August 2007

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MPLS police administer pepper spray, beat down cyclists in Loring Park

Filed under: General Archive

Pepper spray, wailing police sirens, and the rumbling of overhead helicopters permeated the air earlier tonight in Loring Park as dozens of police officers descended on a group of bicyclists.

At around 7 p.m., police cars were trailing the large assembly of cyclists along La Salle Avenue. The group was taking part in Critical Mass--a monthly ride undertook by bike-enthusiasts the world over to "assert cyclists' right to the road"--when things turned ugly.

According to witnesses, an unmarked maroon police car sped ahead of the others and smashed purposefully into a cyclist, spilling him onto the road who, in turn, took down another cyclist.

"After that, the other police cars swarmed around the sides and ordered everyone to get off their bikes or they'd be maced," said Glenda Sheppard, who lives directly adjacent to the scene on the corner of LaSalle and Grand. "Then they attacked the bikers."

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said one cyclist who requested she be referred to as Joy, her eyes still red from the pepper spray. "They threw people to the ground. A girl next to me was being tasered. One guy was being beaten."

Just what elicited the use of force remains unclear at this point. Police at the scene declined comment and Lt. Marie Przynski, Friday night's watch commander for the MPD, has not returned numerous phone calls seeking comment. Whatever the case, both witnesses and cyclists were visibly shaken in the aftermath. And a bit angry.

"They were beating people indiscriminately," said nearby resident Paula Hare, shaking her head. "I've seen stuff like this before. It was a 100 percent set-up."

When Joy--who was toward the front of the group--asked an officer what was going on, she says she was greeted with a terse warning. "You better get on your bike, sweetheart." According to Joy when a male friend of hers took issue with the comment the officer threw him down to the pavement and mased him. He was presumably arrested.

All seven of the witnesses who talked to City Pages said there was no threat of violence or taunts on behalf of the cyclists prior to police action.

"It was like a war down here," said local resident Frank Grissom. "Except I didn't see any rioting."

More on this as the story unfolds.

Posted by Matt Snyders at August 31, 2007 8:14 PM | Comments (80)

 

Party Crashers

Filed under: Minneapolis

We told you so. That's the message that Julian Loscalzo and a handful of compatriots wanted to impart at yesterday's official groundbreaking for the new Twins' ballpark. Loscalzo was the gadfly-in-chief behind the "Save the Met" campaign that vainly fought against the building of the Metrodome nearly three decades ago. Now that outdoor baseball is finally on track to return to the Twin Cities, Loscalzo was reveling in vindication.

Smoking one of his ubiquitous cigars on the back patio of Cuzzy's bar, a few blocks from the stadium site, Loscalzo notes that no less an authority than Sid Hartman once referred to his group of agitators as "geniuses." "Calling us geniuses was an insult," he says. "We proved him wrong."

He's joined by fellow baseball devotees like Mike "Sammy" Samuelson. ("Everyone calls me Sammy," he explains. "Kind of like Cher, except not as gay.") Sammy initially boycotted the Metrodome, but finally couldn't stay away. "I said, what the heck, I'll go to a game," he recalls. "Then I got hooked again." He's been a season ticket holder since 1987.

Armed with a green "Save the Met" banner and a six pack of beers, the group sets off for the ballpark ceremony shortly before 6 p.m. "This is probably 20 years old," Loscalzo says of the sign. "It's our third version. This has been to Cooperstown three times I think."

Upon arriving at the ballpark site, Loscalzo initially shows unusual reticence about imposing on the Twins' party. He hangs the banner on a fence just outside the stadium area. "I don't have the stomach," he says of entering the event. "I can't go that far."

But after about 10 minutes Loscalzo and his compatriots can't resist the urge to enter the fray. Initially they're stopped by a security guard who believes they're with the handful of anti-stadium protesters gathered nearby. ("Jerry Bell, go to hell," one woman screams repeatedly.) But he eventually let's them pass.

They set up at the back of the crowd and hoist their antiquated sign. On stage Carl Pohlad is being introduced to the crowd. "They don't care about us," Loscalzo says of the Twins. "As a matter of fact they're very nice to us."

Posted by Paul Demko at August 31, 2007 4:00 PM | Comments (1)

 

The Dutchman is halfway to New York

Filed under: Pop Culture

The last time we talked to the Dutchman, a local vets advocate rolling across America to Manhattan in his wheelchair, he was camped-out on the lawn outside a Wal-Mart in Madison, Wisconsin. Two months later, he's in Ontario, Canada, making his way down the side of Highway 3. "I'm on my third chair," says Robert William Van Vranken II, speaking over his cell phone as trucks roar by in the background. "I went from Minneapolis to Menomonie, Wisconsin, on a manual chair, then burnt out the electric motor on a power chair. But I have over 600 miles on this chair."

Rolling along non-interstate highways between Minnesota and New York with a bike trailer behind him, the Dutchman has made pretty good time (50 miles a day), while raising money for a new Spinal Cord Injury/Disorder Center at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, via his website, www.myspace.com/dutchmanrolling. (Instead of kicking him off their lawn, Wal-Mart made a donation.) His secret is to not push the electric motor. "I go an hour, then I gotta stop for about 25 minutes and let it cool down," he says.

The Dutchman has faced worse dangers than a burnt-out motor: While changing wires on his batteries in a bike path between Madison and Milwaukee, a snake got its teeth in him. "He bit my stump," says Vranken, who lost his lower left leg in a bus accident last year (had had been drinking, and fell under the vehicle). The swelling on the stump has gone down, so he doesn't think the snake was poisonous.

"Life goes on," he says. "My new hairspray is insect repellent."

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 31, 2007 3:52 PM | Comments (0)

 

Limerick Contest

We are soliciting entries for the first annual Senator Larry Craig limerick contest.
Feel free to write your own in the comments section.
Winner gets, um, I'm gonna take the high road and just say it'll be something tasteful.
Deadline: Labor Day.
OK, I'll go first:

There once was a leader named Larry
Unto to whom God spoke: "You must marry."
The pol said, "No way,
You must know I'm gay."
And God spoke: "I don't make no fairies."

