The widespread influence of the Koch brothers Without question the Koch brothers, David and Charles, exert more influence over legislation—both federal and state—than any other entities in this country. Rock-ribbed conservatives, they are the protectors of corporate power. Their dollars support the removal of a ban on flavored tobacco. a…
BY ED FELIEN Halfway through my two-year term as City Council member I had to start running for re-election, and I was so obtuse I didn’t realize I’d made just about everybody mad at me. Good friends of mine who had started the co-ops were now Maoists and members of…
BY ED FELIEN On Saturday afternoon, June 23, around 5 o’clock, Thurman Blevins was walking with his girlfriend. There was a baby stroller and a baby nearby. Witnesses say Blevins was drinking Amsterdam Vodka out of a bottle. Officers Justin Schmidt and Ryan Kelly pulled up in their squad car…
BY TONY BOUZA Whenever the Chief’s coffee grows cold and the last bite of the doughnut is taken, a light flashes and a voice whispers, “More cops.” That is the mantra. They will control crime and improve community relations. What tripe. It is nothing short of a scam—or, better yet,…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Open Streets Lake-Minnehaha is happening again this year. The date is Sunday, July 22, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The route is roughly the same as last year: East Lake Street from Elliot Avenue to Minnehaha Avenue, then southeast on Minnehaha to the entrance to…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN If I were to rank different activities in the order of physical difficulty, that is, the amount of effort required, from the most difficult to the easiest, it would look like this: 1) giving birth 2) emerging from the ocean not having drowned 3) playing Chopin Etudes…
BY ED FELIEN The Park Board can stop the flooding of basements in South Minneapolis and the flooding of the Hiawatha Golf Course, and it won’t cost taxpayers a dime. The flooding is caused by the dam/weir at 27th Avenue at the outlet of Lake Hiawatha. It backs up about…
BY TONY BOUZA The prosecution of Justine Damond’s killer will start soon and end badly. Kibbitzing comes naturally to dumb onlookers like me. Getting a jury to convict is gonna be a hard—maybe impossible—sell. After all, the shooter is their protector. He stands between the juror and them, and we…
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…
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…
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…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The month of May was not very merry, but there was a lot of radical stuff. On May 2 through 4, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief came through town on its disaster relief training tour. The Northland Health Collective helped pre-arrange the venues for the workshops. There…
False arrest and imprisonment creates criminal record The so-called criminal action involving the son of the wonderful woman who weekly cleans my apartment just got out of jail. (We’ll call him Eugene.) He’s about 30 years old and was working as a waiter in North Minneapolis. He’s soft-spoken and smiles…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE K-Bop Korean Bistro 425 13th Ave. SE, Mpls. 55414 612-331-4993 k-bop.com K Bop is a casual “Korean bistro” in Dinkytown, in the ground floor anchor spot of the Chateau apartment building on 13th Avenue. It’s more designed for foot and bicycle traffic, and not surprisingly, given…
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…
