Silence is deadly. My name is Shannon Houska. I am 32 years old. I almost died keeping my deadly secret. I remained silent about a matter of my life and death for nearly a decade. I remained silent about my HIV diagnosis and hid my status in public until recently. A few weeks ago I went public with my HIV status. I hope breaking my silence encourages more people living with painful secrets to speak up without shame.

I was diagnosed when I was 23. It was earth-shattering news for me. I suspected that I was sick, but the final confirmation was unbearable. I remember being at The Red Door Clinic when they gave me the news. I let just two tears fall from my eyes; I held the rest in because I was embarrassed and ashamed to be seen crying. I did not want strangers in the waiting room to figure out what my diagnosis was. So I held my devastation inside and walked out of the clinic pretending that nothing had changed for me.

In reality everything had changed. I was 23, and my dream of becoming a wife and mother one day had been the dream that had kept me going during tough times. The day I received my HIV diagnosis, I gave up on that dream and all of my other dreams as well. I did not tell my family or friends what was going on with me. I did not let anyone in my life know that I was scared to death and hurting with grief. I didn't tell anyone that I was sick or suffering.

I was too embarrassed and ashamed of myself to ask anyone for support or guidance. I kept the secret of my diagnosis from my mother, sister and best friends. I stopped visiting all of my loved ones, and I ignored their phone calls.

I started thinking day and night about a way out of my shame and my illness, forever. I decided that ending my life would be the best way out. I collected pills and stockpiled them; I set a date and wrote goodbye letters to leave behind. 

Demanded the truth

One person in my life sensed that something was very wrong with me. She showed up at my door and demanded that I tell her the truth about what was going on with me. I told her everything. I told her about my HIV diagnosis and plan to commit suicide. She saved my life by having me admitted into a psychiatric care unit for 24-hour supervision.

The staff at the ward took away the strings from my shoes so that I would not strangle myself with them. They refused to give me razors to shave my armpits, so that I would not slit my wrists. They held me and only released me when I seemed willing to reconsidering killing myself.

When they let me out of the hospital I was not a happy person, yet. I still had no hope for my future. I still wanted to die. Years passed; I searched everywhere to make meaning of what happened to me and found none. I looked for a reason to keep living in spite of my grief, and it was difficult to find.

Purpose in advocacy

After almost a decade, however, I began to find good purpose, hope and comfort in advocating for other silent and marginalized people in our community. I am not silent anymore. I am not hiding my HIV status from anyone, and I am not ashamed. I am HIV positive but my status does not define me. My purpose, hopes, aspirations and actions make me who I am.

This year I am co-leading a team of volunteer fundraisers for the 2014 Minnesota AIDS Walk. The walk is on Sunday, May 18^. We named our team “Silence Is Deadly.” It can be deadly, but it never has to be again. 

To donate to or join our team, visit mnaidswalk.org and enter our team name.

Shannon Houska is a junior in the Communication Studies Department at St. Catherine University. She is an advocate for affordable housing and income equality. She lives in the Stevens Square neighborhood of Minneapolis.

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Hello, Wisconsin … . Says Brian Bakst of the AP, “The Minnesota Senate on Tuesday soundly defeated an attempted repeal of the state's law barring liquor stores from being open on Sundays. The chamber did vote in favor of allowing craft beer taprooms to sell bottled ‘growlers’ for takeaway on Sundays, but then the broader liquor bill to which the provision was attached got pulled from debate. It might not return this session."

We’re in no danger of becoming — for better or worse — the next Colorado, but the medicinal pot bill, watered as it is, is moving inexorably. In the Strib, Patrick Condon says, “The Minnesota Senate has overwhelmingly backed the legalization of medical marijuana, voting 48-18 with a strong bipartisan majority that would be enough to override a veto by Gov. Mark Dayton.  A House vote on a more limited medical marijuana proposal could come as early as Friday.”

In Tim Blotz’ story for KMSP-TV he writes, “Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R) attacked the bill, saying it would lead to recreational legislation. As a former sheriff, he said that in his background, he's ‘seen the devastation of this drug.’” “Devastation?” Really?  I hadn’t heard they were making a sequel to “Reefer Madness.”

Please .. take whatever you want. Just let us be major league … . Says Rochelle Olson in the Strib, “The Twin Cities' Super Bowl bid goes to all 32 NFL owners on iPads by Wednesday. Now the co-chairs of the panel making the pitch (pass?) will meet with reporters to talk about what they've turned in. ... New Orleans and Indianapolis also are in the hunt.”

And speaking of big-ticket items,Bill Salisbury of the PiPress reports, “Key state policy-makers are lined up behind paying the final installment to restore Minnesota's aging state Capitol. The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday approved a $1.05 billion bonding bill that includes $126 million to complete the four-year, $272 million makeover of the 109-year-old monument to state government.”

If you filed your taxes before that tax cut bill, the state revenue office is promising to get your cash to you by June 27. Baird Helgeson of the Strib says, “Minnesota Department of Revenue officials are plowing through 260,000 income tax returns from Minnesotans who are likely to qualify for additional tax rebates. Revenue staffers have manually reviewed about 52,000 tax filings and plan to have them finished by June 27. Between now and then, Minnesotans will either automatically receive an additional refund, or be asked for additional information or be told they need to file an amended return.”

I do believe there’ll be an immediate, noisy response to this … . According to the AP, “A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a secret investigation into possible illegal coordination between conservative groups and recent recall campaigns in Wisconsin, including the 2012 effort to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker. U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa also ordered prosecutors to return all property seized in the investigation and to destroy all copies of information obtained in the probe. The conservative organization Club for Growth and its director, Eric O'Keefe, filed the federal lawsuit in Milwaukee in February, arguing the so-called John Doe investigation amounts to harassment and violates conservatives' free speech rights.”

For the Baraboo News Republic Dee Hall reports,“ … Randa said the preliminary injunction was needed because the ‘timing of the investigation has frustrated the ability of [Wisconsin Club for Growth] and other right-leaning organizations to participate in the 2014 legislative session and election cycle.’ He found that the investigation has ‘dramatically impaired’ the constitutionally protected right of Club for Growth and O'Keefe to engage in issue advocacy. Issue advocacy groups do not have to report the source of their funding so long as they do not expressly advocate the defeat or election of any candidate.”

Exhibit A … . Joe Lindberg of the PiPress says, “Minneapolis-based Hibachi Buffet Inc. owes more than $117,000 in unpaid wages to 18 workers, according to details from a federal investigation released Monday. The company paid kitchen workers a fixed salary that did not cover the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, according to the U.S. Department of Labor investigation. The labor department also said the company failed to pay workers overtime and keep accurate records of hours worked by kitchen employees.”

Creative Commons/TheDigitel Beaufort

Nixing the sale of growlers was the final step in killing efforts to expand Sunday alcohol sales.

The politics of booze may not be of the greatest importance, but it does underscore how “the people’s business” is often conducted in state Capitol back rooms.

On Monday, a very brief Senate Tax Committee meeting stripped an omnibus liquor bill provision allowing Sunday growler sales.

Nixing the sale of growlers — refillable jugs used to transport beer from Minnesota taprooms — was the final step in killing efforts to expand Sunday alcohol sales.

Sen. Roger Reinert, DFL-Duluth, had led the fight to allow Minnesotans to choose going to a liquor store, or at least a taproom, to make a Sunday purchase. Reinert started the session hoping for across-the-board Sunday liquor sales. By this point in the session, he was down to the growlers, which are sold out of those little breweries popping up all over the state.

Reinert has been opposed by members of his own party, who, with a few exceptions, act like Teamsters union puppets when this issue comes up.

The Teamsters worry growler sales will re-open contracts with other liquor establishments. Though union officials did not return requests for comment Tuesday, they annually tag team with the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association — heavily influenced by little Main Street liquor stores — to block Sunday sales.

Tuesday, Republicans of the libertarian stripe had a field day with DFLers.

