SATURDAY, May 24
HEADLINES
Dance for all at the Minnesota Dance Festival
by Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet
Among those in attendance at the Minnesota Dance Festival were many parents and grandparents of young dancers. On Friday night I sat next to Scott Mateo Davies, whose son Aaron Davies played the wolf in Elfan and also danced in Swan Lake. Davies told me that his son had been a hockey player in Ely, but one day he “hung up his hockey sticks and said he wanted to go to Minneapolis and dance ballet.”
Bridge collapse concerns raised
by staff, Session Daily
Refusing to call it a “widespread condemnation,” of the Department of Transportation, a report nonetheless questions some of the department’s happenings before the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge.
Public defenders lost to budget cuts
by Andy Birkey, Minnesota Monitor
Public defenders, the lawyers appointed to represent the poorest Minnesotans in criminal court, have taken another budget cut this year. The Board of Public Defense will take a $1.5 million hit in the budget deal reached between the Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a cut that will result in 98 fewer attorneys and a deficit of $4.7 million.
Ovarian cancer: young survivors of an “older women’s disease”
by Michele St. Martin, Minnesota Women’s Press
“How does it feel not to be a woman anymore?”
An acquaintance asked Brenda Hartman that question after the hysterectomy that followed Hartman’s ovarian cancer diagnosis. Hartman still shakes her head when she recalls the question.
INSIDE THE DAILY PLANET
Minneapolis voters will have November school referendum
by Gail Olson, The Northeaster
A grass roots parent/community member committee is working to get the word out: Minneapolis voters will see a public school referendum question on the ballot this November.
Solutions to stop college binge drinking
by John Fitzgerald, Minnesota 2020
Minnesotans are rightly horrified at recent binge drinking or alcohol-related deaths among young people.
Senators want to know if EPA official Gade was ousted for doing her job
by Tom Elko, Minnesota Monitor
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for answers regarding the ouster of the agency’s regional administrator for the Midwest, Mary Gade.
Cave paper on Access to Art
Staff, MTN
For fourteen years Cave Paper has been hand-making fine archival papers used all over the world by artists & bookbinders. Correspondent Laura Stopyro descended into the damp, cold depths of the warehouse district to meet with owners Bridget O’Malley and Amanda Degener. View in the multi-media box in column 3.
NEW IN VOICES
Prevailing wage benefits workers, contractors and taxpayers
by Dick Anfang and Gary Thaden, Workday Minnesota
Prevailing Wage is good for Minnesota.
It is a policy that places value on a highly skilled and productive workforce. It is a policy that promotes safe, high-quality construction projects. It is a policy that promotes the use of local contractors and local workers. Prevailing Wage does all this while making sure the state doesn’t pay more than the typical rate on construction projects.
NEW IN BLOGS
“To hell with Shakespeare!”: Rightwing radio host decries Hmong rapper’s work with schools
by Paul Schmelzer, Eyeteeth
Listening to Minnesota conservative radio host Jason Lewis, you’d get the impression that a week of hip hop in a public school will shatter the very foundations of Western civilization.
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