News Day

News with attitude: summaries, links to, and comments on reports from news media around the world, with particular attention to Minnesota news. Mary Turck writes the News Day blog on Wordpress.

 

Love it or list it? HGTV challenges for public schools

By Mary Turck, News Day

Imagine the public school system as a house, Mary Cecconi said. The house is not working for us. Do we move? Do we tear it down? Do we renovate? To me, that sounds a lot like Love It or List It?, the popular HGTV program in which interior designer Hilary tries to renovate a family's home to make it work for them, while real estate agent David tries to find and sell them a new home.

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What to do about moldy strawberries and slimy lettuce

By Mary Turck, News Day

Photo by misterbisson (Published under Creative Commons license) 

I hate throwing away food, but sometimes ...

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Mother's Day dinner, then and now

By Mary Turck, News Day

I remember when Mother's Day dinner for our very large family meant the A&W drive-in. Mother and Dad piled all of us in the station wagon and we feasted on California burgers and root beer.

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The elephant in higher education

By Mary Turck, News Day

Photo by Adam Groffman, used under Creative Commons license. 

There's a folk tale, variously attributed to India, China and Africa, about blind men describing an elephant. One feels the trunk and says the animal is like a snake.

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Land of 10,000 lakes — and not enough water

By Mary Turck, News Day

Think the end of the drought means no water problems? Think again. In lots of places, we are over-using groundwater, and the situation is getting worse by the year, if not by the month.

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Immigrant, labor marches on May 1 in St. Paul, Minneapolis

By Mary Turck, News Day

Photo from 2009 May Day march on Lake Street

Looks like there are two marches planned for International Workers Day (aka May Day) on May 1 in the Twin Cities.

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Race and stupidity

By Mary Turck, News Day

Most-read and most-commented articles this week focused on race, schools and politics. (Where's the stupidity? Wait for it ...)

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Readers respond: What (if anything) is wrong with Minnesota caucuses?

By Mary Turck, News Day

Readers REALLY didn't like the headline on Sheila Regan's column about her experience at a precinct caucus last week!

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Snow day — and you're talking about it

By Mary Turck, TC Daily Planet

Maybull in the snow (Photo by Stephanie Fox)

UPDATED 4/19, 8:30 a.m.: So it's snowing again.

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Out of school and out of luck

By Mary Turck, News Day

Chart from Out of School and Off Track: The overuse of suspensions in American middle and high schools

Get suspended in ninth grade, and your chances of dropping out of school double, according to MORE »