Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog

Price of health insurance outpaces the cost of care

It seems like every time you turn around there's another headline announcing that they're drowning in money at UnitedHeath's Minnetonka headquarters. The healthcare giant is the nation's second-largest, with some 65 million subscribers and annual sales topping $45 billion--a 22 percent increase over last year. Juicy numbers, to be sure, but lately Wall Street is sounding a little concerned that the party may be starting to wane.

So you want to know what companies are releasing the most pollutants into Minnesota's air and water? The ugly answers can be found in the recently released Right-to-Know Chemical Information Report, which is posted on the Minnesota Department of Public Safety website. Among other things, the report lists the top 20 pollution producing facilities in the state. As usual, Xcel Energy's coal-burning power plant in Becker occupies the top spot; according to the report, the Sherco plant emitted more than seven million pounds of pollutants during the 2004 calender year. That's more than three times as much as the number two polluter, Minnesota Power's Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset. The full report is larded with useful tables and other data. Below are the Dirty 20, ranked top to bottom.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has this week's Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

The U.S. Army recently discharged a highly regarded Arabic linguist, Sergeant Bleu Copas, who was the target of an anonymous email "outing" campaign, bringing the total number of Arabic language specialists dismissed under the gay ban to at least 55.

Coal-burning utilities are passing the hat for one of the few remaining scientists, Pat Michaels, Virginia's state climatologist, skeptical of the global warming harm caused by industries that burn fossil fuels. [via Digg]

The government's crackdown on media indecency could prevent World War II veterans from sharing their stories in an upcoming TV documentary series by Ken Burns, Paula Kerger of the Public Broadcasting Service said.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Oren Goldberg left his job as the listings coordinator for City Pages to trek through Central America. Read about his being robbed at gunpoint and other adventures at The OG Diaries.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

A cake made out of meat [via b3ta]

Polish posters of American movies

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I have never heard the song 'Cousin Dupree' and I don't even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, 'HEY 19.'"

-- "You, Me & Dupree" star Owen Wilson, responding to Steely Dan's accusation that the film plot was lifted from their 2001 Grammy-winning song "Cousin Dupree"

"YMCA" has probably been performed for the last time at the new Hooters in downtown Minneapolis. The restaurant, which opened July 5 in Block E, has been informed by the city that such performances are not permitted under its liquor license.

The problem: Hooters has a Class E liquor license. The only entertainment permitted with such a license is recorded music, such as from a jukebox. In order to have dance performances, according to Ricardo Cervantes, the city's deputy director of licenses and consumer services, Hooters would have to obtain a Class A or B license. "If they wanted to upgrade they certainly can," he notes.

THESE DAYS

Yesterday was "Faith Day" at Atlanta's Turner Field, where fans were invited to stay following the Braves-Marlins game to hear Braves star pitcher John Smoltz share how his life changed by believing in Christ.

Astronomers at the University of Tasmania have found that the solar system's smallest planet, Pluto, is not getting colder as first thought and it probably does not have rings.

War protester Cindy Sheehan has purchased a 5-acre plot in the president's hometown of Crawford, Texas, with some of the insurance money she received after her son was killed in Iraq.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

The Rochester newspaper has an impressive collection of news and sports blogs, as well as sites from around the region, at Post-Bulletin Blogs.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Batman and Robin meet Jay and Silent Bob: Justice Rats

Ben Cohen from Ben & Jerry's explains the U.S. defense budget on the Tavis Smiley show using cookies.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I'm happy that Ullrich and Basso weren't allowed in... [Floyd Landis] was one of my favorites before the race. He's clean and what's more, he's a great guy."

-- Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, July 24, admonishing cyclists implicated in a pre-Tour drug scandal, and congratulating this year's winner

"Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has been suspended by his professional cycling team. The team said it has been notified that he tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race."

-- Associated Press, July 27

Wednesday, 6:58 p.m., the Channel 5 studios somewhere in the Hubbard Empire complex on University Avenue, where Minneapolis meets St. Paul.

Longtime KSTP-TV sports guy and recent news anchor Joe Schmit is bidding an emotional adieu, leaving his job of 21 years for a gig with Petters Media & Marketing Group.

