The story of the two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls who stabbed their friend to prove worthy of an Internet character has gone national. Most are feeding off the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

There, Ellen Gabler writes, “When asked how many times [Morgan] Geyser thought she stabbed the victim, Geyser said she did not know; all she heard was screaming. At one point, when talking with police, Geyser said she was sorry. She said she had put the knife back into her bag and wiped it off on her jacket. She then told a detective, ‘It was weird that I didn't feel remorse.’ When asked about [the mythical character] Slender Man, Geyser said she had never met him but said he watches her and he can read minds and teleport. Geyser said what she did was ‘probably wrong.’ "

Also in the Journal-Sentinel, Raquel Rutledge writes, “Nancy Kaser-Boyd, a forensic psychologist at Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, called the alleged actions by the girls extremely rare. ‘You just don't see it at that age and especially not in girls,’ she said. ‘It just hardly ever happens.’ Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show girls accounted for just 9% of all homicide arrests among children ages 10 to 17 in 2011. … Plotting such an action over many weeks, and whispering about it on the bus, as one of the girls told police they did, demonstrates a malevolence, she added. ‘There is a sadistic quality to that,’ she said.” Do you think?

Meg Wagner in the New York Daily News writes, “ … a website that publishes stories about the creepy urban legend says it's not to blame for the crime. … On Tuesday, the moderator who runs creepypasta.com — a website similar in content to creepypasta.wikia.com — posted a statement about the stabbings. The nameless author offers condolences to the victim and her family, but also says neither creepypasta.com nor creepypasta.wikia.com can be held responsible for the tragedy. ‘Most people don't watch Hannibal and turn into serial killers,’ the post says.”

Let’s see: Grateful Dead bootlegs … check. Autographed Snoop Dogg designer bong … check. Willie Nelson T-shirts … check. Christopher Snowbeck of the PiPress says, “Wanted: A medical marijuana chief. The Minnesota Department of Health is seeking a director for its new Office of Medical Cannabis, which will implement the medical marijuana bill signed into law last month by Gov. Mark Dayton. The job pays between $35.35 and $50.70 an hour, which works out to an annual rate of between $73,811 and $105,862, according to a notice posted last week.”

Less than average? Minnesota? A news service story says, “Warm weather is helping crops emerge in Minnesota, but corn and soybean development remains behind average. According to the weekly Minnesota crop report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says 93 percent of the corn crop is planted, which is near the five-year average of 95 percent. But only 69 percent of the corn crop has emerged, compared with the average of 82 percent.”

With Bucky the Terrorist out of the picture is Montevideo safe for pot?Tim Cherveny in the West Central Tribune reports, “No sooner had Governor Mark Dayton signed the bill legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota than Jeremy Pauling was lining up support to build the first facility to produce it in Montevideo. … His seven year-old-daughter Katelyn suffers chronic seizures due to Batten Disease. It’s an inherited and fatal neurological disease. … Pauling secured resolutions from the City of Montevideo and Chippewa County supporting the proposal to develop a manufacturing facility.”

Stribber Paul Walsh says, “For the first time since being attacked in downtown Mankato more than three weeks ago, Isaac Kolstad responded Tuesday to verbal commands from his neurosurgeon, twice following directions to give a thumbs-up sign, the family said.”

The state has moved on this one.Chris Serres of the Strib says,“Citing ‘dire management problems,’ the Minnesota Department of Health has seized control over a Minneapolis nursing home that put its residents at risk by failing to correct numerous health and safety violations. The state took the unusual step Friday of taking over management of Camden Care Center, an 87-bed nursing home at 512 49th Avenue North in Minneapolis, after inspections in recent months found 80 health and safety violations.”

Nice going, kid.Kim McGuire of the Strib reports, “As it turns out, kids sometimes listen to their parents. Zach Furman certainly did, and today one of his classmates at Concord Elementary in Edina is probably alive because the third-grader learned from his Dad how to administer the Heimlich technique. During a school picnic, one of Furman's friends, Fletcher Dypwick, began choking on his lunch. ...”

Finally, Cathy Wurzer and Tim Nelson at MPR have a good explainer on why in 2014 we’re still flushing [bleep] into lakes. “Extra treatment is the gold-plated solution, according to Tim O'Donnell, spokesman for the Metropolitan Council's Environmental Services, the regional sewer authority in the Twin Cities area. ‘To add that type of capacity, to handle the extreme rainfall that mixes in with the waste water, would be upwards of a billion dollars regionwide. We think an approach that targets inflow and infiltration reduction efforts at the local level, targeted at where the water is getting into the sewers is a much more cost effective alternative, that we figure could be done for about $150 million regionwide,’ he said.”

