May 2007

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Will work for $200,000+

Filed under: Business

Today's the last day for Rider Bennett, the storied Minneapolis law firm that's been around for 47 years. The firm decided to cut its losses a few months back, and lawyers have been jumping ship ever since. A few still haven't found a new home. Who? If you're so inclined, you can find out here.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at May 31, 2007 2:57 PM | Comments (2)

 

5/31 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Diablo Cody meets John Malkovich and David Duchovny, plus an update on her magically growing breasts at Pussy Ranch.

Read Peter S. Scholtes' review and view Tony Nelson's photos of Maria Isa's CD-release party in our gallery section.

Steve Monaco offers a tongue-in-cheek Guess the Actor quiz at Couch Pundit.

Music fans who missed Seattle's Sasquatch music festival can check out reviews and pix of the Beastie Boys, the Hold Steady, Greyhound, Arcade Fire, and more here.

We're adding new articles like DVD and game reviews every day. Use our Recent Article RSS feed to check for new content:

THESE DAYS

The Secret Service has begun training agents to fill 103 full-time slots to be part of George W. Bush's retirement detail.

Inmates in South Australia prisons will be barred from obtaining medication for erectile dysfunction under a state government crackdown.

Manitoba First Nations are seeking compensation from Manitoba Telecom Services for every cellphone signal that passes through First Nations land, saying the airspace should be considered a resource like land and water.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Nate Hessburg is an actor living in Minneapolis blogging about roller coasters, PS3 gaming, and movies at Rantings of my Normal Life.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Rolling Stone's 25 Greatest Songs Off Bad Albums

How to Make an Origami Vagina

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I recognize there are a handful there, or some, who just say, 'Get out, you know, it's just not worth it. Let's just leave.' I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do as well."

— Pres. George W. Bush, at a Rose Garden news conference last Thursday. In a CBS/New York Times poll released the following day, 63 percent of Americans supported a troop withdrawal timetable of sometime next year.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 31, 2007 6:41 AM | Comments (0)

 

Muddy field of dreams

Filed under: Pop Culture

Stephen Dick is a young man with a simple dream: A sunny day in July, a mud pit the size of a football field, and 288 people romping around in it up to their knees.

Dick is the man behind the first-annual Muddy Sunday volleyball tournament, to be held at Corcoran Lions Park in Hamel. Preparing for the dirty event has more or less consumed his non-working life.

A business analyst for Target ("I work with sheets"), Dick spends his spare time begging his way onto volleyball league e-mail lists, maintaining a sleek Web page for the event, and, for exercise, sticking tournament flyers on windshields near volleyball courts around the Cities. So far, he has already signed up 12 of a hoped-for 48 teams.

Future plans?

Dick, 24, plans to put the Twin Cities on the mud volleyball map. "Forty-eight teams is not a bad start," he says, but it is just that: a start. "We're going to make it one of the biggest tournaments in America. We're thinking very big."

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at May 30, 2007 5:42 PM | Comments (1)

 

Are you a Super Lawyer? Should you be a Super Lawyer?

Filed under: City Pages

In this week's cover story, Super Lawyers Unmasked, writer Jonathan Kaminsky discusses the controversy surrounding the bestowing of "Super Lawyer" status on someone, and the ways in which this is achieved. An excerpt: "Even in Minnesota, where the list began, Super Lawyers has come under fire. Attorneys—some named to the list, others not—say that the methodology is suspect. They claim that big firms frequently pad their statistics by recruiting lawyers to nominate their colleagues, and that the list is more a measure of a lawyer's networking skills than of courtroom performance. Although Super Lawyers purports to identify the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state, the poll that is a key determinate of who makes the list counts the opinion of less than 10 percent of the state's legal professionals." Is it just a Brooks Brothers beauty pageant or a useful guide for those seeking legal counsel? Check out the story, then let's hear your thoughts.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 30, 2007 9:48 AM | Comments (4)

 

5/30 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Rob Nelson talks to filmmaker Michael Moore about his new documentary Sicko at Culture To Go.

This week's DVD reviews include Hannibal Rising, Shanghai Express: Special Collector's Edition, and Heavy Petting.

We're adding new articles like DVD and game reviews every day. Use our Recent Article RSS feed to check for new content:

THESE DAYS

Research from a British university suggests a common preservative found in soft drinks has the ability to switch off vital parts of DNA.

In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s was $35,010, 12% less than that of men in their 30s in 1974, adjusted for inflation, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Fans of former Strib columnist James Lileks can still enjoy his humorous prose at the Daily Bleat.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

From McSweeney's: My Nonprofit R&B Group's Set List by B. Davin Stengel

The Muppets re-enact the battle of Helm's Deep from LOTR: The Two Towers in a Canadian comic book store window display [via Neatorama]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"He liked to smell them."

— Waukesha police Lt. William H. Graham, on a Kenosha man arrested for stealing more than 1,500 pairs of girls' shoes from all three Waukesha high schools and one middle school [via Obscure Store]

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 30, 2007 12:08 AM | Comments (0)

 

The true cost of fighting crime in Minneapolis

Filed under: Crime

When a memo circulated around City Hall last week indicating that the Minneapolis Police Department is on pace to be $5.6 million over budget for 2007, most hand-wringing was over the fact that the MPD will delay adding 20 recruits to the payroll until 2008 as a stopgap measure. But a more salient point was missed: How did the department run afoul of budget guidelines in the first place?

Several reasons, according to MPD Chief Tim Dolan and city finance officer Pat Born. "The department did run over budget in 2006," notes Born, adding that the police budget accounts for $120 million out of the city's $328-million general fund. "But in the recent past, there's been nothing like this."

For starters, the hiring of 20 new recruits in April added $800,000 to the cost overruns, but those worried about the delayed hiring of the next recruit class, fret not: The MPD is fully staffed now with 827 sworn officers. Second, the MPD has cut a few checks on gadgets lately, including the "gun location technology" called ShotSpotter and security cameras. "We spent $1 million on cameras on the north side," Dolan points out.

