Daily Planet Originals

Mad As Hell Doctors: Eliminate health insurance and everyone wins

By Kathlyn Stone, TC Daily Planet

Minnesota physicians Ann Settgast and Elizabeth Frost (foreground) of PNHP Minnesota, stand before the Mad As Hell Doctors panel. The raised index fingers signify support for single payer health care

Forty-five thousand Americans died last year from lack of health insurance. The average physician devotes $85,000 a year on processing paperwork for a multitude of companies handling their patients' insurance plans.  The World Health Organization several years ago ranked the United States 37th in health outcomes, yet the country spends twice as much on health care than any other industrialized nation. Pharmaceutical companies spend $71 billion on marketing but just $23 billion on research and development. Black men in some U.S. cities have a life expectancy on par with Bangladesh.

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Flowers, trees and taxes in St. Paul's Highland Nursery

By Art Hughes, TC Daily Planet

After more than a year of fighting tax collectors and worrying she may be forced out of business, Sue Hustings is finally allowing herself some optimism. The owner of St. Paul's iconic Highland Nursery-an oasis of flowers, vibrant foliage and artful garden sculptures on West Seventh Street-estimated her 63-year-old business would have to call it quits after next summer because of escalating property taxes. The final outcome is far from certain, but Hustings now says she has some renewed hope after reaching the ear of at least one St. Paul city councilmember in an ongoing struggle over how to define the best use of the approximately 1.6 acres of land the nursery currently occupies. 

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Arts Orbit Radar: 9/16/09

By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

Just another St. Paul story. Photo by Joshua Treviño (Creative Commons).

What's Happening This Week

Thursday, September 17

On the radar: After Jon Ferguson's being named director of the Southern's theater lineup, followed by his tightly-choreographed take on Animal Farm, it seemed like he couldn't become any more the It Man of local theater...and then his Fringe show sold 108% of its available seats. Tonight his new production, Super Monkey, opens at the Guthrie. It's in the Dowling Studio, not the Wurtele Thrust, but I have a feeling he's going to get there eventually.

Under the radar: All year long you've been reading the fascinating essays from the St. Paul Almanac in the Daily Planet, and now it's time to welcome a new edition of the annual guide to all things Pig's Eye. The release party takes place tonight at the Black Dog.

Friday, September 18

On the radar: The Walker's Coen Brothers retrospective begins tonight with a screening of the Minnesota-bred filmmakers' 1984 debut Blood Simple. Then, at the 501 Club, Unknown Prophets, Mayda, Josie from Tendercakes, and DJ Fundamentalist throw down in celebration of the first anniversary of the very newsletter you're reading right now! And it's free! Heyo!

Under the radar: Two weekend-long community arts celebrations kick off today: the West Bank Revival music festival and the Twin Cities Black Film Festival.

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"Celebrate all the time": Front Porch Sitters launch a West Bank Revival

By Cyn Collins, TC Daily Planet

Pop Wagner. Photo by Mel Floyd.

Revel in the revival of the West Bank music scene with several great local musicians, legendary from the 1960s on, and the young acts they continue to inspire. For two music-filled days, September 18 and 19, Front Porch Sitters host the first West Bank Revival in celebration of the Twin Cities' great local music scene.

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MOVIES | The Coen Brothers' "Hudsucker Proxy": A gleaming machine without a heart

By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

In the climactic scene of Joel and Ethan Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), fat white CinemaScope snowflakes fall among impossibly tall skyscrapers.

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Celebrating Polish culture in the Twin Cities

By Trang Do, TC Daily Planet

Photos from Twin Cities Polish Festival, all photos by Trang Do.

This year's Twin Cities Polish Festival was held August 15-16 at St. Anthony Main.

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I do believe, I do believe, I do believe!

by Jean Gabler | 9/17/09 • Since I have been writing this blog, the question I always get is how I came to love baseball as much as I do. I always answer that question by saying that I just always have. I grew up surrounded by baseball in New Ulm, Minnesota. Every Sunday we would be at a Tomahawk League game in some small town around New Ulm.

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What I've learned from cutting people's hair

By TC Daily Planet

by André Salvadore | 9/16/09

Dear André,

I'm curious. In all your years cutting hair and talking with people, you must have learned some things about human nature and relationships. Have you? If so, what are they?

Thanks—

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TC Daily Planet

Minneapolis Hmong residents want better police protection

By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet

Ka Kong speaks at community meeting. (Photos by Sheila Regan)

Hmong residents from North Minneapolis met with Councilmembers Don Samuels and Barbara Johnson last Saturday to ask for help in getting more Hmong police officers in north Minneapolis.  The meeting, which was half in Hmong and half in English, addressed concerns by the Hmong community that language and cultural barriers are causing them to feel they can't go to police, and when they do, little happens. 

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MUSIC | Then I saw An Horse, and I'm a believer

By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

At 8:30 last night, I had never heard a single song by the Australian band An Horse. Four hours later, I was pulling their poster off the 7th Street Entry wall to bring home as a souvenir. The bouncer said he'd never seen anyone do that. "I'm kind of geeking out," I admitted, showing him the An Horse t-shirt hanging out of my pocket.

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