Phil Krinkie said today that he's dropping out of the race for 6th District seat in the U.S. Congress.

He had bypassed the April party endorsing convention and said he would run in a primary, but he now says he's ending his campaign.

Tom Emmer won the party's endorsement to run in the election to succeed GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann, who's not seeking re-election.

Anoka County Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah announced after the convention that she'll run in the August GOP primary against Emmer.

Krinkie, who is a former president of the Taxpayer's League of Minnesota and once served in the state House, said in a statement:

“It has been a spirited contest and I greatly appreciate all of the support and encouragement I have received from family, friends and conservatives across the country.

"But given the momentum of the Republican endorsement process, matched with the realities of a three-way primary, it has become clear that the responsible decision is to exit the contest and return my focus to advancing the conservative agenda in Minnesota."

CC/Flickr/Tammy Strobel

Tiny houses, coming soon to Brainerd.

Vancouver, Portland and Seattle have gotten on the tiny house bandwagon, and now Brainerd is moving with them, according to a story by Jessie Perrine of the Brainerd Dispatch. The Brainerd City Council agreed Monday to the concept of allowing 500-square-foot houses on nonconforming lots in the city. City Council member Gary Scheeler was worried the tiny-house movement would lower real estate values, but said he’s “willing to make something work with small houses for the good of Brainerd.” The Brainerd Planning Commission reports there are 465 vacant lots in Brainerd, many of which had held houses or are odd-shaped and don’t meet city codes or would leave a small yard. Allowing tiny houses on them would be a benefit, the commission said. City Council member Mary Koep agreed: “Small houses will bring in very nice people who otherwise wouldn’t buy a house here or even rent here. … It’s a trend that’s coming.” Minneapolis has been kicking around the idea of allowing houses on infill lots or in backyards for a while. Other cities — mainly on the West Coast, have moved aggressively on the issue. Portland, Oregon, is even waiving system development fees of as much as $11,000 for several years to promote growth that fits with the plan to grow within the city rather than expand outward.

Minnesota’s new medical marijuana law calls for two manufacturing facilities. No sooner had pen hit paper than Jeremy Pauling was lining up support to build the first facility in Montevideo, he told Tom Cherveny of the West Central Tribune. Not only is he the kind of guy who takes advantage of new opportunities — “I was brought up not to sit on my hands,” he said – but his daughter, Katelyn, 7, has Batten Disease. Doctors say she will live to 10 to 12 years old and Pauling and his wife, Kristy, are committed to doing all they can to ease her suffering. Gov. Mark Dayton signed the new law on May 29 and within two days, Pauling secured resolutions from the City of Montevideo and Chippewa County supporting the proposal to develop a manufacturing facility, and the city offered a site for the facility on its east side. The facility would create 30 to 40 new jobs growing a variety of marijuana strains that would create cannabinoid oils, which will be available as pills or as a liquid that would be vaporized. The extracted, cannabinoid oil does not provide a high, he said.

Katelyn suffers from painful seizures. While Pauling considered moving to a state where medical marijuana is available, he and his wife decided instead to fight for the cause in Minnesota where he has family support and where his two other daughters are comfortable.  “It really makes you feel good to have a community get behind you with something that is so taboo, let us say,’’ Pauling told Cherveny. Pauling said the community’s response has been straightforward: “What can we do to help?” 

Think Target is the only company with computer hacking problems? Jenn Brookens of the Fairmont Sentinel writes that the El Agave restaurant is suffering from slow business two months after hackers stole information about hundreds of credit and debit card transactions from the restaurant. Business is slow "but we don't know if that is because of new places coming to town," said Noe Juarez, proprietor of El Agave restaurants in Fairmont and St. Peter. To its credit, El Agave didn’t wait to take action. After it learned of the breach, the restaurant immediately went to a dial-up line so there is no longer any Internet access to the point-of-sale system. Now it has new equipment. "The upgrade was finished last week, and it meets all the newest standards," Juarez said. "New terminals, new computers ... We had to do dial-up for the past two months, and while it was a little bit of a hassle; we wanted to do whatever it takes to be safe. Now we have a system that operates as intended. We took the steps we had to do to solve this and prevent it from happening again." Business was slow after the data breach, but loyal Fairmont customers have since returned. “We're grateful to all the customers who support us," Juarez said.