Then there is the matter of officer overtime, an annual struggle in the police budget. (This is separate from the $750,000 the city freed up earlier this year to increase overtime patrols downtown.) "We've already cut that to the bone," Dolan claims, saying the OT budget is $2.4 million. "Frankly, overtime is woefully under-budgeted." Also, traffic and police "fine revenues"—also known as "tickets"—are going to be about $1.3 million below initial forecasts.

Still, the one of the biggest drains on the MPD's coffers is also one of the oddest, something known as "jail fees." Those suspicious of bad government bureaucracies might want to sit down before reading further. It turns out that since the 1960s, Hennepin County has charged the MPD to book criminals into the county pokey, to the tune this year of about $169 per arrest, according to Born. In essence, the more the cops fight crime, the more it costs the department—this year some $1 million more than projected. "It's a deal we should probably get out from under," says Dolan, adding that Minneapolis is the only area municipality charged by the county, and that he can't think of any similar arrangement in any other comparable metro area.

"I keep pushing cops to make more arrests," Dolan concludes, "even though I know it's gonna cost."

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at May 29, 2007 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

 

5/29 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Steve Monaco recalls the James Bond rip-off Hammerhead, starring Ben Casey's Vince Edwards at Couch Pundit. Also, don't forget to take the Monday Movie Quiz!

The City Pages Media Taster lets you actually hear the great music you read about in City Pages—just launch, click, and listen. Simply download the Media Taster and you'll automatically receive a digital mixtape of music on a semi-regular basis (including free MP3s), legal and free of charge. A new taster has been posted today!

THESE DAYS

Scottish scientists have now established scientific proof of what has come to be known as the "beer goggles" effect: the theory that uglier people look more attractive to you after you've had a few drinks.

Twelve footprints found in the bed of an ancient lake in northern Spain have thrown up the first compelling evidence that some land dinosaurs could swim, say researchers.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Lakeville resident Steve Eck blogs about semi-successful garage sales, enormous fast food receipts, and bedroom furniture that becomes a make-shift closet at Steve Eck's Blog.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Willard is a small 1950s bedroom community where, following a run in with some space dust, the dead rose, had to be defeated, and are now domestic servants in the dark comedy Fido.

What happens we you feed a jalapeno to a ferret

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."

— 82-year-old actor Paul Newman, on retiring from acting after 50 years

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 29, 2007 6:21 AM | Comments (0)

 

5/28 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

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

Rob Nelson interviews director Abel Ferrara about his new movie Go Go Tales at Culture To Go.

Chris Ward reviews Konami's new dating game, Brooktown High: Senior Year, at citypages.com/gaming.

We're adding new articles like DVD and game reviews every day. Use our Recent Article RSS feed to check for new content:

THESE DAYS

The U.S. National Institutes of Health, which supports a variety of biomedical studies using animals, will stop breeding government-owned chimpanzees for research.

Sweden's Justice Ombudsman has received a letter from the Prisoners' Council at Sagsjön jail demanding the right to wear bikinis so the inmates can sunbathe.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

BrokenNails, Lapis, Legalese blog on the Bridges project, ward conventions, home foreclosures, and other news that affects St. Paul at BrokenNails.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Match the soundbite to the cartoon character who said it

Vote for the Sexiest Vegetarian 2007

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Not unlike presenting for a haircut at a salon, women often brought along images to illustrate the desired appearance."

— London gynecologist Sarah Creighton and clinical psychologist Lih Mei Liao, the authors of a recent British medical journal article on the fast-growing trend of cosmetic surgery to the female genitalia

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 28, 2007 7:31 AM | Comments (0)

 

Save a bird, turn off your skyscraper lights

Filed under: Environment

Among the many detractors of modern architecture, the party with the most legitimate beef may be the migrating songbird. Researchers have noted that lit skyscrapers disorient birds at night in roughly the same manner that bus stations waylay runaways: They both have a bad habit of ending up on the sidewalk in morning.

This year, a working group led by Audubon Minnesota kicked off a project to dim office lights at night during the migratory season. At worst, the experiment would be harmless. The voluntary effort promised real estate managers a way to save energy and money—only Joe Soucheray found cause to complain—and tall buildings like the IDS Center, U.S. Bankcorp Center, and Riverplace joined the effort in mid-March.

Joanna Eckles, a St. Paul Audubon member, helped launch the experiment, and has trained a team of a dozen volunteers to collect data each morning. "Data," in this case, means the tiny carcasses of crashed birds and the occasional survivor.

"We always walk the same route," Eckles says over the phone from her house in Stillwater. "We focus on the morning, from five to eight. In Minneapolis, especially, we find the people who clean the streets are out really early. Until you befriend them, you have to get there before they do."

Eckles notes that there are other scavengers to beat, too—crows, raccoons, and the like. And then there are birds that turn up disarticulated—presumably victim to the city's population of peregrine falcons, who have not signed up for any program to aid their avian colleagues.

Eckles walked the route herself last Sunday, and collected five birds—a normal haul. "The most common warbler we're finding is the ovenbird," she says. "We find sparrows. Not house sparrows,"—at this point, Eckles takes a moment to disparage the invasive species—"but white-throated sparrows."

The mortality list has included some surprises. One volunteer picked up a woodcock—a ground bird that generally has no business to conduct in downtown Minneapolis. Dead bats can be found lying in curled-up black balls. That's a particular mystery, as these creatures navigate the skies through echolocation. Eckles herself picked up a reclusive water bird called a sora rail: "That bird should be there just as much as I should be on the moon," she says.

Having failed to reach their destination—be that Lake Minnetonka or a beach in Mexico—do the birds end up in a charnel house or a pauper's grave?

"That's a good question," Eckles says. "All the carcasses are brought to the University. All the ones that are intact will go into the collection."

At this, Eckles puts down the phone for a second. There's someone at the door: a neighborhood child who has brought her a robin's egg that he found in the grass. Eckles promises to recommend a few places where the nest may be hiding, though she doesn't sound hopeful. There isn't a spreadsheet in the world big enough to register the lost robin's egg.

Posted by Michael Tortorello at May 25, 2007 3:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

Strib shrinks as Grow goes

Filed under: Media

Another big name is leaving the ranks of local journalism. For those keeping score, now it's longtime Strib metro columnist Doug Grow.

