Hamline’s MPIRG rocks the vote

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Hamline Chapter of the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) wants to make voting less intimidating for those who have never voted before. The non-partisan organization works on informing and registering college students for Election Day.“In reality, all elections are important. It seems that people think that if we aren’t electing the president that means whatever is on the ballot isn’t going to affect them. That isn’t true at all!” said Lizy Busta, a second year at Hamline University and MPIRG co-chair.This election season, the state of Minnesota is voting for Governor, State House Representative, U.S. House Representative, U.S. Senator, Attorney General and school board members.“All of these people on the ballot have a huge impact on our state, so it’s important to go and vote for who you think will benefit Minnesota,” said Busta. “The President of the United States isn’t the only person that works in the government and it’s important for people to realize that.”In order to help inform college students MPIRG is hosting Voter Awareness Series, with several of this year’s candidates. Continue Reading

Hamline’s Take Back the Campus focuses on sexual violence and privilege

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There’s a time to speak out and a time to shut up. That was the message being spread at Hamline University’s Take Back the Campus last week.The university’s Women’s Resource Center hosted the event on Oct. 21 with the goal of including a diverse group of speakers and performers. Informational tables and a line up of a wide range of speakers were aimed to rally against all forms of gender violence and opening a dialogue about how to better prevent sexual assault.“Creating a culture of respect that celebrates and requires affirmative consent and positive sexuality is hard work,” said Cards Against Harassment founder Lindsey. “It means shutting up that voice once in a while and letting other people talk about their experiences.”Lindsey, who keeps her last name private to protect her professional career, designed and printed business cards that she would give to cat-calling men in downtown Minneapolis. Continue Reading

Minnesota House candidate Yolandita Colón hopes to bridge party divide

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Yolandita Colón is a bit of an anomaly. On the one hand, she seems to stand for progressive causes like educational equality, meaningful immigration reform, improved housing for all, and human rights and social justice. On the other, she favors lowering taxes for businesses and business owners, and has very conservative stances on social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage.An evangelical minister, Colón isn’t following the typical trajectory for Latina candidates by seeking DFL endorsement. Instead, the 62A State Representative hopeful is running against incumbent Karen Clark as a candidate of the Independence Party. She said her platform will unify her constituents and find common ground between both major parties.“I want to bring unity,” Colón said. Continue Reading

VIDEO: Perske attacks Emmer for “Threatening” divisive record, Emmer has no response

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During Monday’s 6th Congressional District debate in St. Cloud, Minnesota DFL candidate Joe Perske chose to spend his final remarks calling GOP runner Tom Emmer bullying, divisive and uncooperative. When Emmer was asked to rebuttal, he declined to answer. The candidate elected will take over Michele Bachmann’s seat.Related article: 6th Congressional District candidates debate – Emmer, Perske and Denney“This is difficult for me to say because I’ve always been taught to be a nice polite person,” Perske starts off. “Tom has been very dividing. Continue Reading

Creeps, crawls, candy and more: Halloween highlights in the Twin Cities

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Halloween is lurking around the corner, promising another year of spooky good times and monstrous spending. The National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual consumer spending survey projects Halloween spending could reach total sales of $7.4 billion this year, up from $6.9 billion last year.According to the NRF survey, people spend the most on costumes, with candy, decorations and cards rounding out the list. Adult costume spending ($1.4 billion) is expected to top spending for children’s costumes ($1.1 billion) this year. NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay attributes this year’s increase in celebrants to the holiday falling on a Friday.<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/8393351/”>When are you too old to trick-or-treat?</a>In the Twin Cities, the Halloween season already kicked off in a big way, with 15,458 zombies attending the Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis Oct. 11, setting a Guinness World Record for the “largest gathering of people dressed as zombies.” Check out 2014 Zombie Pub Crawl for a ghoulish photo recap.Below we’ve compiled a little something for everyone –- from allergy and gluten-free family fun to howling haunted houses and Día de los Muertos highlights. Weigh in on the festivities by taking our poll and sharing your favorite haunts and discoveries in the comment section. Continue Reading