Well what could the poor old boy do?
He wed a nice lady named Sue.
God spoke: "You've done well.
But if it should swell,
Don't blow a load whilst in the loo."

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 30, 2007 3:00 PM | Comments (23)

 

Senator Craig wants a "Minnesota milkshake"

Filed under: Politics

Senator Larry Craig appeared on Conan O'Brien last night to deny he was looking for gay nookie in a Minneapolis airport bathroom. Hilarity ensues.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at August 30, 2007 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

 

Drinking and biking

Filed under: Pop Culture

Believe it or not, you can legally drive drunk in Minnesota if you're riding a bicycle, as long as you don't do something stupid, like plow directly into a police car--as a friend of a friend did recently, and was charged with careless driving under MN Statute 169.13. If you're steering 16 people on one giant human-powered vehicle, however, no one will insure you if you're also drinking alcohol. Which is why the new local, Netherlands-style cafe-on-wheels PedalPub (www.pedalpub.com) provides a (sober) driver to groups of up to 16 riders, who then power the cycle with their feet while seated at an open-air bar. "Bar" might be a slight misnomer: Riders can drink on the vehicle, but only while on private property, and with the property owner's permission. But for $150 per hour, PedalPub provides pub-crawl tours of Nordeast, Lake Calhoun, and other neighborhoods. The whole thing is more expensive than renting individual bikes, but cheaper than a limo or party bus, and healthier, too. The main thing riders should worry about: making it over that last hill.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at August 29, 2007 8:16 PM | Comments (1)

 

Trapped in the closet

Filed under: Media

Editor & Publisher is wondering why it took nearly three months for the media to pick up on the arrest of Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) for soliciting gay sex in a Minneapolis airport restroom.

"You would think in the 24-hour news cycle, something like this would slip through," Roll Call reporter John McArdle, who broke the story late Monday, is quoted as saying. "He wanted to keep it quiet, and he almost got away with it."

Meanwhile, over at MnSpeak, WCCO reporter Jason DeRusha offers four plausible answers.

DeRusha writes:

1. Airport Police are a pain in the neck... and extremely secretive. Even yesterday, no one would come back to the office to send us the report or give us the mug shot. "They close at 4 p.m." is what I was told.

2. Because airport police is separate from Minneapolis Police, or the Sheriff's office, media would have to go to the airport to request reports. The arrest information doesn't leave their property, and as the charge was a minor charge, I don't think it even went to the county attorney. It was like a ticket.

3. No one locally would raise an eyebrow about a "disorderly conduct" at the airport for a guy named Larry Craig even if they saw the report's front page.

4. The plea deal at the courthouse happened the week after the bridge collapse. So the usual suspects who would have tipped someone off, were too busy with other things to even concentrate on this.

In a followup post, DeRusha reveals just how difficult it was getting information even after the story broke:

(Not to be a baby about it-- but the PR people at the airport commission told me they got 20 calls in 5 minutes on this story-- they've never experienced anything like it before. You'd think one of the airport police supervisors could have turned around their Crown Vic and come back to work to fax out the report, and e-mail the mug shot.)

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at August 28, 2007 3:03 PM | Comments (14)

 

Ever heard of Craigslist, Senator Craig?

Filed under: Politics

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June for soliciting sex in a Twin Cities airport men's room. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month.

According to the arrest report, Craig was seated in a bathroom stall, brushed his leg against the leg of the guy in the stall next to his, and was arrested when it turned out his would-be paramour was an undercover cop. Craig had previously been accused of-and denied-engaging in sex with men in public bathrooms.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 28, 2007 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

 

Stuck between Iraq and a smug face

Filed under: Politics

Al Franken has some choice for Sen. Norm Coleman in a recent YouTube video regarding Bush's Tuesday appearance in Eden Prairie. With the president in town to raise funds for Coleman, Franken wasted no time in firing away, posting his screed the same day.

Coleman is also facing pressure from his own party.

Freedom's Watch, a recently created war-mongering group headed by former White House strategist Brad Brakeman, has unleashed an ad campaign designed to pressure lawmakers to continue their support for the war. The ads conclude by insisting viewers call a toll-free number and urge their representatives to keep on keepin' on in Iraq. Liberal pussies and America-haters be damned!

Brakeman—a shrill spin doctor-slash-maggot who once chastised House Majority Leader Harry Reid for "giv[ing] aid and comfort to our enemy and demoraliz[ing] our troops"—told the Strib Wednesday, "We believe the message will resonate with American people that surrendering is not an option."

Like any effective propaganda, the ads employ a mind-bending combination of emotional manipulation, fear-mongering, and comical breaches of logic. One of the ads reportedly features a veteran walking on artificial legs.

"Congress was right to vote to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan," he says to the camera. "I reenlisted after Sept. 11 because I don't want my sons to see what I saw. I want them to be free and safe. I know what I lost. I also know that if we pull out now, everything I've given and the sacrifices will mean nothing. They attacked us, and they will again. They won't stop in Iraq. We are winning on the ground and making real progress. It's no time to quit. It's no time for politics."

"No time for politics." An ironic plea from an overtly partisan ad campaign.

In other Coleman news, SurveyUSA reports that his approval rating has enjoyed a slight bump from last month, jumping from 43 percent to 47 percent. This comes as good news to the pro-war senator, perhaps even a bit surprising considering a majority (55 percent by last count) of Minnesotans favor troop withdrawal

Posted by Matt Snyders at August 24, 2007 4:25 PM | Comments (11)

 

Mischke abandons campaign

Filed under: St. Paul

St. Paul City Council candidate Gerald Mischke is dropping out of the race. The political neophyte was attempting to oust Ward Three incumbent Pat Harris. In a statement issued today Mischke announced that he will no longer actively campaign for the post. He cited the unstable situation at the Star Tribune, where Mischke works as an ad designer, as a contributing factor in the decision.