A new menace is loose on the streets of Minneapolis: unlicensed ice cream trucks. Earlier this week city license inspector Richard Tuffs sent out an email to CCP/SAFE officers seeking help with the issue.

"I am having problems with unlicensed ice cream trucks around the city," he wrote. "Could you send a message out on your email sites to all the block club leaders asking them to do the following. If they see an ice cream truck in the neighborhood to check and see if they have a valid green 2007 Minneapolis Mobile Food Vendor sticker posted on the side of the vehicle."

WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler nicely dissected Senate hopeful Mark Kennedy's inaugural campaign ad, which makes the somewhat laughable claim that Kennedy--among the most reliable pro-Administration votes in Congress--is "not much of a party guy." But Kessler's best catch in the piece is shining the spotlight on Kennedy's media consultant, Scott Howell.

5th District Congressional candidate Ember Reichgott Junge has backed down in her fight with the DFL over use of the party's moniker. On July 10, DFL attorney Alan Weinblatt sent her campaign a letter demanding that the moniker be stripped from all "billboards, websites, and other campaign materials, forthwith." State Rep. Keith Ellison is the DFL-endorsed candidate, but faces three serious challengers in the September primary.

The former state senator initially refused (see "Party Games"). But in a press release put out by the campaign this morning Reichgott-Junge agreed to make the changes. "Frankly, I was surprised at the strident tone of the letter," Reichgott Junge says in the release. "The initials DFL had been prominently displayed on our campaign website since April, and we were never notified by the party or anyone else that there was a problem."

THESE DAYS

Despite several years of official and press reports to the contrary, a new Harris poll finds that half of adult Americans still believe that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003.

Orlando officials have banned charitable groups from feeding homeless people in parks downtown, arguing that transients who gather for weekly meals create safety and sanitary problems for businesses.

A study carried out by Oxford University and The University of Toronto looked at more than 60,000 deaths, of men aged between 35 and 46, in the U.S., Canada and Poland, and found that more than half the difference in the risk of death of wealthy or educated men, and those who have had less education, can be attributed to smoking.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

The prodigal Norwegian has returned! Certified curmudgeon (he'll hate that) Mark Gisleson has emerged from his Ford Bell folly to restart Norwegianity.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

What happens when owls get scared

Find out what kind of guy would chug a whole bottle of maple syrup

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"He clearly has some issues that need to be dealt with, and I will encourage him to seek the necessary help."

-- Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), condemning his 81-year-old father after he was cited for lewd conduct and indecent exposure for allegedly having sex in a vehicle with a 38-year-old woman

Norm Coleman's 81-Year-Old Dad Gets Some

The Star Tribune this afternoon reported that Norm Sr., a decorated veteran, was busted for lewd conduct and indecent exposure for allegedly having sex with a 38-year-old in a car outside a pizza parlor. You can read the story here.

An earlier version of the article contained a last sentence that's not posted now: "Police said the woman cited, Patrizia M. Schrag of St. Paul, has no history of prostitution."

We have to wonder: Did they ask police the same question about Norm Sr.?

And so is the criminal justice system

A Texas jury today found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity in her second trial for the 2001 drowning of her five young children. The Washington Post has a short analysis by a legal expert offering context.

Black Day for Local Foodies
by Dara Moskowitz

After 16 years selling Danish baked goods that made pastry lovers weep with joy, Blackey's Bakery in northeast Minneapolis is closing on Saturday--and now we're weeping without joy. Oh, that three pound loaf of rügbröd! (Black pumpernickel, with or without seeds.) Oh, that floatingly light pastry called kringle, which dissolved on the tongue in buttery waves. Oh those meltingly tender almond horns! Gone! Forever! We feel faint.

There have now been three significant debates over the past 10 days among the 5th District candidates for Congress, and I'll be chiming in with my own scorecard sometime in the next few days. But listening to tonight's debate at Temple Israel, I was struck by the unwillingness of any of the four candidates to even acknowledge the possibility that the Israeli government has damaged its own long-term security by laying waste to Lebanon this month, let alone criticize an action that even within Israel is a contentious topic of debate.

