Who gets the vaccine?

BY ED FELIEN A concerned reader wrote, “Please urge more equitable distribution. Please cover this issue right away. White arms are being injected at a much higher rate than their percent of population.” Native Americans are 1.8 times more likely to get COVID-19 than white people. They are four times…

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It’s just a concept!

BY KATHRYN KELLY Taxpayers have now paid almost 1 million dollars for the Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan. When the Park Board is questioned about the viability of any feature of their plan, their response is, “It’s just a concept.” Well, I have to agree that it is truly a…

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Gimme shelter

KAY A. SCHROVEN In the late 1980s Erick Everson was hanging out in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis and was a frequent and friendly face at the Simpson Shelter. He battled mental illness. When Erick was doing well, he did odd jobs in the area such as helping out at…

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Cam Gordon convenes Housing Forum

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE The Ward 2 Housing Forum presented by City Council Member Cameron Gordon on Feb. 21 was attended by over 70 people. A lot of the attendees were landlords, mostly small scale. The Zoom meeting was hosted by Gordon’s policy aide, Robin Garwood. Co-presenters for the forum…

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City Council wants to change the MPD

BY STEPHANIE FOX Members of the City Council have been working since last summer to get a proposal on the city ballot that they hope will drastically reform the Minneapolis Police Department. Council members say that they envision a new Community Safety and Violence Prevention Department, which would include the…

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‘Unceasing Militant’

BY CAROL HOGARD “Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell” is the newly published biography by Dr. Alison M. Parker, department chair of American history at the University of Delaware. Dr. Parker has righted the historical record by this definitive work about one of the most important, but long…

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The legacy of Lisa Bender

BY ED FELIEN Lisa Bender changed the world. There probably has never been anyone in Minneapolis politics (with the possible exception of Hubert Humphrey) who has had such a profound impact on the city, the state and the country. She had a vision for the City of Minneapolis that she…

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Dying

BY TONY BOUZA One of my closest friends, Joe Selvaggio, (who is probably well known to you) has done more for poor people than anyone but Mary Jo Copeland. Joe is an ex-priest and has strayed. Today he wrestles with death and asked me to include this and respond: “The…

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Celebrating Valentine’s Day in the 2021 Weirds

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE 2020 is gone but the Weirds are definitely lingering on. As February rolls in and we congratulate ourselves on surviving the first full month of what could be another very stressful year, we acknowledge two things—one, we’re just past the one-year anniversary of the first publicized…

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