Twin Cities Daily Planet (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/category/special-sections/news-day/page/5/)
News with attitude, mostly from MN but with occasional forays abroad. From my personal blog.
Police beat What happens to all the money, TV sets, cars and other property seized by the now-disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force? The state is setting up a hotline, run by the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust, to take calls from people who want their property back. When? Continue Reading
General Stanley McChrystal has delivered his initial assessment of the war in Afghanistan, and it is grim. Continue Reading
The federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that flu is “widespread” in Minnesota, its highest category. That would be the flu variously known as H1N1 novel influenza, swine flu, or pandemic flu. Students at the U of M lined up for flu shots for the “regular” flu, available to students who are 18 or over. Lots of places, including my doctor’s office, haven’t received the “regular flu” vaccine yet, due in part to delays from one of the manufacturers. And the swine flu vaccine won’t arrive until mid-October. Continue Reading
The U.N. Commission overseeing the Afghan election has ordered a partial recount, AP reports, beginning with polling places “showing 100 percent turnout or with a presidential candidate receiving more than 95 percent of the vote.” With widespread and credible allegations of massive fraud, President Hamid Karzai’s lead is approaching the 50 percent plus one needed to avoid a run-off election. The Afghan election commission has thrown out about 200,000 ballots from 447 stations because of fraud. An additional 224,000 ballots were disqualified for other reasons, bringing the total number of ballots eliminated to almost ten percent of the 4.3 million ballots cast. In a statement as insulting as it was inaccurate, U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke compared the Afghan election fraud to Minnesota’s senatorial recount: We recently had a senatorial election in Minnesota which took seven months to determine the outcome, there were so many charges of irregularities. It certainly won’t take that long in Afghanistan, but that happens in democracies, even when they are not in the middle of a war. Continue Reading
New Flyer bus company, headquartered in Winnipeg but with a large operation in St. Cloud, was supposed to be recession-proof. New Flyer makes the energy-efficient hybrid buses sought by mass transit companies across the country. But now it is laying off 320 workers. The reason, according to the New York Times: The layoffs at New Flyer are a vivid illustration of the way that some of the economic impact of the $787 billion federal stimulus law is being diluted by the actions that state and local governments are taking to weather the recession. Continue Reading
Laura Yuen at MPR reports that a fifth MN-Somali youth has died in fighting in Somalia. Mohammed Hassan, age 23, had been a student at the U of M and spent much of his time caring for his aged grandmother. Hassan was working on an engineering degree at the U of M, and had been voted “most friendly” of his Roosevelt High graduating class in 2006. He was the fifth of 20 young Minnesota-Somalis to die in the civil war in Somalia after leaving Minnesota and going to Somalia over the past two years. Continue Reading
Without money to cover state judicial system needs, five Minnesota counties will begin sharing judges this week. Freeborn, Steele and Winona counties will share judges with Mower and Olmsted counties for a year, reports the Star Tribune. Winona County also has a waiting list for public defenders to represent defendants in criminal cases.Charter schools are also feeling the pinch, because of delays in funding implemented by Governor Tim Pawlenty. The Star Tribune reports that many charter schools will have to borrow and pay interest on loans. So will public district schools, but they at least have an option of asking for increased tax levies. Continue Reading
Bill Moyers, as usual, gets it really right: Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers — we’re the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today’s talk radio…. [Media scholar Henry Giroux] describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a “culture of cruelty” increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes health care reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive… [Josh Marshall has] offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan — one that essentially asks people: would you like the option — the voluntary option — of buying into Medicare before you’re 65? As Congress returns, the prospects for real health care reform seem ever dimmer. And neither Congress nor the White House is seriously talking about legislation to address the other, on-going crisis of a “jobless recovery.” Bob Herbert warns in the op/ed pages of the New York Times: Politicians talk about it, but aggressive job-creation efforts are not part of the policy mix. Continue Reading
Red Stripe for Henry Louis Gates, Blue Moon for the police officer, and Bud Light for the president: beer choices at the White House were all over the news yesterday, along with Congressional admonitions to the president to drink American. MORE • Gangs of St. Paul Who gets named as a gang member by police • Police gang Suit alleges Gang Strike Force bullied, took money • Harassment by pizza • Moving jobs to Thailand Hutchinson Technology’s money-saving strategy • Health care story-of-the-day Don’t mess with Medicare! • Getting tough on bacteria Congress acts … eventually • Iran: More protests, more repression • War Reports | July 31, 2009 Gitmo, Iraq, Afghanistan
News with attitude, mostly from MN but with occasional forays abroad.News Day summarizes, links to, and comments on reports from news media around the world, with particular attention to Minnesota news. Jon Stewart parodied the silliness: “Budweiser is the king of beers – he’s a monarchist. Continue Reading
President Obama used the “bully pulpit” of last night’s press conference (transcript here) to push harder on health care reform. He denounced insurance companies, saying “Right now, at the time when everybody’s getting hammered, they’re making record profits and premiums are going up,” and said that much of the cost of the health care reform package will be paid by saving “over one hundred billion dollars in unwarranted subsidies that go to insurance companies as part of Medicare.” >MORE • Michele Bachmann and Al Franken: Together at last Entire MN delegation wants Medicare payment reform • Beautifying garbage Proposals to burn more and pretty up the Minneapolis incinerator • Obama on race and Gates arrest Video clip from press conference • Honduras crisis continues • South African protests, violence • War Reports | July 23, 2009 Afghanistan deaths, MN protests
News with attitude, mostly from MN but with occasional forays abroad.News Day summarizes, links to, and comments on reports from news media around the world, with particular attention to Minnesota news. Health care reform President Obama used the “bully pulpit” of last night’s press conference ( transcript here) to push harder on health care reform. He denounced insurance companies, saying “”Right now, at the time when everybody’s getting hammered, they’re making record profits and premiums are going up,” and said that much of the cost of the health care reform package will be paid by saving “over one hundred billion dollars in unwarranted subsidies that go to insurance companies as part of Medicare.” Continue Reading