BY ED FELIEN What follows is a discussion/debate between Dave Gutknecht and me about the Ukraine war. Dave was one of the first martyrs of the draft resistance movement in the 1970s in reaction to the war in Vietnam. He served two years in federal prison as a conscientious objector…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I’ve known Sam for almost three years now. Even though electoral organizing is not my favorite thing or my highest priority, I thought his (and others) idea to start a Democratic Socialist Caucus (DSC) within the DFL was a good one, and I’ve been involved with…
BY ED FELIEN Summer is the time for reunions: for families, for high school and college graduates, and for prisoners released from prison for criminal political acts. Fifty years ago, the Minnesota Eight were released from prison for attempting to break into Selective Service offices and destroy draft card files…
BY CAM GORDON Hopes are high for a new report that centers on strengthening safety beyond policing efforts with attention to prevention and restorative as well as alternative responses to crime and violence. Released on July 13 following a city press conference called by Mayor Jacob Frey, the “Minneapolis Safe…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Art, movies, games and Korean fried chicken Grand Avenue in St. Paul is known for trendy bars, popular restaurants and upscale retail, as well as dignified old apartment buildings mixed in with the single-family homes and duplexes that predominate. But there are other, less-apparent gems, some…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE When is a park not a park? The other day I noticed, not for the first time, a little one-square-block park at 42nd and Bloomington called Bancroft Meadows. But when I looked it up on the Park Board site, it wasn’t listed. This puzzled me and…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Flowers, edibles, coffee shops and fun events, some free! The big news on Lyndale Avenue has been the gradual opening of Hi Flora!, a unique market and eatery that is vegan, alcohol-free, and optionally enhanced with THC. Before it was fully open, Hi Flora! was open…
BY STEPHANIE FOX Open Streets is a Minneapolis tradition, a series of summer street festivals where, for an afternoon, neighborhood thoroughfares are blocked off to motorized traffic and open for pedestrians, bikes, skaters and skateboarders (and dogs on leashes). Organized by Our Streets Minneapolis, Open Streets is a program of…
BY ED FELIEN I was standing right in the middle of it, and I still have no idea what happened. I was standing between Medea Benjamin and Kieran Knutson when Kieran snatched Medea’s phone. I was trying to keep them separate to prevent further violence. Then, Medea recruited Craig Wood…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We only have one closing to note – Foxy Falafel in St. Anthony Park. D’s Banh Mi really is open now, if by open you mean it’s possible to get food from them in some way. See the review below for more detail on the long,…
BY JOHNNY HAZARD Early in Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term as president, then-secretary of the environment Víctor Toledo worked on an ambitious agenda to prohibit the pesticide glyphosate (Roundup) and genetically-modified corn. This article will focus on the first of the two substances. Months earlier, López Obrador (AMLO) participated as…
BY ED FELIEN Secretary of State Blinken just got back from his visit with Xi Jinping and Chinese diplomats. He says the only issue dividing the two countries is that the U.S. wants closer military contacts to avoid a mistake that could lead to a catastrophe. That sounds so sensible,…
BY CAM GORDON On June 16, a quiet Friday afternoon before a three-day weekend, with little advance notice, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and other United States Justice Department staff held a press conference with city officials to announce the results of their two-year investigation into Minneapolis police and an…
A remembrance BY ED FELIEN I went to see him just before he died. He said, “The problem with dying is it takes too long. And it’s boring.” The first time I met Tony Bouza, he was chief of police. It was at a demonstration against Honeywell anti-personnel bombs used…
BY TONY BOUZA A TV crew traveled all the way from Paris, France, to interview me for over an hour about Malcolm X, who was killed in February 1965. Huh? How can this be relevant? I’m not sure but it is somehow contemporaneously relevant. I struggled with the question and finally…
