Burn, Baby, Burn

BY LARA NORKUS-CRAMPTON A recent report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) makes a strong case that much more municipal solid waste could be recycled and composted. Commissioner John Stine made eloquent statements about the quantity of recyclable and compostable materials that were being inappropriately shipped to landfills. Not…

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Southside resident commits to planet preservation

BY AMY BLUMENSHINE “I’m a secret agent for Mother Earth.” So proclaims the T-shirt given me by Powerfully Green, my solar panel installer. The 36 new electricity-generating panels themselves are no secret—quite visible on my roof. (“They look sexy,” says my neighbor.) I do admit to some secret satisfaction, however,…

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St. Cloud State: Why do so few Black students graduate?

BY MYRLE B. COOPER, RETIRED SCSU FACULTY MEMBER Earthbound Media Group was employed by St. Cloud State University (SCSU). The Lakota Group was hired by City Hall. Both public relations firms are desperately diverting attention from St. Cloud’s reputation as Minnesota’s bastion of racism. Despite campus and community efforts to hide…

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‘A good man with a gun’

BY ED FELIEN “The only thing that stops a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun.” —Wayne Lapierre, National Rifle Association Paul Anthony Ciancia believed he was that good man. He believed he was a warrior against the traitors who were taking over our government,…

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Queen of Cuisine “Grand slam dining”

BY CARLA WALDEMAR Borough 730 Washington Ave. N. 612-387-1613 Think it’s the ballpark driving the hordes to downtown’s newly-flamin’ Warehouse North? Nah—it’s Borough. Far easier to hit a home run on Target Field than in the food biz, where competition’s lethal and fans as fickle as the Minnesota weather. Yet,…

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’Tis the Season

BY DOMINICK BOUZA It seems like every year someone prints a story about the Salvation Army’s disagreement with gays, lesbians, transgender folks and others who live “alternative” lifestyles. Last year, an Australian Salvationist and Major within the hierarchal structure of the Salvation Army said on a radio show that gay…

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Vikings referendum denied

BY ED FELIEN On Nov. 13, Judge Phillip D. Bush signed an order dismissing the Petition for a Writ of Mandamus in Mann vs. Minneapolis City Council that would have required a citywide referendum on whether the city should contribute more than $150 million to the construction of a new…

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How did they kill Terrance Franklin?

The 228-page police report of the killing of Terrance Franklin has contradictions and inconsistencies that should have set off alarms for Police Chief Janee Harteau, Mayor Rybak, County Attorney Mike Freeman and Minneapolis City Council Chair of the Public Safety Committee Don Samuels. There are clear and arrogant admissions of…

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A novel approach to increased police accountability

BY ERIC SCHILTZ, PROJECT MANAGER, COMMITTEE FOR PROFESSIONAL POLICING High profile cases of police misconduct have crowded the news over the past few years. This is not surprising; the City of Minneapolis has paid out roughly $20 million over the last seven years for police brutality and misconduct claims. These payouts…

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SENA annual meeting

The Standish-Ericsson Neighborhood Association (SENA) will meet for its annual meeting on Wed., Nov. 13, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Lake Hiawatha Park building at 2701 E. 44th St. The agenda will be: 6:30–6:45: Pastries and coffee; 6:45–7: Introductions and recognitions; 7–7:30: What’s the Big Idea? Presentations; 7:30–7:45:…

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Minneapolis elections 2013 – how did we do?

BY DEB KEEFER RAMAGE Dave and Barb Tilsen and five other friends joined me at the Northbound Smokehouse Brewpub for an election post-mortem and to await the arrival of the Andrew Johnson campaign’s post-election gathering. We were all antsy until about 8:30, when results began to come in on our…

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Young and black and dealing crack

BY DWIGHT HOBBES A key component to the plague of crack cocaine is a complicated one. Black teens and young adults, by far mostly male, are on a conveyor belt to incarceration. Because they are black and because they sell crack. One observation is, well, if they weren’t breaking the…

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