"It's time to pursue other opportunities," Grow cracks sarcastic when reached on his office phone by Blotter. "Many a VP has left our company in pursuit of other opportunities, and now it's moving down the ranks." Grow, one of the few opinion scribes in town who actually infused his writing with a novel concept known as street-level reporting, has applied for one of the 50 buyout packages offered by the Newspaper of the Twin Cities that go into effect June 1. "Nothing is final until then," Grow notes with just a touch of trepidation. "If I wake up on May 31st terrified that I've never had a real job, then maybe I'll stay on."

The Watertown, South Dakota, native came to the Minneapolis Star from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1979 as a sports reporter. By 1980, Grow was a sports columnist, then moved to his current post in 1987, because he "wanted to write real stories about real people." He also jokes that he came cheap: "You could do this too, if you lower your expectations and have low salary demands."

Modesty aside, Grow clearly placed high demands on his own work. He was the rare marquee name around town who wasn't above sweating it out at jam-packed community meetings or even writing follow-up pieces that indicated maybe he didn't quite get it right the first time. That humility apparently carried over in the newsroom.

"He's the guy who reads the whole paper every day, he is the guy who walks around the room telling people 'nice story, nice story,'" writes reporter Rochelle Olson in an e-mail, adding that Grow's departure is "a huge loss to the paper." "He's the guy who always makes sure he isn't 'getting in your way' when he does a column on your beat. He's also 'suggested' many stories to me that ended up on A1. So on a professional level, he's a prince, but he's the same on a personal level."

In that fashion, Grow jokingly offers a never-used Pulitzer Prize acceptance speech collecting dust in a desk drawer, then seriously adds, "The goal is to get 50 people out of here, and it doesn't matter which 50. I hope this is the last round for this paper."

(Olson notes that management may be "excited to see him go" because Grow's "not a compliant lamb.")

Ultimately, he says, "I'm 59 and the timing is perfect for me. It allows me to do what I wanted, which is to not become some bitter old fart."

As for the future, Grow is uncertain. "My kids—I have two grown children—will be laughing at me, because I was always on their ass to get a job with great benefits," he says. "One thing I won't do: I don't think I'll be freelancing. This has got to be the most glutted freelance market in the country."

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at May 25, 2007 9:29 AM | Comments (14)

 

5/25 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Chris Ward reviews Konami's new dating game, Brooktown High: Senior Year, at citypages.com/gaming.

J. Hoberman reviews Alberto Lattuada's 1962 mob comedy Mafioso, opening today at Lagoon Cinema.

We remember Harold E. "Bud" Froehlich, who led the development of the deep-sea vessel that explored the Titanic, at Corpus Obscurum.

We're adding new articles like DVD and game reviews every day. Use our Recent Article RSS feed to check for new content:

THESE DAYS

The citizens of Palmerston North in New Zealand have named the town's landfill "Mt. Cleese," after British comedian John Cleese declared last year that he "hated" the town and called it the "suicide capital of New Zealand."

The jump in U.S. gasoline prices this year has so far drained consumers of an extra $20 billion, or about $146 for each passenger car in the country, the Government Accountability Office told Congress on Tuesday.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Keep an eye on the municipal goings-on to the north at Anoka City Forum.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The 200 known spam operations responsible for 80% of your spam

The artwork of James Best, the sheriff on The Dukes of Hazzard

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"You don't just go around doing your own demonstrations."

— Tenino, Washington Interim Police Chief Larry Dickerson, after Officer Randy Reynolds demonstrated his Taser by zapping a willing subject twice in the genitals at a social gathering

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 25, 2007 6:22 AM | Comments (0)

 

The excellent mental health of one City Pages reader (Not!)

Filed under: Media

Like most people in the newspaper business, I've received my share of crazy ass, out-of-the-blue communications over the years. Sometimes it's a breathy phone call. Sometimes it's an incoherent letter.

And then there is that much rarer subset: the crazy ass letter accompanied by the even crazier photograph.

I received one of those just the other day.

The fellow's missive began with an oblique reference to a dog fighting story I wrote, then veered into a discussion of psychiatric wards. He enclosed four photographs, three of which were entirely unremarkable. A dignified portrait of the letter writer. A still life of his bedroom. A shot of a musician friend.

What about the fourth, you ask?

Well, that was a doozy--a slightly out of focus, close-up shot of a hand wrapped around a penis. There was a little arrow pointing at the pecker (circumcised, pink, a little on the stubby side), accompanied by the scribbled words, "Believe in me." Below that was another inscription: "Despise your life, Jesus' gospel."

I'm not sure what to make of this. I mean, beside the obvious facts that the guy went off his meds and Jesus isn't providing him much comfort at the moment.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at May 24, 2007 4:12 PM | Comments (8)

 

Latino cop files discrimination suit against MPD

Filed under: Minneapolis

On October 14, 2005, Sgt. Giovanni Veliz filed two charges of discrimination with the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. The complaints alleged that the Minneapolis Police Department systematically discriminated against Hispanics, both in its personnel decisions and in its day-to-day dealings with the broader Latino community.

Roughly two months later, Veliz applied for a transfer to the Minnesota Gang Strike Force. Despite more than a decade on the force, including seven years as a sergeant, Veliz's application did not even merit an interview. Instead the position went to a white male officer who had been promoted to sergeant less than a year earlier.

"As a rising star of Latino national origin he would have been a good addition to this unit," says John Klassen, Veliz's attorney. "It would have been a boon to the Latino community."

This rejection prompted Veliz, who is of Ecuadorian descent, to file a third civil rights complaint with the city, this time alleging that he'd been unfairly retaliated against. In February of this year, the civil rights department determined that probable cause existed that Veliz had been wrongly discriminated and retaliated against. The agency found that the MPD had utilized different standards to determine Veliz's fitness for the position than those applied to white officers. (The first two complaints are still pending with the civil rights department.)

Last week the veteran officer filed a lawsuit against the city in U.S. District Court charging that his civil rights have been violated. Veliz is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

Minneapolis is yet to file an answer to the lawsuit. City spokesman Matt Laible says that the city does not comment on pending litigation.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 24, 2007 1:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

5/24 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Rob Nelson promises Ocean's Thirteen spoliers in his latest communiqué from the Cannes Film Festival at Culture To Go.