Sunday sales = higher property taxes?

Three GOP senators — Jeremy Miller, David Osmek, and Branden Petersen — offered a series of amendments to the growler-stripped bill.

First up was Miller, of Winona, who every Sunday sees people in his district go to Iowa or Wisconsin for liquor they can’t buy in Minnesota. He offered an amendment that would allow local officials to determine whether liquor stores could be open.

He took a nice jab at the DFLers’ Teamster-coddling — his amendment prohibited deliveries to liquor stores on Sundays. (Some pols believe Teamsters oppose Sunday openings because it might force weekend work.)

DFLers didn’t have enough class to blush at Miller’s subtle shot. Rather, a couple of them blustered.

Sen. Rod Skoe

For example, there was Sen. Rod Skoe of Clearbrook, the Tax Committee chair.

“If you look across the state,” Skoe said, “you see a lot of municipal liquor stores.”

Those stores, he said, help communities hold property taxes down — but if the stores were to stay up seven days a week, instead of six, they wouldn’t be so profitable, therefore property taxes might go up.

Skoe called for “a study” to see how Sunday sales would affect property taxes.

Sen. James Metzen, DFL, St. Paul, who carried the liquor bill, said that the Miller amendment should not be supported because it had not “been heard in committee.”

To his credit, Metzen managed to keep a straight face, even though it’s obvious that DFLers are concerned about “committee process” only when it’s to their benefit.

Miller’s amendment was voted down — in a bipartisan way, it should be noted. (A substantial number of conservative Republicans oppose Sunday liquor sales on moral/religious grounds.)

'People should plan ahead'

Next up was Osmek, of Mound, who offered an amendment that would put the growler provision back in the liquor bill.

Again, Metzen rose.

“We have to respect the Tax Committee,” he said.

Other members in the Senate didn’t actually burst out in laughter. But Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, caused a few snickers, even among DFLers.

“The Tax Committee removed this provision in a meeting that lasted 4 minutes, 51 seconds yesterday (Monday) morning,” Thompson noted, adding that there had been very little advance notice of the committee meeting.

Skoe tried to act upset by Thompson’s statement.

“A hearing was held,” Skoe said of his meeting. “There was no testimony.”

Skoe followed that bizarre statement by digging himself into a hole. People shouldn’t need to buy liquor on Sundays, he said: “People should be able to plan just a little ahead.”

This was not a wise thing for a senator to say. It suggested that consumer planning — not Teamster or liquor store pressure — is the problem here.

Some Republicans were nearly foaming at the mouth to get at Skoe’s remark.

Sen. Branden Petersen

Petersen, of Andover, leaped up and offered an amendment to Osmek’s growler amendment. Petersen’s would eliminate the Sunday sales ban entirely.

“We have reached a level of absurdity here,” Petersen said, angrily. “The idea that Sen. Skoe knows better when people should go to the store to buy a legal product is an affront to anybody. … This bill recognizes people are responsible enough to decide when they’ll go to the store to buy a case of beer.”

DFL leaders didn’t just oppose Petersen’s amendment; some Republicans also expressed concern, too.

“I rise in opposition,” said Sen. Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa. “This bill goes too far, too fast.”

(Hmm. “Too far, too fast.” Efforts to open up liquor sales have been around for decades. Minnesota is one of 12 states that does NOT allow Sunday liquor sales. Polls show that more than 60 per cent of Minnesotans want Sunday sales.)

If some Republicans were concerned about opening liquor store doors on Sunday, others took great delight in making DFL leaders uncomfortable.

Miller asked his fellow Republican Petersen: “Senator, is there anything in your amendment that requires liquor stores to be open on Sunday?"

Petersen: “No. This amendment allows business people to go down the scary path of making their own decisions about how to run their business.”

There were a few chuckles in the Senate chamber.

The Petersen amendment was defeated. But it seemed to set the stage for the Osmek’s growler amendment, which passed. Sunday jug sales were alive and well again.

This caused more consternation among DFLers. After quick consultations with some of his fellow travelers, Metzen tabled the liquor bill that now sagged under the weight of the offending growler amendment.

Sports teams want a liquor bill

The reality is that a liquor bill needs to come out of this session. It contains a number of things sports teams want.

For example, during July’s Major League Baseball All Star game, Minneapolis bars want licenses that allow them to remain open until 4 a.m. This bill also expands sales at the University of Minnesota’s football stadium, which for the next two years hosts the Gophers and the Vikings.

So far, the House waited for the Senate to act.

But now the Senate is all twisted up. Before any new action can be taken, DFL senators have to figure out how to make both Teamsters and sports teams happy.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce included 8th District Republican candidate Stewart Mills in one of the group's first big advertising buys of general election season.

The Chamber is up with a $3 million ad buy supporting ten Republican congressional incumbents and candidates around the country, per the New York Times. The buy, according to the Times, “comes as the chamber plans to pivot from supporting primary candidates to focusing on general election candidates the group believes will help grow a pro-business majority in the Republican-controlled House.”

All of the ads are tailored for the specific candidate they support, and Mills' focuses on his business career and what he's said he would do to create jobs if he defeats Rep. Rick Nolan this fall.

The 8th District race was one of the most expensive and closely-watched House contests in the country last cycle. Early indications are we could be in for round two this year: conservative groups like the American Action Network and Americans for Prosperity have already hit the airwaves in the district.

Devin Henry can be reached at dhenry@minnpost.com.

Richard Gilyard, an architect and board member of the Prospect Park East River Road Improvement Association, shamed me Monday morning when he remarked to his audience that many people mistakenly think the neighborhood is part of St. Paul.

Gulp. Guilty as charged.

Maybe geography dummies like me can be forgiven because Prospect Park's location, to the east of the University of Minnesota, does make the random driver feel like s/he's headed straight for downtown St. Paul. And Southeast University Avenue, the area's main drag, is lined with fairly homely office, industrial and apartment buildings that don't really beckon to pedestrians. To the south of the avenue, however, lies a tree-filled, hilly neighborhood with a diverse housing stock (small apartment buildings and single family houses of all ages).

To the north of University Avenue sits an industrial district, and its own main drag, 4th Street, was the subject of the first session of the Saint Paul Riverfront Corporation's Placemaking Residency — which was why about 50 people (and I) were gathered at the Minnesota Textile Center. In this its third year, it stars Gil Penalosa, executive director of 8-80 Cities, a Toronto nonprofit consulting group that has helped towns around the globe make themselves friendlier to 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds, rather than just healthy 30-somethings. Penalosa will be in the Twin Cities (not to mention Bloomington and Wayzata) all week to provide advice and insight on making our area more livable — and prosperous.

The catalyst for Prospect Park is a brand-new LRT station on 4th Street and 29th Avenue, part of the Green Line connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul. (Trains making test runs were already on the tracks.) Because of its proximity to the university, the improvement association anticipated that the LRT would bring a surge of new development; so it created a plan to "green" 4th Street.

"We wanted to shape it rather than have something done to us," said Gilyard.

'Urban village' envisioned

The neighborhood's vision [PDF] is an "urban village" that would combine a research park; some industry; new multifamily housing, 20 percent of it low-income; plus park, retail and commercial space that would lure pedestrians. According to a 2012 iteration of the neighborhood's plan "Fourth Street should become a residential street. Housing adjacent to the street should be two-to-four story row houses with some high-rise buildings. Parcels adjacent to the transit station would provide a people-friendly environment with interior and exterior gathering spaces, retail/service related traffic generators, and visible activity." And the movers and shakers behind the plan advocated collaboration among the various developments, for example, to create "reservoir parking" that could be used by a number of businesses.

My heart sank, however, when we went on a walking tour of "green 4th;" its prospect was a dreary brown and grey. "It takes a lot of imagination to see what this could look like," said one fellow walker.