This is unfortunate. Seven monuments were knocked over and an undetermined number of memorial decorations were strewn about the Oak Grove Cemetery in Fergus Falls last weekend. The Fergus Falls Journal reports that one of the damaged markers belongs to former Mayor Kelly Ferber, who died in 2002. Ferber’s monument fell on the marker of his late son-in-law, Mike Schultz, cracking it and chipping off pieces of Ferber’s monument. A Fergus Falls Monument Company spokesman said it will put the monuments upright again but the cost of fixing damage falls on the family. A Fergus Falls insurance agent said a homeowner’s policy may cover the cost of vandalism up to $5,000, minus a deductible. Ferber served as mayor from 1981 to 2002. He was re-elected to his sixth term in 2000 and died in 2002 of lung cancer.

Like to fly between Minneapolis and Duluth but hate the lack of leg room? The Duluth News Tribune reports that because many of its flights to the Twin Cities are full, Delta Airlines is adding an Airbus A-319 for some flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Airbus A-319 has 126 seats, 12 of which are first class. With the Airbus addition, three of Delta’s six daily Twin Cities flights will include a first-class option. Also this week, the airline will resume direct service to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Not to be outdone, United Airlines will add a fourth daily nonstop flight to Chicago O’Hare Airport to accommodate the increased demand during the busy summer travel season.

At its annual software developer conference Monday, Apple said it is partnering with the Mayo Clinic to turn its iOS devices into health-information dashboards, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reports. The Mayo Clinic will be among the first to tap into health-related features that are a part of Apple's upcoming iOS 8 operating system for the iPhone and iPad. The Apple app Health will collect data from a variety of sources including wearable fitness devices such as the Fitbit, along with mobile hardware that monitors heart activity, blood oxygen saturation and other variables. With users' consent, the information will be fed to Mayo and analyzed so the clinic can offer better medical advice. John Wald, the clinic's medical director for public affairs, said that with access to more and better information about patients at their fingertips, doctors might be able to shorten or eliminate costly hospitalizations.

This isn’t quite as high-tech, but it’s still important if you like eggs. The New Ulm City Council is considering whether to allow chickens within city limits, writes Clay Schuldt of the New Ulm Journal. The Happy Hen Committee would like the council to allow chicken coops in the city, with restrictions to limit the number of chickens allowed on a residence, whether to allow roosters, size of coop allowed, sanitation requirements and permit costs.

I don’t understand why the World’s Largest Ball of Twine in Darwin isn’t among the choices. Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji are in the running for the “Best Quirky Landmark” by USA Today 10 Best, reports the Bemidji Pioneer. The contest is open until noon on June 23 at USA Today. Here’s the competition: The Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama; the Beer Can House in Houston; Big Tex in Dallas; Cabazon Dinosaurs in Cabazon, California; Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas; Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska; Dog Bark Park Inn in Cottonwood, Idaho; Enchanted Highway in Regent, North Dakota; Farnham Colossi in Unger, West Virginia; Foamhenge in Natural Bridge, Virginia; Freemont Troll in Seattle; Galleta Meadows Estate in Borrego Springs, California; the Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, Nevada; the Hood Milk Bottle in Boston; Longaberger Home Office in Newark, Ohio; the Peachoid in Gaffney, South Carolina; Prada Marfa in West Texas; South of the Border in Dillon, South Carolina; the World’s Biggest Bat in Louisville; and of course Paul and Babe in Bemidji.

Silica sand mining critic Lynn Schoen has decided to run against Red Wing Republican Tim Kelly for the House 21A seat, reports Heather J. Carlson of the Rochester PB. A Wabasha City Council member, Schoen helped deliver 6,000 petitions to St. Paul last spring asking Gov. Mark Dayton to impose a two-year ban on silica-sand mining in southeastern Minnesota. The Wabasha Democrat is on the state's newly formed silica-sand mining advisory panel and says that while this type of mining is being done responsibly in some parts of the state, it doesn't make sense to do it in environmentally fragile areas. Silica sand is a key ingredient in hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," which involves pumping sand, water and chemicals into shale formations that fracture in the rock, releasing the oil and gas trapped inside. For his part, Kelly has opposed efforts to ban silica-sand mining in southeastern Minnesota. "My position is great, you can have a ban, but all you're doing is pushing off the real hard decisions for another year or two," he said.

