BY ELAINE KLAASSEN Instead of spending their day-off on desperately needed rest and self-care, Twin Cities nurses staged an informational picket in front of United Hospital in St. Paul, demanding “nurse protections” and protesting “United’s retaliation against workers for trying to protect themselves from the COVID-19 virus.” In the early…
In spite of significant public opposition, and amid growing concerns surrounding the short and long-term impacts of COVID-19, six members of the nine-member Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board voted to approve an expensive, confusing, and controversial Comprehensive District Design Plan (CDD) on Tuesday evening, May 12. Full implementation of the…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD Many hoped that our city’s 2040 Plan would be a solution to our affordable housing crisis, the idea being that an increase in housing stock would drive down prices through the market pressures of supply and demand. In the wake of this global pandemic, any weakness in…
BY ED FELIEN On April 29, the Minneapolis City Council agreed to begin paying out more than a million dollars to stop the civil trial of Officer Lucas Peterson, charged with the wrongful death of Terrance Franklin. I couldn’t resist writing to the Council: “Your refusal to hold Lucas Peterson…
BY ED FELIEN If you read (and, you’re reading this) you probably spend a lot of time on the internet these days. There’s a lot of wonderful stuff out there. Here are some things I found recently … But first, what is it you miss most about social isolation? Isn’t…
BY TONY BOUZA It is a bromide and cliché that crises present opportunities—but these are honored mostly in being ignored. The comfortable status quo. The public understands and supports drastic action in a pandemic. The MPD could abandon two-person squads and answer twice the 911 calls—even with a virus-ravaged force.…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN What happens to a child who has been on his own in the world since the age of 5—in the midst of an African civil war? What does he learn? How does he see the world? How does he heal himself from indescribable horrors? Paul Deng Kur,…
Imprisonment I’m fascinated with jails. I certainly don’t want to be in jail and I must say that my reaction when I was once jailed was far from fascination. At that time, it was wishing that the other inmates would stop talking so loud, depriving me of sleep. It was…
BY SHAWNE FITZGERALD Longtime South Minneapolis activists Dick and Dorothy Pitheon died this past month. Dick was 87 and Dorothy, 82. Dick was a lifelong Powderhorn resident, and Dorothy, a Faribault native, came to Powderhorn when she was 16 to attend Holy Angels. Dick was a graduate of Holy Name…
BY KATHRYN KELLY The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) latest Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan is another example of pie-in-the-sky ideas with little ability to pay for them. And it lacks answers for many of the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) requests. And, since the CAC has been disbanded by…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE What do an instructor from a technical college, a pair of socially conscious small businesses, and a robotics class from a suburban high school have in common? They are all providing creative solutions to the problem of shortages of PPE (personal protective equipment) to healthcare and…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN During this period of time when most of us are not anywhere near the coronavirus, yet closer than we think, we are watching and waiting and wishing the best for our family, friends and neighbors. Finding ways to get through the gloom and worry of this time,…
In-depth news about the California fires I find that in order to understand the news behind the news, I usually have to seek sources beyond the usual sources; mainstream media too often glosses over information vital for real understanding. The recent fires in California are an example. In November 2018,…
The mourning of Mother Earth You, unfeeling creatures Who call yourselves human, You, fleeting bubbles of reason, Accidental parasites of time, You, filthy microbes of cancer, Ephemera of invincible eternity, You, who try to fill your vanity With abominable crimes, You, insensible butchers of animals, Notorious destroyers of pastures, You,…
BY ED FELIEN April. “When April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flowers.” —Chaucer “April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead…