Nate Patrin reviews and Daniel Corrigan shoots last night's DMBQ Entry show at Culture To Go.

Michael Gallucci has the week's best releases from the pop culture universe at Culture Jamming.

Chuck Terhark bids adieu to Twins blogger BatGirl at Balls.

We remember Moroccan human rights advocate Driss Benzekri at Corpus Obscurum.

Download free MP3s from local artists such as Brother Ali, Telephone!, Ben Weaver, M.anifest, the Plastic Constellations, and more at Music To Go.

Order your City Pages Beer Festival tickets here!

THESE DAYS

Rather than evolving a new set of control genes for their limbs, it seems that our amphibian ancestors adapted the genes their own ancestors used to develop fins.

Farmers in southern Iraq have started to grow opium poppies in their fields for the first time, sparking fears that Iraq might become a serious drugs producer along the lines of Afghanistan.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

LearnedFoot has taken the early lead for Best Right-Wing Local Blog 2008 with the nonsensical cartoons posted at The Kool Aid Report.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

A dog playing Wii Tennis

MSN logs the Top 25 Web Hoaxes and Pranks

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"This property has great potential. It's an iconic title. We have both the advantage and the responsibility of having these characters that people all think they know."

— Producer Stuart Oken, whose company is developing a Broadway musical based on The Addams Family

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 24, 2007 6:32 AM | Comments (0)

 

'Crawdaddy' revived by Wayzata rock fan

Filed under: Media

[T]he specialty of this magazine is intelligent writing about pop music," announced 17-year-old Swarthmore freshman Paul Williams in the first issue of Crawdaddy! in 1966, a mission the publication carried on (on and off) until folding in 2003. Now the grandpa of rockrags has been relaunched online by Wayzata entrepreneur Bill Sagan's rock memorabilia website Wolfgang's Vault, based in San Francisco, with Williams himself advising the editorial office out of Encinitas. New Crawdaddy.com (crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com) editor-in-chief Jocelyn Hoppa confirms that her name is not a pseudonym for (music writer) Jessica Hopper--she says her resume includes having helped start The L Magazine and performing as a member of Brooklyn air-guitar band High Maintenance. Her Crawdaddy! went live last Wednesday with an amusing article by Bob Hill pleading, "for the love of Pete, do not call [Craig] Finn the new [Bruce] Springsteen. Talk about how Springsteen's broken-dream beaches gave rise to Finn's Penetration Park; how Finn is Holly the Hoodrat to Springsteen's Puerto Rican Jane; Charlemagne to his Spanish Johnny. Discuss how Finn's characters seek freedom through excess and salvation through religion, while Springsteen's heroes exist along the dark and desperate highways of our conscience--faint and forgotten, but somehow still bound for hope and glory." Welcome back, 'daddy.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at May 23, 2007 1:45 PM | Comments (0)

 

5/23 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Rob Nelson reports from Cannes on the screening of Death Proof and the Quentin Tarantino press conference that followed at Culture To Go.

Andrea Myers reviews last night's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

According to a Marine Corps document, the request for over 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles came in February 2005. A formal call to fulfill that order did not emerge until November 2006. [via Americablog]

A small-caliber bullet struck Michael Lusher of Huntington, Virginia, in the head as he slept Sunday morning, but he didn't realize it until he awoke nearly four hours later.

The Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush administration, says Robert Sullivan, who was associate director in charge of exhibitions at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

EverydaySuperGoddess blogs about the Twins, sharing a home computer with two daughters, and the joys of a new refrigerator at I Want a Cookie.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Travel the world watching photos being uploaded to Flickr in real time at FlickrVision

A montage of Stan Lee cameos from recent movies based on Marvel Comics

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I don't know if he was fighting dogs or not. But it's his property; it's his dogs. If that's what he wants to do, do it... I know a lot of back roads that got a dog fight if you want to go see it. But they're not bothering those people because those people are not big names. I'm sure there's some police got some dogs that are fighting them, some judges got dogs and everything else."

— Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, on WAVY-TV defending Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick who was charged and convicted of being involved in a dog fighting operation

"In the recent interview I gave concerning dog fighting, I want to make it clear I do not take part in dog fighting or condone dog fighting in any manner."

— Statement issued by Clinton Portis through the Redskins organization hours later

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 23, 2007 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

 

Tell us your adoption story

Filed under: City Pages

Beth Hawkins' cover story, The Adoption Scam, discusses the perils prospective parents faced when attempting to adopt children from other parts of the world through Reaching Arms International. An excerpt: "But when the Spurbecks arrived in Kyiv last December, they felt like characters in a Kafka novel... A woman in her late 20s showed them pictures of sibling groups, then of four individual girls—the only orphans in the country eligible for adoption, she insisted. The Spurbecks were told they had one hour to choose a child. When the couple pressed to see more files, the woman jumped up and grabbed a three-ring binder from the top of a filing cabinet. She stabbed a finger at the photos and hissed, 'Has cerebral palsy. Invalid. Can't eat. Can't sit up.' Then she looked up at the couple and sneered: 'You must not be ready to adopt if you cannot make a decision.'" Read the cover story, then come back to discuss the piece, as well as the difficulties and triumphs parents experience when attempting to adopt.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 22, 2007 3:45 PM | Comments (3)

 

5/22 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Rob Nelson interviews director and New Queer Cinema co-instigator Tom Kalin in another update from the Cannes Film Festival at Culture To Go.

We remember the man who crafted Colonel Sanders' iconic white suits at Corpus Obscurum.

The City Pages Media Taster lets you actually hear the great music you read about in City Pages—just launch, click, and listen. Simply download the Media Taster and you'll automatically receive a digital mixtape of music on a semi-regular basis (including free MP3s), legal and free of charge.

THESE DAYS

Jackson County, Wisconsin is now home to Camp NCN ("No Clothing Necessary"), an all-inclusive, couples-only private sex resort.

A controversial new idea suggests that a large space rock exploded over North America 13,000 years ago, wiping out one of America's first Stone Age cultures as well as the continent's big mammals such as the mammoth and the mastodon.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

When he's not covering songs by Minneapolis bands, Dirty Dan blogs about recent events surrounding Jerry Falwell, Phil Spector, Iggy Pop, Brian Ferry, and Dana Milbank at World of Sin.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Stallone applies the camouflage paint and Ben-Gay for one last go-around as John Rambo.