Republican state Rep. Jim Abeler says he plans to move on to an August primary in the U.S. Senate race against endorsed GOP candidate Mike McFadden.

Abeler, a 16-year House member from Anoka, was knocked out of the Republican Party of Minnesota’s endorsement for the Senate race over the weekend after two rounds of balloting – but he wouldn’t commit to abiding by the process. On Tuesday, outside of a clinic in St. Paul, Abeler said he would move on to a primary and challenge the “status quo” candidate McFadden.

McFadden, a political newcomer and a businessman from Sunfish Lake, won the endorsement Saturday over five other candidates after 10 rounds of balloting.

In a release, the Abeler campaign acknowledged that the decision will “spark controversy” among many conservatives, but he questioned the endorsement process, which has produced candidates over the last two cycles who have not been able to win general elections.

His campaign said McFadden’s “lack of substantial political knowledge and experience” would make it hard for him to beat incumbent U.S. Sen. Al Franken this fall. Abeler touted his years of cutting health and human services budgets in the state House.

“The difference in political experience and qualifications between McFadden and Abeler is like night and day. McFadden is a first-time politician, while Abeler is widely thought to be one of the best healthcare legislative minds in St. Paul today,” the statement read. “His work as the chairman of the Health and Human Services Finance Committee turned out to be historic, as he secured major reforms, the largest tax cut, and the largest spending cuts in the history of Minnesota.”

McFadden has considerable resources behind his campaign, including the backing of the state party and $1.8 million in cash on hand. Abeler had just under $14,000 on hand as of the last reporting period. Franken has about $6 million in cash on hand.

Minnesotans will cast their primary votes on Aug. 12.

Do not use the “B” word … . Martin Moylan of MPR says: “Humana, one of the nation's largest health insurers is suing Medtronic, alleging that the medical device maker violated federal racketeering laws by paying influential doctors to promote unapproved uses of a bone-growth treatment. In the suit filed last week in federal court in Tennessee, Humana charges that Medtronic paid at least $210 million to leading spine surgeons. Humana claims that compensated physicians minimized the dangers and exaggerated the effectiveness of the product.” Who moves product by mere word of mouth?

Officially “we” want 2019 or 2020. Nick Woltman’s PiPress story on “our” NCAA Final Four bid says, “Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that the state will compete to host the 2019 or 2020 Final Four men's basketball tournament. To spearhead Minnesota's effort, Dayton named Health Partners CEO Mary Brainerd and Mortenson Construction Co. president David Mortenson co-chairs of the Final Four steering committee, which will be assigned to make the state's pitch to the NCAA.”

Who wouldn’t want to spend their summer in Syria … ?Amy Forliti of the AP says: “The FBI in Minneapolis said Tuesday it is investigating the possibility that some men have recently left Minnesota to join rebels fighting in Syria, and it is reaching out to the state's large Somali community to try to prevent others from making the trip. FBI spokesman Kyle Loven said authorities have indications that some individuals have recently left Minnesota and traveled overseas. He did not elaborate or release an estimated number of people involved, citing the active investigation.”

In the annals of the obvious … . The AP reports: “Anthony Cotton, the attorney for one girl [in the Wisconsin stabbing incident], said a judge rejected his request Monday to have the girl transferred to a mental health facility, but he will renew that request when she returns to court next week. ‘From what I know, we’ve got a young girl here who has no previous criminal record at all, and if the record is accurate, probably suffers from very serious mental health issues,’ said Cotton, who planned to meet with the girl later Tuesday.”

Patrick Condon of the Strib follows Doug Grow’s coverage here of veteran DFLer Andy Dawkins Green Party run for Attorney General. “Dawkins said his dissatisfaction with Democrats has grown along with the clout moneyed interests increasingly wield in major party politics. What gets pushed aside, he said, is genuine change on issues like climate change and surveillance of private citizens. ‘I love Democrats,’ Dawkins said. ‘I’m married to one. But I need to see some action.’”

