Earth Day 2024

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE How do you ‘celebrate?’ There are two major ways to relate to Earth Day, among those who are not climate-deniers or otherwise pooh-pooh the whole idea. One way is more for people who are broadly supportive of green solutions, climate concerns, voluntarism, and the environmental movement…

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Spring on East Lake Street

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Where the action is (mostly) these days Quietly, but there if you look for it, a lot of new places have come into being in the stretch of East Lake Street from Minnehaha Avenue to the Mississippi River. One big project that is not open yet…

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Spring on 48th and Chicago

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis is an interesting street filled with loads of interesting places. We’re focusing right now on the section that goes from 46th Street south to the Richfield border. This is a stretch that’s a little more than half residential, especially toward the…

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Spring on Hennepin Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The decline and fall The big debate in local media is, “Is Uptown dead and if so, whose fault is it, and why are they not getting as much help as downtown?” OK, technically that’s three debates. But only if the answer to the first one…

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Ilhan Omar community meeting

BY CLINT COMBS Rep. Ilhan Omar feels nostalgic about her time as a state representative. Congress is passing continued resolutions just to avoid a government shutdown. These continued resolutions, long-form for C.R.s, are not even adjusted for inflation. “We’ve seen an extreme challenge in passing our funding bills. It’s been…

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Make corporate medical insurance conglomerates accountable

BY DIANE J. PETERSON AND JOHN KOLSTAD April 15 is our all-American date for financial accountability on our taxable income. Therefore, this is an appropriate time to consider the Minnesota corporations that are evading similar accountability. The IRS requires documented proof of our personal income and expenses. Currently the state…

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Save downtown by drinking there

BY JACKSON O’BRIEN This March, the citizens of Minneapolis were hit with a one-two punch of bad news. First, the city announced that, for the first time in a decade, property values have fallen. The majority of this fall came from declining values in downtown office buildings, as it’s become…

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PASSING: Robert Millard Baum

Robert Millard Baum Robert Millard Baum passed peacefully on the day of his birth, March 6, 2024 at Good Samaritan Society in Maplewood, Minnnesota. He is survived by his beloved wife of 58 years Heather, daughters Jennifer Kenna (Ron) and Jessica Baum, two grandchildren Nicholas and Bianca Kenna. Sisters Nancy…

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‘Babble Lab’ – a celebration of the curious spirit

BY KAY SCHROVEN In “Babble Lab,” the Children Theatre Company’s new play running now through April 14, letters become characters and take over the Babble Lab! The Scientist whose experiment goes wrong, played by writer and actress Autumn Ness, can’t control them. They bounce, pop, fly, crawl, spring and leap.…

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Trash into treasure

BY STEPHANIE FOX Most people in Minneapolis know that those blue trash bins, the ones next to the gray garbage cans, are the place to toss recyclables. The trucks come by every two weeks, some with side-loading mechanical arms and others with two-member teams with a driver and a worker…

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Future density! Farewell, neighborhoods?

BY PERRY THORVIG Over the last 20 years, Southsiders have seen the massive rebuilding of the Hiawatha corridor. New apartment buildings have been appropriately located along the light rail corridor. Mixed use in the form of a major brand grocery store has also been included in the rebuild of one…

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Hodan Hassan is not running for re-election

BY ED FELIEN Hodan Hassan was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2018, and she’s been re-elected ever since. She and Rep. Aisha Gomez have introduced a bill in this session of the Legislature to spend $10 million on construction of the Neighborhood Development Center on Lake…

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