"I knew that I was attempting a very difficult thing by running at this time," he says in the statement. "I would however like to stay involved in local progressive politics in some capacity."

Mischke will remain on the ballot in November.

Posted by Paul Demko at August 23, 2007 3:53 PM | Comments (0)

 

News Council sides with Mari Newman

Filed under: Media

On May 3, the Minnesota Daily ran a review of the Theatre in the Round's production of "The Madwoman of Chaillot."

"Every city needs its own maniacal, googily eyed token crazy lady," the article began. "Minneapolis has 'Scary' Mari Newman, the electric haired, pierced-up artist whose house on 51st and Penn is a full-blown installation of garish folk art."

Newman, some of whose art you can see here, filed a complaint with the Minnesota News Council, asserting that the paper was unfair a) in leading the review with a reference to her, b) in how it described her, and c) in giving her approximate address.

The 14-member panel agreed with Newman on the first two complaints, but not on the third. The votes were 11-3, 10-4, and 3-10 (with one abstention), respectively.

"There’s an underlying negative tone to this review," said panelist Kerri Miller. "It goes beyond colorful creativity.”

Al Zdon, a public member who voted to deny all three complaints, disagreed. “I don’t see a problem with what the Daily wrote,” Zdon said. “Perhaps it was not well-written, but that’s fairly common in journalism.”

hat tip to Minnesota Monitor

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 21, 2007 11:21 AM | Comments (9)

 

Fergus Falls vandalized by dyslexic tagger

Filed under: Crime

Last week Fergus Falls endured a rash of graffiti. The message: "Fuck Fergus Falls Police Nigya." On three different occasions taggers spray-painted anti-cop messages in the town of 14,000, 175 miles west of the Twin Cities. City streets have been hit twice, while a third message was sprayed on a railroad bridge.

Sgt. Jeff Hohrman, of the Fergus Falls Police Department, says that graffiti aimed at the cops is a new phenomenon in the town. "We've dealt with some tagging and stuff in the past, but it's not a real rampant problem," he says.

According to Hohrman, no suspects have been identified. The police believe all three messages were left by the same tagger. The offensive remarks have been painted over by city workers.

Posted by Paul Demko at August 20, 2007 1:06 PM | Comments (8)

 

Tim Droogsma not too prudish after all

Filed under: St. Paul

Back in June, Vita.mn ran a story about where people have sex outdoors in Minnesota. The article made it on the Strib's main web page, prompting reader complaints. Kate Parry, the paper's ombudsman, wrote an article about the brouhaha, quoting Tim Droogsma, former press secretary for both then-senator Rudy Boschwitz and then-governor Arne Carlson.

Droogsma's reaction to the article: "I don't think I'm too prudish (which, I realize, is what prudes always say), but do we really want this sentence: 'She hopped on my lap, facing forward. I pulled up her skirt in the back, slid her panties out of the way, and unzipped'?"

Fast forward a couple months:

On Tuesday, Droogsma was arrested by St. Paul cops for allegedly trying to pay for sex. The deal was brokered on Craiglist, the St. Paul PD says, and the would-be prostitute was an undercover cop.

In an email to the Strib, Droogsma, 50, denies being a dirty late-middle-aged man, calling the whole escapade "a severe misunderstanding."

(Hat tip to Romenesko)

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 17, 2007 1:54 PM | Comments (2)

 

Franken, my dear, they don’t give a damn

Filed under: Politics

Our news story this week about Al Franken is creating quite a buzz in the blogosphere. The article by Ben Westhoff reports on the weird workout habits of the SNL alum cum bestselling author cum DFL candidate for U.S. Senate. According to several of his neighbors in the Grant Park condo building, Franken—who as of late has been trying to reinvent himself as a Serious Issues Guy—still likes to put on a show in the gym room.

"He yells, 'Go Al!' and then puts his sweaty towel in his mouth, shakes his head back and forth, and growls like a dog," says Lauren Zeller, a 28-year-old risk consultant. "The cycle repeats: 'Go Al!,' towel, shake head, growl."

But not all of his neighbors mind the odd activity, and at least one is pissed that her fellow condo dwellers ratted Al out. Over at the blog Accident Prone, a Grant Park resident named Marium writes that she enjoys the show. “I’ve seen Al Franken in the gym. So what if he makes noises. We all do. I listen to Shakira for motivation to run that extra mile. Al cheers himself on. I love it!”

Meanwhile, a diarist at Democratic website Daily Kos wonders if the article signals a “rightward turn” at City Pages. Writes “the Big E”: “This is a perfect example of conservative framing: Al Franken should not be considered a serious candidate, we have anecdotal evidence that you should take at face value.”

To answer the Big E’s question: No, it doesn’t signal a rightward turn, as should be evident by this week’s feature story, which is plenty critical of several prominent local Republicans.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at August 16, 2007 12:15 PM | Comments (16)

 

Maplewood wins first round of legal battle

Filed under: Suburbs

After Sherrie Le was fired as Maplewood's human resources director last August, she filed three lawsuits against the suburb. Yesterday the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled against Le in one of the cases. The three-judge panel determined that Le was an "at will" employee and therefore could be terminated for pretty much any reason. The ruling essentially invalidates two of the lawsuits.

Le is one of at least a dozen top employees who have resigned, been fired, or had their jobs eliminated since a new ruling troika took over the city council last year. (See my CP cover story on the subject for more details.

Le's suit in Ramsey County District Court remains alive. That complaint charges that Maplewood's actions violated labor laws and state whistleblower protections. "That's our strongest case," says Gregg Corwin, Le's attorney. That case is slated for trial in October.

Posted by Paul Demko at August 15, 2007 4:23 PM | Comments (0)

 

Minneapolis wins $133 million in congestion cash

Filed under: Minneapolis

Rep. Jim Oberstar, who chairs the House's transportation committee, announced yesterday that Minneapolis is one of five cities being awarded a $133.3 million grant to "implement aggressive strategies to reduce traffic congestion" over the next two years. The money comes from the federal government's Department of Transportation.