Still, things seem to be happening. Surly's "destination" brewery, which will include a beer hall and garden, a restaurant and event center, is already well under way two blocks from 4th. The Cornerstone Group has purchased land on which it plans 250 units of housing, Aeon is taking over the site of the Habitat for Humanity building, and the Wall Companies have bought 17 acres for what eventually will be (they hope) a 65-acre Innovation Park, "for the promotion of medical, life science, and information technologies."

Jeffery Hensley, a Wall veep who is honcho-ing the project, says its buildings will look like those in the university's new Biomedical Discovery District, which, while not exactly warm and inviting, are much more appealing than what's on 4th now. Hensley, however, says he wants the buildings to allow people to view their manufacturing and laboratory processes, combining — I guess — industry and entertainment. (I see school buses unloading for tours.)

Concern about pulling it together

But progress has been slow. The Cornerstone Group hasn't broken ground, and Hensley says that he's in the "telling-people-it's-a-good-idea stage" of the innovation park. Gilyard is concerned about pulling the whole thing together. The neighborhood wants 4th to be more than a collection of random buildings but a neighborhood. Creating a distinctive look and connectedness from scratch with a batch of different developers won't be easy. "We're afraid that development won't look all that much different than what we have now," said Gilyard. 

MinnPost photo by Marlys Harris

The current state of 4th Street.

Penalosa, who delivered chats both before and after the field trip, is an engaging speaker with a Colombian accent. (He hails from Bogota, where he was parks commissioner.) He didn't, however, provide much commentary on the Prospect Park plan. Instead, he tried to bring some inspiration to the group. "You have a magnificent opportunity here," he said. But there should have been more of a sense of urgency about developing the area when the Green Line was announced. Citizens must step up now and push for what they want.  

As far as his city-planning advice goes, well, his main themes are familiar ones: Walking, biking and mass transit are good, cars not so much. For starters, cars are very expensive; the typical two-car family spends about 25 percent of its income on fueling and maintaining its cars. If family members could use mass transit, bikes and feet, they would save thousands a year, which they could spend in the local economy. (Of course, they are spending it in the local economy now — on gas, tires and insurance.)

Streets, Penalosa added, make up the largest part of our landscape, but we consign them to cars, not people. To return streets to citizens, he suggested that cities drop speed limits to 20 miles an hour, making them safe for both kids and the elderly.

'Maybe there are 15 horrible days'

As to Twin Citians' excuse that the bad weather keeps them in their cars, he countered that when he worked in the Caribbean, people there told him it was too hot to walk. He pointed out that Minneapolis normally receives 43 inches of snow in the winter, but it's spread over five months. "Maybe there are 15 horrible days and 43 bad ones." We should be planning for the nearly 300 decent days, but instead, he says, we install "flyovers" like skyways "which suck life out of the city" for the 15 worst days of the year. (By way of comfort, he added that his hometown of Toronto makes the same mistake, connecting every building with underground passages.) 

He flipped through a gazillion slides showing us how cities made themselves more beautiful, livable and walkable through acts of political courage. In one Danish city, for example, the city removed parking spots to widen sidewalks along a canal. Shopkeepers complained that they would lose business, but Penalosa showed us a slide of the area after the changes; it was mobbed. "Do you think anybody lost business here?" he asked.

To install bike-sharing racks, Paris removed 5,000 parking spots. And cities like Arhaus and Seoul deconstructed freeways to surface waterways that transformed desert-like areas into pedestrian malls that resembled Barcelona's Rambla. What will get the job done, he says, is leadership, a sense of urgency, citizen engagement and all those other things that are nice to urge folks to have and do but not all that easy to carry out.

Cam Gordon, who represents Prospect Park on the City Council, mentioned some of the area's other to-dos that would make a difference. The Grand Rounds in the area needs to be completed, and Bridal Veil Creek and its waterfall, which now are buried, should be "daylighted." But the cities' and region's position, he says, is that they've made an immense investment in the Green Line. Private development will have to take care of the rest. But, he added, "that development may be way below our expectations."

Penalosa's answer is not to give up but to aim high. "Martians," he said, "are not going to come down and fix our cities." 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a consumer update recently in which it announced it was going to “crack down” on deceptive claims about autism therapies.

The agency says it has put several companies on warning that “they are facing possible legal action if they continue to make false or misleading claims about products and therapies claiming to treat or cure autism.”

As the FDA update points out, there is no cure for autism, a neurobehavioral disorder that affects an estimated 1 in 68 children in the United States, so any products or treatments that offer such a cure are fraudulent. The same is true, the agency adds, for some of the products that claim to “treat” autism.

Focus on five misleading ‘treatments’

Here are five of the so-called therapies that the FDA is targeting:

• “Chelation Therapies.” These products claim to cleanse the body of toxic chemicals and heavy metals by binding to them and “removing” them from circulation. They come in a number of forms, including sprays, suppositories, capsules, liquid drops and clay baths. FDA-approved chelating agents are approved for specific uses, such as the treatment of lead poisoning and iron overload, and are available by prescription only. FDA-approved prescription chelation therapy products should only be used under medical supervision. Chelating important minerals needed by the body can lead to serious and life-threatening outcomes.

• Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. This involves breathing oxygen in a pressurized chamber and has been cleared by FDA for certain medical uses, such as treating decompression sickness suffered by divers. It has not been cleared for autism, among other conditions.

• Miracle Mineral Solution. Also known as Miracle Mineral Supplement and MMS, this product becomes a potent chemical that‘s used as bleach when mixed according to package directions. FDA has received reports of consumers who say they experienced nausea, severe vomiting and life-threatening low blood pressure after drinking the MMS and citrus juice mixture.

• Detoxifying Clay Baths. Added to bath water, these products claim to draw out chemical toxins, pollutants and heavy metals from the body, falsely offering “dramatic improvement” for autism symptoms.

• CocoKefir probiotics products. Product claims include being a “major key” to recovery from autism, but they are not proven safe and effective for this advertised use.

How to spot possible fraud

The FDA also provided a few basic tips to parents of autistic children who are trying to determine whether a particular treatment is fraudulent:

• Be suspicious of products that claim to treat a wide range of diseases.

• Personal testimonials are no substitute for scientific evidence.

• Few diseases or conditions can be treated quickly, so be suspicious of any therapy claimed as a “quick fix.”

• So-called “miracle cures,” which claim scientific breakthroughs and secret ingredients, may be a hoax.

'Long history of failed treatments'

The Association for Science in Autism Treatment (ASAT), which describes itself as “a not-for-profit organization of parents and professionals committed to improving the education, treatment, and care of people with autism,” offers its own (and much longer) list of the “warning signs” of pseudoscientific therapies.

The ASAT also provides detailed evidence-based research summaries of psychological, educational and therapeutic interventions for children and adults with autism.

"Since autism was first identified, there has been a long history of failed treatments and fads, levied on vulnerable individuals as well as on their families," the ASAT's website notes. "From the scandal of the 'refrigerator mother' theory, to the ongoing parade of 'miracle cures' and 'magical breakthroughs,' history has been dominated by improbable theories about causation and treatments. Many of these treatments have been too quickly adopted by professionals, too readily sensationalized by the media, and too hastily embraced by hopeful consumers — well before supporting evidence or reasonable probability existed for their effectiveness or safety."

Let's hope the the FDA's latest efforts to crack down on fraudulent claims regarding autism treatments have some effect.

LONDON, UK — With one year to go before the general election, there’s a decidedly American scent in the air around Whitehall, the central palace that houses many government offices.

The Labour Party has hired David Axelrod, the campaign consultant behind President Barack Obama’s 2008 election. Not to be outdone, the Conservatives have taken on board Jim Messina, Obama’s former deputy chief of staff and 2012 campaign manager.

Even the idea of a yearlong campaign trail is something of a Yankee import. No general election in British history has had its date fixed so far in advance, this time thanks to an agreement struck when the coalition government was formed in 2010.

