Members of Target’s board are fighting for their— comfortable — chairs. Says Kavita Jumar in the Strib, “In a letter this morning, Roxanne Austin, the board’s interim chairwoman, told shareholders that the board takes its oversight responsibilities seriously and asks for their support in re-electing all of the directors. … [Institutional Shareholder Services] suggested that members of Target’s audit and corporate responsibilities committees, including Austin, should not be re-elected since risk assessment and oversight of reputational risk were part of their duties.”

If you love Tom Petters (and all the other great fraud stories) you have to read David Phelps’ Strib piece on the Herculean effort to claw back ill-gotten gains … not that the victims will ever see much of the jing. “[Bankruptcy trustee Doug] Kelley is well aware that attorney’s fees are an issue in a bankruptcy liquidation plan for Petters Group Worldwide and Petters Co. Inc. So far the estate has recovered about $110 million, net of professional fees, to eventually be distributed as pennies on the dollar to creditors of the Petters corporate estate and victims of the failed Ponzi scheme. Separately, about $300 million has been recovered in related bankruptcy and receivership cases, for a total of $410 million.” … out of $3.65 billion.

Now THIS is good stuff: Aaron Rupar at City Pages reports on the most colorful interaction of the GOP convention. “ … the surprise was just how hard [campaign manager Andy] Parrish took [Julianne] Ortman's defeat. So hard, in fact, that he ended up allegedly calling an MNGOP activist who supported [Mike] McFadden a ‘cream puff’ before repeatedly slapping him in the face.” What? No hair-pulling and eye scratching?  

High water is here and still comin’ … Tim Nelson at MPR reports, “The Minnehaha Creek Watershed district says [Lake Minnetonka], which feeds Minnehaha Creek, is at the highest level since the agency started keeping records in 1906. The level is continuing to rise as runoff reaches the lake.”  

And she survived!The AP says, “Police say two 12-year-old girls lured a friend into some woods in southeastern Wisconsin where one of them held her down as the other stabbed her 19 times. The 12-year-old victim survived the attack on Saturday in Waukesha and police say her condition is stable.” I gotta see the attackers' parents in this one.

Those dismal first quarter economic numbers may actually be temporary, as some experts have said. Dee DePass of the Strib says, “After a frigid spring, U.S. and regional manufacturers grew in May and showed surprisingly strong pockets of new orders and employment growth in the Midwest, according to two widely watched economic reports released Monday. For Minnesota and the eight other states that make up the ‘Mid-America’ core of the country, manufacturers reported the highest economic index in three years, according to Creighton University’s Mid-America Business Conditions report.” I’m still waiting another week to put the snow blower away.

And next? A pharisee for every check up? Christopher Snowbeck of the PiPress says, “When Ron Meyer visits his doctor, there's always a third person in the room. Last week, it was Allyson Untiedt, 24, of Minneapolis, who is one of the small but growing number of "scribes" working in medical clinics and hospitals across the Twin Cities. Scribes accompany physicians in exam rooms and help document what happens during a patient's visit. They tend to a patient's chart before the exam — so doctors can quickly find the lab and test results they need — and help physicians complete documentation chores afterward.”

The howling about the president’s executive action on coal emissions has only just begun.But Kari Lyderson at Midwest Energy News points out, “North Dakota is famous for its shale oil and gas reserves – the Bakken Shale has created boom towns, fueled the state’s economy and even changed the railroad industry as trains transport the shale products cross-country. But North Dakota is also heavily invested in another fossil fuel – massive reserves of lignite coal. … North Dakota is still fiercely protective of its coal – which provides almost 80 percent of the state’s energy, major electricity exports to neighboring states, and scores of mining and related jobs.”

In the aftermath of the Santa Barbara slaughter,Gail Mullaney of Maplewood offers a Strib commentary about her experience as a woman. “What is truly frightening to me today is how much more prevalent that violence and hatred are. Without straying toward politics and religion, we cannot ignore the way women are treated as mere objects in much of the world, possessions to be bought and sold, beaten, stoned. So I’m back to writing, to speaking out. And I will repeat the line others have chorused: We should not be teaching girls how not to be a victim; we should be raising boys who respect women.”

A letter sent to Gov. Mark Dayton's residence contained a trace of white powder, officials said.

The powder was with a "non-threatening" letter, and State Patrol officers called fire department personnel, including haz-mat experts, who came to the scene to examine it.

The governor was not in the area at the time the letter was opened this morning. 

No injuries have been reported and there's no official word yet on what the powder is.

Don’t believe the hype questioning a university education’s value, insinuating that college study is a waste of time, money and effort. Go to college. A four-year college degree carries greater lifetime financial rewards than a work life anchored with “some college” or a high school diploma. In accumulated income earnings, it’s not even close.

 John Van Hecke

Recent research and analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, reported in The Upshot, a New York Times economics column, finds that college graduates make more money, significantly more money, than less well-educated Americans. We shouldn’t need a study to know that educational achievement translates into greater lifetime earnings. But, let’s be objective about this, moving from articles of faith to articles of fact requires data.

The facts are clear. Work life with a four-year college degree is more financially remunerative than a work life achieved with just a high-school diploma. Last year, the wage disparity between college and high-school graduates was the highest recorded. Four-year college grads averaged 98 percent more per hour than high-school grads. Plus, wages for workers without a four-year college degree are either stagnant or declining. That fiscal path leads to fewer choices, a declining standard of living and a dramatically elevated risk of perpetual poverty. Given this data, choosing to skip college in the belief that “it’s not worth it” is a textbook example of irrational economic behavior.

Yes, it's expensive, but jump in

Higher education requires additional personal investment. It’s expensive. Graduating with $25,000 in student loans may appear daunting but, I’m telling you, jump into that pool. First, you’re investing in your economic future. Once you’ve paid those loans, the earnings differential is gravy. Second, the public-policy debate has it all wrong. We’re discouraging people from attending college when we should be focused on improving public financing of higher education. Minnesota benefits when everyone earns higher wages, expands the economy and creates new jobs. Minnesota doesn’t need a burgeoning underclass, we need the best compensated, most skillful, productive and adaptable workforce imaginable. That workforce will only come from improved access to affordable higher education.

My grandfather, Harold Jones of Mapleton Township, was unapologetically pro-higher education. The Great Depression shaped his world view. College created a path to stable family and community life. You go to college, he lectured me, to make a good living. To make a better, more secure living than the farm or wage labor might provide. But attending college wasn’t an ethereal act of personal development or horizon expansion, not for my grandfather. He expected university degrees to have a practical application like teaching, engineering, medicine or practicing law, sending my mom to Mankato State for an education major.

When I told my grandfather, one college Christmas break, that I was declaring double majors in history and political science, he struggled to understand my degree’s potential application. Teaching majors teach. Nursing majors nurse. Business Administration majors work in business. What, he asked would I do with a history major?

I explained that studying history opened the world, placing people and events in context and connected the human experience across time. History, studying the past, prepared me for everything to come. But, he pressed me, what work would History prepare me to do?

At this point, I became much too cavalier. Anything, Grandpa, I said. I can do anything. I’ve regretted saying that ever since. I was raised on a farm in an era of rising prosperity. My grandfather’s farming boyhood and early adult life was just this side of poverty. He and my grandmother lived lives rooted in the real suspicion that the next Great Depression was just around the corner. They saved money in multiple banks, guarding against bank failure. They reused every consumer good in their lives. They weren’t fearful people but they were wary of the market’s cruel indifference. And, they believed in government as a force for good and fairness in working people’s lives.

A goal he understood

When I told my grandfather I wanted to work in politics and possibly in government, he relaxed. He understood. He’d still, if possible, be voting for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Laboring in that tradition was a worthy pursuit provided that I could earn a living doing it.

Drawing on his life’s experience, my grandfather never dismissed higher education, suggesting that it wasn’t worth the investment or deferred labor market entry. He observed who had financially secure livelihoods and who did not. He didn’t need wage analysis to support his observations but he would’ve welcomed the research, recognizing a university education at work.

The most enthusiastic advocates for discouraging a college degree seem to be people who most directly benefit from a growing underclass. They expect their children to minimally earn a four-year college degree while simultaneously suggesting that your kids don’t need one. That path leads to family financial insecurity. My grandfather with his eighth-grade country school education understood, very clearly, which path he wanted his family to take just as he understood that it was government’s job to make higher ed accessible to all.

John Van Hecke is the publisher of Minnesota 2020, a progressive, new media, nonpartisan think tank on whose website this commentary originally appeared.

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If you're interested in joining the discussion, add your voice to the Comment section below — or consider writing a letter or a longer-form Community Voices commentary. (For more information about Community Voices, email Susan Albright at salbright@minnpost.com.)

They’re not the NFL, but the expectation has to be that the NCAA will drive as hard a bargain for “hosting rights” … . Doug Belden of the PiPress says: “After the successful effort to bring the Super Bowl to town in 2018, Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday plans to detail the campaign to land the men's basketball Final Four. The local bid for the tournament has already been submitted. ...  Local business leaders and sports figures will join Dayton at the Capitol for a 2 p.m. news conference on the latest push, according to a release from his office.”