The city will also get $13.2 million from the DOT's discretionary funds to deal with the bridge collapse.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 15, 2007 10:46 AM | Comments (2)

 

'Naughty' landlord accepts punishment (but denies being naughty)

In 2005, the Justice Department sued Ronald Bathrick, accusing the landlord of subjecting female tenants to unwanted sexual advances and contact. The Justice Department asserted that Bathrick "conditioned the terms and conditions of women’s tenancy on the granting of sexual favors," and entered their apartments without permission or notice.

Bathrick, who owns buildings in St. Paul and Hastings, settled the case by agreeing to pay $400,000, the Justice Department announced today. He admitted no wrongdoing.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 14, 2007 1:17 PM | Comments (1)

 

8/14 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

Blairgowrie resident Gregor Spalding has been shown leniency in Perth Sheriff Court after explaining he was growing cannabis to use the drug to tackle a genital itch.

Authorities charged the director of a Christian boot camp and an employee with dragging a 15-year-old girl behind a van after she fell behind the group during a morning run.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Liberal firebrand Mark Gisleson rattles the political cages on the left and the right at Norwegianity.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The 10 Most Expensive Paintings of All Time

A poster of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone using the entire script from The Godfather

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"One month from The Anniversary, I'm thinking another 9/11 would help America."

— Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky, recalling the unified America following the September 11 attacks

"The man's legacy is a conservative movement largely discredited and disunited, a president with lower consistent approval ratings than any in modern history, a generational shift to the Democrats, a resurgent al Qaeda, an endless catastrophe in Iraq, a long hard struggle in Afghanistan, a fiscal legacy that means bankrupting America within a decade, and the poisoning of American religion with politics and vice-versa."

— conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan on outgoing White House chief political strategist Karl Rove

"It's too bad the 9/11 terrorists did not patronize Northwest Airlines; they undoubtedly would have been stranded in Logan airport until they all collectively renounced Islam."

— Chuck Klosterman, in a recent Esquire column, attempting to fly from New York to Tulsa in time to see a time capsule containing a Plymouth Belvedere opened during Tulsarama. He was late.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 14, 2007 6:47 AM | Comments (0)

 

8/13 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

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

Peter Schilling Jr. bemoans the quiet bats and the substandard pitching in another loss to the Angels at Balls.

Check out my Best Of/Farewell post at American Idle.

City Pages has launched our new GOP Convention blog, Elephants in the Room.

THESE DAYS

Johnson & Johnson, the health-products giant that uses a red cross as its trademark, sued the American Red Cross last Wednesday, demanding that the charity halt the use of the red cross symbol on products it sells to the public.

The Bush administration opposes a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to VA official Keith Wilson.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

We sadly bid adieu to our anonymous Pizza Man. Good luck out there... on those Streets of Pizza.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

A British documentary on sex dolls and the men who love them: Guys and Dolls

When you're done with the documentary, you can check out Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling and his mail-order friend in Lars and the Real Girl opening in October.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It took three or four of us to hold her down."

— Seattle bartender Robert Willmette, on an unidentified woman who began shouting expletives and pushing and punching a male karaoke singer when he began performing Coldplay's "Yellow" [via Obscure Store]

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 13, 2007 6:57 AM | Comments (0)

 

NWA flight apparently loses part of its wing in flight

According to the AP, a woman in southeastern Wisconsin found a piece of an airplane wing in her back yard this morning. Northwest has confirmed that a plane flying more or less over her house this morning was found to be missing a "flap," which is a roughly two-foot long piece of metal that reduces drag.

The plane, flying from Detroit to Madison, landed safely at 9:21 a.m., according to the airline.

Thank goodness everyone is safe. But c'mon, guys. If you're going to cut the paychecks of your flight staff and charge extra just to sit further up in coach, you could at least put some of that cash into some really good airplane glue or something.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 10, 2007 4:02 PM | Comments (5)

 

He's serious, already!

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Al Franken isn't clowning around. He's serious. This, we should know. The national media has done well reminding us that he's not joking, jesting, joshing, kidding, pranking, or shitting us whenever they report on his rather vigorous (one might say "serious") campaign.

For any other candidate, the sober tone of his or her campaign goes without saying—to date, no politician has won many hearts on the stump by greeting constituents with hand-buzzers or depantsing flushed opponents mid-debate. No need to dabble in is-this-guy-for-real? guessing games when the candidate in question is a former trial lawyer, military goon, oil lobbyist, or religious zealot. These people laugh seriously.

Then there's Franken. His campaign has elicited stories that invariably include a variant of the word serious it their headlines, as if brain-dead readers might otherwise conclude his candidacy is some kind of elaborately planned and inexplicably costly farce, maybe one in which Stuart Smalley hijacks an ice cream truck and crashes it into the twisted remnants of John McCain's Straight Talk Express on the eve of the election and proceeds to reassure a dour McCain that, gosh darnit, people like him.

On Feb. 14, The New York Times political blog, The Caucus, ran a blurb whose headline succinctly assured readers, "Franken Serious About Senate." The same day, a CBC News headline read, "Comedian to make serious run for U.S. Senate." One day later, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times via the AP came "Comic Franken serious about bid for Senate."

More recently, a July 24 NewsMax.com headline stated, "Al Franken's Senate Bid Gets Serious." Two days later, the AP story in the Tonawanda News upped the ante with two inclusions of the word seriously and threw in some caps for good measure: "NO, SERIOUSLY: Comedian Al Franken asks Democrats to take him seriously as candidate" And just last week, Congressional Quarterly added to the shtick with, "Al Franken Running Hard for Minnesota Senate Seat... Seriously."

Are we reading too much into this? Probably. But we're serious.