But whether the public will buy politicians’ flirting with American-style campaigning remains to be seen.

James D. Boys, a senior research fellow at King’s College London, believes a globalized media is partly responsible for the new direction.

“You’ve got a generation of British politicians who have come to office in the last few years who loved ‘The West Wing,’” he says, adding that they also see American strategists debating each other on CNN and think, “I want one of those. I want a war room of my own.”

Don’t expect confetti or crazy hats at the party conventions this fall, however. UK campaigns are a lot more low-key than America’s. Televised debates didn’t even take place until the last elections in 2010.

The key difference is that no one in Britain votes for a prime minister. Brits cast ballots only for their local members of parliament. The party with the majority of regional seats forms a government and its leader is typically named prime minister.

With less emphasis on the individual candidates and more on the party, the executive’s office is a lot less glamorous than its American counterpart. Pomp and circumstance in public life is really reserved for the Windsors, across town.

No British equivalent of “Hail to the Chief” starts playing as if by magic when a prime minister enters a room. The official residence at 10 Downing Street is an unassuming townhouse, not a giant white mansion.

Britain is the only G7 country without an executive air fleet a la Air Force One, which leads to all kinds of “Politicians — They’re Just Like Us!” moments. Like the day in September when Prime Minister David Cameron was caught leaving his official government briefcase unguarded on a public commuter train while he got a snack from the dining car.

It’s not hard to see why some prime ministers might long for the relative deferenceAmericans shows their political class, says Boys, the author of a forthcoming book on US foreign policy during the Clinton years.

“Just imagine what it must be like to be a British prime minister. You spend your time in parliament being heckled and shouted at in prime minister’s questions,” he says of the often raucous weekly sessions during which the prime minister is obliged to respond to MPs. “Then you fly to Washington. You’re courted by the Americans. You get invited to the Oval Office. You’re seen as a visiting superstar.”

British leaders “like what they see over there,” Boys adds.

Axelrod and Messina — both of whom will work remotely from the US during the UK campaign — are hardly Britain’s first electoral imports.

“There’s a fruitful transatlantic trade in political expertise,” says Nick Anstead of the London School of Economics.

In addition to Messina, the Tories have also brought on Lynton Crosby, a political consultant described as the “Australian Karl Rove.”

Labour has been borrowing US campaign strategies since at least 1992, when party operatives flew to Little Rock, Arkansas to meet with Democratic advisors after Bill Clinton’s victory.

“When you hire someone like David Axelrod, you’re hiring an idea of how politics should be done,” Anstead says — in this case, the shoe-leather, grassroots campaigning the Chicago operative favors. “It will be interesting to see how that is imported.”

How much Americanization takes place in British politics will be influenced by the public’s expectations of politicians, which significantly differ from US attitudes.

The earnest, over-the-top patriotism Americans have come to expect of presidential candidates would trigger gag reflexes among many British voters. Unlike most of their US counterparts, MPs don’t sport pins of their national flag on their lapels.

And while American politicians seemingly can’t get elected without repeated references to their faith in a Christian God, most Brits don’t need — or want — their politicians to get personal about religion.

“People in the UK do not vote with their ballot papers in one hand and their Bibles in the other,” says Eliza Filby, a lecturer at King’s College London and author of the forthcoming book “God and Mrs. Thatcher.”

“We are not a nation that likes or requires a leader to speak openly about religion, or even be an active believer,” she adds.

Of the three main party leaders, the Liberal-Democrats’ Nick Clegg is an atheist, Labour’s Ed Miliband identifies as a “Jewish atheist” and Cameron once compared his ambivalent Christian faith to the spotty radio signal in the countryside.

Few voters care.

More from GlobalPost: How worried are Russia’s oligarchs?

Leaving aside Margaret Thatcher’s impromptu recitation of the Prayer of St. Francis on the day she took office, politicians and their advisors have shied away from overt references to their faith in recent history.

When then-Prime Minister Tony Blair was asked about his religion during a 2003 interview, his spokesman Alastair Campbell butted in to say, “We don’t do God.”

And when Blair proposed ending a speech with “God bless Britain” a few years later, a staff member shot him down with a curt, “I just remind you prime minister, this is not America,” Blair recalled in 2012.

So when Cameron remarked in a speech last month that Britain should not be afraid to identify itself as “a Christian country,” it took many people by surprise. It seemed so … un-British. So American.

Cynical observers noted that Cameron’s remarks expediently pushed the embarrassing resignation of a Tory minister out of the headlines, proving that co-opting God for political reasons works just as well on both sides of the Atlantic.

“There was clearly a hole in the ‘grid,’ the need for a new talking point,” Alastair Campbell wrote on his blog, “so someone said ‘I know, let’s get Dave to do God.’” 

Minnesota may have recently ranked as the nation’s third-healthiest state, but another third place the state earned is nothing brag about: 792 students for every school counselor — the nation’s third-highest ratio.

To put it another way: we’re 48th! The national average is 460:1. North Dakota’s ratio is 312:1. The American School Counselor Association recommends a 250:1 ratio.

Dwelling in the nation’s school-counselor cellar is nothing new for Minnesota. “We were 48th, 49th, 50th really through the 1990s,” said Tom Tillberry, a school counselor in the Roseville Area Schools. “It’s been a slow go, always.”

What is new: Encouraging words from Gov. Mark Dayton, last week who called for more school counselors in his State of the State Address (video):

“Starting in junior high school, our education system needs to make students aware of the real-world opportunities and the pitfalls in that world that they will be entering. … they must need to hear again and again and again that continuing their education will be absolutely essential to achieving the lives that they want. Our schools need more guidance counselors, who are specially trained in career guidance, to help junior high and high school students better understand what their opportunities are and how to prepare for them.”

The governor’s statement was “huge,” said Minnesota School Counselor Association president David Warner, whose group gathered at their annual conference in Brainerd over the weekend.

Usually, when the state’s lousy school counselor ratio comes up, “we have a lot of people nodding their heads,” Warner said, adding that now, “motors are already working.”

However, gubernatorial rhetoric will have to overcome years of stagnant funding, amid a preoccupation with lower class sizes that has meant fewer counselors. That's why the counselors have stepped up organizing.

Minnesota School Counselors Association

Minnesota ranks 48th in the nation with one counselor for every 792 students in K-12 schools.

The budget bind

The MSCA is in the early stages banding together with other student-services professionals — including school social workers, psychologists, nurses and chemical dependency counselors — to seek more state funds.

As many services as school counselors provide students — from crisis counseling and help with social and classroom problems to the career and educational guidance the governor emphasized — they’re commonly caught in a budget bind.

Tom Tillberry

Carol Hokenson, who manages the state education department’s school finance division, said  “local budget decisions put an emphasis on lowering class sizes. When funding decisions get made, it’s often at the expense of other areas” — like school counselors.

Another thing holding counselors back: unlike their student-services allies, “We deal with every single student,” Tillberry said. “We meet with every kid.”

That makes it difficult for school administrators to pay for counselors with reimbursable funds limited to students receiving special education services, for example.

“School districts ‘tote the note’ on their own to hire school counselors,” said Walter Roberts, who trains school counselors in Minnesota State Mankato’s graduate program.

That funding double whammy could account for the state’s dismal ranking over the years, those interviewed said.

Other states kept counseling as an integral part of overall school curriculum during the 1980s and ‘90s, Roberts said, while Minnesota coasted on its 1970s educational achievements. “We’re running out of steam from the Minnesota Miracle,” he said.

(Another factor may be a depletion in the ranks of elementary-level counselors. Warner, who works in the Osseo School District, is one of only about 100 elementary school counselors in the state.)

Ratio worse than it appears?

However, Minnesota’s school counselor situation may have begun improving.

“I’m optimistic, because this year it seems like more school counseling positions are being advertised,” Roberts said.

He attributes the openings to retirements, and improved education funding, including the state returning the “school shift” funds borrowed from school districts.