Granted, the two questions related to the Israeli offensive were couched in a manner designed to elicit support; and Keith Ellison's old Nation of Islam baggage certainly played a part in his tepid and nervous response--which, with its emphasis on the need for peaceful solutions, was the closest anyone came to sheathing the sabers. But the rhetoric on the Israeli operations certainly presented a stark juxtaposition with the staunch anti-war fervor regarding U.S. troops in Iraq.

Anybody else who was there struck by this? Discuss...

THESE DAYS

Melanie Martinez, the host of PBS's kiddie program The Good Night Show, has been fired after it was revealed that she filmed PSA parodies hailing the health benefits of masturbation and anal sex when she was in her twenties.

In recent years, police have started to use powerful infrared cameras to read license plates and catch carjackers and ticket scofflaws. But the technology will soon migrate into the private sector, and morph into a tool for tracking individual motorists's movements. [via Slashdot]

The ashes of actor James Doohan, "Scotty" from Star Trek, are scheduled to be launched into space (along with astronaut Gordon Cooper's ashes) this October, per his final wish.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Anna Blume vows to floss daily, go to Worldcon, knit a sweater, and read a book a month. Follow her progress here.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Vintage print ads for drugs, from when injectable whole opium was over-the-counter.

Beavis and Butthead in Se7en

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I can catch poop in my hand and just be like OK."

-- Academy Award winner Julia Roberts, on child-rearing [via Golden Fiddle]

On July 2, just before 9 p.m., Lakeville police received a 911 call from Dennis Dale James. He informed the dispatcher that he was en route to his ex-wife's house and that he intended to kill her. According to a criminal complaint filed today in Dakota County District Court, James claimed to be armed with Glock handguns, hand grenades and a shotgun. He also stated that he would kill the police dispatcher and any officers that attempted to confront him. At this point the call was turned over to Sgt. John Kornmann. James told him that he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana all day, and that he was bi-polar. Then his cell phone cut off.

Lakeville officers responded to several possible residences for James. At an apartment on 210th Street, a boy informed them that James had just left the building. Officers tracked him to another nearby residence and placed him under arrest. No firearms, explosives or ammunition were found in his possession. James was charged with making terroristic threats. The 28-year-old was convicted of a similar charge in January, 2004.

Hennepin County's hidden fees on property acquisition

One of the questions that remained unanswered in last week's story about the Hennepin County rehab of Lowry Avenue on the north side of Minneapolis was a total pricetag on property acquisition. Nowhere in a 122-page report about the project is there any kind of cost estimate.

One county engineer acknowledged that the road construction for each of two phases (from I-94 to Girard Avenue North, then Girard to Theo Wirth Parkway) will cost some $6 million.

But the county has been engaging in buyouts, relocations, and eminent domain for some 29 parcels along the Lowry Avenue corridor. What's the county spending on that? Last week, no one seemed to know.

THESE DAYS

Tourists to the International Space Station now have the option of adding a 90-minute spacewalk to their $20 million trips for an extra $15 million.

Pressured by police officials, a New Zealand policewoman is giving up her night job as a prostitute.

The American Bar Association said Sunday that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Educator William Ostrem, a Princeton and U of M alum, muses on current events from Northfield at Northern Letter.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The world has fallen into anarchy following an infertility defect in the population that will lead to the extinction of humankind. Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, and Michael Caine star in Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men.

AskMen.com's Top 10 Worst Referee Calls [via Digg]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I plan to get all 'Wrath of Khan' on it."

-- Superman director Bryan Singer, discussing a proposed summer 2009 sequel that would ignite the middling franchise

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has this week's Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

A growing number of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leaders and volunteers are questioning the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars in donations collected in the past 15 months, challenging the organization's leadership over financial accountability.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan have posted an open letter to actor Luke Wilson on their website, encouraging him to convince his brother, Owen, to apologize for his involvement in the movie You, Me & Dupree, the premise of which they feel was swiped from their 2001 song "Cousin Dupree."