Posted by Matt Snyders at August 10, 2007 3:38 PM | Comments (1)

 

8/10 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

A Texas man is suing 1-800-Flowers for $1 million after a thank you note from the web florist outed him as an adulterer.

Obesity among women residing in the U.S. has become more socially acceptable, likely in part because more than one-third of women ages 20 and older are obese, according to a recent study.

Pearl Jam is accusing Lollapalooza sponsor AT&T of censoring lyrics pertaining to President Bush from its "Blue Room" Live Lollapalooza Webcast.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Jon Nelson is the host of a nationally syndicated radio program about music and blogs about the same at Some Assembly Required.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Name all of Shakespeare's plays in ten minutes

Napoleon Dynamite in 30 seconds re-enacted by bunnies

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Nope."

— Jeremy Hernandez, who kicked open the school bus door and helped the children inside to safety following the I-35W bridge collapse, when asked by a Bush Administration staff member to appear in a photo opportunity

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 10, 2007 6:45 AM | Comments (0)

 

8/9 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

Peter Schilling Jr. mourns the releasing of David Wells by the Padres at Balls.

THESE DAYS

Judy Hagan caused a stir among plot owners in the Uniontown (IN) City Cemetery when she put up a tombstone for her and her departed rat terrier, Shithead.

Last year, the top two advertising mediums were newspapers, at $55.7 billion, and broadcast television, at $48.7 billion. By 2011, overall Internet advertising will become the largest advertising medium, at nearly $63 billion.

A 41-year-old Sheboygan man was charged Monday after he allegedly sold his employer's domain name, sofa.com, for $200,000 and used corporate credit cards to finance international trips with a "stripper" girlfriend.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Erik and Sharra blog about throbbing thumbs, earning gay points, and their all-tile bathroom at Eleven.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Favorable views of the U.S. from 2000-2007 Hey, Bangladesh still likes us!

Rudy Giuliani's Five Big Lies About 9/11

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

— GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, when asked at a gathering in Bettendorf, Iowa, why none of his five sons are serving in the military

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 9, 2007 6:58 AM | Comments (0)

 

8/8 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

A recent Boston University School of Medicine study links consumption of soft drinks—both the sugared and diet variety—with a higher risk for a range of obesity-related health problems.

A judge Monday granted new trials for two former elections workers convicted of rigging a recount during the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review of the votes.

Playing the popular Chinese tile game mahjong can lead to seizures, Hong Kong researchers say, calling the phenomenon "mahjong epilepsy." [via Undernews]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Christopher Tassava blogs about the bridge collapse, toppling toddlers, and suspicious bananas peels dotting the roadways at Blowing & Drifting.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Ten Best Bands that Never Existed

President Bush's visit to the I-35W bridge site as imagined by Mr. Fish

Minesweeper: The Movie

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"He's a control freak who micro-manages decisions, he has a confrontational character trait and picks fights just to score points. He is the last thing this country needs as president right now."

— Jerome Hauer, New York's emergency management director from 1996 to 2000, on former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, in the Telegraph

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 8, 2007 12:33 AM | Comments (0)

 

Setting the record straight

Filed under: Minneapolis

John Weeks is what some people might call an obsessive. Over the past two years, he has spent weeks at a time traveling alongside the Mississippi River, photographing more than 300 of the bridges that span that mighty body of water, from Itasca to New Orleans.

His downtime between trips is largely devoted to cataloging information on each bridge, such as its age, construction material, daily traffic count, river elevation, and other factoids that, until last week, might have seemed somewhat superfluous to anyone but himself.

So Weeks is perhaps uniquely equipped to tackle some of the conspiracies that cropped up about the I-35 bridge collapse. And that is what he has done over at his website, www.johnweeks.com. Among the more entertaining new urban myths, along with Weeks' debunkings:

• Numerology predicted this event. If you count the "I" in I-35 as a 1, then 1 + 3 + 5 = 9. Also, the date of the collapse was 8/1/2007. 8+1 = 9. And 2+0+0+7 = 9. Since nines are coming up over and over, the bridge must have been doomed. But there's nothing about the number "9" that would indicate a bridge collapse, Weeks writes. "Just adding digits to find 9 or any other number is contrived."
• President Bush wants to fast-track the new bridge to be part of the NAFTA highway. Nice try, but Weeks points out: "The so-called NAFTA highway, which would run from Mexico to Canada, is I-69 ... The I-35 bridge is not critical for the movement of goods on a national scale."
• Police are covering up the fact that large numbers of Somalis perished in the collapse. Perhaps this is a reaction to the unbelievable good fortune that more people weren't killed, but even a moment of thought is enough to debunk it. "Keeping it quiet would require preventing a large number of people from talking," Weeks writes. "This theory just doesn't make sense."
• The collapse was caused by the alignment of the planets, which was the same as on the day in 1967 when the Silver Bridge collapsed in Ohio. An intriguing theory, except that it simply isn't true. "The planets were not in the same positions," Weeks writes. Besides, "planets simply cannot put enough force on anything to affect it here on Earth."
• Russians report that they have evidence that this was caused by a secret US military sound weapon being tested at the nearby secret Rand Corporation physics lab. The answer to this one holds true for all the cockamamie theories you'll hear peddled by wild-eyed nuts over the next few months: "How is it that the conspiracy people got it but the reputable newspapers did not?"

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 7, 2007 3:17 PM | Comments (0)

 

8/7 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

A Florida man stockpiled 20,000 cubic yards of horse manure on his property and was charged with running an illegal composting operation.

A man named Johnson underoges a vasectomy in exchange for getting permission from his wife to purchase an iPhone.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Shyestviolet blogs about Harry Potter 7, being a pure nerd, and the Sass of the Week at Is That All You've Got?

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Learn about Charley, the cat with cerebellar hypoplasia

Chart of where all the 2008 presidential candidates stand on issues like abortion, wiretapping, civil unions, etc.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"We will have to look for other stronger purgatives now."