No sale of Essar Steel … officially speaking.Evan Ramstad of the Strib says: “Essar Steel Minnesota LLC said Tuesday that its parent company does not plan to sell it, trying to quell concerns rooted in the financial condition of the bigger firm.  Media reports gained international scope on May 22 when Bloomberg News reported that Essar Steel Minnesota was one of several assets that might be sold … . Essar’s decision a year ago to increase the size of the plant led to the halt in construction in October.”

And they got it camera … . WCCO-TV’s story on the semi that roared passed — on the shoulder — nearly hitting a kid getting on to a school bus says: “The bus driver had turned the flashing lights on and had put the stop arm in position when a semi truck drove at a high speed between the bus and the shoulder. Witnesses say the student was almost struck by the semi, but no one was injured. A dashboard camera on the bus was able to capture the moment.”

A TV potboiler twist, if true … . Trisha Volpe of MPR reports: “Newly discovered DNA evidence may prove that a man known as a Minnesota serial killer might be innocent and that the real killer is someone else. Attorneys for Billy Glaze, 70, filed court documents late Tuesday asking that his conviction be thrown out and that he get a new trial in light of the DNA evidence. Glaze is serving three life sentences for the murders of three American Indian women in Minneapolis in 1986 and 1987. Kathleen Bullman, Angeline Whitebird Sweet and Angela Green were raped, murdered and mutilated in similar ways, leading police to search for a serial killer.”

Some guys just have it in their blood … .Tom Scheck of MPR writes, “In a last minute surprise, former state Rep. Matt Entenza announced he’s challenging Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto in the DFL primary. Entenza filed his paperwork just 15 minutes before today’s filing deadline. He said there’s more to being state auditor than balancing the books.”

Given the animus certain sorts have for high-speed trains, it’s unlikely — but possible — that St. Paul might have something on Minneapolis … someday. Frederick Melo of the PiPress reports: “High-speed rail someday might roll from Rochester, Minn., into St. Paul or the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport — but not into Minneapolis. ‘Target Field Station in Minneapolis is no longer a primary destination for this corridor,’ Praveena Pidaparthi, planning director for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, told the Ramsey County Board on Tuesday.”

The powerful US gun rights movement is increasingly critical of a small group of Texas gun owners who like to tote their large, black assault-style rifles into restaurants to lobby for laws that make it easier to carry handguns in the Lone Star State.

CC/Flickr/Jeff

Town Hall Tap owners chose to build the restaurant at 48th and Chicago rather than in Northeast Minneapolis partly because of the looser 60/40 food-alcohol-sales ratio.

Ever seen a vacant storefront in a Minneapolis neighborhood — maybe one in a struggling commercial node that has languished unused for years — and thought, "That would be a great spot for a restaurant"?

It could be in an emerging part of town where young families would love a foodie joint serving moderately priced but creative casual fare. And of course, it would need to offer a big lineup of locally produced craft beers and ciders as well as connoisseur wines, like local favorites Red Cow, Blue Door Pub and Pat's Tap.

It would be a win-win, you think: Not only would the owner turn a profit catering to locals, it would help bring vibrancy to the neighborhood, add to the tax base, and spread out economic redevelopment dollars to more parts of the city.

Chances are some restaurateur or commercial real estate broker has seen that same storefront and thought exactly the same thing. In fact, industry pros say they are leaving few stones unturned in their quest to scout out potential locations for new restaurants that capitalize on the gastropub trend.

But in some cases, they contend, those storefronts remain dark because of Minneapolis'"70/30" rule, which calls for restaurants in residential neighborhoods to earn at least 70 percent of their revenue from food and no more than 30 percent from alcohol. That’s a tough standard to meet when locally made brews can go for $6 per glass.

Restaurateurs have mounted a ballot drive to get rid of 70/30, a 1997 city charter amendment designed to keep neighborhood restaurants from turning into noisy saloons. The Minneapolis Charter Commission has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on their bid to put the issue on the November ballot.

Meanwhile, licensing officials and City Council members are drafting new rules to replace the charter provision once it’s off the books. 

Why Town Hall Brewery isn’t in Northeast

Some in the restaurant and craft beer industries say the changes are sorely needed if Minneapolis is to more fully tap into the powerful new restaurant trend.

Andrea Christenson, a retail real estate broker whose clients include some of the city’s hottest restaurateurs, said it's no easy task to place new "beercentric" eateries in Minneapolis, despite the growing demand from fans. 