Our cut will be (maybe) … 41 percent.Amy Forliti, for the AP:  “Minnesota, which already successfully lowered carbon emissions and capitalized on renewable energy sources, must cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 41 percent over the next 15 years as part of a sweeping plan President Barack Obama announced Monday to reduce pollution from power plants. … [David Thornton, assistant commissioner for air policy at the MPCA] said the systems already in place will make it easier for Minnesota to meet the new rules.”

Former MPCA deputy commissioner and Best Buy execLeo Raudys writes on the GreenBiz.com site: “while both sides are busy yelling at each other, innovators in the clean tech economy should be cheering quietly on the sidelines. Without question, this is the biggest thing to hit the energy sector in years and the effects will be felt for many generations. The companies that can maximize the value caused by this major policy disruption will be huge winners.” That was my first thought.

Of course you’ve already seen … the wedding party collapsing the dock. From Mike Durkin at KMSP-TV: “Dan and Jackie Anderson got married in Crosslake, Minn. over the weekend and videographer Megan Fritze caught it all on tape – including the unexpected plunge into the lake just an hour before the wedding.” I can’t find the video, but I’m pretty sure the same thing happened somewhere down south six weeks or so ago.

And in a scene out of “House of Cards” … . The AP says: “A hazardous materials team responded after white powder was found in an envelope opened at the Minnesota governor's residence. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says staff at Gov. Mark Dayton's residence opened the letter Monday morning at a building next to the living quarters. While the content of the letter was not threatening, staff detected a small amount of white powder.”

Always scary … . Says Pippi Mayfield of the Forum News Service: “Eric and Karen Odens' only child, Sophia, came down with flu-like symptoms Feb. 5. The following morning, the couple brought their daughter to the hospital in Detroit Lakes because the symptoms had worsened. On Feb. 11 — a day after her fourth birthday — Sophia died of E. coli bacteria infection. … While Karen was with her daughter at Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, S.D., she became sick with the same symptoms.”

Amid all the frenzied geek tweeting during yesterday’s Apple show in San Francisco, the AP noted: “Apple executive Craig Federighi said data from various fitness-related devices now live in silos, so you can’t get a comprehensive picture of your health. He said that will change with HealthKit in iOS 8. Apple is also working with the Mayo Clinic to make sure your weight, calorie intake and other health metrics are within healthy ranges.” When my phone tells me to put down the caramel roll, it gets tossed.

But let’s talk what’s always most important … football. David La Vaque in the Strib writes, “District scheduling for high school football was approved at Monday’s Minnesota State High School League board of directors meeting at league headquarters in Brooklyn Center. Teams throughout the state were placed in one of 18 districts, bidding farewell to the traditional conference model but welcoming fewer scheduling headaches for several programs. The sweeping change begins in 2015.”

In case you were wondering … . “It appears our rainy spring has pushed the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota to the second wettest year on record so far.

• 2.37″ rainfall at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Sunday (a daily rainfall record)
• 3.04″ weekend rainfall total at MSP
• 16.86″ precipitation (rain and snow) since Jan. 1
• +7.04″ vs. average
• 2nd wettest year on record so far at MSP (pending updated numbers)," says MPR’s Paul Huttner.

I doubt these folks were planning to sell at the farmers’ market. Marino Eccher of the PiPress reports, “A tip from an informant and the overwhelming smell of marijuana spurred a bust yielding hundreds of plants and more than $100,000 in cash from a sophisticated grow operation, Dakota County authorities say. Four people were charged May 30 with conspiracy to commit second- and third- degree drug felonies in the case: 31-year old Thi An Mac, 31-year-old Nghia Hoang Nguyen, 35-year-old Trang Uyen Mac and 39-year-old Trung Van Nguyen.”                                                                                                     

Readers anxious to dig into the new J.K Rowling or James Patterson novel may have to wait a bit. Or, they could go to Walmart.

This week, the world’s largest retailer found a way to stick it to Amazon, one of its chief competitors. The e-commerce giant is currently embroiled in a dispute with Hachette, a major publisher that carries the two authors mentioned above, as well as David Sedaris, Nicholas Sparks, Malcolm Gladwell, and many more.

From their state's admission to the Union until the mid-1860s, a majority of Minnesotans advocated the abolition of slavery in the South. Black suffrage, however, did not enjoy the same support. Minnesota's black citizens paid taxes, fought in wars, and fostered their communities. But they could not vote, hold political office, or serve on juries. This continued until 1868 when an amendment to the state's constitution approved suffrage for all non-white men.

In 1849 Congress passed the Organic Act that created Minnesota Territory. The new territory's legislature followed the federal practice of denying African Americans and other non-whites the right to vote and run for election. These rights were restricted to free white males over twenty-one years old.

Black suffrage was a divisive issue during the Constitutional Convention of 1857. In the end, pro-suffrage Republicans compromised with their Democratic opponents to ensure the ratification of the state constitution.

From 1861 to 1864 Minnesota politicians, like their counterparts in many northern states, kept quiet about the suffrage issue. In 1864 the legislature passed a resolution supporting Lincoln's emancipation policy but declined to go further.

The war's end and the need to redefine the status of Southern freedmen brought the issue to the forefront of state politics. Campaigning for black suffrage in the South without granting similar rights in the North was seen as hypocritical.

In both 1865 and 1867 Republicans offered amendments to remove the word “white” from the voting requirements of the state constitution. They had received petitions to do so from groups across the state, including one from the Golden Key Club, a black literary group in St. Paul. However, they failed to pass in both years. Republican voter indifference was blamed for the amendment’s failure in 1865. Although pro-suffrage votes were gained in 1867, that year’s amendment still failed to pass by 1298 votes.

By the end of 1867 public resistance seemed to have waned. This led many to believe the measure would soon succeed. On January 10, 1868, Governor William Marshall appealed to principle in his annual message to the House and Senate. He implored lawmakers to once again put the suffrage issue to a vote.

Three weeks later Republican State Senator Hanford L. Gordon introduced a bill related to non-white suffrage. He called for a vaguely worded change to a specific section of the state's constitution instead of a vote on a separate ballot.

Democrats opposed Gordon's bill. They believed it was deceptively written and that a suffrage vote belonged on a separate ballot. In spite of that opposition, on March 6, 1868, Gordon's bill passed along strict party lines in both the House and the Senate.

In the face of potential harmful effects to their political careers, other leading Republicans backed the amendment. They felt that its passage would aid federal efforts to enfranchise southern blacks. Democrats continued to voice strong opposition.

Gordon hoped to benefit from an anticipated high Republican turnout in the upcoming presidential election. He called for a vote on the amendment to be put on the general party ballot. This proved to be important. Ninety-seven percent of voters in the presidential election voted on the black suffrage issue. Two other referenda submitted on a separate ballot drew less than 70 percent of the vote.

As Gordon predicted, Republican turnout played a large part in the amendment's passage. Nine thousand more Republicans voted in 1868 than in the 1867 governor's race. Of the almost forty-four thousand who voted for Ulysses S. Grant, nearly forty thousand voted for the amendment. It carried with nearly 57 percent of the vote.

Minnesota joined Iowa as one of two Northern states to call for a black suffrage referendum on the 1868 ballot. When the referendum passed on November 3, 1868, they became the first two post-Civil War states in the North whose electorate approved black voting rights.

A little more than a year after the passage of black suffrage outgoing Governor Marshall called for the quick ratification of the proposed Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. On January 13, 1870, it was ratified by both the Minnesota House and Senate. Votes again fell along party lines. The amendment was approved by three-quarters of the states and certified by the U.S. Secretary of State on March 30, 1870.

For more information on this topic, check out the original entry on MNopedia.

Factory Farms.

If there is one term I am most frustrated with hearing people say, it is Factory Farms. Why? You may find this a little crazy coming from a hog farmer, but I really don’t know what they are.

What was that? Did you just read what you thought you read?

Yes, I struggle with what a factory farm is.

And the ironic part of this statement is I actually live in the Minnesota county that markets the largest numbers of hogs in the state. In fact, we are also ranked nationally in regards to hogs marketed. So how utterly ridiculous does it sound when I say I don’t know what a factory farm is?

It’s because myvision of a “factory farm” is not what I see. I envision a factory farm as a place with numerous long, cold, colorless steel buildings whose only goal is to produce as many animals as possible, as fast as possible with the least amount of money and care needed. I think of an uncaring, industrialized operation owned and run by “big money” corporations. An operation that has little to no contact between the animals and people. And this is the same image companies like Chipotle, Whole Foods, and Trader Joes and animal rights activist groups like HSUS want you to envision also when you hear the word “factory farm.”

But…

Instead of seeing factory farms, I see…

FARMS. Just farms.

Yes, we have lots of hog farms in rural Minnesota, especially in my county. And who manages and owns these farms? Is it Big Ag? Is it money hungry corporations?

No. These farms are owned by my neighbors, my friends, fellow church members, parents of my children’s friends and people in my community. People and their families run the farms, NOT Big Ag. Yes, farms have changed over the years. But for the most part, we no longer have “big red barn farms.” Even though our farms look different, our values have not changed.

We share the same values as our parents, grandparents and great grandparents. We care for our animals daily. It matters and affects us if our animals are sick or injured. Today’s farmers work with a team to assist them in giving the best animal care. Who’s on this team? Usually a veterinarian, an animal nutritionist and other consultants. The purpose of this team? Simple really–to raise healthy animals.