— Kolkata detective Ajay Kumar, on forcing a thief who swallowed a $1,300 necklace to eat 40 bananas in order to hurry the digestive process. The plan is so far unsuccessful.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 7, 2007 6:02 AM | Comments (0)

 

Sugar Beat

Filed under: Media

The Star Tribune and Pioneer Press newsrooms received an unexpected box of junk food booty in recent days. Courtesy of The Roanoke Times, the spoils include spicy pork rinds, moon pies, Virginia peanuts, Hostess cupcakes and Dove bars. "There's also one very out-of-place looking can of lima beans," reports Pi Press metro reporter Frederick Melo via email.

This sweet tradition was apparently started by The Oklahoman newspaper, which learned the stresses of covering a major breaking news story after the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. Last April, after Seng Hui-Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, the Roanoke Times received a large box of artery clogging edibles from their counterparts in Oklahoma. "It was just like a big hug," recalls Carole Tarrant, editor of the Roanoke daily.

The loot is apparently equally appreciated by newsroom staffers in the Twin Cities, many of whom have been logging ridiculous hours since the 35W bridge collapsed Wednesday evening. "I'm in fat boy heaven," reports Melo.

Tarrant says she only asks that the Pi Press and Strib reporters reciprocate the gesture down the road. "Tell 'em to pass it on," says Tarrant. "That's my only request."

Posted by Paul Demko at August 6, 2007 4:34 PM | Comments (0)

 

Can't get there from here

Filed under: Minneapolis

On Monday, the city of Minneapolis and MnDOT released a number of alternatives for getting in to, out of and around downtown Minneapolis. The trouble is, most routes are already congested beyond belief. Main case in point? The first suggestion, taking Central Avenue into downtown as it turns into 3rd Avenue South.

Last week, head of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Art Rolnick, whose office overlooks the river, said "I'm looking out my window at the 3rd Avenue Bridge right now, and it's bumper-to-bumper in the middle of the day, something I've never seen before." Even on Saturday afternoon, crossing Central on University proved a dificult endeavor, as traffic was backed up two stoplights in both directions.

Other suggestions aren't going to be much better. East Hennepin Avenue is rarely a good escape route of town, Washington Avenue—thanks to a series of asynchronous lights—is a headache in either direction anytime of day, and Seventh Street South, Third Avenue South and Fifth Avenue South are typical downtown streets, already bumper-to-bumper during any rush hour.

Monday morning also highlighted a host of downtown street closings due to projects unrelated to the bridge collapse, most notably more sections of 3rd Avenue South and Fifth Street (both had been closed in sections previously), thanks to construction for the Twins ballpark and the adjacent transit hub. In other words, the time has never been better for walking or biking downtown—though we might suggest just staying home altogether.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at August 6, 2007 1:19 PM | Comments (0)

 

Murky Waters

Filed under: Environment

Will the 35W bridge collapse have serious environmental ramifications? With bodies presumably still in the water, it may seem a rather churlish question to pose. But the massive heap of concrete, steel, vehicles, and lord knows what else would seem to be a poor development for the well-being of the Mississippi River.

Environmental concerns initially focused on three railroad cars that were crushed by the collapsed bridge. There could have been serious ecological harm if those cars had been carrying a highly toxic substance, such as benzine. But as it turned out one of the cars contained plastic pellets, while another held plastic powder. The third was empty. "There was a little bit of spillage," says Sam Brungardt, public information officer for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. "Nothing that would pose an environmental or a health threat."

Another possible environmental issue stems from gasoline seeping into the water from impacted vehicles. But oil dispensation appears to have been surprisingly limited. "There was a little bit of oil but that dissipated very rapidly," says Brungardt. "We never really found pockets of oil."

A concern going forward will be air quality. As workers untangle and remove the debris, the MPCA is worried about what types of particulate matter will begin circulating in the air. The agency has done preliminary testing near the site of the bridge collapse to establish baseline levels of lead, asbestos, silicates, and other potentially dangerous materials. "Those are all things that are known to affect health if they are breathed in," Brungardt says.

But overall it doesn't appear that the bridge collapse will have any serious, long-term impact on the health of the Mississippi River. "One could imagine scenarios where much worse cargo could have been on that bridge," says Whitney Clark, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi River. "That does not appear to have happened."

Posted by Paul Demko at August 6, 2007 1:17 PM | Comments (1)

 

City of Minneapolis prepares new traffic plans following the bridge collapse

Filed under: Minneapolis

The city of Minneapolis has released information on the change in traffic patterns and alternate routes following the collapse of the I-35W bridge. The press release is as follows:

MnDOT has made Minnesota Highway 280 the primary replacement route for I-35W traffic. It will carry traffic from I-35W in Roseville to I-94. To prevent traffic snarls, Highway 280 has been converted to a temporary freeway with altered traffic signals. The change means Broadway Avenue and County Road B no longer have access to the highway, and the lights at these intersections will stay green for the highway.

Closed and congested streets
Several local streets in the collapse area are closed, including the 10th Avenue Bridge and sections of Second Street Southeast and West River Parkway. Many city streets and area freeways will see higher traffic volumes as a result. The following streets and areas are expected to see extra congestion in the months ahead, and drivers are encouraged to plan additional time for their trips or find alternate routes:

• Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis, which crosses the river and becomes Third Avenue South in Downtown
• East Hennepin Avenue
• Cedar Avenue and Riverside Avenue in the West Bank area
• Huron Boulevard
• St. Anthony area
• In the Downtown area: Washington Avenue, Seventh Street South, Third Avenue South, Fifth Avenue South

Changing our traffic patterns
Minneapolis Public Works staff have been hard at work to make modifications to our street system that will allow traffic to flow as smoothly as is possible given the conditions. They include changing traffic signal timing, creating new turning lanes and prohibiting some turns in Northeast Minneapolis to improve flow of traffic across the Third Avenue and Hennepin Avenue bridges. Public Works will continue to look for ways to improve the system, and anyone who wants to report observations or suggestions is encouraged to call 311 to provide their input.