It’s not likely that Minnesota’s new anti-bullying law will mean more school counselors, added Roberts, who served as co-chair on the state task force whose work laid the law’s groundwork. The law doesn’t include funding.

MinnPost file photo by Terry Gydesen

Walter Roberts

Roberts is adamant that a better future for school counselors does not require taking anything away from other student service professions, who he said must work together for equitable service delivery to Minnesota students.

Roberts suspects the state’s school counselor ratio may actually be worse than it appears in U.S. Department of Education figures, since some districts have moved to a “dean of students” model. That usually means even fewer student counselors, he said; deans who lack school-counseling certification may get mistakenly counted as counselors.

Whatever its ratio and national rank, Minnesota has a long way to go to catch up with neighboring states. Wisconsin nearly hits its legally mandated 1:450 ratio and Iowa and the Dakotas do even better.

“I don’t think any practicing professional thinks Minnesota is ever going to reach the national average,” Roberts said. A more realistic goal is reaching a ratio in the regional range, he added: “That would be a blessing.”

Minnesota has no mandated school-counselor ratio; indeed, such a measure would be a “poison pill” at the state Capitol, said Tillberry, who represented Fridley for three terms in the Legislature.

Tillberry succeeded in 2007 in getting a law passed that required districts to dedicate $3 of any $30-per-pupil Safe School Levy to student-support services — only to see that measure repealed in 2010 over concerns about local control.

But the state of Minnesota school counseling may have seen a shift with the governor’s State of the State message. MSCA president Warner said the association’s government-relations committee to realize their time had come: “We’ve got to start looking [for a solution] sooner rather than later.”

MinnPost illustration by Andy Sturdevant

“Against a backdrop of pervasive criminal mayhem and irreversible urban decay, an elite committee of Ramsey County’s elected leaders, top law enforcement officials and modernist architects met in the waning years of the 1970s to develop a new weapon in the ongoing war on crime…”

Walking down by the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul reminds me more than anything of walking through the city’s alleyways. There is a sense that you’re in the city’s backyard, behind the orderly civic façade that’s presented for public view.

This idea is reinforced looking up the bluffs at the city from down on Shepard Road. From the Custom House to City Hall, the bluff line on the north bank of the Mississippi is ridged by an unbroken string of buildings whose backs are facing you. The river is, like an alley, a place of utility – a place for barges and railroads and lift bridges, but not necessarily the sort of place to be admired or used recreationally.

Or that was clearly the city’s position until pretty recently. In fact, it’s still so sparsely populated and parts of it are so industrially oriented — it’s the only place I know of in either downtown where you can see an active truck, train and barge all within 300 feet of one another — that there are stretches where you wonder if you really belong there at all.

That’s changing, of course. There is a very nice bike trail hugging the edge of the river, and there are public squares and artwork popping up here and there. Newer buildings are now built facing the river, so the impression one gets that the city’s back is literally turned to the Mississippi is softening.

St. Paul, like its sister Minneapolis, or just about any of its inland brethren anywhere in America, is waking up to the fact that the riverfront can be a valuable asset and an important part of a community, and not something to be ignored or abused. This is a healthier attitude for both the river and the population. But the fact that the river is seen as a valuable economic and natural community asset is so self-evident in the early 21st century that it makes it difficult to imagine why it was not always so.

Jail is a good place to start

There are a few remarkable structures and buildings along the way worth looking at in some detail, but a good place to start is with a building that captures the city’s attitude toward the river through at least the 1980s. It is the old Ramsey County Adult Detention Center, built in 1979. Along with a suite of adjacent buildings once owned by West Publishing, it has been vacant since 2003. In fact, the jail outgrew its capacity only a few years after opening.

MinnPost photo by Andy Sturdevant

The old Ramsey County Jail was built in 1979.

You’ve maybe never seen this building, especially if you’ve never ventured down Shepard Road. It’s hidden from view of most of the city, a red-brick fortress wedged neatly up against the Wabasha Bridge. Its façade is in bad shape – windows are visibly broken, and hawks have started nesting in the crevices. No one can quite, at the moment, figure out what to do with it.

“Tearing that old building down, I don’t think anyone would shed any tears,” said the director of the Friends of the Mississippi River in a 2013 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

And he’s right: It’s ugly. It’s weird. From a strictly economic perspective, it’s a terrible use of what is now prime riverfront real estate. In fact, the only people who might feel any sadness about the old jail disappearing are the folks at the Minnesota Film and TV Board. They have the building enthusiastically listed on their online directory of potential filming locations as a perfect option for productions requiring “PRISONS/JAILS” with a 1970s architectural style. There are some photos of the interior, and it looks incredibly bleak. If I were filming a 1970s prison thriller and I wanted something that split the difference between "Escape From New York,""Kiss of the Spider Woman," and "Assault on Precinct 13,"I’d be on the phone with the Film and TV Board immediately.

In a cliff, under the city

In fact, the old jail is so spectacularly odd and unique, I think we have to resort to cinematic tropes in order to fully appreciate it. Open a new tab, hit “play” on this 1970s-era soundtrack classic, and please read the following to yourself in the most portentous voice you can muster:

Against a backdrop of pervasive criminal mayhem and irreversible urban decay, an elite committee of Ramsey County’s elected leaders, top law enforcement officials and modernist architects met in the waning years of the 1970s to develop a new weapon in the ongoing war on crime. Their plan: to design and construct a state of the art high-security underground fortress built below the streets of downtown St. Paul, beneath the feet of the very citizens it would protect. This facility would house the most dangerous elements of not only the city’s criminal underworld, but those of lawless outlying districts like North Oaks and Maplewood as well. Not only would this sprawling citadel be located below the streets, but it would also be built directly into the side of a sheer cliff, seven stories high and facing out only toward a polluted post-industrial aquatic hellscape in order to ensure that, for its inmates, there could be no escape.

Get the idea? The building was meant to look attractive from the river, and spur urban development above. But in some sense, it's exactly what we’re looking at: a prison built into the side of a cliff underneath the city. It’s practically science fiction, and sometimes the past seems so bizarre, a science fiction framework is the only way to start to understand it. If you’ve eaten at a food truck in downtown St. Paul, you’ve stood atop this building; there’s a public plaza right above it where the trucks all congregate in the warmer months, facing the river with a wonderful panoramic view. I’ve eaten there numerous times, and not once considered that I was standing above an abandoned prison.

Swiftly changing planet

Maybe I’m going out of my way to be a contrarian here, but I like this building. It’s bizarre, cinematic and unapologetically oppressive. But those factors aside, it doesn’t do a totally terrible job complementing its surroundings. To the east of the building, right on the other side of the bridge, there are some sheer white cliffs – the surface of the jail building, with its blocky outcroppings and stony intransigence, echoes the cliffs on the east side of the bridge pretty effectively.

MinnPost photo by Andy Sturdevant

Put yourself in the mindset of a 1970s bureaucrat, looking to hide criminals away in the most convenient and inexpensive way possible.

That aside, I think I like it because it’s a valuable lesson in realizing how unknowable the past can be, and how perceptions of a place can change completely in the space of only a few decades. Put yourself in the mindset of a 1970s bureaucrat, looking to hide criminals away in the most convenient and inexpensive way possible, and also do something productive with that waterfront. The best answer is clearly to build a modern brick superstructure into the side of a cliff in an industrial corridor used almost exclusively by boats and trains, right? No one will see it, and no one will really mind. In addition to that, what if you can also create a public plaza on top of that, allowing people to see out onto the river? It really makes sense, from that perspective. In fact, the old jail won an award from the American Institute of Architects when it opened. It was commended for making "a site that was an urban 'throwaway' as useable" and "a boundary-stretching operational and architectural solution."

