Summer on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue

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…

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Summer on Bloomington Avenue

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…

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Summer on Lyndale Avenue South

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…

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The Ukraine/Russia war: Where we are now

BY RICHARD TAYLOR Our aim is to understand Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces and how it might affect prospects for peace. To do so we need to know about goals, troop strength, weapons, strategy and tactics. What we can’t possibly grasp but must somehow sense is the tens of thousands…

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Medea melee concluded

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…

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Been thinking about Tony Bouza: Gay rights and Tony

BY PHIL WILLKIE Don Fraser picked an outsider to be chief of police. Before Fraser was elected mayor in November of 1979, Charlie Stenvig, head of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, had been elected mayor three times in the previous decade, running law-and-order campaigns. He was defeated twice, but…

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Why are we so mad at China?

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,…

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What about the homeless?

BY DOMINICK BOUZA On Nov. 19, 2022, I was video recording the encampment under the I-35W bridge on 31st Street while driving. Twelve tents or so lined both sidewalks. Lacking water or any amenity, the wind howling trough the underpass, this encampment was destined for disaster should a kerosene heater…

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After critical findings from DOJ, what should come next?

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…

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Rent control canceled by a minority on the City Council

BY JOE HESLA, TC-DSA RENT CONTROL WORK GROUP COCHAIR In a sneak attack, the conservative minority on the City Council killed the scheduled public hearing on rent control scheduled for Tuesday, July 25. While three of the Muslim council members were observing a religious holiday, the conservative minority had enough…

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