBI's X-Files Division... schweet.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"United Nations should be making serious investigations across the world. This is not."

-- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, dismissing the United Nations report that encouraged the shuttering of Gitmo

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Discuss last night's Timberwolves victory with Britt Robson at Balls!

Steve Monaco has found a Dick Cheney shot glass at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

The nonprofit voter registration group Rock the Vote is $500,000 in debt and down to just two employees according to tax documents.

The note inside the house made it clear to Cowlitz County sheriff's deputies that they had the right place: "Do not open door & let anyone in! Stolen Stuff visable."

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Nihilist In Golf Pants has the Top 11 Things Harry Whittington said after being shot by Dick Cheney.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Find out how much your boss's house is worth at Zillow.

DJBC is back with more Beatles/Beastie Boys mash-ups: Let It Beast

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"That's a great book and so is the follow-up book ['My Friend Leonard']. And just because his publisher chose to say that these were memoirs, it took it out of being a work of fiction, a great work of fiction and very well-written, to this guy having to go be sucker-punched on 'Oprah' by one of the most powerful women in television just to grind her own ax about it."

-- Action star Bruce Willis, defending A Million Little Pieces author James Frey

"I'm the guy who pulled the trigger that fired the round that hit Harry."

-- Vice President Dick Cheney, making a Mother Goose-like confession to Brit Hume yesterday

State senator Betsy Wergin (R-Princeton) and state representative Tom Emmer (R-Delano) have introduced legislation that would make it legal for Minnesota pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions on moral grounds. While the proposed law does not specify any particular drug, it's obviously aimed at emergency contraception, the so-called morning after pill.

The issue has become increasingly contentious in recent years. In Illinois, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune last month, five Walgreen's pharmacists have been suspended for refusing to fill such prescriptions. Wal-Mart is being sued in Massachusetts for failing to stock the pills.

Parents in Wabasha County will soon be able to test their children for drugs in the privacy of their own homes, thanks to the local sheriff's department. The drugs kits put together by the sheriff's office cost twenty dollars and are seen as a way for parents to test their kids for drug and alcohol abuse without getting the authorities involved. In an interview with KTTC-TV, Wabasha County Sheriff Rodney Bartsh stated, "My feeling as law enforcement and as a parent [is] that kids don't have rights if they are using drugs or alcohol. It's a parent's responsibility to do everything they can to keep them clean." Half the money made from the sale of the kits will go toward the county's drug programs.

Gabriel Francois has filed for bankruptcy. The 43-year-old grifter pleaded guilty to one count of theft by swindle in November, 2004 and is currently serving a 37-month sentence. (See "Gabriel Francois Has a Bridge in Bloomington to Sell You" and "Gabby Goes Down" )

For years the Eritrea native had managed to scam unwitting business partners out of money. According to court documents, he has operated under at least 16 different business names and has been the subject of nearly 200 lawsuits in Hennepin County alone.

There is a compelling argument to be made that the defining characteristic of the U.S. economy over the past two decades has been the steady rise in income inequality between classes. Sure, there is some truth to the old Reagan era aphorism that that a rising tide can lift all boats. But there is also little disputing that yachts seem to rise a heck of a lot faster than lifeboats. That, in a nutshell, is the chief finding of a recently released study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

To hear him tell it, Craig Newmark has had only the most trifling effect on the American newspaper business. "Somebody invented recently a myth that we're hurting newspapers," he complained to Philip Weiss in a recent New York magazine profile. "That appears to be an invention . . . We're a minor factor." He'd be hard-pressed to find a lot of publishers to agree. All told, Newmark and his craigslist website may have singlehandedly cost the newspaper industry more money than any one adversary in its history. The palpitations started all over again last year, when Newmark started speaking publicly about something called, alternately, "citizen journalism" or "community journalism"--the premise being that free community sites like craiglist might grow up organically to supplant newspapers on the news side as well as the advertising side.

Newmark is emphatic that he doesn't espouse this view himself--professional newsgatherers are irreplaceable, he says--but the specter of further hemorrhaging readers to free sites like craigslist has left the industry plenty interested in the details of Newmark's web intuition. Last month he spoke to a west coast gathering of Association of Alternative Newsweeklies members (transcript here), and last week I phoned him up to talk about his notions concerning online news.

City Pages: You've talked a lot about "citizen journalism." But I've yet to come across a definition of what you think that means, exactly. What is it, in your view? Can you give a thumbnail definition?

Craig Newmark: I try not to define it, because it means too many things to too many people. You could say it's anything relating to journalism, done by a person who's not paid to do it. But that doesn't really capture it. There's a spectrum of professionalism spanning everything from full-time professional writers and fact-checkers to people who are really good at it but don't get paid for it.

So it may not be the right question.

THESE DAYS

Three scientists who worked at the Australian science agency say they were pressured to keep their views on climate change to themselves to avoid clashing with government policy.

Media Matters pokes holes in the "liberal media" meme by examining Sunday talk show guests from 1997 to 2004, and finds the majority conservative.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Ear-coning parties, redecorating the IKEA way, and really screwed-up eyes await gentle readers at Reverie Cafe.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Klingon Recipes from McSweeney's

What every spoiled puppy really needs: A Monorail

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"The orange they're wearing is not because they are concerned that the vice president will be there."

-- White House press secretary Scott McClellan, joking with reporters about the president's meeting with the national champion University of Texas football team on the South Lawn

"That's the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that."

-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in a speech Monday sponsored by the Federalist Society

Big Trunk blows his wad on Kersten

The National Review is running an online Valentine's Day feature today, which is not nearly as cute as it may (or may not) sound. In fact it's downright sickening.

This issue isn't so much the realization that conservatives have hearts, or even that it's ideological circle-jerking of the worst sort--though certainly those two factors can't be ignored.

The worst part is that one "Women We Love" entry features one of our very own Powerline bloggers writing a love letter to--are you sitting down now?-- Katherine Kersten!

A fax carrying notification of a bank robbery in Fergus Falls came to CP last week, featuring this sketch of the suspect. The newshounds around the office were baffled: There was a height (5'8") and weight (250 lbs.) given, but no other descriptives. Even the clothing and vehicle essentials--"royal blue puffy type winter jacket," "black stocking cap," "newer two-door pickup, tan in color, no topper"--left more than a little to the imagination.

So, we wondered: Male? Female? A little bit of both?

A call to Fergus Falls Police Department Detective Carol Schmaltz clears up the matter: "It doesn't say on there?" Nope. "Oh, it's a white male." Schmaltz adds that she didn't type up the fax, and that the cops have "gotten a couple of leads since that went out." Really? How so? "The sketch looks like a white male," she insists. "So, now you know."

There's nothing like a new trend to get the local media salivating like a college freshman over a rail of Rumple Minze shots. In fact, a "trend" seems to be anything a reporter wants it to be, including a fad that is either long gone or never was.

Last year, for example, the Strib uncovered a scrubby little trend that was supposedly sweeping the nation: the need to clean. The cleaning fad could easily be illustrated, according to the article, through the availability of new high-design vacuum cleaner lines. Sure, Dirt Devils these days appear more George Lucas-inspired than your grandma's utilitarian and duct-taped crumb suckers, but keen marketing doesn't mean the nation is suffering from OCD. Just because Target has new space-age-inspired chairs doesn't mean we need to sit on our ass more, or that we will in 2014.

More recently, the local media has forced its readers to chug a diet of binge-drinking stories. But the "trend" to get wasted is hardly new.