Appropriately, the infrastructural emphasis along the river road bears the imprimatur of George N. Shepard, the city’s chief civil engineer in the early 20th century who designed numerous roads and bridges and advocated for I-94. Looking up at the old jail from the road that bears his name, its windows busted and slowly decaying after only a quarter-century, it’s good to be reminded that attitudes about design, place, ecosystems and architecture can change pretty swiftly.

Next week we’ll walk further down Shepard Road and look at some of the other structures there, and how they’ve reflected the city’s attitude toward the Mississippi – the City House, the flood mounds, and the Port of St. Paul.

Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present. Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience. So, too, are coastal planners in Florida, water managers in the arid Southwest, city dwellers from Phoenix to New York, and Native Peoples on tribal lands from Louisiana to Alaska. ...

Thus begins the National Climate Assessment issued yesterday morning at the White House, a report so accessible and compellingly written that I saw no point in trying the journalist's usual task of simplifying science. It continues:

Americans are noticing changes all around them. Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighborhoods.

Other changes are even more dramatic. Residents of some coastal cities see their streets flood more regularly during storms and high tides. Inland cities near large rivers also experience more flooding, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Insurance rates are rising in some vulnerable locations, and insurance is no longer available in others. Hotter and drier weather and earlier snow melt mean that wildfires in the West start earlier in the spring, last later into the fall, and burn more acreage. In Arctic Alaska, the summer sea ice that once protected the coasts has receded, and autumn storms now cause more erosion, threatening many communities with relocation.

This year's assessment is the third in a series of reports ordered by Congress in 1990 on what was to be a quadrennial schedule. It hasn't worked out that way: The Clinton administration took its time on the first assessment, bringing it out in 2000. The Bush administration just took a pass, leaving to President Barack Obama's team to produce the second, in 2009, and now the third.

All three have been characterized by solid science, transparent documentation and clear-eyed, expert analysis by large panels (about 60 principal authors were convened for this edition, and they were aided by more than 250 other collaborators).

But this year's report makes big advances in reader utility and appeal, especially in its visual style and an interactive approach that lets you chart your own path through its mass based on what particular impacts, parts of the country or other special interests hold your greatest concern.

2014 National Climate Assessment

The report projects nationwide temperature change under differing CO2 emissions scenarios.

You can tell it's a report meant to be read by the wider public, rather than merely referenced by their media gatekeepers. We can only hope this strategy pays off, because the time available for meaningful action to mitigate climate disruption — the report does not shrink from that apt and accurate terminology — is shrinking fast.

Emphasis on here and now

Of necessity the report discusses the current state of climate science and modeling, but its primary focus is, first, on the observable impacts plainly traceable to changing climate, and then on possible coping strategies.

2014 National Climate Assessment

Flood magnitudes have been increasing in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest.

Climate scientists have long spoken with confidence about the general problem of global warming, and also about possible solutions. Over the last several years they've been shedding a longstanding reluctance to talk about the middle piece — the linkages between here-and-now changes and complex global systems — and the report says this shift, too, represents advances in understanding.

What is new over the last decade is that we know with increasing certainty that climate change is happening now.

It is notable that as these data records have grown longer and climate models have become more comprehensive, earlier predictions have largely been confirmed. The only real surprises have been that some changes, such as sea level rise and Arctic sea ice decline, have outpaced earlier projections.

Two prime examples:

• Prolonged periods of high temperatures and the persistence of high nighttime temperatures have increased in many locations (especially in urban areas) over the past half century. High nighttime temperatures have widespread impacts because people, livestock, and wildlife get no respite from the heat. ... Evidence indicates that the human influence on climate has already roughly doubled the probability of extreme heat events such as the record-breaking summer heat experienced in 2011 in Texas and Oklahoma.

• Water quality and quantity are being affected by climate change. Changes in precipitation and runoff, combined with changes in consumption and withdrawal, have reduced surface and groundwater supplies in many areas. These trends are expected to continue, increasing the likelihood of water shortages for many uses. Water quality is also diminishing in many areas, particularly due to sediment and contaminant concentrations after heavy downpours.

Closeup on the Midwest

As for potentially positive effects of a warming climate, the report highlights just two as it looks to the near future — longer growing seasons for some crops in some places, and longer availability of shipping conditions on the Great Lakes — and these would seem to favor Minnesotans.

2014 National Climate Assessment

The Midwest region has been one of the most affected by increased heavy precipitation in recent years.

However, the overall impacts laid out in the report actually seem to especially disfavor the eight-state Midwest region lying east of the Great Plains and north of the Ohio River:

Extreme heat, heavy downpours, and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also exacerbate a range of risks to the Great Lakes ...

Direct effects of increased heat stress, flooding, drought, and late spring freezes on natural and managed ecosystems may be multiplied by changes in pests and disease prevalence, increased competition from non-native or opportunistic native species, ecosystem disturbances, land-use change, landscape fragmentation, atmospheric pollutants, and economic shocks such as crop failures or reduced yields due to extreme weather events. 

Other points that caught my eye in the Midwest section:

• The region has been warming somewhat more rapidly than the nation overall, when temperatures of the past 22 years are compared with an average for the first 60 years of the last century; the northern portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan have been warming at some of the highest rates in the country — more than 1.5 degrees F.
• Looking to the so-called "billion-dollar list" produced annual for the insurance industry, "in 2011, 11 of the 14 U.S. weather-related disasters with damage of more than $1 billion affected the Midwest."
• Though the growing season for crops like corn and soybeans has lengthened by about two weeks since 1950, as the last-freeze dates have come earlier, this is not purely good news. "For corn, small long-term average temperature increases will shorten the duration of reproductive development, leading to yield declines, even when offset by carbon dioxide (CO2) stimulation.^, For soybeans, yields have a two in three chance of increasing early in this century due to CO2 fertilization, but these increases are projected to be offset later in the century by higher temperature stress."
• We can expect to lose "many iconic tree species such as paper birch, quaking aspen, balsam fir, and black spruce . . . across the northern Midwest as they shift northward." While mountain species can reach cooler climes by climbing, higher, and traveling just a few miles, "in flat terrain like the Midwest [trees] must move as much as 90 miles north to reach a similarly cooler habitat."
• The Midwest does have an opportunity to contribute disproportionately to solutions based on carbon-emission reductions in the energy sector, that's a reflection of the painful fact that with existing systems, "energy use per dollar of gross domestic product is approximately 20% above the national average, and per capita greenhouse gas emissions are 22% higher than the national average due, in part, to the reliance on fossil fuels, particularly coal for electricity generation."

• Finally, while there may be benefits in further lengthening of the Great Lakes shipping season, which expanded an average of eight days per year between 1994 and 2011, negative effects of changing climate include higher surface-water temperatures in summer, less ice cover in winter and a corresponding increase in the growth of blue-green and toxic algae.

  And long-term declines in overall lake levels could translate into shallower shipping channels and thus less cargo per vessel, potentially offsetting any lengthening of the operating season.

About 10 years ago, Dr. Jim Letts began to notice an influx of Karen refugees in his primary-care practice at HealthEast Roselawn Clinic in St. Paul. All had been exiled by Myanmar’s long-running and ongoing civil war. A high percentage had experienced forced labor, torture, rape and other trauma. And most had lived in Thai refugee camps for an average of 13 years.

“You would see 13-year-old kids,” Letts said, “and you’d realize that they had spent their entire lives in a camp.”

The staff moved quickly to accommodate the newcomers, partnering with the Karen Organization of Minnesota to locate bilingual and culturally competent staff members (there now are five on staff) who could help identify the most pressing needs, including mental-health care. Screening for tuberculosis, hepatitis B, intestinal parasites, sexually transmitted infections and lead poisoning was routine and fairly straightforward. But accurately screening for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, common issues in this population, was another matter entirely.

A kind and discerning man, Letts did not want to make matters worse for his patients by preemptively re-opening wounds or unwittingly shutting down a conversation.