How to create a cake that looks like a Rubik's Cube

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"He could come back without arms, legs or eyeballs, and you're bitching? You're not dodging bullets, so I don't want to hear any whining—that's my message to them."

— Radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, tiring of military wives complaining of lonliness and feeling overwhelmed

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 22, 2007 5:57 AM | Comments (0)

 

Twin Cities condo market hits the unfinished basement

Filed under: Business

Are you a fan of downtown living? Real New York-style lofts with floor-to-ceiling windows and solid-core doors? Have you heard that there are units available, right now, in the city of Minneapolis?

Here's the good news, as told by the Minnesota Area Association of Realtors:

• There are 612 condo units currently listed for sale in downtown Minneapolis (and another 789 in the rest of the city).


• So far in 2007, 123 downtown units have been sold--a 69 percent drop-off from last year.


• Sellers are collecting a falling percentage of their original asking price, and units are staying on the market for longer. The average is now six months.

Did we say good news? We meant bad news. Very bad news.

In the last few weeks, developer Rottlund Homes pulled out of plans to build the Revue, a 107-unit building next to the new Guthrie. And Milliken Development backed away from constructing 290 condos in its ongoing project at the corner of Hennepin and Washington.

While the real estate market may be sobering up from its long bender, analysts are not convinced that this drunk has hit bottom. "There was a severe downturn in housing starts in 2006," says Toby Madden, regional economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Our projection is that it will go down a bit this year. So we're not looking for a recovery for another year or two."

But at least a few folks are cheering the ghost developments--real estate agents with other buildings to sell. "We're having a dynamite month at 720 Lofts," says Edina Realty's Fritz Kroll, explaining that the 99-unit North Loop building is down to its last condo.

"All these projects that have cancelled have pushed those buyers out into the market," Kroll continues. "I think demand and supply are going to be in check much sooner than people were predicting."

A day later, however, Kroll calls back with news of a fresh project that will be keeping him busy. The East Bank Mills, Kroll explains, will be holding a sales kick-off event the next day at the hulking Pillsbury A Mills. The current plan is to add another 960 condos to the Mississippi riverfront.

Posted by Michael Tortorello at May 21, 2007 2:14 PM | Comments (2)

 

5/21 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

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

Rob Nelson gives us an update from the Cannes Film Festival at Culture To Go.

Spring fever hits the customers of our long-suffering Pizzaman on the Streets of Pizza.

THESE DAYS

Anna Frebel of the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues calculated the age of the star HE 1523-0901, on the outskirts of the Milky Way, as 13.2 billion years old.

Two Welshmen drank themselves to death after one of them received a £10,000 payout for being mistakenly identified as a murder suspect.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Corey Donovan, Lindsi Gish, and Erick "Hudson" Jensen blog about IT hardware, political policies regarding technology, and network servers that played important roles in feature films at The Remarketer.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Part one of Droid Soup, Star Wars as silent movie

Candles that smell like Jesus

The Drinky Crow pilot episode by Tony Millionaire

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It will continue to expand until it breaks apart, which is grisly."

— mortician Greg Fitzgerald, discussing "exploding casket syndrome," where gasses in remains build up to a point where the pressure will crack the casket

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 21, 2007 6:40 AM | Comments (0)

 

Ruff neighborhoods: Minneapolis to add three off-leash dog parks

Filed under: Minneapolis

As a recent college graduate, Dan Schned has neither the time nor the money to care for a dog. That hasn't kept him from spending the last year crusading to make Minneapolis a safe space for hounds.

Schned has spearheaded the effort to build three small off-leash dog parks ringing downtown, one of which, in Loring Park, will break ground this Monday, May 21.

It all started early last year, when complaints began pouring in from North Loop residents about bad dog owners in their midst. "There is too much doggy doo on our sidewalks," and "an epidemic of peeing in the streets," the complainers told their elected leaders, more or less.

City Councilwoman Lisa Goodman listened to the concerns, pondered, then flipped the script. The owners aren't naughty by nature, she reasoned, it's the lack of doggable acreage near their homes that is making them so.

"It became this really obvious problem," she says.

Enter Schned, a bright-eyed aspiring city planner fresh out of Macalester. Goodman hired him to make it all better. And so he has. He set up a non-profit, Dog Grounds, to work with the parks department, the city, developers and dog-loving donors. In addition to the Loring Park run, set to open sometime in late June, there will eventually be one in Elliot Park and another in the North Loop.

For Schned, the additions mean Minneapolis might crack the "top ten dog friendly cities," as determined by the venerable www.dogfriendly.com.

"I think this project might be enough to get us on that list and get us some real national attention in terms of being dog friendly," Schned says.

Now if only he could do something for those hidden beachless nude bathers.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at May 18, 2007 4:12 PM | Comments (0)

 

5/18 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Paul Demko suggests making the Minnesota Thunder part of your evening plans at Balls.

Download free MP3s from local artists such as Digitata, Ben Weaver, Cloud Cult, Malachi Constant, Brother and Sister, and more at Music To Go.

THESE DAYS

The British versions of candy bars such as Snickers and Twix will no longer be safe for vegetarians as Masterfoods has begun adding animal products to its chocolate line.

Luwak coffee is made in Indonesia from beans that have been eaten, partly-digested then excreted by a small, cat-like marsupial called the luwak and cost $1,000 for a kilogram.

Suspected drug gang hitmen killed a man in the seedy northern Mexican border city of Tijuana and wrapped him in Christmas gift-wrap.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Sunny Yee and Derrik Dyka offer investing advice in between posts on the demise of Drive 105, flushing keys down toilets, and cell phone pet peeves at Flipping Rich.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Enhance your movie-going experience this weekend with the Shrek the Third Drinking Game

A chair made from Panda stuffies

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I love Hillary. I think that in some ways she's pretty conservative for a Democrat, but I would love to have a woman in office... When Republicans are in office, the problem is, a lot of times they try to put their crosshairs on the adult industry, to make a point. It's sad, when there are so many different things that are going on in the world: war, and people are dying of genocide... I look forward to another Democrat being in office."