Yes, our animals are housed inside barns, which may look to some as a factory farm. Our hogs are raised in barns because we can take better care of them. The animals no longer have to deal with the extreme effects of weather such as the brutal cold, hot and humid temperatures, snow, rain, blizzards, sun burns, etc. Nor do we have to fear predators hurting our hogs. And with today’s hog genetics, our animals have a much lower fat content and cannot tolerate all the weather conditions. And, yes, we use technology in our barns to improve efficiencies, such as automatic temperature and air controls and automatic feeders. A strict vaccination program developed by veterinarians is also followed. These efficiencies result in better care and a healthier animal.

Why do people insist on using the word factory farm? Factory farm is a term used to evoke emotion, or rather, lack of emotion. It’s a term used by those who oppose modern farming and want farmers to go back “to the good old days” of farming. The problem with “the good old days” is they really weren’t that “good” in regards to animal care. People tend to only think about animals enjoying warm, beautiful summer days of 70 degrees under a shade tree. They don’t think about the days immediately following a blizzard that left 20 inches of snow with -40 degree temperatures and a 30-40 mph wind, which caused the hog waterer to freeze and buried the hog feeder in snow. Or the other extreme of 100 degree days with 70% dew points where hogs are sunburned and miserable from the heat because they can’t sweat to help them cool off. In both cases, pigs die and it’s all about survival for the rest. Efficiencies and sustainability are the last thing on any farmer’s mind during these times. Today’s so-called “factory farms” eliminate many of these deaths and problems.

So let’s just take the “factory” out of factory farms and call them what they really are…

Farms, just farms.

This post was written by Wanda Patsche and originally published on Minnesota Farm Living. Follow Wanda on Twitter: @MinnFarmer.

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Remember when LeBron James was the most notorious choker in the NBA, scorned and belittled for opting to align himself with alpha dog Dwyane Wade in Miami in order to finally win a championship? Or, closer to home, remember the contentious debates about Kevin Garnett not seize the game by the throat for the Timberwolves, a fact that many blamed for the Wolves inability to consistently advance in the playoffs?

Perhaps you remember these things, but posterity won’t. Two rings and four straight NBA Finals appearances later, LeBron is sidling up to the legacy of Michael Jordan in debates about the greatest player of all time. As for KG, it took a mere year for his championship run with the Boston Celtics to quash any aspersions about his crunch-time capabilities.

Basketball stars who suffer the misfortune of decidedly inferior teammates will find the flaws in their own game put under a microscope and their character placed under suspicion. The only antidote to this hellish scrutiny is winning, especially winning big — preferably a championship.

This is why it is almost impossible to imagine Kevin Love playing basketball for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015-16. He’s not stupid, masochistic, or good-naturedly naïve. There simply is not enough time to post enough wins to salvage the relationship between Love and the Wolves.

The loud bust

Last season stamped Love’s walking papers. His coach, Rick Adelman, is a future Hall of Famer. After an injury-plagued campaign in 2012-13, his team’s owner, Glen Taylor, doubled down on his investment to improve the performance of a franchise that had a won-lost record of 190-420 since 2005, never winning more than 33 games in a season. In the summer of 2013, Taylor committed to $120 million worth of contracts, securing the services of Nikola Pekovic (5 years, $60 million), Kevin Martin (4 years, $28 million), Chase Budinger (3 years, $15 million) Corey Brewer (3 years, $14 million) and Ronny Turiaf (2 years, $3 million).

These new signings — most of them players especially well suited for Adelman’s fabled “corner offense” — pushed the 2013-14 payroll past $68 million.

Unlike the previous season, the Wolves enjoyed extraordinarily good health in 2013-14. Their five starters played more minutes together than all but two other NBA quintets. Love had the best season of his six-year career, finishing fourth in scoring and third in rebounding while more than doubling his career assist rate.

These were not empty numbers: Love’s presence on the court was crucial to any success the Wolves enjoyed. When he played, the team performed at a level of efficiency that, if sustained, would have made them the second-best offense in the NBA. When he sat, the team’s offensive efficiency, again if maintained, would have been the second-worst in the NBA.

Even on defense, hardly Love’s strongest suit, the Wolves yielded fewer points per possession when Love played than when he sat.

Tote up the advantages: marquee coach; generous owner; extraordinary health; and a career year from the superstar. Now check the results: 40 wins and 42 losses, good for 10^th place in the Western Conference, a whopping nine games out of the final playoff spot.

This was exactly the scenario that could not happen if the Wolves were going to keep Love from exercising the option to declare himself an unrestricted free agent after the 2014-15 season. It was why I titled my 2013-14 season preview “Playoffs or (loud) bust.”

The rancid cherry on top of this scenario, of course, is that Love wanted to sign an ironclad five-year pact that would have locked him into Minnesota through 2016-17. Management not only turned him down, they proposed the option of his early exit.

In other words, Love can’t be accused of being disloyal. He is much more vulnerable to the charge that he is not an alpha leader — indeed, in six years, his teams have yet to post a winning record, let alone make the playoffs. His successful performances alongside elites at the All Star games and in international competitions such as the Olympics don’t matter.

To validate a career that is already dangerously close to its midpoint in length under normal circumstances, Love needs to showcase his skills deep into the playoffs. Short of Minnesota selecting a ready-made star in the upcoming draft or making an improbable blockbuster acquisition that somehow maneuvers past the NBA salary cap, it is very difficult to imagine him being able to do that in a Wolves uniform.

Love knows this and is preparing accordingly. Wolves fans can only hope that Taylor and the rest of the front office likewise grasp the inevitability of the situation. 

Last offseason handcuffs this one

On the surface, it is far from certain that the Wolves brass has accepted Love’s departure as a foregone conclusion.

As recently as Sunday, President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders, responding to reports that Love was scouting a new potential home city in his visit to Boston, said that he expects Love “to be playing for us next year,” emphasizing that teams covetous of Love “have no say. I plan on Kevin being here.”

Taylor, understandably stung by and resistant to the notion that last year’s spending spree was insufficient, has been equally adamant when queried on the subject.

This is by itself a strategy: Keep Love around for the entire 2014-15 season and then let him walk away without getting anything in return. This is arguably better than receiving a handful of mediocrities in a trade for Love and retarding the eventual rebuilding that would have to happen anyway.

That’s essentially what happened when the Wolves traded Garnett to the Celtics. The best of the four players and two draft picks they got in return, Al Jefferson, was dealt for a backup center and two draft picks three years later. The Wolves remained a terrible team throughout, and no current starter was directly acquired in any of the maneuvering connected to the Celtics package.

Unfortunately, last summer’s investments make the “tearing it down to the studs” style of rebuilding problematic. Pekovic, who is 28 and has yet to log 2000 minutes in any of his four seasons due to various injuries, is owed $12 million per year through 2018, and Martin’s next two years of chronically indifferent defense are guaranteed at $7 million per season. Not incidentally, Taylor is in his 70s and recently strengthened his ownership position despite little interest from his heirs, so patience likely won’t be a virtue he embraces.

The conventional wisdom is that the longer Minnesota waits to trade Love, the less they will reap in return because he’ll be that much closer to unrestricted free agency. Even now, Love has leverage: No team is going to offer the Wolves a substantial package unless Love signals he will extend his contract with that team. And that clout increases with each passing day.

It is a dream scenario for NBA pundits who get to fill their dead summer space with Love trade rumors and speciously “leaked” new twists and turns in the drama that most often serve the agenda of a player agent or assistant general manager.

Here’s my scoop: Short of Love leaving by next July at the latest, I am not very confident predicting the future. There are too many variables and human natures at play.

Even saying what I would do if I were Taylor or Saunders assumes knowledge of the terrain that I don’t possess. What has Love communicated about his intentions? What are other teams willing to offer? What kind of coach are they after and who do they like with the 13^th pick in the college draft? All those things factor into how to prepare for Love’s leaving.

The best of the bad scenarios

With those caveats in mind, here’s my take:

The huge $2 billion purchase agreement for the Los Angeles Clippers has increased the relative value of all the NBA franchises and puts less pressure on gate revenues as a means to support the franchise. Two months ago, I didn’t think Taylor could afford alienating his fan base with another massive rebuilding of the roster. Now I think he can.

That doesn’t mean he wants to — Taylor is as impatient for a winner as most of the die-hards. But he is also loath to give up on Love and if there is less of a need to hedge his bets, he might ride this contract saga through to the February trading deadline, if not the entire season. That means less return on a trade — or no trade at all.

For the sake of speculation, however, let’s instead assume the Wolves brass is convinced of the need to trade Love. Teams in this unenviable position never get true value for their superstar, but do often have options as to how they want to mitigate the damage — with some combination of proven starters, high draft picks and salary cap relief.

If the Wolves try to retool instead of rebuild, opting for proven starters, they need to create a more complementary defensive front court duo than Love and Pekovic were last season. Specifically, Pek needs to be paired with a power forward who emphasizes rim protection and yet can get out to the three-point shooter in the corner.

That’s why rumored trades with the Chicago Bulls are attractive — Taj Gibson would be an excellent complement to Pek. The Bulls also own the rights to 6-10 power forward Nikola Mirotic — like Pek a native of Montenegro — who has become a rising star in the best Euro-league in Spain. Mirotic is apparently more of an outside shooter than a lockdown defender, but is young and athletic.

