BY WIZARD MARKS, FROM THE MINNEAPOLIS ISSUES LIST Lake Street is always changing, it’s axiomatic. Sometimes the changes are great, sometimes not so great, but sometimes just hard to deal with. One such is Jeremiah Collins who, in 1953, after coming home from the Korean War, established Portland Lake Motors.…

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BY POLLY MANN As March rolls around people’s thoughts turn to taxes and they begin to question how they’re being used. If Americans improved their prison system they could reduce the prison population and reduce their taxes. The American incarceration rate is the highest in the world at over 714…

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BY ED FELIEN For a couple of hours on Thursday, Dec. 3, a revolutionary act by a hundred or more brave souls was being televised live. It was thrilling. They began at the Burger King restaurant at 34th and Nicollet with a demonstration calling attention to the need to raise…

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BY ED FELIEN On Monday evening, Nov. 24, the week of Thanksgiving, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney released the findings of the grand jury in the case of Officer Darren Wilson’s shooting and killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. As expected, the grand jury chose not to indict…

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This case [protesters hit by a car] continues to bother me, since it has such huge implications on the role of the police in our government, the rights of legal protest, the separation of powers and (yes) the working conditions of many, many honest police officers. If no legal action…

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BY ED FELIEN The public attack on Mayor Hodges by John Delmonico of the Minneapolis Police Federation, in crudely trying to associate her with gang members in what became known as Pointergate, has backfired big time. It quickly became a national joke, but it laid bare the antagonism between the…

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BY ED FELIEN Late in November, just before Thanksgiving, Abdullahi ali Anshur was murdered by al Shabaab in Mogadishu. In what must have been a planned execution, they stopped his car and sprayed it with bullets. Anshur was a Somali engineer who returned to help reconstruct his homeland. In Minnesota…

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BY CARLA WALDEMAR Spill the Wine 901 W. Lake St. 612-339-3388 www.spillthewinempls.com Spill the wine? Sure, I’ve been known to—but here, It’s. Not. My. Fault.  The name of the Lake Street bistro seems to stand, not for my challenged balance, but the outlook of the venue: It’s to drink, casually,…

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BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The days grow shorter as they grow colder, and then, one or two days in December, the sun seems to stand still at its farthest point. For a few days, it seems that the days are not getting any shorter, but neither are they getting longer,…

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Photo by Farley Andrews BY ELAINE KLAASSEN One day I sat down to write in my journal. I typed the date and then the year— 2914. I looked at the year a couple of times and thought, “That doesn’t look right.” Finally I grasped that it was 900 years from…

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BY ED FELIEN The Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) will host a Town Hall meeting on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m. at the Keewaydin School cafeteria. From the NENA Board to Southside Pride:  “At the meeting on Dec.11, the current board intends to fill the eight existing vacancies.  The…

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BY ED FELIEN Last month the Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association published its Strategic Plan.  Working with Aurora Consulting they came up with a four part plan describing values and focuses for the next few years. They want to Facilitate Community Engagement; Foster Community Development; Embrace Leadership; and Stimulate Economic Development.…

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BY JOHN KARRIGAN So much for my Bald Eagle excitement last month. Last year I saw one or more Bald Eagles in the park almost every day in late fall before the lake froze. This year my Oct. 27 eagle sighting was my only perched-on-a-tree-in-the-park sighting. A few other people…

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BY ED FELIEN Liberals and progressives were disappointed Tuesday, Nov. 4, with the loss of the U.S. Senate and the loss of the Minnesota State House to Republic-ans.  Dayton and Franken won easily, but the national losses cast a long shadow.  It looks like Republican gridlock and handouts to fat…

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