"It's so hard to get restaurants interested in this town because our taxes are really high, we don't have a tip credit and you've got this 70/30 thing," she said. "Most people I know who have a couple glasses of wine at dinner, their bill is 50/50. You need a lot of people who don't have any alcohol to make up for that. What do you do? Take the drinks off the menu?"

Asked if she has had clients turn down opportunities to expand into Minneapolis neighborhoods with the 70/30 requirement, Christenson said, "Exactly. They all struggle with it."

When Pete Rifakes, owner of the pioneering Town Hall Brewery in Seven Corners, went looking to establish a beercentric restaurant in a Minneapolis neighborhood a few years ago, he cast a wide net in looking for a location that would work within the city's alcohol ratios.

"There were a couple of neighborhoods where I knew I wouldn't even look because of that," he said of his efforts to set up what eventually became the Town Hall Tap at 48th Street and Chicago Avenue. "We specifically stayed away from parts of Northeast Minneapolis because of the 70/30. We didn't want to force customers to buy something like an overpriced soft pretzel to get a beer."

Even the looser 60/40 ratio required at the Chicago/48th commercial node was a major challenge, Rifakes said.

"We eventually settled on a 'bundling' strategy, where we bundle burgers and a beer," he explained. "The time and effort to come up with these things, implement them and set up your (point-of-sale) system is burdensome."

After some painful initial tinkering, Town Hall Tap has "far exceeded our expectations," Rifakes said, demonstrating the powerful allure of pricey craft beer paired with gourmet pub fare. He also believes the ballot initiative has considerable momentum, and credits city officials, including Ward 8 Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, with being receptive.

(As part of the 70/30 negotiations, “60/40” restaurants are also seeking to get rid of their ratio. Because that standard is enshrined in ordinance, it does not require a charter amendment.) 

How a replacement law would work

At Wednesday's hearing, Minneapolis Business License Manager Grant Wilson will propose a regulatory framework to replace the strict alcohol ratios, negotiated with a restaurateurs’ committee.

It has eight points, including "expected management responsibilities" for monitoring noise levels and patron behavior. Other details include a new definition of a "restaurant" that better fits the reality of modern gastropubs and limits the bar area in such establishments to 30 percent of the floor space. (You can see the proposed charter and ordinance changes here.)

"I believe the 70/30 and 60/40 food-alcohol ratios are outdated and need to be modernized," Wilson said. "The economics of running a restaurant are different now than they were 20 years ago. The tools we are adding are really to enable us to get after those few businesses that are problematic. The majority, especially in the 70-30 neighborhoods, aren't causing us any problems." 

Building on other successful reforms

While restaurant reform could lift nodes and neighbors, it will also aid the craft beer industry, which scored a landmark political victory in 2011 with the passage of the Surly Bill that legalized brewery taprooms in Minnesota.

Clint Roberts, executive director of the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild and president of the One Simple Plan public relations firm, was instrumental in guiding the Surly Bill through the Legislature despite considerable initial opposition from the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association.

"I think what we've seen is that with legislative advances, the craft beer industry is continuing its growth and evolution," he said. "When local and state governments are flexible and work with these growing businesses as the categories change, ultimately that should spell success for both. I think (the Minneapolis situation) a prime example of that."

Only a few years ago, a Minnesota-focused craft beer line-up was a "nice-to-have" for restaurants, but now, Roberts said, "it's a have-to-have. People are asking their bars and liquor stores to carry them to keep the benefits local for our own economy."

Christenson notes that even though Minneapolis restaurateurs have sometimes skirted the letter of the 70/30 rule — and regulators have admittedly lessened enforcement as a new solution moves forward — they want to be integral parts of their neighborhoods’ revivals.

Roberts agrees, concluding there's "reason to be optimistic" a compromise striking a balance between neighborhood noise concerns and easing restrictive alcohol ratio ordinances will ultimately be found in Minneapolis.

With surprisingly little press coverage or public debate, a Canadian nuclear-plant operator is moving forward with plans to build an underground vault for radioactive waste within a mile of the Great Lakes — specifically Lake Huron, near the Ontario tourist community of Kincardine.

Ontario Power Generation does not propose to store spent fuel in the repository. But everything below that highest grade of waste — from discarded reactor-core parts, at the hotter end of the scale, to ash from incinerated cleaning materials at the other, all of it accumulating aboveground since the 1960s — would be buried in what appears to be the first deep-storage dump for nonmilitary nuke waste in North America.

