BY POLLY MANN An independent board of scientists, the Science Advisory Board, has stated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should clarify why it claimed, in a landmark draft report on fracking, that there is a lack of evidence of its widespread impacts on water. The board said that it…

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BY POLLY MANN Puerto Rico is not exactly little. It actually has a very dense population of almost 4 million people on an island 100 miles long and 35 miles wide and is comparable in size to an American state. Right now it’s in deep economic disaster with a debt…

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BY ED FELIEN David Morton was the son of an art professor at the University of Minnesota.  He was one of three Minnesotans who went on the Freedom Rides in the South in 1961.  Since then he had dropped out—did psychedelics, didn’t have a straight job and grew his hair…

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BY ELAINE KLAASSEN A convent administered by las Hermanitas de los Pobres (the Little Sisters of the Poor) was built in the late 1800s among wheat fields, sheep and goats in Barcelona, Spain. Now it stands on a busy street next to the Plaza Tetuan.  It’s a place where nuns…

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BY ASHLEY FRAY “What are you?” This is a question I have been asked dozens of times. It has always been hard for me to form an answer. There was a period of time in the ’70s and ’80s when I believed the right answer was to just say,“I am…

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BY DEANNA BOSS After discovering a flood in my basement in June, and more water after each rainfall, I focused on finding a solution. Once I realized the problem could extend beyond my dwelling is when the real work began. Why is my basement taking in water when it never…

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BY ED FELIEN Our lovely summer flew by so quickly. The state fair is over.  Kids are back in school.  The first cool breezes remind us to close the windows and take in the air conditioner. This summer was hectic for me.  At my age, most of my summer is…

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BY ADAM M. SCHENCK “You can’t go home again,” goes the saying, but why? Because not only has the place changed, you’ve changed as well—and home no longer exists. That conflict is the source of all nostalgia, a word which derives from the Greek “nostos” (home) and “algos” (pain).  We…

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BY ADAM M. SCHENCK On the eighth floor of 528 Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis sits the Illusion Theater, home of the former Hennepin Center for the Arts. A trip up an elevator will place you in a space entirely dedicated to theater with an eye on personal and social…

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BY ADAM M. SCHENCK “Bars and Measures,” like the emotive Guthrie play “Disgraced,” takes as its theme the intersection of Islam, terrorism and our politics. The characters have their traits and flaws: Bilal (Ansa Akyea) is a hotheaded convert to Islam and a talented jazz bassist. His younger brother Eric…

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BY TONY BOUZA The NYPD I entered on 1/1/53 had a Police-woman’s Bureau (adopting the androgynous “police officer” came about 20 years later and the police union is still called “The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association” —a classic anachronism).  There were maybe 150 females in a department of over 20,000, and they…

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BY ED FELIEN Mayor Hodges is asking for a 5.5% increase in property taxes for more police: “The investments I make in public safety represent more than 70 percent of all the new ongoing investments that I propose for next year.” She’s asking for $1,305,000 to hire 15 new officers…

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BY JOHN KARRIGAN Things are still not good in the park but I will try to find some good things. After a long absence of American Goldfinches in the park, I saw one pair on the lakeshore, on the southeast of the lake about 10 days ago. Today (Aug. 30)…

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BY CHRISTOPHER HARRISON ELDRIDGE Seven years ago the corner of 38th and Chicago was in a state of decay. Lots had been vacant and boarded for decades: few businesses; no community activity; no development.  In the words of Victoria Lauing, “There was a hunger for change.”  In response to that…

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BY ED FELIEN The City Council voted on Friday, Aug. 5, to deny petitions to allow us to vote on two proposals that would greatly benefit the public welfare. One proposal would have required Minneapolis police officers to carry insurance so the city wouldn’t have to pay out damages when…

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