With the chance to create a trio of Love, Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, the Bulls should be willing to sweeten the package with picks and subsidiary players beyond Gibson and/or Mirotic. Chicago is a major city and is a near-lock to go deep into the playoffs should they land Love, both of which would increase the chance of Love extending his contract with the Bulls.

Thus, right now Chicago seems like the best trading partner if the Wolves want to retool. I was lobbying heavily for a trade with Oklahoma City that would involve their power forward Serge Ibaka, probably the best complement for Pek of anyone in the NBA, but Ibaka’s value to the club in this year’s playoffs reduces the likelihood of OKC being eager to put together much of a package. Ibaka plus shooting guard Jeremy Lamb or combo guard Reggie Jackson seems much less feasible now than even a month ago.

Another ideal complement for Pek would be Al Horford of Atlanta, a staunch defender, quality midrange shooter, and perennial all-star. Perhaps a deal adding three-point marksman Kyle Korver, with or without Minnesota dumping Kevin Martin to the Hawks, would be a solid retooling trade. The question is would Love agree to an extension in Atlanta which has an apathetic fan base, or would Hawks general manager Danny Ferry want to depart from his methodical building plans.

One of the more prominently rumored trading partners is Golden State, but almost every deal has the Wolves acquiring power forward David Lee, who would be a horrible fit alongside Pekovic. Klay Thompson is a dynamic shooting guard and solid defender, and small forward Harrison Barnes still has some potential despite regression the past year. But this retooling causes as many problems as it solves with Lee. If the Wolves can figure out a trade for Pek, Lee and second-year center Gorgui Dieng makes more sense.

Love’s trip to Boston renewed speculation about a trade with the Celtics, one of the many teams that would need to dangle a few high draft picks to shore up the less than stellar roster talent involved in any swap. Despite the success Saunders had with the drafting of Dieng (and to a lesser extent Shabazz Muhammad) relying on the draft to replace your superstar requires a front office with a longer and more successful track record than anyone in current front office possesses. And many teams rumored to be offering picks, such as Cleveland, would likely not be able to convince Love to extend his contract there.

Last year was the season the Wolves needed to demonstrate that Love could establish a winner’s pedigree in Minnesota. On that count, the campaign was a disaster for franchise and resident superstar alike. The key for the Wolves is now to come away from the Love situation with at least one durably valuable asset. Ideally, that would be an ace power forward such as Ibaka, Horford or Gibson/Mirotic, hopefully supplemented by an accurate shooting guard who can also defend. Less ideally, it would be some high draft picks and salary cap relief.

For Love it is a lot simpler. Sooner or later over the next twelve months, he will have his own “decision” to make, and the flaws currently under the magnifying glass will diminish in the spotlight of the playoffs. 

The Mill City Summer Opera, whose stage is the Mill City Museum’s spectacular outdoor Ruin Courtyard, has become one of the year’s snooze-and-lose must-sees. Tickets for this summer’s “Tosca” have already sold out, and if you want a chance at the just-announced second production, “Guns n’ Rosenkavalier,” act fast: Tickets go on sale today starting at 10 a.m. What’s “Guns n’ Rosenkavalier”? The company describes it as “a rock-recital that melds art song with rock song,” featuring “arrangements and mash-ups blending everything from Kate Bush to Brahms and Schubert to Springsteen.” Featuring Willmar native and Minnesota Opera star Andrew Wilkowske and the all-female “horn experience” Genghis Barbie, this sounds like the perfect hot-town, summer-in-the-city evening. FMI and tickets ($25-$50).

Photo by Spencer Lloyd

Genghis Barbie will provide a "horn experience" for “Guns n’ Rosenkavalier”

It seems that all the news from the Minnesota Orchestra these days is good news, including yesterday’s announcement that walk-up ticket sales have returned to Orchestra Hall. What musicians and many members of the public decried as a really dumb decision – to eliminate the physical box office, except for two hours before a concert – has been reversed, at least in part. You can’t get into the actual box office anymore, except when Orchestra Hall is open (the remodel eliminated the drive-up and separate door), but you can go to the Stage Door on the Marquette side of the building Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Stage Door will be staffed with two people during those times, one dedicated to ticket sales. (We were told back in February that on-site ticket sales would resume “by May at the latest.” June 2 is close enough for a big Cuban cigar.) The lobby box office will continue to be open two hours prior to all ticketed performances. It will also be open for additional daytime hours starting in July to coincide with Sommerfest and season renewal period. 

Mixed Blood Theatre Company has announced its 39th season, almost a year’s worth of plays you’re not likely to see anywhere else – in part because they’re new plays and premieres, in part because they’re outrageous and courageous, zeroing in on themes of immigration, sexuality, gender fluidity, disability and social change. October 10-November 9: Andrew Hinderaker’s“Colossal,” starring Toby Forrest, a quadriplegic actor from Los Angeles, as a former star football player in love with a teammate. Performed in four 15-minute quarters with a half-time show. Feb. 27, 2015 – March 22: “Hir,” penned by Obie Award-winning drag icon, queer performance artist and playwright Taylor Mac. A soldier named Isaac returns from Afghanistan to find that his sister is now his transgender brother. Sally Wingert is their mother. April 17-May 10: Katori Hall’s “Pussy Valley.” If Hall’s name sounds familiar, she wrote “The Mountaintop,” the play about the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final night that ran at the Guthrie earlier this year. “Pussy Valley” centers on the lives of four strippers in rural Mississippi.

Also at Mixed Blood: four new plays (one a world premiere) by, about, for and with Africans and Muslims in America. A microfest of new plays by local Arab American theater makers. A concert and two plays by Mu Performing Arts. Eight Fringe shows. A play from Walking Shadow Theatre Company, and a student production by the St. Paul Conservatory of Performing Arts. Memberships (which include guaranteed admission to the whole Mixed Blood-produced series) are on sale now, starting as low as $35. FMI and tickets. And don’t forget Mixed Blood’s “radical hospitality” policy: no-cost access to all mainstage productions for any audience member.

Are you writing a book? Would you like an expert critique, maybe even for free? The Loft has just launched a new Manuscript Critique and Coaching service. Teaching artists will work with you one-on-one on your work of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, children’s book, YA novel or screenplay. Rates are by word count and turnaround is prompt. FMI. Did we say “maybe for free”? The Loft is offering one free critique to a piece of prose 3,000 words or fewer. To enter, you’ll have to tweet a photo. Here’s everything you need to know. The contest deadline is noon on Monday, June 9.

“Crimes of the Heart,” the Southern Gothic comedy now on the Guthrie’s main stage, ends June 14. Fritz Jean-Noel of Theoroi, a young professionals’ group sponsored by the Schubert Club, wrote this preview for MinnPost: “The play is the story of three sisters who come together to help each other out when one of them commits a ‘crime of the heart.’ The story touches on many aspects of relationships, including dysfunction. I am interested in seeing how the dynamics play out among the three sisters, and I’m hoping I can learn something from their story that helps me in my own relationships with family and friends. Written in 1978, the play won a Pulitzer Prize, became an Oscar-nominated film, and has had multiple productions throughout the world, so it has stood the test of time. I’m also looking forward to visiting the Guthrie again, which in itself is a work of art.” FMI and tickets ($29-$65).

Theoroi is seeking members for its fourth season. If you’re in your 20s or 30s or know someone who is, check it out. Unlike most other arts-related young professionals groups, Theoroi doesn’t just stick with its home organization. One of its goals is to expose members to a variety of arts experiences, which it does by carefully curating a season of 10 different events: music, theater, dance and more. Members get VIP treatment – backstage tours, artist meet-and-greets, premium seating. It’s so much fun that some people re-up for a second year.

We’re all being pelted with Kickstarter and Indiegogo and other crowdfunding pleas, but this is how a lot of arts (and other) projects are being funded these days, and it’s not a bad thing. If we want something to happen, and if we can afford it, why not pay a little up front? “Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy” is a film we hope very much to see someday. Here’s the link.

Photo by John Whiting

Dancers doing the "Light Rail Shuffle" at TPT’s “TV Takeover”

We had a great time at TPT’s “TV Takeover” last Friday. In an unprecedented programming move, TPT is turning over five Friday nights in a row to five Twin Cities arts organizations. Starting right after “Almanac,” each show features stories, skits, short films, conversation and a live audience – not sitting politely in rows, but eating, drinking, chatting, participating and milling around. We were at the one co-hosted by Springboard for the Arts. This Friday (June 6) it’s Northern.Lights.mn, the organization behind Northern Spark (happening June 14). Then (June 13) MPLS.TV. Then (June 20) Works Progress Studio. And finally (June 27) Saint Paul Almanac. All will be different and each costs $10, which gets you drink and food tickets. FMI. Here’s last Friday’s episode.

