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…
BY ED FELIEN Do you want your City Council member to listen to you? The best way to get your council member’s attention is to be a DFL delegate. They need your vote for their endorsement. Anyone can be a DFL delegate, just sign up. You can apply to be a ward…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE By the time you read this, Eat Street Crossing should actually be open. I have mentioned it before, and it’s been actively under development (and construction) since last summer. There is a grand opening advertised for Saturday, March 4. If you like either Bebe Zito or…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Arts and creativity camps ArtStart (artstart.org) is an innovative arts nonprofit in St. Paul that combines artmaking with art appreciation, cultural studies, history and – recycling? (See ArtScraps on their website.) Registration is open now for summer programs, which center on studying and being inspired by…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Unlike most of my peer group, I did not grow up with pets to a large degree. My mother was afraid of dogs, and she believed that cats and dogs were both, along with every other type of non-human animal, filthy and unlovable. Although fortunately I…
BY STEPHANIE FOX The latest production at the Children’s Theatre is “Locomotion,” a story about an 11-year-old Black boy, Lonnie, who is coping with loss and upheaval in his life. The story shifts back and forth between the present and Lonnie’s memories, both good and bad. He is living in…
Journal entry on CaringBridge by Connie John (Polly’s daughter)— Jan. 19, 2023 It is just over a week ago that I woke up about 4 a.m. and heard Mom wheezing. I got up to see how she was doing. Mostly after the stroke when she could not be trusted to…
BY LYDIA HOWELL The world generates 400 million metric tons of plastic waste every year, according to a United Nations report. Hennepin County is signing up community partners and individuals for their February Plastic-Free Challenge, with plenty of practical information to help you choose changes in your everyday life. Where…
BY CAM GORDON The future of Hiawatha Golf Course took an interesting turn this January when the city’s Historic Preservation Commission and the Park Board weighed in on its past. Both formally responded to a nomination submitted last year to add the golf course to the National Register of Historic…
I read Cam Gordon’s take on rent “control” [“Competing options for rent control,” Jan. 2, 2023]. Now I have more questions than I did prior to reading it. The options Cam wrote about are vague; they contain no specific examples of how an option would affect renters and developers/owners. Wouldn’t…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings and closings Here is a rapid list of closings, far from comprehensive, but the ones I think you might most care about: Khyber Pass, Stella’s Fish Cafe, Red Stag Supperclub, Common Roots and Bad Waitress. Openings have been slightly more numerous. Again, I won’t even…
BY ED FELIEN Tulsi Gabbard Did you see Tulsi Gabbard’s takedown of George Santos, the pathological liar and newly elected congressman from Long Island, on Fox News? Tulsi is a lot more complicated and harder to figure out than most of the noise on Fox. Her anti-war votes and speeches against the…
