100+ torture deaths / Senate race ends! / Fletcher vs. investigators on Strike Force / PiPress workers “blindsided” / more

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100+ torture deaths Glenn Greenwald once again shines the spotlight on a dark and dirty corner of U.S. foreign policy, previewing the release of a CIA report: MORE• Senator Al Franken Heading for Sotomayor hearings, health care decisions, cap and trade vote• Metro Gang Strike Force investigation continues Fletcher vs. Campion• PiPress workers “blindsided” Management chooses layoffs instead of concessions• Stopping MN foreclosures New law provides tool for delay, restructuring• Honduras update President Zelaya set to return
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. 100+ U.S. torture deaths Glenn Greenwald once again shines the spotlight on a dark and dirty corner of U.S. foreign policy, previewing the release of a CIA report:
The interrogation and detention regime implemented by the U.S. resulted in the deaths of over 100 detainees in U.S. custody — at least. While some of those deaths were the result of “rogue” interrogators and agents, many were caused by the methods authorized at the highest levels of the Bush White House, including extreme stress positions, hypothermia, sleep deprivation and others. That’s why we’ve always considered those tactics to be “torture” when used by others — because they inflict serious harm, and can even kill people. Continue Reading

Franken, Coleman, Pawlenty and the Supremes / Unlicensed in St. Paul / Mortgage relief – finally / more

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Franken, Coleman, Pawlenty and the Supremes Is the seemingly never-ending Senate race heating up again? For two weeks, informed sources and rumors have predicted a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on specific days, and no ruling has come. The court usually rules on Thursdays, and this Thursday falls just short of the eight month anniversary of the election. Maybe it’s time … and maybe T-Paw’s latest statements mean he would actually sign an election certificate and give Minnesota a second senator. Continue Reading

Policing smarter / Minneapolis redevelopment / Vallay Varro / Honduras coup / more

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Policing smarter Inside descriptions of the Metro Gang Strike Force make it sound like part of the problem rather than a possible solution, with officers meting out punishment-via-forfeiture. In other big cities, a multi-faceted policing approach called Ceasefire successfully targets gang violence and drug-dealing. Why not here? MORE• Redevelopment in North, Northeast Minneapolis The city is looking for developers for four parcels on the Northside and the Hollywood Theater• Vallay Varro in St. Paul• Military coup in Honduras First military coup in 16 years in Central America, led by SOA grad• More settlers in West Bank 50 homes, 200 settlers• Bangladesh textile protest $25 per month minimum wage• War Reports | Afghanistan | June 29, 2009 U.S.-trained guards kill police chief
Policing smarter Inside descriptions of the Metro Gang Strike Force make it sound like part of the problem rather than a possible solution, with officers meting out punishment-via-forfeiture. Continue Reading

Legal updates: Eviction, Filesharing

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Rosemary Williams, fighting to stay in her home of 26 years, was dealt another defeat on Thursday, when a judge ordered her out within seven days. Williams supporters had sued to enjoin the eviction, arguing that allowing foreclosed homes to sit vacant creates a public nuisance, but the court dismissed their claims. Madeleine Baran, who previously reported this story for the TC Daily Planet, continues to follow it from her new vantage point at MPR. Negotiations between Williams and lender GMAC Mortgage continue. Minnesotan Jammie Thomas-Rasset was ordered to pay $1.92 million dollars in the first music filesharing case to go to trial in the country, reports AP. This is a retrial – the first trial ended in an order for $222,000 payment, and Thomas-Rasset won a retrial on appeal. Continue Reading

Slash and burn the cities

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Steve Perry in PIM and Paul Demko in the Minnesota Independent detail the crippling impact of LGA unallotments, city by city. In Minneapolis, that’s a 19% cut in LGA this year and a 39% cut next year — but that’s not the worst. Rochester faces a 28% cut this year and 59% next year. With cuts of this magnitude affecting not only the Twin Cities, but cities and towns across the state. Property tax levy limits will be lifted, but that’s not going to save cities. Continue Reading

Reading the numbers – carefully

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AP today picks up on the crucial bit of analysis reported right here yesterday: Lower numbers of people receiving unemployment benefits is NOT good news. It simply means that more workers have been unemployed for so long that they have exhausted their benefits. In Minnesota, the Strib headlines State jobless figures show signs of stabilizing and MPR touts a Dramatic slowdown in job losses last month. Again, looking beyond the numbers shows a different story. Overall, the state had a net job loss of 1,600. Continue Reading

MN unemployment up to 8.2 percent / Foreclosures dip / Preventing the NEXT economic meltdown – or not / more

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MN unemployment up to 8.2 percent Minnesota’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May, up from 8.0 percent in April but still below the national rate of 9.4%, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. DEED’s press release this morning led with the announcement that MN employers had cut only 1,600 jobs in May, the smallest number since October. Total job losses in May were more than 10,000, but that number was offset by some job gains, including 7,100 in the leisure and hospitality industries and 900 in construction. MORE• Home foreclosures dip in MN In first quarter – but there was a partial freeze on.• Catching up on court cases PFC verdict; Filesharing to jury today?• Preventing the NEXT economic meltdown – or not How far do the regulatory proposals go?• Iran update | June 18, 2009 • War Reports | June 18, 2009 Pakistan, Somalia, India? 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. Continue Reading

MN unemployment up to 8.2 percent

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Minnesota’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May, up from 8.0 percent in April but still below the national rate of 9.4%, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. DEED’s press release this morning led with the announcement that MN employers had cut only 1,600 jobs in May, the smallest number since October. Total job losses in May were more than 10,000, but that number was offset by some job gains, including 7,100 in the leisure and hospitality industries and 900 in construction. Nationally, there are enough new numbers on unemployment to support plenty of conclusions. Here are some of the current numbers, from the Department of Labor and AP:
• New unemployment claims rose slightly last week, to a seasonally adjusted 608,000.• Unemployment – which is reported monthly, not weekly – remains at 25-year high of 9.4%.• Businesses eliminated 345,000 jobs in May – a figure also reported monthly.• The total number of people receiving unemployment compensation (which is a lot lower than the total number of unemployed workers) fell slightly, for the first time in 19 weeks. Continue Reading

War Reports | June 18, 2009

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Somalia Somalia’s Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden was among ten people killed in a bomb attack north of the capitalat a hotel in Beledweyne, reports BBC. Ten more people were killed in a separate bomb attack on a mosque in Mogadishu. Pakistan A U.S. airstrike in South Waziristan killed nine people, reports BBC. The strike targeted a house in a village near the Afghan border, and Taliban militants were reportedly among the dead. The New York Times reports on the plight of an estimated three million internal refugees from the current fighting inside Pakistan. Continue Reading

Iran update | June 18, 2009

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Protests continue in Iran, as opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi calls for a day of mourning for the eight people killed after Monday’s protests, and for the release of jailed opposition politicians and journalists, reports BBC. On Wednesday, an estimated 50-70,000 protesters marched silently through downtown Tehran. The Guardian Council scheduled an extraordinary session for Saturday and invited candidates to to take part in the session. 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. Continue Reading