Transit and driving alternatives
Drivers are asked to plan ahead and allow extra time for trips into and out of the area. Leaving early will also help spread out rush hour traffic and decrease delays.

Minneapolis also asks everyone to continue to exercise patience on the road and show common courtesy to your fellow commuters. Please slow down, watch for pedestrians and bikes, and remember that we all have opportunities to make a difference.

Commuters into downtown, the University of Minnesota, and throughout the city are encouraged to take advantage mass transit, car pooling, and bike routes to minimize traffic backups. Metro Transit has added extra buses to several routes to handle extra riders. For more information on transit, visit www.metrotransit.org or go to the Downtown Minneapolis Transportation Management Organization's Web site at www.mplstmo.org.

The following streets and routes are encouraged to help ease the flow of traffic:

• There are other Mississippi River bridges with extra capacity at Lowry Avenue, Broadway Avenue, Plymouth Avenue, Washington Avenue, and Franklin Avenue.
• Drivers heading out of Downtown have two main routes: Fourth Avenue South, which feeds onto southbound I-35W; and Third Street South, which feeds onto I-394 or I-94 westbound.

For realtime information on lane closures and construction in downtown Minneapolis, visit http://laneuse.ci.minneapolis.mn.us.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 6, 2007 9:38 AM | Comments (0)

 

8/6 Morning Communiqué

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS

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

City Pages writers, freelancers, and readers have contributed to a photo gallery depicting the terrible events surrounding last week's collapse of the I-35W bridge. Visit our gallery section to view the photographs.

THESE DAYS

County health officials say they're stepping up enforcement at Angel Stadium, where they've found 118 vermin violations at stadium kiosks and restaurants over the last 2 1/2 years.

Iraq's electricity grid could collapse any day because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provincial officials who are unplugging local power stations from the national system, electricity officials said on Saturday.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Four more days until the Vikings battle the St. Louis Rams in the first pre-season game of 2007. Keep up with the latest news at Purple Pride.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Mail-order burro [via BoingBoing]

MSNBC has an interactive map showing "deficient" or "obsolete" bridges state by state

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"We will recognize Vick for being an outstanding human being."

— Southern Christian Leadership Conference President Charles Steele, announcing that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, awaiting trial related to dogfighting charges, will be honored during the August SCLC conference

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 6, 2007 6:53 AM | Comments (0)

 

Images of the I-35W bridge collapse

Filed under: Minneapolis

City Pages writers, freelancers, and readers have contributed to a photo gallery depicting the terrible events surrounding last week's collapse of the I-35W bridge. Visit our gallery section to view the photographs.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 5, 2007 8:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

A view from the water in the aftermath

Filed under: Minneapolis

YouTube contributor mikearney01 uploaded this striking video of the aftermath of the I-35W bridge collapse from the water.

Posted by Corey Anderson at August 3, 2007 6:28 PM | Comments (1)

 

Additional video could provide answers

Filed under: Minneapolis

At today's press conference at 6th and Main, a throng of reporters hungry for new information got precious few answers as to what may have caused the I-35W bridge collapse.

"We're not here to speculate, we're here to report," said the terse, no-nonsense chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark Rosenker. "There are a number of possible causes, but if I discuss one of them, I'm sure that will be tomorrow's headline."

Rosenker announced that investigators are focused now on the southern end of the bridge, explaining that analysis of video footage has revealed that this section behaved differently than the rest of the bridge.

"The southern section shifted 50 feet to the east, while the rest of the bridge seemed to have fallen in place," he said. "I don't want you to jump to any conclusions that [the problems] are all at the southern end. A failure at the north end could have caused this as well."

Also revealed at the briefing: the existence of three additional videos of the bridge collapse, which were provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Two are of little interest because the view doesn't show much of the action, but the third has been sent to Washington D.C. where it is undergoing video enhancement.

Posted by Matt Snyders at August 3, 2007 5:48 PM | Comments (0)

 

How to inspect a bridge

Filed under: Minneapolis

Photo by John Weeks

The inspection process has already been a controversial issue in the collapse of I-35W bridge. One obvious question arises: Exactly how do you inspect a bridge that hangs 60 feet above a river?

Transportation Department officials in Wisconsin and North Dakota offered some insight into the general process. Bridge inspections, it turns out, are a decidedly low-tech procedure. Essentially, they're a more complicated version of a pilot's walk-around of a plane before takeoff. Inspections are primarily visual: a crew visits the site and inspects the structure for obvious flaws—corrosion, cracks in the steel or concrete, or peeling paint that could lead to corrosion.

The crews are small. For a bridge the size of I-35W, a crew of two to four would be typical, and they could be on the job for several days.

Before beginning, inspectors familiarize themselves with the bridge and past inspection reports, which could include photos and even hand-drawn sketches of problem areas.

Many parts of the bridge can be inspected from some distance away. The most important parts of the bridge—including "fracture critical" components at stress points, whose failure could spell trouble for the bridge—are viewed more closely, ideally from an arm's length away.

Inspectors, for example, will close lanes and walk the roadway looking for potholes. They will examine the steel beams supporting the deck for cracks and corrosion. They look at the concrete abutments holding it all up for cracks or settling. They check that bearings the bridge rests on are aligned correctly and painted.

For hard-to-reach places, crews employ a "snooper truck," equipped with a long arm and bucket that swings a crew member over the side for an up-close inspection.

If they find something wrong, they can bring in diagnostic equipment such as ultrasound to get a better look at the problem.

Small cracks in steel can be easily repaired by, paradoxically, drilling small holes at either end of the fracture, which stops the crack from spreading. But repair crews have to be careful to drill at the end of the crack, which often can't be seen by the naked eye. To find it, they can use a dye penetrant test, in which they coat the surface with a red dye, wipe it off, and cover it again with white dye. The red coloring will seep through the white dye and reveal itself.

