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.

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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.More >>

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.

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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.

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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."

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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.

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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."

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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