An Oregon man has filed a lawsuit against Michael Jordan and Nike founder Phil Knight for $832 million, saying he is tired of being mistaken for the Chicago Bulls legend. Looks like a suit against Montel Williams could also be in the works.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Girl Detective longs for a special ring of hell set aside for spammers, telephone solicitors, and junk mail senders. Follow GD's efforts in her year-long movie and book challenges and in baby-rearing at her eponymous blog.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Photo galleries of the Cavity Lake wildfires in the Boundary Waters

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager

All your snakes (on a plane) are belong to us [via Fazed]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I'd always thought marrying a blood relative as close as a cousin was immoral, and certainly risky if you plan to have kids. Conventional wisdom says only primitive people who live in isolated places marry cousins. It leads to stupid children. But that's a myth. It's the sort of myth that leads to stupid laws. Half the states in America have banned cousin marriage, but there's no good reason for it. You can marry your cousin and have perfectly intelligent kids."

-- Townhall.com contributor and ABC News commentator John Stossel, confronting one of the most divisive cultural issues of our time

In her role as Hennepin County attorney, Amy Klobuchar has probably alienated a good number of youthful offenders. That's the fate of any prosecutor. But if you believe the results of the Star Tribune's latest Minnesota Poll, Klobuchar's problems with the younger demographic run much deeper than that. According to the survey, the DFL-endorsed candidate to replace retiring U.S. Senator Mark Dayton currently enjoys an overall 19-point lead over Republican Congressman Mark Kennedy and is cleaning his clock in virtually every demo--with one strange exception: likely voters between the ages of 18 and 24. In this cohort, the Strib found Kennedy leads Klobuchar by a whopping 47 percentage points.

THESE DAYS

A federal Department of Homeland Security agent passed along information about student protests against military recruiters at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, landing the demonstrations in a database tracking foreign terrorism.

A mass of jellyfish forced a Japanese nuclear power plant to slow part of its output this week after the slimy creatures blocked up the plant's seawater cooling system.

An online game that poked fun at the FBI's hunt for Jimmy Hoffa's remains was shut down after Florida-based Spirit Airlines received dozens of complaints from customers who felt the flight promotion was distasteful.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Mike Schneider is currently in Las Vegas participating in a World Series of Poker tournament. Monitor his progress at Card Shark.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Gummi Bears depicting the 7 Deadly Sins [via Boing Boing]

Using dialogue from other James Earl Jones movies, the folks at AkJak bring us the Vader Sessions.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historical ties with the African-American community. For too long, my party wrote off the African-American vote, and many African-Americans wrote off the Republican Party."

-- President Bush, in the first address of his presidency to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's annual convention

"I was a Republican -- until they lost their minds."

-- NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley

Jennifer Mattson, left, the lawyer whose insurgent candidacy for attorney general last Sunday was one of a series of events that helped convince Matt Entenza to step aside, is about to announce that she is now supporting current Solicitor General Lori Swanson. In a press release scheduled for a 5 p.m. release, Mattson describes Swanson, a Mike Hatch protege making her first run for public office, as "the only heavy hitter still in the race. She has been slugging away at corporate defendants and winning for the people of Minnesota." Mattson's statement implies she is withdrawing her candidacy. Today is the deadline for taking such action.

Read Jennifer Mattson's statement after the jump...

Earlier this summer, when Congress was debating resolutions about the future course of U.S. actions in Iraq, Minnesota's First District Rep. Gil Gutknecht said to his colleagues, "Members, this is not the time to go wobbly. Let's give victory a chance." Just weeks later, the front page of today's Washington Post (reg. req.) quotes Gutknecht, just back from Iraq, as saying that the situation is much graver than he'd been led to believe, and urging an immediate withdrawal of troops.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has found a bootleg video (with subtitles) of Jackie Chan's recent drunken escapades at a Jonathan Lee concert at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

U.S. Airways will start selling advertising on its air-sickness bags. Airline spokesman Phil Gee said the company is looking for new ways to counter rising jet fuel and labor costs.

U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq reports over 5,800 Iraqi civilians were killed, and another 5,700+ were wounded, during May and June of 2006. [via Boing Boing]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Will we be reading about baby Max's high school graduation eighteen years from now? Start reading Baby Daddy Blog and follow his progress.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Human Pong

Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, and David Bowie star in a film about rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London in The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I wasn't ready for this kind of smut... I hope he doesn't make any more movies."