Bridge workers can also outline a crack by the magnetic particle method. They use magnets to create a magnetic field in the steel beam, then sprinkle the area with a powder of iron filings, which will outline any crack present.

Bridge inspections are conducted every two years or less (the 35W bridge was looked at annually). Special fracture-critical inspections were conducted every four years, but the federal government recently recommended two-year intervals.

When the inspection is over, crews rate the deck, superstructure, and supports on a scale of 0 to 9. The 35W bridge's superstructure, according to the Pioneer Press, was rated 4, meaning that inspectors found it in poor condition.

Posted by Matt Smith at August 3, 2007 4:35 PM | Comments (1)

 

Scuba-duba do

Filed under: Minneapolis

For more than a half hour today, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek and Captain Bill Chandler, a 28-year veteran of the sheriff's office, gave details about the diving mission that, while hardly rosy, certainly offered some good news. On the east side river flats down the hill from the Weisman Art Museum near the Washington Avenue Bridge, some 50 reporters strained to hear as several choppers swooped over head. But the prognosis was clear: It's a far cry from yesterday.

"Recovery operations are better than expected," Stanek said.

There are a few reasons for this, even though weather conditions--clear, with tolerable winds--aren't much diferent today. But chief among them is that the Army Corps of Engineers has managed to lower water levels at the bridge site by as much as two feet.

Another factor is that crews have simply covered more territory, and seem to have hit upon a streak of good luck: This morning they started searching upstream from the wreckage, toward the east bank/northbound side of the river, something that will continue into the evening. Yesterday divers were searching downstream from the wreckage.

Still, the divers are in a risky business, and they are tethered on lines that are only being let out a foot at a time. "From a supervisor's standpoint, we're scared all the time," Chandler said. "And visibility is terrible."

At its deepest point, the river is 14 feet in the area, and currents are still strong. Chandler explained that they cannot run sonar while divers are in the water, and the process is tedious. "Divers can talk to us [via radio] on shore and to each other, as if we were all on a telephone line," he explained. "There is no visibility, so they have to find the object, go face-to-face with the license plate, call it out to us, go around the car, and then go into the car."

Divers have been able to "clear" as many as 12 cars total. (This is just part of the two-day recovery operation, this does not include the first hours of the rescue mission when the bridge first went down). Five were cleared and four of those pulled to shore this morning. As for the total number of cars in the water, Stanek conceded that officials still really have no idea, but Chandler pointed out that there are 60 cars "in the wreckage, in the collapsed zone of the bridge."

(He added that "we're finding cars with the windows down, which indicated people got out.")

As for the news this morning that only eight people are presumed missing at this point, Stanek was cautious not to hew too hard to that figure. "We're non-committal about exact numbers," Stanek said. He also wouldn't offer a time frame on how long the recovery mission would continue.

Chandler put a finer point on it. "We're not going to stop until everything is clear," he said. "We are under the assumption that there are people in that water."

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at August 3, 2007 3:13 PM | Comments (0)

 

Hyperbole watch

Filed under: Minneapolis

The coverage of the bridge collapse by the daily papers, particularly the Star Tribune, has been terrific. It's a prime example of why we need first-rate, adequately staffed daily newspapers. But some of the attempts to raise the significance of the event have gotten a little out of hand. Ruben Rosario declared it "our 9/11" in this morning's paper. Yeah, except 3,000 people died on 9/11. Nick Coleman compared it to Hurricane Katrina. Yeah, except an entire city was destroyed while the government looked on indifferently. This is a horrible tragedy for the people who died and their friends and families. For the rest of us it's mildly sad and inconvenient. The desire to claim our place on the national disaster landscape is kind of pathetic.

Posted by Paul Demko at August 3, 2007 2:38 PM | Comments (14)

 

Expert: MnDOT dropped the ball

Filed under: Minneapolis

William Schutt, a concrete and metal corrosion engineer, says that someone at MnDOT screwed up big-time.

"Age is not the issue," he says, pointing out that the Brooklyn Bridge is more than 120 years old, and is not expected to fall into the East River anytime soon. "The issue is what was the failure mechanism and when did it occur."

Schutt says that when corrosion occurs on roads and bridges—as was likely the case with the 35W bridge—it is almost always the result of de-icing salt. When corrosion is found, he says, the rate at which it is occurring should be regularly monitored, and if need be, the structure should be reinforced.

"Something got missed, that's for sure," he says.

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at August 3, 2007 12:57 PM | Comments (4)

 

The bottom-line effect

Filed under: Minneapolis

Of course emotions and hearts are rightly with the victims of the 35W bridge collapse. And the rational mind--aren't we all armchair engineers now?--is focused on why the bridge came down. But one hard fact of the matter is that I-35 and the Mississippi are key to the hum of the state and the country's economic engine.

So, what's the economic impact of Wednesday's disaster? Art Rolnick, head of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, says it's too early to tell. "Things like this are difficult to put into the big picture," Rolnick says. But there are some things to consider.

For example, Rolnick says there's a price to pay for cutting back on public roads, sewers, schools and the like. "What this says is that the city, state and the country should worry about investing in infrastructure," Rolnick says. "Have we shortchanged investment in infrastructure?"

An immediate cause-and-effect Rolnick points to is the obvious commuter problems that are coming with the bridge being out. "I'm looking out my window at the 3rd Avenue Bridge right now, and it's bumper-to-bumper in the middle of the day, something I've never seen before," Rolnick says. "Are people going to be able to get in and out of downtown to work? Are companies going to go to flex hours? These are things that add up."

Rolnick also warns that trucks and freight on I-35 will still come through the Twin Cities, of course, but will be diverted: "And that's an issue of paying for more time on the road, an added expense." And he points to the traffic and commerce that normally flow up and down the river.

"From a local angle, this is a bill that's going to have to get paid," Rolnick warns, "And a lot of the fees are hidden."

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at August 3, 2007 12:20 PM | Comments (0)

 

Bridge hero Shanna Hanson

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