Is there a hydrologist in the house?

BY DEANNA BOSS I live across the street from Lake Nokomis on the west side. This past month I’ve dealt with three episodes of water in my previously dry basement. I couldn’t determine the source of the problem since the obvious causes (clogged gutters, faulty landscaping, roof damage, defective water…

Continue reading

FROM WHERE I STAND: Reform the criminal justice system

BY POLLY MANN Once again, the United States tops the list. Its incarceration rate is now more than four times the world’s average with about 2.2 million people in prisons and jails. Economists Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action…

Continue reading

FROM WHERE I STAND: How the wealthy burden the poor

BY POLLY MANN The headline of the three-page Dec. 30 New York Times article (large pertinent snaphots included) was “By Molding Tax System, Wealthiest Save Billions.” Yes, indeed, they molded. They’ve been using their influence to “steadily whittle away at the government’s ability to tax them.” The details, no doubt,…

Continue reading

Neighboring city is a rich field for artists

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The Richfield Historical Society has a motto on its website home page—Proudly Suburban since 1854. The 1854 part refers to the fact that Richfield claims to be Minnesota’s oldest suburb. The “Proudly” part indirectly references the fact that suburban had become something to be slightly ashamed…

Continue reading

Water rising

BY ED FELIEN Over the years the water table in the neighborhoods around Lake Hiawatha and Lake Nokomis has risen because of silt brought downstream in Minnehaha Creek.  The depth of Lake Hiawatha when it was dredged by Theodore Wirth in 1929 was 33 feet.  Today, because of the accumulation…

Continue reading

Cedar Avenue’s West Bank performance spaces

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The northernmost part of Cedar Avenue vanishes into a small theater district. Three unique performance spaces in Minneapolis are there, two in Seven Corners, where Cedar Avenue actually terminates, and one a few blocks away. Just off Cedar in the other direction there is the U…

Continue reading

Who is ISIS?

BY ED FELIEN The ancient Egyptian goddess Isis is the mother of the Greek and Christian religions.   She begins the myths of the journey into the wilderness, the death and the resurrection. The ISIS of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq is really a secessionist movement of Sunni Arabs…

Continue reading