“The Cat in the Hat” takes about five minutes to read. How does it hold up as a one-hour play? It may be the fastest hour of your life, even in a room full of children (or, in the words of someone we know, “a shriek of children”). Originally produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain, the production now back at the Children’s Theatre after last year’s successful run is nonstop fun. The book has so few words that there’s ample room for physical comedy, sound effects, wordplay, scene changes and mayhem. Douglas Neithercott and Elise Langer are terrific as Boy and Sally, two bored children home alone; Dean Holt is superb as the Cat, insouciant and conscience-free; Gerald Drake is so good as the Fish that you forget he’s a man in a suit with a puppet on his hand. As Thing 1 and Thing 2, Ana Christine Evans and Diogo Lopes are riveting little monsters. When Evans extends her lower lip so she can blow her blue hair out of her face, you kind of want to hug her, except you know she’d bite. Complete with a jazzy soundtrack, the play is charming in every way. And it’s utterly devoid of the sly winky-winks at adult humor and subject matter so often slipped into kids’ entertainment. FMI and tickets ($16-$42). Ends July 27. Bring a kid or go on your own.

Our picks for the week

Tonight (Tuesday, June 3) at Aria in Minneapolis: ETHEL’s Documerica. This needs a bit of explaining, but stay with us. ETHEL is a brilliant new-music string quartet based in New York City. (One of its members, violinist Kip Jones, is originally from Minnesota; you might have seen him play at Maude or Barbette or Studio Z.) Documerica is a collection of more than 80,000 photographs dating from the 1970s, when the newly minted Environmental Protection Agency hired freelance photographers to fan out across the land and document environmental problems and everyday life. This was a time when our rivers were dying and the air of our cities was thickly polluted; the photos, many now digitized and available online, are stark reminders of the days before environmental legislation and conservation. ETHEL’s Documerica combines newly commissioned music by four composers – the Twin Cities’ Mary Ellen Childs, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Ulysses Owens Jr. (some of us know him as a jazz drummer), and James Kimo Williams – with manipulated images from the Documerica archive. Easy listening? Probably not. Passionate, exciting, emotional, provocative? Definitely. Plus Aria (the old Jeune Lune) is an informal, nontraditional space to hear classical music; think warehouse shabby chic, with crystal chandeliers and cocktails. Co-present with the SPCO’s Liquid Music, this is the final concert in the debut season of the Schubert Club Mix series. FMI and tickets ($25) – a few still available as of this writing, all general admission.

Photo by Stephanie Berger

The members of ETHEL

Wednesday through Sunday at the Mall of America: Out Twin Cities Film Festival. Now in its fifth year, Minnesota’s official LGBTQ international film festival has a new home at Theatres at Mall of America, a new Family Friendly Program on Sunday, a Provocateur Section on Friday (for grown-ups), and a full schedule of films including “The Rugby Player” (about Mark Bingham, who died on United Flight 93 on 9/11); “To Be Takei” about George Takei, a.k.a. Sulu on “Star Trek,” who has become a huge star on social media; and “Such Good People,” a contemporary screwball comedy, with labradoodles.  FMI, trailers, and tickets (screenings $10 each, all-access pass $200).

Thursday in Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis: Harmony in the Park. A free outdoor choral concert presented by Classical MPR, featuring ensembles from the Land of 10,000 Choirs. With The Singers, VocalPoint, and Six Appeal, hosted by Brian Newhouse. 7 p.m.  Also: Sunday, June 8, at 7 p.m. in Mankato’s Riverfront Park with the Minnesota Valley Chorale, St. Peter Choral Society, and another ensemble TBA, hosted by Alison Young, and Sunday, June 15, at 4 p.m. in  Duluth’s Leif Erikson Park with Twin Ports Choral Project, Lake Superior Youth Chorus, and Echoes of Peace Choir, hosted by Steve Staruch. All concerts are free and open to the public.

Thursday through Saturday at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis: Heliotrope X. After taking last year off to regroup, the Twin Cities’ long-running independent festival of underground and underexposed music is back with a diverse line-up of old favorites and new blood. It’s trying out a new venue – Intermedia Arts in the heart of LynLake – that seems better suited to its anything-goes spirit than previous sites like the Lab and the Ritz. Plus we’re promised music in the lobby between sets (curated by Casey Deming of the Madame Tuesday avant-garde/improvisational music series), and a companion event at Bryant Lake Bowl on Friday at midnight featuring Paul Metzger and Elaine Evans. Parts will be messy, parts will be loud, and parts will be incredibly beautiful. Ranging from acoustic solo performances to “the Greek mythology-influenced death metal act” House of Atreus, Heliotrope is about as free, unpredictable, and out-there as music gets. 6 p.m. – 12 a.m. all days. FMI and tickets (day pass $12, three-day pass $30). 

Thursday through Saturday at Orchestra Hall: the Minnesota Orchestra performs Mozart’s three final symphonies. British conductor Christopher Warren-Green, music director of the London Chamber Orchestra and Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, leads the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra in symphonies No. 39 in E-flat, the great G-minor (No. 40), and the “Jupiter” (No. 41). Incredibly, Mozart wrote all three during the summer of 1788. Let’s look at our plans for the summer and do something great, or at least something besides drinking beer and swatting mosquitoes. Thursday at 11 a.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m. FMI and tickets ($22-$84).

Jo Ann Olsen said volunteering for Hamline Midway Elders was her husband’s final request before he died.

“When my husband was dying, he says to me: ‘One of the things I want you to do, when you have everything settled, I want you to go to the Hamline Midway Elders,’” Olsen said. “And that’s how I started volunteering here, and I’m glad that I did it.”

Part of the Living At Home Network and based in Hamline Methodist Church in St. Paul, Hamline Midway Elders was founded in 2001 with the mission of providing services to help seniors live independently in their own homes.

This organization is small — a two-person staff, Service and Volunteer Director Monica Gallagher and Program Director Tom Fitzpatrick — and uses 40 to 50 volunteers. Volunteers include people 40 to 60 years of age living in the community as well as college students, including students from nearby Hamline University. (Hamline’s students provide more than volunteer time: one class organized a fundraiser, presenting Fitzpatrick with a check for $1,345 in donations at a conference last month.)

“I really like the concept of our program because we’re pretty low-budget,” Fitzpatrick said. “Our budget this year is $81,000 and some change. We have two part-time staff and yet we impact. Like last year, we impacted over 200 seniors.”

The organization provides a variety of services to older residents living in St. Paul’s Midway area, ranging from volunteers hauling groceries to walking dogs for seniors.

“A lot of times that’s the difference between a senior being able to live on her own or his own — just the ability to take care of the normal household-management stuff,” Fitzpatrick said.

Jo Ann Olsen’s husband, Leonard, decided to volunteer for Hamline Midway Elders after reading about the organization in the neighborhood newspaper. “He really enjoyed it,” Jo Ann Olsen said of her husband’s volunteer work.

After her husband died in 2008, Olsen began volunteering as well, providing rides for seniors and attending monthly luncheons as a greeter. She also participates in the organization’s exercise program.

Olsen has been an active volunteer for nearly six years, and she says what keeps her coming back is the “camaraderie” she’s formed with the people she’s met through her volunteer work.

“Being a widow now, this has been great for me; it’s kind of like a support group,” Olsen said. “I met a lot of people that I wouldn’t have met if it wasn’t for here.”

One of those Olsen has become close friends with is a 105-year-old woman who lives nearby. Olsen said they had been long-time neighbors, but it wasn’t until she started volunteering at Hamline Midway Elders that she got to know her neighbor well.

Olsen’s neighbor takes medication that requires a monthly blood check. Olsen not only drives her friend to the doctor’s office each month, but she also accompanies her during checkups to provide support.

“The support of our program and programs like ours really make a difference in the lives of seniors,” Fitzpatrick said. “It allows seniors to stay living where they want to live for as long as possible.”

Fitzpatrick noted that as Baby Boomers age, the Midway community is changing. “It seems that we’re serving more seniors, so the number of seniors wanting our help increases, I think the variety of things we do is increasing — the number of rides, the numbers of events that we’re sponsoring,” he said.

Creative Commons/Upsilon Andromedae

An increasing number of babies with normal reflux, particularly when it's accompanied by crying and fussiness, have been labeled as having GERD.

Too many pediatricians are labeling a normal behavior of infants — spitting up — a disease, causing a stunning and troubling increase in the number of babies being unnecessarily treated with acid-suppressing drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), writes Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, in an opinion piece published Monday in the New York Times.

As Carroll notes, refluxed milk spit up by infants is rarely acidic, and the vast majority of these babies aren’t “sick”:

About 50 percent of healthy infants will spit up more than twice a day. About 95 percent of them completely stop doing that without treatment. When a majority of infants have (and have always had) a set of symptoms that go away on their own, it isn’t a disease — it’s a variation of normal.

Infants vomit more often because they have an all-liquid diet. They have an immature esophageal sphincter, which doesn’t quite close off the stomach from the esophagus. They eat every few hours, and they have small stomachs. Countless infants will have symptoms of gatroesophageal reflux.

Of course, there is such a thing as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). But it is rare in infants, and produces symptoms so severe, writes Carroll, “that it degrades their life.”

Unfortunately, over the past decade or so, an increasing number of babies with normal reflux, particularly when it's accompanied by crying and fussiness, have been labeled as having GERD. Between 2000 and 2005 alone, reports Carroll, the incidence of GERD diagnoses in infants tripled.