— Porn star Jenna Jameson, supporting Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. Care for a Jenna Jameson/Mary Carey pay-per-view "debate" anyone?

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 18, 2007 6:46 AM | Comments (2)

 

Road rage with a This Old House twist

Filed under: Crime

On May 1 shortly after 2 p.m., Joshua Korwin was traveling northbound on Highway 52 in South St. Paul. While exiting onto Butler Avenue, a white vehicle pulled up behind him. A Hispanic male, subsequently identified as Jesus Arroyo Malave, stepped out of the white vehicle and approached Korwin. He was carrying a hammer.

According to a Dakota County criminal complaint, Malave swung the hammer at Korwin through the driver's side window, striking him in the ribcage. The assailant then allegedly wielded the hammer again, shattering the windshield. Fearing for his safety, Korwin drove east on Butler Avenue, then south on 19th Avenue. The white vehicle followed.

Korwin approached a resident mowing his lawn and asked him to dial 911. The white vehicle then took off. Malave was arrested the next day. He is currently in the Dakota County Jail, charged with third degree assault and criminal damage to property.

South St. Paul police chief Michael Messerich expresses bewilderment as to what spurred the confrontation. "He must have had some kind of driving contact that really upset this guy," he says. "As far as we know the two people do not know each other."

Posted by Paul Demko at May 17, 2007 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

 

What do you think of Muscle Shark and ultimate fighting?

Filed under: City Pages

In this week's cover story, The Ballad of the Muscle Shark, Paul Demko profiles Sean Sherk, the Ultimate Fighting Champion. An excerpt: "It gets in your head, just knowing that blood's all over you," [Kenny] Florian says. "It's kind of a disgusting feeling. That blood becomes like a red oil. As far as trying to execute certain techniques, it becomes damn near impossible. For me, it was worse, because that blood was dripping directly into my eyes, my ears, my mouth. I couldn't see out there. I'm gargling on Sherk's blood." What's your take on ultimate fighting? Check out the cover story here and the Muscle Shark photo gallery here, then come back to give us your thoughts.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 17, 2007 8:45 AM | Comments (11)

 

5/17 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

More than 800 Hong Kong residents have called on authorities to reclassify the Bible as "indecent" due to its sexual and violent content, following an uproar over a sex column in a university student journal.

A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles.

Bob Marley's classic album Exodus is to be reissued in a USB Memory Stick format and Micro SD Memory Card format.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Joy Estelle from St. Paul is a foodie who's eating her way around the Twin Cities, and blogging about it at Eating the Minneapple.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

How to conduct a Klingon wedding ceremony

Bruce Campbell croons Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" in the latest Old Spice commercial

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"The state used the Church to do the dirty work in colonizing the Indians but they already asked forgiveness for that... so is the Pope taking back the Church's word?"

— Dionito Jose de Souza, a leader of the Makuxi tribe in the northern state of Roraima of Brazil, expressing dismay over Pope Benedict's recent comments that Native Americans welcomed the arrival of European priests and were "silently longing" for Christianity

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 17, 2007 6:44 AM | Comments (0)

 

Swipe the card, not the information, please

Filed under: Business

Last week, the Minnesota House unanimously voted to pass the Plastic Security Act (HF1758), meaning in the future, when you charge something potentially embarrassing at Sex World or mundane like orange juice at Cub Foods, those retailers could be prohibited from storing info kept on your credit card's magnetic strip—which includes sensitive information such as pin numbers and those super-secure three digit security codes.

"This bill simply puts into law what retailers have already agreed to do when they take your credit or debit card," states bill co-author State Representative Jim Davnie (DFL-62A).

Although there has been an agreement in the past that retailers not store sensitive data, this isn't always the case—one example being a recent incident where hackers stole information from the St. Paul Marshall Field's store at a cost millions of dollars in card replacement fees and fraud investigations.

Perhaps most interesting, the bill could allow credit unions to recoup their costs from retailers who cause security breaches, when in the past they've had to pick up the tab. While retailers have voiced concern that blame for security slips could be placed unfairly on them, it seems highly likely that the bill will pass through the Senate regardless.

"With one committee left to clear the house," states Mara Humphrey, Director of Governmental Affairs for the MN Credit Union Network, "We hope the Plastic Security Act has picked up enough momentum to continue it's movement into the Senate."

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at May 16, 2007 3:58 PM | Comments (0)

 

The MPD takes a knee

Filed under: Crime

In his years as a lawyer taking on cases of alleged police misconduct by the MPD, Bob Bennett has seen his share of cuts and scrapes, euphemistic police reports, and general bad cop behavior. But the case of Walter Childs, to whom the Minneapolis City Council agreed to pay $75,000 to last Friday, had all three in spades.

According to a memo from the city attorney's office, on May 10, 2006, MPD officers James Burns and Michael Geere were responding to a stolen vehicle report on the city's north side, in the 4th precinct. The cops pulled over two juveniles, who were driving a car that led the officers to the 3300 block of Emerson Avenue North. There they encountered Childs, who was asked by the officers to come out of the house and identify the boys.

"Once Childs was out of the house," the city attorney's report reads, "Burns took him down to the ground to handcuff and arrest him."

The report notes that Childs "did not resist arrest or attempt to flee," but that "an injury to his left leg" was "later diagnosed with a vertical fracture through the medial aspect of the lateral tibial plateau."

"It's a real bad facture," Bennett says, explaining that where the femur and tibia meet under the knee cap was essentially turned to pulp. "They did a huge leg sweep on him. And the force was very severe."

Childs was later taken to HCMC, where he stayed for eight days before doctors got around to operating on his leg.

Bennett already got $24,000 from the county on Childs's behalf, and the city apparently didn't have the stomach to take the case to trial. It's not the biggest settlement Bennett has secured from the city, but the case leaves him upset anyway. First, he notes that some MPD cops still believe that "there are some people—because of their class or status—you can get away with bad behavior and have very little concern for the consequences."

Aside from that, Bennett is troubled by the violence that must have happened—and the fact that is was apparently unnecessary. "The money is indicative of both the lack of proper justification of the great force required for the injury and the injury itself," Bennett says, adding that his client was "complying" with the police. "To take him down because [Burns] thought [Childs] might flee, and then say he was just assisting him to the ground, that's just bullshit."

