BY ED FELIEN People are complaining of a smell coming from deals being made at the Park Board. Park Board President Brad Bourn appointed his best campaign worker, Kendall Killian, to a $114,000 a year consulting contract. They broke the contract into six-month periods, so it didn’t need board approval…
Forgotten victims of war Recently I read a newspaper article about the so-called “comfort women” of World War II and it reminded me of my visit with several of these women years ago. Marianne Hamilton and I were in the Philippines protesting something or the other that Bill Clinton had…
COMPILED BY ELAINE KLAASSEN According to treehuggers.com, “Icelanders have a beautiful tradition of giving books to each other on Christmas Eve and then spending the night reading. This custom is so deeply ingrained in the culture that it is the reason for the Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas Book Flood,” when the…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Maybe it’s because of the ghosts in “A Christmas Carol,” or maybe it’s my majority Irish heritage, or maybe it’s just the natural feeling that comes around with all the sacred holidays, the longing for light’s returning, the pull of reuniting with family, but I can’t…
BY ED FELIEN The Park Board continues to threaten to flood the Hiawatha Golf Course. They want to reduce pumping groundwater out of the golf course into Lake Hiawatha. The golf course in some spots is 2 feet below the water level of the lake. The water level is 2…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Sunday night, Dec. 9, I went out into the cold dark night to witness wonderful collaborations—people creating art moments together—at Pillsbury House Theatre, 35th and Chicago. Children in the after-school program there had paired up with professional volunteer performers, playwrights and directors to create the little 10-minute…
BY ED FELIEN Why did the cops have to kill Travis Jordan? They were called to a mental health crisis—a man was depressed. He was talking about taking his life. The cops arrive. He comes out to his front yard. The cops say he had a knife. So, they shot…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN My friend Alex Chandler, who describes herself as a person with a passion for making the world a better place, is part of the ethical consumer movement. She looks for “companies that are committed to Fair Trade and environmentally-friendly practices, treat their employees well, and do not…
BY ED FELIEN Hi Bob, Did you see the latest issue of Southside Pride with your picture on the cover? Was it a fair representation of your ideas? I’d like to take you up on your suggestion that we go over more carefully the police reports and evidence collected in…
BY ED FELIEN The following is my correspondence with Michael Schroeder, Assistant Superintendent for Planning: Hi Michael, In your Sept. 21 email, you said: “I have a meeting with MPRB staff next week to look into this further. I understand the boulders were placed to mitigate a head cut in…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We have a stunning lineup of interesting things to do or alternative ways to shop or give for the 2018 holiday season. In order to have enough space for all, not all details are given for all events. For well-known events and venues, almost no details;…
BY STEPHANIE FOX A few years ago, Roosevelt High School teacher Ben Rengstrof noticed that while classes offered by the Minneapolis School District focused primarily on getting students into college, programs in basic life skills were lacking. He had an interest in cooking—at the time, just a hobby—but decided that…
BY TONY BOUZA Great events cast their shadows before them. Minneapolis is heading for a reckoning likely to affect every person in the city. The Justine Damond killing, in July 2017, will likely result in a settlement costing citizens three dollars each for every million. The lawyer for the family…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The most nail-biting local race was Keith Ellison’s last-minute, quixotic run for Minnesota attorney general. He had an absolute safe seat in Congress, one of the safest, and was deputy chair of the DNC, a leader in the Progressive Caucus, and sponsor of the House version…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Seward Neighborhood has written an intriguing book about its own history. The project has involved a “cast of thousands,” and took seven years to complete. Its 19 chapters start before the arrival, in 1850, of the first non-Natives who built homes and settled, and end in the…