As diagnoses go up, so do the sales of PPI drugs. As I noted here last year, one study found that between 1999 and 2004, the use of PPIs in infants under the age of 1 year increased sevenfold. And those numbers remain high, despite the fact that 1) a 2009 randomized controlled clinical trial found that PPIs are no more effective than placebos in relieving unexplained crying, irritability and spitting up in babies under a year old, and 2) the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved PPIs for use in children that young. (Many pediatricians apparently don’t care; they just go ahead and prescribe the drugs “off label.”)

In his Times essay, Carroll cites a study (which was the focus of my report last year) that found parents who are told their infant has GERD become much more eager to have PPIs prescribed for their child even when they are told the medications are ineffective than parents who are told only that their child has a spitting up “problem.”

“Words matter,” writes Carroll.

“The labeling of patients with a ‘disease’ can have significant consequences, for both people’s health and the nation’s health care budget,” he adds.

You can read Carroll’s essay on the New York Times website. He also writes about the U.S. health care system — “its organization, how it works, how it fails us, and what to do about it” — at the Incidental Economist blog.

What should America do in the world, to the world, for the world, about the world?

President Obama gave the latest version of his answer to those questions in the commencement address to the West Point graduating class last week. (Full text here.)

Nothing in the speech was terribly surprising. America remains militarily strong, Obama said — in some ways, compared to its leading rivals, stronger than ever. But, at least under this president, it will use military force reluctantly, sparingly, selectively.

This paragraph from the speech is probably the best, and certainly the most colorful summary of this version of the Obama Doctrine:

Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead on the world stage. If we don’t, no one else will. The military that you have joined is, and always will be, the backbone of that leadership. But U.S. military action cannot be the only, or even primary, component of our leadership in every instance. Just because we have the best hammer does not mean that every problem is a nail.

Here’s a shocker: The righty commentariat hated the speech. They divided between those who felt Obama was advertising and bragging about exactly the kind of fecklessness they’ve been ripping him about for five years, and those, like, for example, Charles Krauthammer, who called the speech “empty.”

Krauthammer hit hard on the argument that Obama had constructed a set of straw men in which the world consisted of pacifists, who think nothing is worth fighting for, and militarists who want to invade every country that annoys them. Creating that spectrum of war-mongers and isolationists conveniently left Obama as the reasonable man in the middle, willing to use force, but only when necessary.

In reality, Krauthammer argued, nobody is calling for U.S. “boots on the ground” in Syria, and nobody is calling for an American withdrawal from the world.

There is some rough justice in Krauthammer’s reaction. Obama did use the speech to make himself look like the occupant of the reasonable middle. In truth, by recent U.S. standards, Obama’s ability to get through five-plus years of a presidency without starting a new war, a shock and awe bombing campaign or a CIA overthrow of a foreign government makes him look like a raging peacenik, (notwithstanding his continuing use of drone warfare, his success in degrading Al Qaida and his “surge” policy in Afghanistan).

What Obama didn’t say

On the other hand, Obama Derangement Syndrome caused Krauthammer to hear things that Obama didn’t say.

Obama didn’t say that anyone is advocating for U.S. “boots on the ground” in Syria, nor that anyone was arguing for U.S. withdrawal from the world. If you look at how Obama actually described those who think he should use the military more and those who think he should stay out of more conflicts, his descriptions are much more accurate than the imaginary ones that Krauthammer mocked. Here’s how Obama framed it:

Today, according to self-described realists, conflicts in Syria or Ukraine or the Central African Republic are not ours to solve. And not surprisingly, after costly wars and continuing challenges here at home, that view is shared by many Americans.

A different view, from interventionists from the left and right, says that we ignore these conflicts at our own peril, that America’s willingness to apply force around the world is the ultimate safeguard against chaos, and America’s failure to act in the face of Syrian brutality or Russian provocations not only violates our conscience, but invites escalating aggression in the future.

Surely Krauthammer wouldn’t deny that some say the trouble in Syria and Ukraine “are not ours to solve,” nor that some — including most of Krauthammer’s fellow travelers — do indeed suggest constantly that Obama’s “failure to act in the face of Syrian brutality or Russian provocation… invites escalating aggression in the future.” In fact, isn’t that pretty much their main criticism of Obama’s foreign policy?

The American sheriff

But the real righty argument against Obamaism in foreign policy was written in advance of the speech.

In the New Republic (for which he is a “contributing editor”), neoconservative intellectual Robert Kagan lays out generalized case for America to do more — almost irrespective of its own interests — to maintain world order by strengthening good guys and weakening bad guys — and by making sure that bad guys know that if they get too far out of line, the American sheriff will gun them down at high noon.

If that seems incredibly vague, as if it obligates the United States to be constantly at war for ambiguous purposes that might have little to do with its own concrete interests, here’s a paragraph from the Kagan piece that show it is precisely that:

World order maintenance requires operating in the gray areas between victory and defeat. The measure of success is often not how wonderful the end result is, but whether the unsatisfying end result is better or worse than the outcome if there had been no action. To insist on outcomes that always achieve maximum ends at minimal cost is yet another form of escapism.

Don’t click this link to the full Kagan piece unless you have a few minutes. Kagan’s argument is long, slow, theoretical and goes back to at least the 19th century to create a historical context for an argument that, in the 21st century, America must use its power — and certainly that includes military power — around the world or things will fall apart.

In other words, the world needs for the United States to flex its muscles periodically without necessarily waiting for a situation that fits the normal rhetoric about a threat to its “vital interests” and all that jazz. Sometime during the 19th or 20th century, America learned the advisability of getting into wars early and often. The United States adopted, Kagan says:

A new military strategy aimed to discourage would-be aggressors before they became aggressors, or as [Theodore] Roosevelt put it, to “end future wars by stepping on their necks before they grow up.”

But this lesson, Kagan worries, is being “unlearned” by Americans who have grown weary of policing the world. In the 1950s and ‘60s, America “fought in costly wars in Korea and Vietnam, with uncertain and unsatisfying results,” Kagan said, which left us dangerously reluctant to play sheriff.

He cites with alarm a recent Pew Poll that found that “more than 50 percent of Americans today believe that the United States ‘should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own’ — the highest number ever recorded since Pew started asking the question 50 years ago.”

Personally I would say that the United States, even under Obama, is more entangled with the rest of the world than any other country. By any fair reckoning, it gets into more wars and lesser military actions — by a wide margin — than whoever comes in second. But the drift seems downright isolationistic to Kagan, who wrote that:

Unless Americans can be led back to an understanding of their enlightened self-interest, to see again how their fate is entangled with that of the world, then the prospects for a peaceful twenty-first century in which Americans and American principles can thrive will be bleak.

Kaganism, which is neoconservatism, is pretty much the opposite of Obamaism. Obama has said for years that his hope and plan was to wind down the two wars he inherited from President George W. Bush and try to avoiding starting a new one. It looks to me like he is on his way to fulfilling that goal.

Haunted by deaths

When he talked to the West Point cadets about the fact four young soldiers, who were in the audience a year ago when Obama had announced the troop surge in Afghanistan, had died in that operation, Obama underscored his determination to use troops only when necessary:

I believe America’s security demanded those deployments. But I am haunted by those deaths. I am haunted by those wounds. And I would betray my duty to you, and to the country we love, if I sent you into harm’s way simply because I saw a problem somewhere in the world that needed fixing, or because I was worried about critics who think military intervention is the only way for America to avoid looking weak.

I confess I’m with Obama in spirit here. Lethal force should be a last resort. Obama also made clear his feeling that every time the United States kills people abroad, they plant seeds of anti-American hatred that could lead to future wars.

But Kagan, unless I’m misreading his doctrine, thinks America and the world benefit from frequent demonstrations that the United States is on the bad guy beat.

David Brooks, in a New York Times column that called Kagan’s piece “brilliant,” also celebrated the happier days “in the 1990s, for example, [when] President George H.W. Bush and President Clinton took military action roughly every 17 months to restrain dictators, spread democracy and preserve international norms.” Brooks referred to it as “forward-leaning interventionist garden-tending.”

Brooks should find a better metaphor for war than “garden-tending.” We are talking about bombing and blood, killing by the thousands and hundreds of thousands and invading and overthrowing. We are talking about one nation, because it is the world’s most powerful, arrogating to itself the decision of whom is fit to govern other smaller nations.

Those decisions, by the way, are inevitably mixed with the superpower’s self-interest, including economic, material, corporate interests. The obsession of the United States with Iraq and Iran cannot be separated from the oil. The United States was friendly with Saddam Hussein — who had already established himself as one of the world’s most brutal dictators — as recently as the 1980s. The United States is apoplectic over the ayatollaocracy that runs Iran, but the United States overthrew the only democratically elected leader Iran ever had (Mohammed Mossadegh).

Barack Obama became the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, to some extent, because he was the only one among the leading candidates who had opposed the Iraq war in advance.

Justifying war in Iraq

One reason it is vital to bring the Iraq war into the discussion of the Obama West Point speech and especially of the Kagan “prebuttal” is that Kagan was one of the co-founders and leaders of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), which is best known for advocating and justifying the decision to launch a U.S. war against Iraq.

The launching of that war and the fall of Saddam Hussein were the high moments of the “neoconservative” creed that Kagan and PNAC helped make famous.