“I walked a fine line between directly asking them about traumatic experiences, and not wanting to re-traumatize them by making them feel that they had to tell their story,” he said. “Often that would come later, when I got to know patients better.” He aimed for a nonthreatening approach: “The most effective ways we got at [mental-health issues] were by talking about some of the symptoms associated with depression and PTSD — asking them about their sleep habits, about nightmares, about their mood and things like that.”

Aware that available mental-health screening tools were too general and yielding too many false positives and false negatives, the state Health Department’s Refugee Health Program convened a working group in 2012, bringing together experts in refugee health, bioethics, psychology and social work. Organizations across the board were represented, including the University of Minnesota, county and numerous other public health providers, insurance companies, and the Center for Victims of Torture. Letts and a HealthEast colleague, Dr. Shana Sniffen, also were at the table to lend their experience and expertise.

The groups’ challenge was to design a tool that could be used to more accurately identify refugees whose level of distress rendered them incapable of caring for themselves or their families and unable to manage the difficulties associated with resettlement and adjusting to a new culture (housing, employment, education, etc.).

The tool would be for assessment purposes only; those identified as needing further mental-health services would be referred for diagnosis and appropriate psychological care.

To design a tool with questions that would work cross-culturally, they looked at health outcomes data for two traumatized but culturally distinct groups: Karen and Somali. (According to Department of Health statistics, there currently are about 5,000 Karen refugees and 19,000 Somali refugees in the state.)

Lost in translation

The work group members faced some interesting challenges: Questions around mental-health issues can be easily misinterpreted or impossible to translate.

Interpreters, for example, struggled to translate the idea of “depression.” And any questions about diminished sexual desire, a common symptom of depression, would often get lost in translation, said Greg Vinson, senior research and evaluation manager at the Center for Victims of Torture and member of the working group. One question came across to Karen as meaning, “Are you committing adultery?”

Other challenges included eliminating the potential for responses that are “socially desirable.” Vinson explained that some refugees base their responses to screening questions on what they had learned might gain them passage from the camps.

MinnPost photo by Sarah T. Williams

Drs. Shana Sniffen and Jim Letts, colleagues at HealthEast Roselawn Clinic in St. Paul, which serves 2,500 Karen refugees.

And even seemingly innocuous questions might not yield relevant results. For example, a provider might understandably inquire about problems with sleep, sometimes a symptom of PTSD and other disorders. But such problems can just as easily be linked to noisy neighbors, jet lag, unstable housing and apartments on four lanes of heavy traffic, said Vinson. “They may have sleep issues that have nothing to do with mental-health stuff,” he said. “In a screener, it’s a bad item — it never predicts anything.”

Calibrating the questions was also important. “It’s one thing to ask, ‘Are you thinking of harming yourself or having suicidal thoughts?’ ” Vinson said. “It’s probably easier to ask, ‘Are you feeling sad?’ A lot of times good screening items are ones that people would be comfortable answering ... [and] that providers — especially ones who don’t have mental-health training — are comfortable asking. Even experienced providers sometimes will have difficulty inquiring in much depth about suicidal thoughts and ideation, things like that.”

The five questions

The working group issued its findings last week, agreeing on these five questions:

1. In the past month, have you had many bad dreams or nightmares that remind you of things that happened in your country or refugee camp?
2. In the past month, have you felt very sad?
3. In the past month, have you been thinking too much about the past (even if you did not want to)?
4. In the past month, have you avoided situations that remind you of the past? (Prompt: Do you turn off the radio or TV if the program is disturbing?)
5. Do any of these problems make it difficult to do what you need to do on a daily basis? (Prompt: Are you able to take care of yourself and your family?)

The Refugee Health Program said in its final report that it will pilot the tool in select clinics across the state in the coming year. Each clinic will get training and ongoing support, and the pilot results eventually will be implemented for all refugee arrivals in the state. The goal is not only to extend humane care and increase social functioning, but to make sure that limited resources are allocated to those who need them most.

Taking extra care

Letts said his clinic, which now serves 2,500 Karen patients, has deepened its understanding of the needs of those who have been violated and traumatized.

“It has changed the nature of the care,” he said. “I never do an invasive procedure exam of any sort the first time I meet a new refugee patient, not even minimally invasive. You don’t push somebody off to a pap smear or a mammogram or a colonoscopy right off the bat. You hold off and build some trust and a relationship before you start talking about those types of things that might be really re-traumatizing to a patient.”

Along the way, Letts said, he has come to appreciate the Karen, their culture, their history and their experience.

“The thing I love most about working with the Karen is their resilience,” he said. “These families that have been through these difficult things repeatedly, and are here now in a difficult situation, are laughing, joking – very happy that they’re able to see the doctor and that their kids are going to school.”

Road signs identifying two lakes on the Fond du Lac Reservation in St. Louis County soon will be bilingual: in English and Anishinabe, the Chippewa native language.

The St. Louis County Board will finalize an agreement next week to maintain the signs on county roads. The  Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will pay for the signs.

Karen Diver, chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band, told the Duluth News Tribune:

"Language preservation is integral to the preservation of identity and culture. Bilingual signage helps us share our culture as well as signify its importance."

The county also plans to work with other tribes on similar sign arrangements.

Nearby Carlton County has already put up bilingual signs near three reservation lakes.

The paper says bilingual Anishinabe/English signs are seen often in other parts of the state, particularly near Bemidji, on schools and public and private buildings.

On April 14, Gov. Mark Dayton announced that the state minimum wage will be increased to $9.50 an hour. Although people in the state of Minnesota do work hard and deserve fair pay, minimum wage is not the way to raise people out of poverty. I would like to warn the public of the issues that continued increases in minimum wage pose.

In February, The New York Times highlighted Dolores Riley from New Jersey. She owns a small day care center in the state and runs it as a small business. The state of New Jersey increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour earlier this year. For Dolores, this has the potential of being a huge problem.

Now that the minimum wage is set at $8.25, her payroll expenses have the potential of going up by $10,000 to $15,000 dollars per year. She fears this could mean the possible loss of her business. The hard-working citizens of Minnesota soon could become like Dolores.

The minimum wage poses a serious threat, including the potential loss of businesses and jobs.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor.

The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.

Just in time for Saturday's Minnesota Fishing Opener (on Mother's Day weekend), the DNR has unveiled a new website, Fish Minnesota, that outlines the state's many rules and regulations for anglers.

The website, which has the information that used to be in a 92-page brochure, also includes a lake locator and a link to bait shops.

State officials said the rules are compiled in an easier-to-use format:

New online fishing regulations are grouped by category in a format that links directly to answers. Lake-specific fishing regulations appear by simply typing in the lake’s name. The site also includes fishing terminology and locations of fishing piers, boat landings, family-friendly fishing spots and metro-area bait shops. Fishing licenses can be bought online as well.

Gov. Mark Dayton said: 

"I have been fishing in Minnesota for my entire life. But even the most experienced anglers couldn’t possibly know all of the state’s many fishing regulations, which are essential for responsible wildlife management. This new mobile site will help all Minnesotans more easily find and understand the state’s fishing rules and regulations."

Was there also a “pledge” on that $100 million-plus “economic benefit”?Steve Karnowski of the AP attended the “media availability” for the Twin Cities Super Bowl bid and writes, “Organizers of Minnesota's bid for the 2018 Super Bowl say the local corporate community will cover most of the costs. US Bank CEO Richard Davis co-chairs the bid committee. He says local corporations pledged enough to cover 75 percent of the estimated $30 million to $40 million in costs just within the first seven days of the drive. … They say their proposal includes rebates that will be a fraction of the extra tax revenue the state would collect.”

The old supermarket market ain’t what it used to be. The AP also reports, “Roundy’s has negotiated a deal to sell 18 Rainbow Foods stores in Minnesota. Supervalu, which owns Cub Foods, has been working with other grocery chains to buy these stores. The deal also includes 13 Rainbow pharmacies and three Rainbow liquor stores in the state. Ten Rainbow Foods stores will become Cub stores, bringing the total number of Cubs in the state to 76 stores.” None of them will be selling beer on Sunday.

