Thoughts on environmental racism for Earth Day 2023

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The ongoing fight against fracking, pipelines and all extractive industries We lost the battle if not the war on Line 3. It’s done, it’s dusted and it’s leaking into groundwater even as you read this. (See tinyurl.com/55mjebse for reporting on the 153 cases of pollution control…

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Spring on Lake Street

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Lake Street rebuilding and revival Spring is a good time to talk about Lake Street. Lake Street started rebuilding in the midst of the pandemic from the destruction wrought by the anger unleashed in the George Floyd uprising. But it was slow at first. It’s stronger…

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Spring on Chicago Avenue and 48th Street

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Spring 2023 dawns on a reinvigorated Chicago Avenue at 48th Street and the southward stretch. There are a couple of new incoming businesses, there are some longtime stalwarts thriving once again, there is a lively sidewalk culture, and there’s even a new transit option from Metro…

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Spring on Hennepin Avenue

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Is Uptown … political? There are several different takes on what’s going on with Uptown and Hennepin Avenue south of downtown. Psychically, Hennepin seems to lie upon a political fault line in Minneapolis. Or that’s what you might think if you read Minneapolis “Left” Twitter (which,…

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Restorative justice report

BY KAY SCHROVEN In 2022 the Public Safety Committee of the Minneapolis DFL Senior Caucus prepared a report on improving policing in Minneapolis (adopted 7/12/22). Below are some of the highlights. The first observation was that reviewing one system isn’t enough. Review was needed for all of the interconnecting systems…

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Remembering Ray St. Louis, 1949 – 2023

BY DAVID TILSEN Ray St. Louis died in hospice on March 12, 2023.  He had not been living in Minneapolis for decades, and had only visited when the Minnesota Renaissance Festival was in town. In spite of that, his work and creativity has made an impact on our South Minneapolis…

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Ward conventions and candidate questionnaire

BY ED FELIEN DFL ward conventions are coming up at the end of April and the last half of May. The Ward 2 convention will be on April 30.  It will be a virtual convention.  According to the Minneapolis DFL, “no known candidate is seeking the DFL endorsement.”  Robin Wonsley is seeking re-election.  She…

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No Justice, No Peace

By Ed Felien The Mayor, the Police Commissioner, the Chief have to realize they will never regain the trust and respect of the community until they hold police officers accountable for crimes against our community. In the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Terrance Franklin, Mike Padden proved…

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‘I am Mookie’

BY KAY SCHROVEN “The shoot first, think later approach to policing needs to stop.” – Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Before George Floyd, before Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and before body cameras were worn by the Minneapolis police, there was Terrance Franklin, aka Mookie. The case did not get…

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The Terrance Franklin case 

BY TONY BOUZA I served as an expert witness in police cases all over the country for about 20 years and wrote a book about it. A lawyer would call, describe a case, and I’d ask questions.  If I liked it I’d ask for relevant documents—upon which I’d predicate my decision…

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Felien contra Bouza 

BY ED FELIEN I think Tony Bouza is correct to begin his analysis of the Terrance Franklin homicide with an account of Franklin’s encounter with police Sgt. Katherine Smulski.  Smulski heard a burglary suspect had returned to the Greenleaf apartment building on Lyndale Avenue South.  The apartment’s security camera footage shows…

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Ups and downs in public education outlook

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE We published each of 2022’s Education supplements on a sort of a cliffhanger. In early March we were in the pre-strike cooling-off period for a historic strike that took place the next week. In October, it was a month until an election that would bring five…

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