Are Minneapolis’ school board seats being bought?

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Will a seat, or two, on the Minneapolis school board be sold to the highest bidder?The amount of money flowing into the 2014 Minneapolis school board race is enormous, according to the campaign finance reports that were submitted by candidates and various advocacy groups.Of the four at-large candidates running for the two open citywide seats on the school board, Don Samuels has raised the most money, with a total of $65, 103. Next up is Iris Altamirano, who shares the DFL endorsement with incumbent Rebecca Gagnon. Altamirano’s report shows that she has raised over $41,000, which is more than twice as much as Gagnon’s totals. Candidate Ira Jourdain has raised just over $3,000.What may be more interesting is the amount of money from outside of Minnesota that is flowing into the race, through groups such as the 50CAN Action Fund, the Students for Education Reform Action Fund, and a group calling itself the Minneapolis Progressive Education Fund (MPEF).While the most recent totals for both the 50CAN Action Fund, which is the advocacy arm of the education reform group MinnCAN, and the Students for Education Reform Action Fund are under $40,000, the MPEF has amassed a huge war chest, to the tune of more than $200,000, according to a campaign finance report filed on Oct. 28.Looking at the reports, the money MPEF has raised is mostly coming from a handful of billionaires and millionaires from outside of Minnesota. Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, for example, gave the MPEF $100,000, while California billionaire Arthur Rock gave $90,000.Daniel Sellers, who is the director of MinnCAN and its 501c4 advocacy group, the 50CAN Action Fund, is also the chair of the MPEF. Continue Reading

TC Weekend | Free Ink Day, Free the Beast, Día de los Muertos celebrations and more!

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My, how time flies! We’ve had a gorgeous fall, with sustained colors and above average temps. Now here we are at the cusp of November, which brings cooler weather and the close of TC Weekend for the year. The good times will roll on, however, with seasonal/holiday events and arts coverage!Naturally, this weekend’s roster is heavy with Halloween and Dia de los Muertos happenings, and a few other fun events sprinkled in for good measure. In the midst of all the spooky revelry this weekend – don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour (2 am on Sunday) for Daylight Savings Time! Let us know of great upcoming events by adding it to our calendar or send an email to tcweekend@tcdailyplanet.net.See: Creeps, crawls, candy and more: Halloween highlights in the Twin Cities for more Halloween events!  Free the Beast, Oct. Continue Reading

GLOBAL GROCERIES | Looking to cook Southern? Mary Hall has the greens and beans

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It can be hard to find the fixings to make southern style food up here in the Northstar State, but if you want to cook like those who live at the other end of the Mississippi River, look to Mary Hall. Hall has been selling southern style foodstuffs at the Minneapolis Farmers Market since 2006, when she and her husband Lester inherited their stall from Lester’s father, Bill Hall, one of the few Black farmers in Minnesota. Along with the market stall, Mary Hall inherited a passion for southern style cuisine. She soon expanded the stall’s inventory beyond blueberries and greens to include specialty peas, beans, lentils and rice.“It surprised me how little people up here knew about southern cooking,” she said. “People would ask, ‘What are these?’ about greens or sweet potatoes.”Hall is happy to be the teacher, telling anyone who asks about how to prepare exotic ingredients like fresh sweet potatoes, okra, and greens – collard, turnip, mustard and kale. Continue Reading

VIDEO: “I would like more of the Latino community to vote”

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Many nonprofits participated in Get out the Vote this year, and they’re sharing why voting is important to them on video.Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES) launched their very first civic engagement program, adding voter education to their long list of community services. The program, which started earlier this year, provides educational outreach services to Minneapolis residents who may not know about the voting process, or why it’s important.“I think as CLUES, it’s our responsibility and it’s our obligation to advocate for our community members,” said Joel Martinez, who runs the new program. “Not just in direct services … but also equip leadership within our community members.”Recently, the program took to the streets around Franklin and Chicago, Martinez said, teaching community members how to vote, and even how they can get involved if they can’t vote yet. Even if some community members can’t vote for legal reasons, he said, they can still get involved and make a difference in their community.Mercedes Moreno with CLUES hopes to see the Latino community get more involved in politics. Check out her video and see what voting means to her below. In EnglishEn Español Coverage of the 2014 elections is funded in part by a grant from The Minneapolis Foundation. Continue Reading

This week’s news you can use: Election helpers, fall street sweeps & more!

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This week’s News You Can Use roundup covers everything from online election resources and fall street sweeping info, to health care and heating tips! Read on for details.This Week’s News You Can Use is a one-stop hub of articles and tips from News You Can Use — a section designated for helpful, everyday information –that you may have missed during the week. If you have a News You Can Use tip, please email editor@tcdailyplanet.net to help spread the word!  Election 2014: Voting Resources:Election time is here and there are new online developments to assist in the voting process.Barb Kucera reports on MNVotes, a new website launched by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, where Minnesota voters can register online, request absentee ballots, find polling places, track absentee voting status and more.  Mary Treacy highlights two websites: MyBallot and State Smart. My Ballot is sponsored by e-democracy.org, and provides voters with a sample ballot and links to other resources. Continue Reading

When it comes to climate change, our feelings do matter

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If you’re anything like me, you’re seeing daily headlines about climate change and the catastrophic consequences. When you see another article about species extinction, or sea level rise, or increasingly severe storms, do you stop and click through, or do you wince and scroll quickly down the page in favor of cat videos or that new Marcel the Shell video? Continue Reading

VIDEO: “I never had the opportunity to vote back home”

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This election year, seven individuals are learning more about what it means to do their civic duty, and they’re sharing their stories on video. The Center for Asian and Pacific Islanders (CAPI) started a pilot program to provide training and education for individuals who are either new to the voting process or simply wish to become involved in their communities through civic engagement. The program, which began back in September, is part of CAPI’s larger Voter Education Campaign, which provides resources like free translation and rides to polling places to increase voting participation in communities with typically low turnout. “We need to have less about quantity, but more about quality,” said Sandy Ci Moua, who runs the program. “Because a lot of people that get to the polls … they don’t necessarily feel confident. Continue Reading

Not enough time: Following up on school board candidate forums

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The November election is less than two weeks away, and for the four at-large candidates for the Minneapolis school board, it’s candidate forum time.This past week, on Oct. 20 and Oct. 24, candidates Iris Altimarno, Rebecca Gagnon, Ira Jourdain, and Don Samuels appeared at forums where all of the questions asked came directly from the audience, on the spot, and were not pre-determined.The Oct. 20 forum was sponsored by a handful of southwest Minneapolis neighborhood associations, such as Fulton, Kingfield, and Lyndale, and held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. Minneapolis City Council member Elizabeth Glidden hosted the Oct. Continue Reading