Four reasons why “liberal” conspiracy theories about ed reform (and Don Samuels) sound so much like Fox News

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Sarah Lahm’s conspiracy piece about “billionaire and TFA”  money flooding in to support Don Samuels in the Minneapolis School Board race went national last week. Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss (a staunch opponent of ed reform) reprinted Lahm’s original piece from “In These Times.” This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.A few days later, some Minneapolis voters woke up to find Lahm’s article tucked inside their screen doors with this helpful note, “I noticed a Don Samuels lawn sign in your yard. This may be information you need to make a more informed decision.”Key word here is “informed.”Which is sort of funny because Lahm’s piece is so loaded with factual errors, omissions and conspiracy theories, I scarcely know where to begin. It mirrors the stuff we progressives roll our eyes about when we hear it coming from Fox News.Related story: Don Samuels calls cops over hotdog giveawayHere are four things wrong with the piece:1) Lahm says that a California “billionaire” gave the Don Samuels campaign $10,000. This is false because:         a) the individual legal limit for an at-large school board candidate is $1,000 per person, so no one can give $10,000 to anyone’s campaign;         b) the alleged billionaire didn’t give any money to the Samuels campaign period.2) Lahm seems to be confused about personal contributions to a candidate’s individual campaign and contributions and in-kind services given by political groups.The big money tends to be in this latter category. And since Sarah Lahm is focussing on the latter……… Continue Reading

Immanuel Jones: From volunteering to entrepreneurship

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Immanuel Jones, 21, a junior at Minnesota State University Moorhead, says he’s trying to become a successful entrepreneur with the goal of giving back to the community.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.“My mantra is to create impact, and my mission statement is creating impact deeper than the surface because the surface is not deep enough,” Jones said.Jones founded an urban garden that helped feed more 100 individuals. He also has two clothing businesses trademarked, I Rep Christ (IRC) and Life Without Shame, based on a model where consumer purchases will help give clothes to someone in need.Jones said that early in life his mother had him volunteering, whether it was for church or the Salvation Army.“She had us volunteering a lot to keep us out of streets and to make sure we were learning, because there are a lot of things you don’t learn in school. We needed those real-life lessons,” Jones said.Community involvement and using business as a catalyst to give back was something Jones said he learned from his mentor, D. Craig Taylor, executive director for the Business and Community/Business and Technology Center at the University of Minnesota.“I made the decision to mentor him because I see the potential there. I want to see him become the man his mother knows he can be,” Taylor said.Jones met Taylor as a high school student in 2010 when he participated in a summer program at the University of Minnesota called jEM, Junior Entrepreneurs of Minnesota. Continue Reading

Phillips community sweeps up the neighborhood

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The four Phillips Neighborhoods of Minneapolis, Phillips East, West, Midtown and Ventura Village, collaborated once again onr the annual Phillips Clean Sweep on October 11. Neighbors grabbed garbage bags and picker-uppers to pick up trash on the streets and others joined city garbage crews to pick up large items in the alleys. This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.Community volunteers gathered at two sites in the morning for breakfast and then after the cleanup, met again at Stewart Park for lunch and a celebration. Hundreds of residents and dozens of organizations partnered to make the event a success. Continue Reading

Don Samuels calls cops over hotdog giveaway

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With less than three weeks to go until the Nov. 4 election, Minneapolis school board candidate Don Samuels may have gotten himself in some hot water with a local Northside philanthropic nonprofit.According to a YouTube video and sources from the North Minneapolis-based group NOC (Neighborhoods Organizing for Change), Samuels called the Minneapolis police on Thursday, Oct. 16, asking them to investigate “hot dog sales” in front of NOC’s offices on West Broadway Avenue.Read more of our election coverage here.In the video, a Minneapolis police officer can be seen questioning NOC representatives Mike Griffin and Wintana Melekin, who were stationed in front of NOC’s front door. When the officer asks whether NOC is selling the hot dogs in an attempt to “elicit votes,” Griffin insists they were simply handing out hot dogs for free and asking people to pledge to vote on Nov. 4. Continue Reading