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at May 16, 2007 9:37 AM | Comments (1)

 

5/16 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Peter Schilling Jr. bemoans the woeful state of the Yankees at Balls.

Download free MP3s from local artists such as Digitata, the Hopefuls, Chris Koza, the Hold Steady, Brother Ali, and more at Music To Go.

THESE DAYS

A 29-million-year-old fossilized skull suggests that one of our remote ancestors was a bit of a "pea brain," sporting a noggin smaller than that of a modern lemur.

A hopping robot that revolutionized thinking about walking robots, the first car to steer itself on a coast-to-coast U.S. trip, a kit that made it possible for anyone to build robots, and the fictional android Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation are the 2007 inductees into Carnegie Mellon University's Robot Hall of Fame.

Toyota's vice president in charge of powertrain development, Masatami Takimoto, recently announced that by 2020 hybrids will be the standard drivetrain and account for "100 percent" of their cars.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Captain Ed blogs from the right about Michael Moore vs. Fred Thompson, the passing of Jerry Falwell, and the Imus Effect at Captain's Quarters.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Best and Worst Places to be a Mother Yay Sweden!

The World Fatness Chart [via Neatorama]

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I've been so busy here lately that I've had to stop even working out. I hate that. I'm anxious to just get back into that."

— 83-year-old game show host Bob Barker, on retiring from The Price is Right and getting back into his work-out regimen

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 16, 2007 12:17 AM | Comments (0)

 

Pickled cable access host and St. Paul mom... separated at birth?

Filed under: City Pages

i just had to send you this picture that features your latest citypages cover. while at breakfast on mother's day my 2 year old pointed out that he thought the guy on the cover was his other mom - he brought over the paper and, well, he could have been right. holy crap. anyway, we thought we'd share!

Amy in St. Paul

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 15, 2007 11:15 AM | Comments (4)

 

5/15 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Steve Monaco delivers another edition of his No-Life Bottom Three countdown at Couch Pundit.

The City Pages Media Taster lets you actually hear the great music you read about in City Pages—just launch, click, and listen. Simply download the Media Taster and you'll automatically receive a digital mixtape of music on a semi-regular basis (including free MP3s), legal and free of charge.

THESE DAYS

More than 300 people paid $5 for all-you-can-eat goat, lamb and bull testicles Saturday at the ninth annual Testicle Festival at Mama's Place Bar and Grill in Elderon in central Wisconsin.

Researchers from Germany found that four years into a relationship, less than half of 30-year-old women wanted regular sex.

Almost 1 billion people worldwide have high blood pressure, and over half a billion more will harbor this silent killer by 2025, according to a study out of Karolinska University Hospital in Sweden.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

A local tech writer blogs about the hottness of Eddie Izzard, the Arcade Fire, and Mexican female wrestlers/murderers at The Truth Hurts.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

How to make a Han Solo in carbonite chocolate bar

We're half-way through National Masturbation Month—how's it going so far?

You can sign a Bring Back Drive 105 petition if it makes you feel better

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Looking back now, I probably should have [charged], I could have paid for my Subway sandwiches."

— Subway spokeman Jared Fogel, on Z99.5-FM in Indianapolis, responding to claims he rented videos from his vast porn collection during his college days

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 15, 2007 6:39 AM | Comments (0)

 

NYT's Carr on Strib v. Pi Press

Filed under: Media

Former Twin Cities Reader editor David Carr nicely parses the recent Star Tribune staff cutbacks and the ongoing legal wrangling between the metro area's competing dailies in today's New York Times. Best line:

It is as if two men, hanging off the cliff by the fingernails of one hand, decided to have a knife fight with the other hand.

Posted by Paul Demko at May 14, 2007 3:49 PM | Comments (0)

 

The Strib faces reality with layoffs and buyouts

Filed under: Media

Editor Kevin Hoffman offers an update on the recent upheaval at the Newspaper of the Twin Cities in Paper Cuts. An excerpt: "It's like a death in the family," says A&E editor Tim Campbell, who describes the turmoil as "one of the worst weeks in my working life." "People were asking each other, 'Have you gotten a note?' and 'Who's it from?' because that would tell you whether the news might be good or bad. It's like waiting for the puff of black smoke." Read Paper Cuts here, then come back to join the conversation.

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 14, 2007 3:43 PM | Comments (4)

 

From the Department of Things Better Left Unsaid

Filed under: Health Care

According to a New York Times investigation published last week, Minnesota psychiatrists who receive payments from pharmaceutical companies to study or lecture about their drugs are three or more times as likely to prescribe powerful—and controversial—anti-psychotic drugs to children.

After introducing readers to a Minnesota teen suffering from a painful, disfiguring side effect of one of the drugs, the Times asked the doctor who oversaw the team treating her to defend his relationship to the drug's maker. University of Minnesota Psychiatry Professor George Realmuto didn't remember the girl, but he did allow that he wanted "to be seen as a leader in my specialty."

The good doctor didn't stop there, though. "Academics don't get paid very much," he told the paper. "If I was an entertainer, I think I would certainly do a lot better." According to the Times, Realmuto's UM salary is $196,310.

By press time, Realmuto had not returned City Pages' call—which might be a wise move on his part.

Posted by Beth Hawkins at May 14, 2007 11:15 AM | Comments (1)

 

5/14 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

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

Peter Schilling breaks down the ass-whoopin' the Tigers received from the Twins at Balls.

Download free MP3s from local artists such as the Blind Shake, Malachi Constant, STNNNG, Hockey Night, Cloud Cult, and more at Music To Go.

THESE DAYS

Anne Swanson, a Las Vegas mother, is going to court after Sunrise Hospital declared her placenta contaminated and refused to hand it over to Swanson for ingestion.

Authorities at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution refused to honor the request of Philip Workman that his final meal before execution should be a vegetarian pizza donated to any homeless person near the prison. However, homeless shelters across Nashville soon began receiving hundreds of pizzas donated by citizens aware of Workman's wish.