But the aftermath of Saddam’s fall, the failure to find the promised Weapons of Mass Destruction that had been used to justify the war (even though U.N. inspectors pretty much knew there were no weapons), the long, bloody years of occupation (in contrast to the euphoric “candy and flowers” greeting that had been promised), the civil war, and the subsequent descent of Iraq into the thugocracy and kleptocracy all cast doubt on the clarity of the neocon vision and the advisability of the neocon prescription.

I found the tone of Kagan’s long New Republic essay very reasonable, bordering on humble, occasionally pulling back from statements that would have been overreaches, occasionally acknowledging facts and arguments that undermined his overall point.

But apart from my instinctive opposition to unnecessary warfare, I have trouble taking his overview seriously unless and until he takes the latest big example of a “war of choice” that went badly — the Iraq war with which he and his fellow travelers are so closely associated — and puts it on the table and fits it into his overall argument.

The closest I found in his long piece was this:

The long interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan certainly played a part in undermining American support, not just for wars but for the grand strategy that led to those wars.

True that, most definitely with respect to Iraq. But if he wants Americans to get on board with the idea that a garden-tending, world-order maintenance mission every couple of years is a good thing, he needs to deal directly with the most recent case that turned out not to be such a great idea, or does he think it was?

Now that Amtrak passenger trains are coming and going from downtown St. Paul's restored Union Depot, officials are promoting the adjacent Rail View Picnic Area as a place to watch trains and the nearby Mississippi River.

The landscaped area has six picnic tables covered with pergolas, and there is bicycle parking available.

It's open from sunrise to sunset and can be reached via sidewalk on the south side of Kellogg Boulevard, or by parking in Lot C, east of the Lafayette Bridge.

A bike trail will extend to the area from the Bruce Vento bike trail late next year, after the bridge construction is completed.

The last week of school is typically a reflective time for everyone. What went right over the course of the year? What could go better next year? Among the leadership at Minneapolis Public Schools,  this conversation currently revolves around teaching.

It hasn’t been the stuff of headlines, but the past two years have seen major changes in the teaching profession in Minneapolis. And the sea changes are taking place at a juncture where demographic changes mean an influx of new teachers.

This is the first of several articles in which MinnPost will take a look at those changes.

On a recent rainy Thursday night, Maggie Sullivan stood watching what was on paper a very small change but is in practice a tectonic shift. The executive director of human capital for Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), Sullivan was looking on as 200 teacher candidates checked in at district headquarters for job interviews.

Traditionally, MPS’ teacher-screening interviews took place in July, months after many good outside applicants had already been snapped up by other districts. And after internal applicants —including those rejected by schools elsewhere — have filled all but the least desirable or hardest to staff positions.

As of the end of May, MPS had interviewed nearly 800 candidates. It made early offers to more than 150. Between growth in enrollment and a spate of retirements, at least another 150 will be hired in coming weeks.

“This is about being intentional and making sure we’ve got the best,” said Sullivan. “It’s not a replenishing pool. It’s about who can get the best talent right now.”

This year’s early start, enabled by a change in the latest district-teacher union contract, will allow the district to be more selective. Recent years’ layoffs notwithstanding, there is a shortage of Minnesota teachers with specific skills shown to work in closing the achievement gap.

Looking for certain traits

The scene surveyed by Sullivan included teachers waiting on chairs and benches, clutching portfolios of student work and other evidence of their effectiveness. The district leaders conducting the interviews probed for specific traits.

“I walked in on one where they were asking the candidate how comfortable he was about cultural competence,” said Sullivan by way of example.

Every new hire must now come with a combination of desired skills and traits. Whether that teacher is a good fit for a particular school is a separate question to be answered by the candidate and the school’s hiring committee or principal. Individual schools, too, can also be more selective.

To an outsider, this probably doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary. Yet the change in the timeline — and the other changes it facilitates — is one of the least discussed but perhaps most important features of the new teacher contract.

Not only does starting in the spring give the district access to better candidates, those new hires can participate in interviews at individual schools alongside teachers already in the candidate pool.

“Were screening for qualities in teachers like skill set,” said Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. “We’re saying, ‘Here’s the standard for all teachers in MPS.’ At the school level they look for fit.”

Vacancies in high-demand, hard-to-fill areas such as special education, English-language learner services and math and science can be posted and filled on a rolling basis.

Because of other provisions in the contract, that pool is often heavy with candidates already rejected by other schools. And so the contract reforms of recent years allowing schools flexibility with regard to hiring outside strict seniority rolls have had limited impact.

In years past the district has not forecast openings for the fall until after the budget is established, typically in June. At that point, teachers already employed by MPS bid for coming openings. After this, teachers who were not hired were placed involuntarily in some of the remaining open positions.

After all of these internal placements were complete, the district finally began screening potential new hires. Top candidates — especially those with the most sought-after specialties — frequently weren’t willing to wait that long to learn whether they would have a job in the fall.

High turnover an issue

As in many districts, the hiring of teachers in Minneapolis has always been done by the central administration. The traditional system, however, virtually guaranteed for decades that the newest teachers were placed in the least desirable jobs.

After a teacher was hired they were placed on the seniority list. When there was an opening for a teacher holding a particular license, candidates bid for the position, with the most senior winning.

One result: The schools with the largest numbers of low-income kids, minorities, English-language learners and special-education students suffered from high teacher turnover. According to district statistics, a decade ago the highest-poverty MPS elementary schools had annual turnover of more than 200 percent.

Turnover at the late lamented Jordan Park was 443 percent. There were buildings in which principals — themselves fast-moving targets — did not know the names of the entire faculty.

In January 2008, a new teacher contract ushered in a practice known as “interview and select.” The details in the contract were complicated, but the upshot was that schools could interview several candidates, including some not atop the seniority list.

On the upside, individual schools began screening for fit, skill set and other traits. On the downside, the pool was still relatively finite. And teachers who interviewed multiple times yet received no job offer would be forcibly placed.

The new contract shields MPS’ most challenged schools from forced placements. And the timeline for evaluating teachers with serious performance issues has been shortened.

New hires accelerating

Add to all of this a demographic shift: The layoffs of the early 2000s went so deep into seniority rolls the district was left with a teacher corps marching quickly toward retirement. The number of new teachers hired is accelerating.

Once the new teachers have found classroom jobs, Sullivan and Superintendent Johnson have plans to do more to make their first years on the job more supportive and to keep them once they gain experience.

A year ago, at the end of the first full year of evaluating all MPS teachers, Johnson and members of her executive team held a meeting with Minnesota’s teacher preparation programs. They asked for a greater emphasis on the diversity of the teacher candidate pipeline.

And they shared data on the classroom performance of the programs' graduates. Johnson enumerated the traits associated with the most successful new teachers. And she told the colleges she could envision hiring more candidates from the programs that did the best job teaching desired traits.

Evaluation data is also being used to guide placement decisions. “We’re looking at the environments in which we put new teachers," said Johnson. “We want them to observe models of success.”

Instead of a few weeks, student teachers may now spend a semester or an entire year working alongside a master teacher. And depending on the budgeting process expected to conclude June 10, young teachers in challenged schools may get more help from coaches or co-teachers.

Words of encouragement

The district also is in negotiations with the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities College of Education and Human Development to begin a program to train bilingual classroom aides and others with unique assets to become licensed teachers. The aides, many of them immigrants, can keep their jobs while earning their credentials.

Principals have been encouraged to identify great student teachers. “They’ve been emailing with great candidates,” said Sullivan.

School leaders also have been told that they need to do more to hang on to their best recruits. Teachers aren’t often told how much they are valued as members of the school community, said Johnson.

“We spend time talking about removing teachers,” said Johnson. “We need to spend time talking to principals about the importance of saying to teachers they want to retain, ‘You’re a great teacher. I want you to stay here.’”

Gov. Mark Dayton will serve breakfast to elementary school children Wednesday in Coon Rapids, as a way to highlight the $4 million in new money that the state has earmarked for school breakfasts and lunches.

And handing food to little kids won't look bad for the governor's reelection campaign, either.

The governor, along with state Sen. Alice Johnson and Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius, will be on the serving line at 9:10 a.m. at Morris Bye Elementary School in Coon Rapids.

Supporters say the new school food money, approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor, will provide healthy meals for 125,000 more Minnesota students.

The push-me-pull-you between Minneapolis and St. Louis Park over the simultaneous running of freight trains and the proposed light-rail line through the Kenilworth Corridor has sucked up so much time, money and attention that there's almost none left over to go around to other places. Like Minnetonka.

To go forward, the Southwest LRT, which is slated to travel from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie, must win the consent of all the municipalities along its right of way. So far, only St. Louis Park has held hearings, and citizens testified that the city should approve but with a proviso that there absolutely be no rerouting of a freight train, now in Minneapolis, through their community.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges claimed that the Met Council's plan to keep the freight train in the scenic Kenilworth Corridor and dig a $160 million tunnel to accommodate the LRT was a "fundamental failure of fairness" and voted "no." The city and the Metropolitan Council are now working with a mediator to resolve their differences.  

To complicate matters further, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board passed a resolution saying that it would not approve the tunnel under the Kenilworth Corridor unless there was further study. Section 4(f) of the Federal Transportation Act forbids money being dispersed on any project that affects parks or historic sites unless there is “no feasible and prudent avoidance alternative.” The board urged the Met Council to undertake design and engineering studies right away "to determine the feasibility and prudence of a tunnel underneath the Kenilworth Chanel" (that's their spello, not mine) — even though, by now, the piles of studies completed over the years have probably decimated enough trees to populate an entire new park.

