Jeremy Iggers launched our first poll last week, asking readers to vote on the best Thai restaurant in the Twin Cities. (If you missed it, hurry — you still have time to vote!) The poll started slowly, and then picked up steam after dozens of Royal Orchid fans started clicking and voting. Now that we have the first week of the first poll, we will definitely keep going. What will the next poll be? We are open to suggestions: maybe bike lanes versus bike tracks versus something else? Or street cars and where to put them? Continue Reading
I don’t know how Facebook picks top commenters, but we’ve got some good ones weighing in on Sheila Regan’s column this week. What’s the problem: higher-income people paying higher rents and pushing out poorer people? Or a whole structure that includes too-low wages, decisions about housing density, and transportation? And what’s the place of the arts and artists and placemaking? Take a look at John Harrington and Robyn Hendrix and Janne Kimberly Flisrand’s comments below — or go to the original column and Reporter’s Notebook to read all of the comments and join in the discussions.Not the problemby John HarringtonNo, Ms. Regan, you’re not the problem. Continue Reading
An Open Letter to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Catholic Campaign for Human Development:As foundation leaders, we are taking a stand against the overreaching philanthropic practice employed by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), an office of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (Catholic Bishops). CCHD is a grantmaking institution that we believe has gone beyond simply upholding the values of the Catholic Church, to encroach on aspects of community life that fall outside of the appropriate role of a financial supporter of community organizations.A case in point is that of the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), which recently lost its CCHD funding. LSP exists to promote farmland stewardship, sustainable agriculture and sustainable communities. In July, the Catholic Bishops notified LSP that they had been approved for a $48,000 grant for rural organizing in southeast Minnesota. Two weeks later, they were informed that CCHD was reversing that decision unless LSP resigned its membership in two organizations: TakeAction Minnesota and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. The reason given for withdrawing the funding was because of these organizations’ stated positions against the constitutional amendment to limit marriage on the Nov. Continue Reading
TC Daily Planet writer Deb Pleasants and her friend, Melissa Semrad, plunged into the icy waters of Lake Calhoun in the Polar Bear Plunge March 6 as part of a fundraiser for the Special Olympics Minnesota. This is one of about a dozen Polar Bear Plunges for the Special Olympics. All together, the plunges have raised more than $1.5 million for the Special Olympics so far this year.Congratulations, Deb! Continue Reading
We were saddened to learn that on January 20, Jaclyn Evert died at the age of 22. Jaclyn was a contributor to the Daily Planet from 2009 to 2010, writing several articles on subjects ranging from immigrant workers to extreme couponing. A memorial service was held in Roseville on January 25.Jaclyn attended many of our writers’ groups and citizen journalism classes, and we remember her creativity, her generous spirit, and her dry humor. My personal favorite among Jaclyn’s articles is her review of an album she didn’t much care for. “The contrast between [Sarah] Oberland’s strong voice and the bland musical background is especially apparent in the album’s eponymous opener, which sounds like an American Idol audition tape recorded at a karaoke bar.” Continue Reading
Keep checking back – updated throughout the weekend!The right-wing attack on Shirley Sherrod succeeded in introducing a heroic figure to the mainstream media, after they – and the Obama administration and the NAACP – recovered from their initial knee-jerk defensive response. Time Magazine published an article introducing the real Shirley Sherrod and her long-time struggle for justice within the USDA: It was 1985, 20 years after her father was murdered by a white man who was never prosecuted, and the nearly 6,000-acre collective farm she had helped form in the early 1970s to create a sort of African-American utopia in the midst of Georgia’s white farming community was going under.It’s a struggle she shared with her husband, SNCC leader, Freedom Rider and life-long civil rights activist Reverend Charles Sherrod. PBS includes a profile in their “This Far By Faith” documentary:Charles Sherrod was born in Petersburg, Virginia in 1937 and raised by his grandmother, a devout Baptist. Sherrod grew up singing in the choir, attending Sunday school and even preaching to other children at Mount Olivet Baptist Church. He first became aware of racism at age two, when his mother yanked him out of a front seat and pulled him to the back of a bus. Continue Reading
Woke up this morning at about 6:30, as the lights and air conditioner stopped running, so I unplugged all computers (avoid power surge when it comes back on), grabbed my trusty Blackberry, and tweeted and Facebooked inquiries. Then looked up Xcel’s number, called, and waded through automated messages – yes, I am calling about a power outage. Okay, here’s my phone number. Xcel already knows about the outage and predicts that it will be fixed by “about 11:33 a.m.” Right. Continue Reading
Some of the most passionate advocates for Minneapolis Public Schools have posed questions to school board candidates, and have graciously shared their answers here. You can read what the candidates have written – their own words, answering questions about budgets and the achievement gap and much more. These are the best answers candidates could come up with, given time to prepare, write and revise. For the few candidates who have not responded – that’s also saying something.Here’s the list of candidates:District 1 – Jenny Arneson and Mike EnddrizziDistrict 3 – Hussein Samatar District 5 – Alberto Monserrate and John H. SaulsburyAt-large (two seats): Doug Mann, R.E. (Dick) Velner, T. Williams (incumbent), Steven C. Lasley, Mohamud Noor, Richard Mammen, Chanda Smith Baker, Rebecca Gagnon, Shirlynn LaChapelle and James Everett.Here’s where to find their statements: Responses to the Minneapolis Public School Parents ForumResponses to the Achievement Gap Committee Video clips from a May 13 DFL candidate forumThe school board election is in November, but the August 10 primary will determine who will be on the November ballot. If more than two candidates file for any position, then there will be a primary contest. Continue Reading
“I’m much better known as a journalist in Ethiopia than I am in Minnesota,” Doug McGill told the group at last week’s Brown Bag Lunch With a Journalist. “I’m a rock star with the Anuak. People will tell me about reading my stories in an internet café in Addis Ababa.” McGill’s coverage of global-local connections and Ethiopian politics won a second place award for Best Continuing Coverage (Online) for his reporting in the Daily Planet last year. His coverage of Ethiopia, the Anuak, and Eritrea begins with refugees in Minnesota. Continue Reading
The Minneapolis Latino community has support from organizations throughout Minneapolis that can help them in many different ways. However, there is one issue that the community has to face more than anything; the issue of having a child, brother, or friend involved in a gang, just hoping that the next time they see that loved one, he is okay, not injured, and alive.
