Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/author/scott-russell/page/7/)
On a recent Tuesday morning, clients already had begun queuing up for free 15-minute legal advice sessions offered by private attorneys at the 4th District Court (Hennepin County) Self Help Center. Continue Reading
Silvia, 22, and her brothers Pablo and Rene, 19, seem like ordinary youths, if soft-spoken and shy. Yet they have been through more than their share of scary situations. They have faced death threats from street gangs in their native El Salvador. They came to the United States nearly 5 years ago, seeking asylum. They have lived with uncertainly about where to call home. Continue Reading
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did an about face on its decision to deport three youth from El Salvador who are seeking asylum in Minnesota. The youth were released from custody Wednesday. Exactly why the youth were released is unclear. ICE arrested the youths unexpectedly two weeks ago and began deportation proceedings, said Ben Casper, an attorney representing them. Just as unexpectedly, they were released. Continue Reading
Three El Salvadoran youths face imminent deportation from Minnesota in spite of gang-related death threats in their home country. Attorneys for the youth filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to temporarily block deportation and keep them safe while they pursue an asylum appeal. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) both rejected requests to temporarily block deportation, said Ben Casper, a pro bono attorney working on the asylum case. Attorneys have written appeals to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, asking them to intervene directly, in part because the case will set a significant precedent for other asylum cases. The youth’s recent arrests came as a shock to Casper, as they have been on their own recognizance while their asylum case proceeds. Continue Reading
Minneapolis, a city known for its trees, has approximately 210,000 ash trees; that’s more than 20 percent of the total number of trees in the city. The emerald ash borer, recently detected in St. Paul near the Minneapolis border, threatens them all. Minneapolis has approximately 38,000 ash trees growing on boulevards, but most ash are on private property, according to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (Park Board). Park Board President Tom Nordyke says all the information the Park Board had received suggested the ash borer wouldn’t arrive for three years — optimistically five years. Continue Reading
There have been many programs, initiatives and promises over the years to improve opportunities for Minneapolis’ families and children, particularly on the Northside. Still, achievement and opportunity gaps persist. So now comes the latest of these initiatives: “NAZ”, the Northside Achievement Zone, which says it hopes to raise student achievement by duplicating some of the strategies of Geoffrey Canada’s high-profile Harlem Children’s Zone — but without the charismatic leadership of Canada or the multi-million dollar funding and new educational programming it has.Michelle Martin, executive director of the Peace Foundation and co-chair of the steering committee said NAZ was attempting to replicate the promise and the strategies of the Harlem Children’s Zone, but that, “We are clearly not replicating the model.” NAZ will try to get existing programs to collaborate, working together more effectively and improving neighborhood outreach.NAZ is a collaboration of Northside organizations and indivduals working together to support families and ultimately student success. They will seek out families through old-fashioned door knocking and connect those families with resources using new computer software. Continue Reading
The Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board (YCB) is working on a Minneapolis Children’s Report Card, probably to be issued by August 1. The Board has been around for 20 years but often worked in obscurity. The Report Card is the Board’s effort to refocus its work and take a higher profile role in advocating children’s policy. It will try to bring attention to the state of the city’s kids and improve civic efforts to make their lives better. One out of every three Minneapolis children lives in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2006 estimates. Continue Reading
Tenant advocate Eric Hauge said Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s decision to cut $50.8 million in next year’s rent credit is the same as a tax increase. “That’s how a homeowner would react to a decrease in their property tax refund,” said Hauge, who works for Minneapolis-based Home Line. “This is no different.”
Pawlenty Tuesday announced more than $2.6 billion in unallotments for the next biennium to balance the budget, including the rent credit cut. Earlier this spring, he vetoed the DFL-controlled legislature’s proposed tax increases. He declined to call it back into session, choosing to balance the budget himself with cuts.Unallotment news
• Have you been unallotted yet? Continue Reading
The Midtown Farmers’ Market’s future is uncertain. The property it has used rent-free for six-plus years is going up for sale soon. Yet vendors and patrons have reason to be hopeful. The Farmers’ Market has run for more than six years on Minneapolis Public School (MPS) property, the parking lot of Anishinabe Academy, a K–8 school at 2225 E. Lake St. The district has surplus property and is hurting for money, so it plans to put the site on the market this summer. Continue Reading
In the Somali language, there are words for “crazy” and “sane,” but there are few if any distinctions in between, said David Schuchman, the director of Immigrant and Refugee Behavioral Health for Volunteers of America (VOA). In contrast, U.S. doctors have the huge DSM-IV manual listing several hundred mental disorders — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, delirium, depression, attention deficit disorder, dissociative disorders, eating disorders and more. There are many ways communication breaks down between cultures as new immigrants struggle to fit into a new home. Mental health is only one of a long list of cultural disconnects, but it’s a particularly thorny one to talk about. As big as the mental health stigma is in American culture, the stigma is even worse in immigrant cultures, said Schuchman, who offices at the VOA Alternative School at 924 19th Ave. Continue Reading