Hearing in Minnetonka

Meanwhile, Minnetonka looks set to approve the line. But in a hearing before its City Council Monday night, it became clear that the route will create problems there, too. One issue: the train line will pass close by the Claremont Apartments, a five-building 318-unit "luxury" development on Smetana Road. According to Jerry Kavan, project manager for the complex, the route will run only 89 to 120 feet away from the bedrooms and living rooms of residents, depending on the unit. (That's about a third of a football field.) A City of Minnetonka nature trail borders the property, but the train line will level out Opus Hill next to it and rip out trees that now mask an industrial building. A retaining wall will shore up the remains of the hill. The nature trail will remain, but there won't be much nature left, at least not right there.

Claremont Apartments today.

I explored the place Monday, and the setting was lovely. I don't know exactly how luxurious the complex is; units rent for between about $860 and $1,700, which seems pretty reasonable, but Kavan says that the owner, Slosberg Co., a large development company based in Omaha (known locally as Richdale Management), bought the now 30-year-old property in 2005 and poured millions into updating the apartments, adding alarms, improving elevators, installing washers and dryers in all the units and building a fitness center for tenants. (The Minnetonka Assessing Division says that the company paid $26.4 million for the complex and has its current worth at $41.3 million.)

Artist's conception of Claremont Apartments after Light Rail construction.

Slosberg, which owns and manages 12,000 apartment units nationwide, was aware of plans for the LRT from the get-go, but the route, taking the train right past its property, wasn't settled until 2011. "Then our world fell apart," testified Kavan.

The uglification of the immediate area has a hard dollar effect as well. Currently, says Kavan, renters on the scenic side of the buildings pay $25 a month more for their views. "We'll probably have to rent those units at a discount to get people to take them," said Kavan. And, acoustical engineers advised the company that to diminish the train's noise, it would have to install triple-pane windows at a cost of about $800,000. "But they won't do anything about the train's vibration," says Kavan.  

Accordingly, like others before it Richdale hired its own engineering consultant to find another route. Vern Swing, traffic engineering manager for Westwood, a consulting company, told the City Council that — no surprise — he had indeed found one. A map shows it veering to the north of the Claremont Apartments. And although it would travel through a wetland, another sensitive environment, the train would ride on elevated piers so damage to the environment would be minimal, and commuters would be able to enjoy, at least momentarily, a stunning landscape.   

Cold water

That all sounded very sensible, and when I talked to Met Council engineer Jim Alexander, he said that the SWLRT project office would consider the change — although he said that in the way I tell phone callers asking for charitable donations that I might give next year. And Minnetonka Mayor Terry Schneider tossed some cold water on the idea. Rerouting the train would require consideration of all kinds of factors, including the safety of the route, travel time, covenants on the wetlands and about 30 other issues, all of which had been studied previously.

On top of all that, Lynn Miller, a resident of the nearby Opus condominium development, asked why, after attending years of meetings on the LRT, she was only hearing about this route now. She and her fellow condo owners at Opus would need time, presumably oodles of it, to study a route that might take the train near them.

Although Kavan said he would not ask the City Council to vote down the LRT, he did bring a lawyer to the hearing. William Griffith, at least in my opinion, laid out a case with a legal threat as subtext. Like the Minneapolis park board, he claimed that under Section 4(f), the Met Council would have to consider alternate routes before plowing its train through Opus Hill. And, after researching all the electronic files of the Met Council's deliberations, he could find no evidence that it had looked at another route.

Will Slosberg sue? I don't know if it has standing to do so, and a lawsuit might well cost more than installing $800,000 worth of windows and taking a hit on its rental income. And the company could agitate for Minnetonka or the Met Council to do something to mitigate the loss of its scenery.

OK, so that's Issue One. The second, to me, is even more salient. The three Minnetonka stations, as designated, do not serve the most populous areas of the town. The amount of affordable housing within walking distance of the City West, Opus and Shady Oak stations is minimal. And if you look at the maps, you'll see that while such housing is within a quarter or half-mile radius, the actual paths to walk to stations are pretty lengthy, more like a mile-and-a-half. The Met Council could maintain that the train takes people to employment centers, but the large campuses of suburban office buildings put many of them at quite a distance from the stations as well. Employees commuting by LRT will have to catch city buses or employers will have to provide shuttles.   

These observations came from Stuart Nolan, CEO and founder of Stuart Company, a large housing developer and owner of three apartment complexes (comprised of 500 units) in the area. He asked the council to support construction of a pedestrian station near Smetana Road, in fact, almost in front of the Claremont apartments. Nearly 7,000 people live nearby. "It is the largest concentration of affordable housing in Minnetonka," he told the City Council. "These people want to be included."

And he's right. Smetana appears to be the epicenter of a huge expanse of apartment developments, whose residents are probably more apt than owners of single-family houses to ride the rails.

Mayor Schneider remarked that time was late for the Met Council to consider an extra $20 million station — although what's $20 million when the whole shebang is estimated to cost about $1.68 billion? In any case, he and council members talked about putting language into their consent that would ask the Met Council to build the line in a way that would allow for the addition of a Smetana station later.

If, however, the train is inconvenient to local passengers, it will lack riders. In that case, later might become never.

Brian Melendez

Brian Melendez, who had been the Minnesota DFL Party chair from 2005-2011, is the new managing partner in the Dykema Gossett law firm's Minneapolis office.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports that Melendez left Faegre Baker Daniels in July to move to Dykema, and now replaces Joe Roach, the managing partner who left the firm last month.

Melendez has also been the Hennepin County Bar Association president (2001-2002) and Minnesota Bar Association president (2007-2008).

He decided at the end of 2010, after the recount in Mark Dayton's gubernatorial win, not to seek another term as DFL chair. Ken Martin was then elected to head the state party.

In announcing that he wouldn't run for party chair again, Melendez included this in a letter to DFL central committee members:

This job has been like getting a Ph.D. in human nature. I have seen the dark side of politics and people at their worst. But I have also seen politics and people at their best.

One of the most personally uplifting moments in my tenure occurred when the DFL senators and representatives in Congress let Donna, Andy, and me join them for one of their monthly lunchtime meetings in Washington. There I watched Representatives Collin Peterson and Keith Ellison engage each other on a complex, thorny issue of domestic policy over which they did not yet see eye to eye. But as they talked, several things became clear: each representative was the master of his brief, with an impressive array of facts and figures and arguments at his fingertips; each respected the other immensely; and they were each listening and learning, and deftly finding common ground.

I am so proud of them, and all our elected officials, who must wade through the cesspool of partisan politics simply for the opportunity of serving us and patiently building a better world.

The EPA’s latest release of a carbon rule to limit greenhouse gases from power plants is a great step toward mitigating the risks of climate change and improving the health, security and surrounding environment of U.S. citizens. The EPA estimates $55-93 billion saved in health costs with the reduction in carbon emissions, as well as a decrease in premature deaths and asthma attacks nationwide.

The main concern following the EPA’s new carbon rules involves the search for replacement sources of energy. While Rolf Westgard supports the development of risky nuclear power (“U.S. should reconsider nuclear power” 6/2), investment in cleaner, more reliable sources of energy (such as solar and wind) as well as an overall increase in energy efficiency would be a more stable approach. Since reducing carbon polluting increases health benefits and lowers cost, energy sources that continue to ensure the safety and health of citizens is the next logical step.

By supporting the EPA’s new carbon rules to promote energy efficiency and focusing on renewables rather than nuclear power, the U.S. can provide a healthy and sustainable future for its citizens.

Kelly Halpin is a Clean Energy Outreach Intern at the Sierra Club.

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WASHINGTON — Sen. Al Franken said Tuesday he opposes President Obama's nominee to serve as ambassador to Norway, businessman George Tsunis.

Leaders in Minnesota's Norwegian-American community, the largest in the country, had launched a campaign against Tsunis' nomination after his rocky testimony before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee in January. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Franken said he would vote against Tsunis' nomination, “on the basis of my constituents’ concerns about Mr. Tsunis’ ability to serve effectively as our nation’s ambassador.”

“What I have heard from Minnesotans is that Mr. Tsunis’ performance at his confirmation hearing and the controversy that followed it will make it impossible for him to serve effectively as our ambassador to Norway,” Franken wrote. “Many Minnesotans have expressed concern that Mr. Tsunis’ remarks during the hearing have deeply damaged his credibility with the government of Norway, the people of Norway, and the American people.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's office said she told the White House earlier this year that she also opposes Tsunis' nomination.

Tsunis' January testimony was rife with missteps. He said he's never been to Norway, and didn't have a strategy for improving American-Norwegian trade. He called the Progress Party, a member of the country's coalition government, a “fringe element” that “spews hatred” with its hard-line position on immigration.

After the testimony, Norwegian news services slammed his nomination, and he was mocked by the Daily Show. A group of Norwegian-Americans in Minnesota and North Dakota wrote a Star Tribune op-ed against his nomination and have pushed senators from Minnesota and other Midwestern states heavy with Scandinavian heritage to oppose his nomination.

The Foreign Affairs Committee eventually sent Tsunis' nomination to the floor, where he's still awaiting a vote.

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