BY ED FELIEN The name Ukraine probably comes from the Slavic language, meaning borderland. Greek and Roman historians write about Slavic peoples growing wheat and riding horses across the wide steppe or prairie. The Eurasian Steppe reached from Ukraine to northern China. It was a wide highway and open invitation for the…
BY ED FELIEN On March 7, the city of Minneapolis released an 86-page study of the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd. The study says what most government studies say: we need more studies and we need more bureaucracy. It’s called, “Protecting What Matters,” and it seems that what…
BY CAM GORDON The struggle for racial equity within our city government has suffered another setback. As of March 13, Tyeastia Green, the director of the recently elevated Department of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, no longer works for the city of Minneapolis. In a memo-style report that she sent…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The ongoing fight against fracking, pipelines and all extractive industries We lost the battle if not the war on Line 3. It’s done, it’s dusted and it’s leaking into groundwater even as you read this. (See tinyurl.com/55mjebse for reporting on the 153 cases of pollution control…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Lake Street rebuilding and revival Spring is a good time to talk about Lake Street. Lake Street started rebuilding in the midst of the pandemic from the destruction wrought by the anger unleashed in the George Floyd uprising. But it was slow at first. It’s stronger…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Spring 2023 dawns on a reinvigorated Chicago Avenue at 48th Street and the southward stretch. There are a couple of new incoming businesses, there are some longtime stalwarts thriving once again, there is a lively sidewalk culture, and there’s even a new transit option from Metro…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Is Uptown … political? There are several different takes on what’s going on with Uptown and Hennepin Avenue south of downtown. Psychically, Hennepin seems to lie upon a political fault line in Minneapolis. Or that’s what you might think if you read Minneapolis “Left” Twitter (which,…
BY DAVID TILSEN Ray St. Louis died in hospice on March 12, 2023. He had not been living in Minneapolis for decades, and had only visited when the Minnesota Renaissance Festival was in town. In spite of that, his work and creativity has made an impact on our South Minneapolis…
BY ED FELIEN DFL ward conventions are coming up at the end of April and the last half of May. The Ward 2 convention will be on April 30. It will be a virtual convention. According to the Minneapolis DFL, “no known candidate is seeking the DFL endorsement.” Robin Wonsley is seeking re-election. She…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings All things old shall be made new again! Leading the Openings and Closings is a Return. The Seward Cafe held an event to announce their relaunch on Tuesday, March 14. I had to go to a caucus that night, but I managed to…
By Ed Felien The Mayor, the Police Commissioner, the Chief have to realize they will never regain the trust and respect of the community until they hold police officers accountable for crimes against our community. In the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Terrance Franklin, Mike Padden proved…
BY TONY BOUZA I served as an expert witness in police cases all over the country for about 20 years and wrote a book about it. A lawyer would call, describe a case, and I’d ask questions. If I liked it I’d ask for relevant documents—upon which I’d predicate my decision…
BY ED FELIEN I think Tony Bouza is correct to begin his analysis of the Terrance Franklin homicide with an account of Franklin’s encounter with police Sgt. Katherine Smulski. Smulski heard a burglary suspect had returned to the Greenleaf apartment building on Lyndale Avenue South. The apartment’s security camera footage shows…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We published each of 2022’s Education supplements on a sort of a cliffhanger. In early March we were in the pre-strike cooling-off period for a historic strike that took place the next week. In October, it was a month until an election that would bring five…
BY CAM GORDON County’s new Zero Waste Plan could end garbage burning downtown Once again, people are organizing to shut down Hennepin County’s downtown garbage burner. The burner, known as the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC), has been fraught with controversy since before it opened in 1989. “Communities have been…