-- Good Morning America film critic Joel Siegel, to the New York Post's Page Six gossip column, after walking out of Kevin Smith's Clerks II after 40 minutes

On July 10 the Albertville city council unanimously passed an ordinance limiting where convicted sex offenders can live within the town. Under the new zoning restriction, such criminals are precluded from residing within 1,000 feet of any park, daycare center, school, playground, or house of worship.

The uphsot: 97.2 percent of housing in Albertville (pop. 5,783) is now off limits to sex offenders. The policy applies to all level three sex offenders, as well as those who have committed sex crimes involving minors under the age of 16.

THESE DAYS

Florida state house candidate Charles Grapski has been banned from his hometown of Alachua after being ejected from a recent city commission meeting after he repeatedly objected to the city's "consent agenda."

An "apartheid-like" system of racial segregation imposed by early Anglo-Saxon invaders in England may have massively boosted the breeding of the Germanic interlopers, much to the detriment of the native Celtic race, researchers claim in a new study.

President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping program that intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Shyestviolet lives in Northeast Minneapolis and blogs about Project Runway, pontooning, ear joints, and the Sass of the Week at Is That All You've Got?

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Kevin Smith discusses his Superman scripting adventure

My Cubicle not sung by James Blunt

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Something about this relationship feels otherworldly to me, like it was designed by a power and a hand greater than my own. Whatever this friendship is, it's been a very fun ride."

-- Talk show host Oprah Winfrey, describing her totally non-sexual relationship with her best bud, Gayle King, in the August issue of O

Yesterday, the editors at Money magazine ranked Eden Prairie the tenth best place to live in the entire United States. On the heels of that strange pronouncement comes a marginally less dubious claim: Minneapolis is one of the safest cities in the nation--that is, when safety is measured by vulnerability to natural disasters. The list was devised by an outfit called "Sustain Lane," which looked at 50 major cities and calculated the likelihood that residents would be impacted by hurricanes, earthquakes and so-called "super tornado" outbreaks. Minneapolis came out in the number eight position. Mesa, Arizona and Milwaukee were tied for top place, while Miami edged New Orleans for the most hazardous. No word on Eden Prairie.

DFL attorney general endorsee Matt Entenza, under siege lately for his wife's HMO ties (first detailed in a January City Pages cover story, here) and the blowback from his dirt-digging against Mike Hatch, abruptly withdrew from the AG race this morning.

The text of his statement appears below the jump; the Minnesota Democrats Exposed blog and others are hearing rumors that former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman will enter the fray in his place.

A local TV news blog that's too good to believe

Okay, not so awesome you'll drop your bookmark for Slate or anything, but KARE-11's Scott Goldberg's new blog seems good enough to put in your queue. Provisionally, anyhow: The early entries were way heavy on "tune in tonight for an interesting segment on hockey pucks"--doubtless a consultant's idea of how TV personalities ought to use the web to build relationships with viewers. But about four posts ago Scott, whose bio includes some heavy reportorial bona fides, seemed to veer off the snappy-banter track and into the realm of the truly interesting.

THESE DAYS

Consumer magazine found both Starbucks' and Gloria Jean's Coffees' super-sized chilled coffee drinks contained more fat than a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger and a medium Coke combined.

The Bush administration says it plans sweeping changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that could cut payments by 20 percent to 30 percent for many complex treatments and new technologies.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Sojourner is a local student who posts on his/her pagan religion, as well as other religious philosophies at A Pagan Sojourn.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Top 10 vehicles with the highest fuel efficiency

Pug Bowling — the best revenge?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Is your spare tire a ticking time bomb?"

-- CNN host Paul Zahn, promoting a segment on tire recalls for last night's episode of Paula Zahn Now

"Well, I think Mellencamp's performance was not very good to begin with, and the comment put it over the top."

-- Former Vice President Dan Quayle, through a spokesperson, on walking out of a John Mellencamp concert in a Nevada casino when the singer dedicated "Walk Tall" to everyone who had been hurt by the policies of the current Bush administration

"In terms of the style of its propaganda, this is a party in which Joseph Goebbels would feel at home."

-- Power Line blogger Paul Mirengoff, on Democrats claiming that President Bush is responsible for the outbreak of war in the Middle East