Legacy of Hope

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN I read FB posts too many times a day. I am shattered time and again by the evil afoot in our world. I despair. Then I remember my dear friend Rev. Harry Maghakian, who retired from pastoring Andrew Riverside Presbyterian Church a few years ago, and died…

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‘Not Guilty!’

BY AMY BLUMENSHINE Remember when the first Muslim travel ban abruptly and chaotically hit the airports? On January 29, 2017, many Southsiders were among those who flocked to MSP with the idea of trying to prevent harm to those caught in the confusion and to protest the president’s action. In…

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Minneapolis pushes for blanket upzonings

BY LARA NORKUS-CRAMPTON Look around and it is not hard to see that Minneapolis is being transformed—corridor by corridor, neighborhood by neighborhood. This is a stated goal of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. We are told that the special permits and upzonings to allow many of these oversized developments are necessary…

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Only on Franklin Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Franklin Avenue in the Seward neighborhood has so much to offer: one of the oldest worker-owned co-op restaurants in the world, a bookstore with bicycle delivery, a playwrights’ center, a Somali cafe, a sushi and karaoke bar. But this article is not about them. It’s about…

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Go-To cards?

We asked candidates for county commissioner for District 4: Should Hennepin County have outreach workers working on the street with the homeless, the unemployed begging at highway entrances, prostitutes and drug dealers? Peter McLaughlin was the only candidate who responded: “Yes, coupled with investments in housing with services to end…

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ELDERBERRY JAM: Who will serve on the School Board?

BY DAVE TILSEN We are electing School Board members this November: two citywide candidates and three in districts—two of these districts are Southsiders. Incumbents Nelsen Inz and Said Ali from the two Southside districts are currently unopposed DFL- and union-endorsed and seemed positioned to cruise to reelection. Opponents will likely…

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FINDING MY WAY: End of my rope

BY ASHLEY THE GREY As a former attorney, I have walked in powerful shoes. Gained respect by the mere title “Attorney at Law.” People wanted to know me. I was asked to sit on boards for nonprofits and odd museums. I had been taught that being a lawyer was the…

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Summer Song (love)

BY ELAINE KLAASSEN “I’m having an affair with a married man,” my friend Allie, who is a pillar of respectability, told me. “What???” I said. Of course I had to act surprised, but anybody who ever saw her and her husband together would NOT be surprised. Could they ever laugh…

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Minneapolis pushes for blanket upzonings

BY LARA NORKUS-CRAMPTON Look around and it is not hard to see that Minneapolis is being transformed—corridor by corridor, neighborhood by neighborhood. This is a stated goal of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. We are told that the special permits and upzonings to allow many of these oversized developments are necessary…

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The change we believe in on Nicollet Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE This is a somewhat different take on Nicollet Avenue, South. Last week, I visited the Butter Bakery Cafe at 3700 Nicollet Ave., the ground floor anchor of an apartment building. One of the first things I noticed was that the vestibule was full of flyers, ads…

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