It’s not quite “blaming the victim” … but the AP reports, “Misdemeanor charges have been filed against a woman who drove into a suburban Minneapolis retention pond last November, killing two children and injuring three others. St. Louis Park prosecutors on Tuesday charged 23-year-old Marion Guerrido with driving without insurance, violating the requirements of her learner's permit and failing to properly use child safety restraints.”

Today Amtrak service officially/finally switched from the Midway location to Union Depot in downtown St. Paul. At MPR, Bob Collins isn’t exactly popping champagne corks for a train that is on-time only 17.4 percent of the time. “The last stop at the Midway train station was to occur this morning around 8. But by then, the train was only in Sauk Rapids, running almost 7 hours behind schedule, or about the amount of time it takes to get in a car and drive to Chicago, or the amount of time it takes to fly to Chicago and back. Twice.”

More disinfectant is certainly in order … . Says Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Strib, “Minnesotans curious about who funds their local officials’ campaigns may soon find their frustration at an end. ... Cities and counties collect the information, but most require citizens to visit official offices in person to examine the files and they offer little posted guidance on how to track donations down.” A bill would tie higher campaign-donation limits to required online filing. They wouldn’t dare apply this to SuperPACs would they?

More and more like those western European Socialist hellholes every day … . The AP says, “New parents would be entitled to longer unpaid leaves. Nursing mothers would find more private space at work. And large state contractors would have to certify they pay men and women similar salaries for similar jobs. Those are the parameters of employment legislation due for final action in the House and Senate as soon as Wednesday.”

“Experts” and their expert opinions … . Eric Roper of the Strib followed “famed international urban thinker” Gil Penalosa over to Hiawatha & Lake and recorded this: “He was running behind for a meeting with about 50 local residents — on the other side of the street — about improving the intersection. It wasn’t until he began jaywalking that the light turned green. ‘I think this intersection is horrible. I think this intersection shows a lack of respect for people,’ Penalosa said later.”

In the greater context of ingesting products with significant side effects … . WCCO-TV reports,“We’ve already heard that sports and energy drinks aren’t exactly healthy choices, but a new study from the University of Minnesota has now linked them to other vices. Researchers said teenagers who have one of those drinks at least once a week are more likely to smoke cigarettes. They were also found to spend more time playing video games or watching TV.” I wonder if this is what that legislator was thinking of this when he got into the “devastation” caused by pot?

Well, it finally happened. Those of you not living in a cave will have heard that Osmo Vänskä has returned as the music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. I’ve already heard some people claim that the orchestra has come full circle. Not quite.

Bill Eddins

The Forest Lake Times story on a man who was a member of the Croatian Defense Council during the war there in the ‘90s says, “A Forest Lake man who is a former member of the armed forces of the Croatian Defense Council in Bosnia-Herzegovina was arrested Wednesday, May 7 on immigration fraud charges ... . Zdenko Jakiša, 45, faces immigration fraud charges for failing to disclose his military service and the multiple crimes — including murder — he committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the armed conflict there in the 1990s.”

The ACLU is going after ICE “holds.” In the Strib, Mark Brunswick writes, “[T]he practice identifies prisoners in custody who may have an issue with immigration and allows the jail to hold prisoners for an additional 48 hours past when they might otherwise be released. In its letter, the Minnesota ACLU said recent court decisions have established that the ICE holds are merely a request and not a command; and that sheriffs have no legal obligation to honor the request.”

Even City Halls circumspect about praying can now let their religious flags fly, thanks to a new U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Strib's Curt Brown notes. He notes Litchfield recently ended the 32-year-old practice, but now is thinking about re-starting. Prayers can invoke a single religion, the court voted 5-4. I wonder which one that will be??

We’re Edina. You’re Richfield. What part of that don’t you understand? Mary Jane Smetanka of the Strib reports, “The Edina City Council has given preliminary approval to a six-story apartment and retail building despite objections from Richfield ... . Richfield had protested that the building planned for the former Wickes Furniture property at 6725 York Av. S. was too tall and too near single-family homes across Xerxes Avenue in Richfield.”

Just guessing, but I think a chilling effect is the whole point. The AP says, “A former Minnesota lawmaker is objecting to the state's demand that he cover millions of dollars in costs if he ends up delaying construction of a new Minnesota Senate office building. ... State lawyers contend Knoblach should post and forfeit an $18.6 million bond if his lawsuit to block the project doesn't succeed on appeal and the project is delayed.”

It's Cranky Barb Johnson Day at the Strib; Maya Rao notes the Minneapolis City Council president feels the city is spending too much time on racial equity plans and not on "drug arrests and gunshots." Equity is Mayor Betsy Hodges' big push. Meanwhile, Eric Roper reports a Georgia-based investment firm has "scooped up dozens of houses" in Johnson's north Minneapolis: "She worries about the financial bundling of homes in the area by faraway investors, which can make owners hard to track."

Never to be confused with Betty Friedan, Our Favorite Congresswoman has some (typically) unique thoughts about a National Women’s History Museum. At The Huffington Post, Laura Bassett writes, “A House bill to establish a bipartisan commission on the creation of the first national women's history museum might sound pretty noncontroversial -- but it has deeply upset Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.): 'I rise today in opposition to this bill, because I believe ultimately this museum that will be built on the National Mall, on federal land, will enshrine the radical feminist movement that stands against the pro-life movement, the pro-family movement, and pro-traditional marriage movement.’”

“Pollen police,” you say? In the Strib, Allie Shah writes, “[Krista] Sullivan, 33, along with fellow allergy researcher Jenjira Skrei, 26, has been tasked with a special duty. As the only two certified pollen counters in the state, they track the amount and variety of pollen circulating in Minnesota’s air — posting their findings on websites used by allergy doctors and scientists.” It's apparently not the worst pollen season ever; you think so because "your memory is influenced by the fact that we haven’t had tree pollen for a year."

Ted Adams, a retired medical tech exec,writes a Strib commentary on how to control executive, uh, “compensation.” “The reasons why boards continue to dole out shareholders’ money despite opposition stem from the way board members are nominated and elected. Under current practice, a nominating committee made up of current board members selects nominees to be presented to the shareholders for approval. ... These elections are the same as what you would expect in a communist country where voters vote yes or no on a single candidate.” Which is why it’s such a solid capitalist concept … .

Note to all pro sports … lighten [the bleep] up. At City Pages, Aaron Rupar writes, “The City Pages Best Sports Podcast 2014 has been booted off iTunes, for now at least. That's because Aaron Gleeman and John Bonnes had the audacity to use the words ‘Minnesota Twins’ in the iTunes description of their Gleeman and the Geek podcast. That prompted a copyright complaint from the MLB, which in turn prompted iTunes to remove it.” "Gleeman and the Geek," along with other baseball-related blogs, have since been restored.

Republican gubernatorial Marty Seifert will be on the air Friday with the first television ad of the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, beating even DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to the punch.

The 30-second spot offers the traditional introduction to a candidate who is not yet a statewide name.

Less traditional is the time slot — during Game Four of the Minnesota Wild versus the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Comcast SportsNet will carry the game in the metro area.

“I know it’s early to run an ad on TV, but we have to be out of the box,” Seifert said.  “And I thought, ‘Where will we find almost every Minnesotans glued to the TV?’”

Seifert said the ad may air again on other channels prior to the Republican state convention May 30-31, where delegates will endorse candidates for governor and U.S. Senator.

Seifert’s ad placement precedes an equally unconventional media event. On Saturday, he will stage his own fishing opener on Rush Lake, going head-to-head with Dayton’s Governor’s Fishing Opening in the Brainerd Lakes area.

Seifert is one of six candidates for running for the GOP endorsement. A recent poll showed him trailing Dayton by 13 points, about the same distance as the other GOP gubernatorial candidates.