A radio-controlled vibrator made in Britain has been banned in Cyprus after it was branded a threat to national security.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Former news anchor Roshini Rajkumar blogs on media coverage surrounding the Virginia Tech shootings, running half-marathons, and teaching her journalism students about good hair days at Roshini's Blog.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

VH-1 has compiled their list of the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders

Over 2,600 people have pledged to pee their pants if the Milwaukee Brewers make the playoffs. Will you?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"My concern for Mother Earth and everything in it is a very real one... Not only the environment but also the animals and the struggle to fight world poverty and the poverty here in America."

— Rap mogul Russell Simmons, on CNBC, declaring his support for Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 14, 2007 6:40 AM | Comments (0)

 

Also, Liza sings like an angel!

The Pi-Press's David Hanners continues on the bishop beat with another revealing portrait of the most reverend John Nienstedt. In the reporter's latest bit of heresy, we learn that the moral beacon of New Ulm is an avid skier and perhaps a disciple of Detroit homeboy Bill Laimbeer on the basketball court ("'If you were under the boards with him, I'd say be very careful. He was a good shot,' said Monsignor Aloysius Callaghan, rector of St. Paul's Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas.")

Oh yes, and Hanners includes one other colorful detail, which he presents without comment:

"[Nienstedt has] written that he's been 'fascinated with Barbara [sic] Streisand and her musical (not political) abilities' ever since he saw her in Funny Girl."

First person to crack a joke--or even think a sinful thought--spends an extra millennium in purgatory....

Posted by Michael Tortorello at May 11, 2007 1:15 PM | Comments (13)

 

5/11 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Art director Nick Vlcek corralled the cast and crew of Drinking with Ian for a photo shoot just posted in our gallery section.

Steve Monaco has retired his "Top 10" in exchange for a No-Life Bottom Three at Couch Pundit.

Chuck Terhark reviews the recent Peter Bjorn and John concert, with photos by Daniel Corrigan, also in our gallery section.

THESE DAYS

Spanish police pulled over a man in a electric wheelchair who was riding along on an expressway after he got lost while looking for a brothel.

People who have had more than five oral-sex partners in their lifetime are 250% more likely to have throat cancer than those who do not have oral sex, a new study suggests. Stupid new study.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Matthew David Tolic blogs about the St. Paul Farmers Market, Britney Spears, and getting Lasik surgery at Humdrummy.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Photographs from the Arkansas State Prison 1915-1937 [via Incoming Signals]

Gene Simmons on a 1974 episode of the Mike Douglas Show

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"When he was gunned down, we had a lot of condolence messages at my office."

— doctor and bestselling author Deepak Chopra, on being mistaken for the late rapper Tupac Shakur because of their somewhat similar names

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 11, 2007 6:45 AM | Comments (6)

 

To hell with Lileks already, what about the other Stribbers?

Filed under: Media

Chalk it up to another case of the dreaded MSM--and the logrolling world of the infuriated bloggers--missing the real story, but suffice to say that the true fate of the Star Tribune isn't found in the future of one Mr. James Lileks. It has everything to do with the real reporters who are getting jerked around by the "reduction" at the newspaper of the Twin Cities.

(For continuing Lileks histrionics, check out this post from ABC news on the reassignment of "one of the world's most popular bloggers." Note to Michael S. Malone: Lileks didn't blog for the Strib, he wrote an increasingly Family Circus-like column that did little to bolster the Strib's journo credentials. And need we point out that James Lileks is most certainly no E.B. White, let alone Jim Murray? Apparently we do.)

At any rate, the chatter on the real problem is out there for anyone willing to find it. Earlier this week on KSTP 1500-AM, venerable sports columnist Patrick Reusse likened the vibe at the paper to a scene in The Shining.

And a more thoughtful assessment was posted by one of the paper's most indefatigable reporters, Steve Brandt, on the Minneapolis Issues e-mail forum.

Quoth Brandt, who noted "this goes far beyond columnists":

"I think that like many newspapers, the Star Tribune will shift coverage in a more local direction. That probably means less in some places, and it will be interesting to see the impact on national and international coverage. Although it's certainly important to have people informed about national and international affairs, arguably there are many more channels to access that news [than] there are to find out what's going on [wherever] your City Hall happens to be.

"It would be nice to see [increased] coverage for Minneapolis, but I'm not holding my breath.

"One thing we know is that the newsroom will get a pretty [thorough] reorganization. We've been told that around a hundred of us in the newsroom can expect to do new assignments as a result of that."

Then again, others got out while the gettin' was good with the buyout packages offered earlier this year. A press release came over the transom this afternoon from advocacy group Growth & Justice over the current tax relief bill making rounds at the state legislature.

The author of the press release? Former longtime Strib Capitol reporter Dane Smith.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at May 10, 2007 4:16 PM | Comments (11)

 

Give us your thoughts on Troy Scheffler's suspension

Filed under: City Pages

Ward Rubrecht's news article Gun Shy discusses the case of Hamline student Troy Scheffler's suspension following e-mails sent to Hamline University President Linda Hanson on the subject of concealed weapons on campus following the massacre at Virginia Tech. On April 23, Scheffler received a letter informing him he'd been placed on interim suspension. To be considered for readmittance, he'd have to pay for a psychological evaluation and undergo any treatment deemed necessary, then meet with the dean of students, who would ultimately decide whether Scheffler was fit to return to the university. Read Gun Shy here, then come back to share your thoughts on the events that have transpired.

UPDATE: Read Troy Scheffler's e-mails to the Hamline University staff here!

Posted by Corey Anderson at May 10, 2007 2:35 PM | Comments (105)

 

Message in a Bottle comment thread

Filed under: City Pages

In this week's cover story, Message in a Bottle, writer Peter S. Scholtes profiles local television star Ian Rans from Drinking with Ian, currently in its fourth season. An excerpt: "Drinking with Ian began with a 1996 video titled Drinking with Troy and Ian, co-starring his friend Troy Duckett. It consisted of two young, chain-smoking friends doing 13 shots of Jägermeister and Goldschläger over the course of an hour, getting progressively stupider... '[Troy] had alcohol poisoning for a week, and I puked for two days straight,' Rans says now. 'But it was always in the back of my head: If I were to do a show, it would be like that. Over the years it was refined into a talk-show format.'" Read the cover story here, check out some DWI video clips here, then come back to discuss.