Elizabeth Frost: Fighting for health care that doesn’t leave you broke and naked…

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If Minnesota ever adopts a single-payer heath care system, the work of Dr. Elizabeth Frost will be remembered as one of the key reasons for its passage.Together with her friend, Dr. Ann Settgast, Frost co-founded the Minnesota Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) five years ago. The group holds rallies and speaks at hospitals across the state to recruit new members to its cause — and now boasts more than 1,000 members in Minnesota. Frost also has the ear of state lawmakers such as Sen. John Marty and Rep. David Bly, who hope to expand healthcare access in Minnesota.“Single-payer” healthcare would make health care universal and ensure equal access to best treatment, expanding President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Under single-payer, everyone would be entitled to the best available care, no matter the size of their wallet. Citizens could keep their health insurance coverage even if they lost or changed jobs, and be allowed to retain their preferred doctor or caregiver. Continue Reading

As Minnesota legislative session starts, protesters press Dayton, DFL to raise taxes on the rich

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The 2013 Legislative session began today in St. Paul with protesters outside the Capitol in St. Paul demanding that the newly elected Democratic majorities raise taxes on the wealthy. Meanwhile, inside the Capitol, DFL legislators and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton were deciding whether they have the political will to carry out a tax-the-rich promise that has been a traditional part of Democratic politics for decades — a promise the DFL rarely has had the clout to carry out.It’s the question of a session in which Democrats will control the governor’s office and both houses of the Legislature for the first time since the era of Gov. Rudy Perpich: Which Democrats are these; the ones who campaigned to win control in order to pass a Democratic agenda? Or the ones who want to stay in power by avoiding actions that might cost them the next election?State Sen. John Marty, a DFLer who is among the most unabashed liberals in the Legislature, explains the party’s conundrum this way: “When we are in the minority, they tell us we can’t accomplish anything because we’re the minority. Continue Reading

Police detective battles foreclosure as Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Minnesota team up

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Retired police detective Jacqueline Barber finds herself in the ironic situation that she could be evicted from her Atlanta home by members of the force with whom she once served in uniform. A cancer patient who has teamed up with Occupy Our Homes Atlanta, Barber traveled north to Minneapolis Monday to confront GMAC Mortgage and Minnesota-based U.S. Bank, which bought her home in March in a fire sale.

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Occupy Homes claims abandoned house, eyes South Minneapolis ‘foreclosure free zone’

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One year after their successful defense of Bobby Hull’s house in South Minneapolis, Occupy Homes Minnesota demonstrators have escalated the bet by launching a high-profile new campaign that they hope can solve two persistent problems with the same remedy: Moving the homeless and those who lost their homes through foreclosure into abandoned properties.

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Opposing U.S. support for Israel “our responsibility,” say Minnesota activists

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Hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi announced a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Nov. 21, Twin Cities activists nonetheless marched the Lake Street Bridge over the Mississippi River to express solidarity with Palestinians. Several dozen demonstrators — Arabs and Anglos alike — occupied the sidewalks as dusk fell on Minneapolis and as rush hour brought a stream of automobiles leaving town for the Thanksgiving holiday, many of them honking in solidarity with the protest. Activists will rally again tomorrow in support of Gaza.

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Descendants of exiled Dakota Indians remember Minnesota’s “Trail of Tears”

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A pair of bald eagles floated high above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers Tuesday as a line of Dakota Indians, following in the footsteps of their exiled ancestors, rounded a highway curve in Mendota and marched toward Fort Snelling. And toward a spiritual healing of Minnesota’s most painful chapters — the executions, imprisonments and forced removal of the Dakota from their homeland in the wake of the Dakota War of 1862.

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Defeating marriage restriction amendment with car decals

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Earlier this fall, Richard Herod put a Minnesotans United For all Families yard sign in front of his home that encouraged citizens to “Vote No” on the amendment that would constitutionally outlaw same-sex marriage in the state (gay marriage isn’t currently legal here). But Herod’s townhouse association sent an email asking him to take down the yard sign.

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Voter ID amendment restricts vote for Minnesota’s out-of-state and private college students

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Students and administrators at Macalester College, and other private schools in Minnesota, worry that the Voter Restriction Constitutional Amendment on this November’s ballot could deny students the right to vote with their Student ID cards since they aren’t officially issued by the state. Meanwhile, U-Cards from the University of Minnesota, which is a public university, could continue to be accepted at on-campus voting booths, thus creating an unequal system of voting rights among college students.

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