Construction could start as early as next year, according to OPG's timetables.

Some of the smaller newspapers in Michigan have been bird-dogging the project and the protests raised by most of that state's congressional delegation. But you'll be hard-pressed to find much recent coverage in larger, mainstream outlets on either side of the border.

One exception: an interesting analysis in last Friday's Toronto Star observing that nuclear energy policy isn't much of a political issue in Ontario, not even in the runup to next week's provincial elections, not even with ratepayers facing a near-term bill for $25 billion to refurbish two large power stations, including the one at Kincardine.

Although the province gets more than half its electricity from splitting atoms, the New Democrats oppose any new reactors, the Liberals say there's no current need for expansion, the Conservatives call softly for more capacity... and none of the above are making much noise about their differences.

In any case, government-owned OPG is under a court order preventing it from building new capacity anyway — "in part because there are no firm plans for handling waste that will remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years."

The one issue none of the parties address in their formal platforms is OPG’s proposal to entomb low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste in a limestone formation 680 metres below ground on the shore of Lake Huron. ...

The proposal took a new twist in February when a similar waste storage facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico [run by the U.S. military], leaked radiation. Investigators are still probing the accident, and are zeroing in on a waste container that seems to have been damaged by extreme heat.

No one’s certain what caused the container to heat up, but the most likely cause seems to be kitty litter — presumably used to mop up a liquid spill — that somehow reacted with some of the waste nuclear material.

An issue for the entire basin

A week earlier, the Detroit Free Press reported that the Michigan legislature was considering resolutions and other symbolic legislation to draw more attention to the issue, and to seek engagement of the U.S. State Department and the International Joint Commission, which deals with transboundary water issues if both nations agree to its involvement.

Environmental groups are beginning to ramp up their efforts as well, including  launch of an online petition drive at www.protectlakehuron.com/, which takes the position that "this is a basin-wide issue ... this has as much effect in New York, Wisconsin and Minnesota as on anybody.”

Not to mention Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Also, come to think of it, Quebec.

But even at ground zero for the project — Kincardine, a city of 11,000 on Lake Huron's eastern shore — opponents seem to be having difficulty marshaling much concern among Canadians.

From an AP feature last November:

Ordinarily, a proposal to bury radioactive waste in a scenic area that relies on tourism would inspire "not in my backyard" protests from local residents — and relief in places that were spared.

But conventional wisdom has been turned on its head in the Canadian province of Ontario, where a publicly owned power company wants to entomb waste from its nuclear plants 2,230 feet below the surface and less than a mile from Lake Huron.

Some of the strongest support comes from Kincardine and other communities near the would-be disposal site at the Bruce Power complex, the world's largest nuclear power station, which produces one-fourth of all electricity generated in Canada's most heavily populated province. Nuclear is a way of life here. ...

Kincardine is among several small communities hugging the shoreline in southern Ontario's Bruce County, which has miles of sandy beaches popular with tourists — particularly from Toronto, about three hours southwest. The downtowns are lined with shops, restaurants, parks, museums and woodsy footpaths.

The area's first nuclear plant was built in the 1960s in countryside north of Kincardine. The sprawling Bruce Power site now has eight reactors and employs about 4,000 people. [Mayor Larry] Kraemer says about half the jobs in his town of 12,000 are connected to the industry.

Back-and-forth on safety

As you might expect, there is the usual argument over safety between OPG officials who say the repository plan has been studied to the nth degree and found to be foolproof, and challengers who say that fractures in the bedrock create the possibility for radiation to escape and enter the Great Lakes.

One notable commentary, reported in the Huffington Post, came from a scientist who has experience on both sides of the question and is deeply concerned.

Dr. Frank R. Greening, who previously worked as a scientist at OPG, said the radioactivity of the materials to be buried has been "seriously underestimated." In a letter submitted in January to the Canadian federal panel reviewing the site, Greening wrote that some of the materials are 100 times more radioactive than initially stated -- and some are 600 times more radioactive.

An OPG spokesman told the Toronto Star that while Greening's numbers may be valid, they don't change findings that the facility will be safe. Greening acknowledged that possibility, but called their overall procedures into question in an interview with Michigan Radio.

"My first feeling was, look, you messed up the most basic first step in establishing the safety of this facility, namely, how much radioactive waste they're going to be putting in the ground, you admit you got that wrong, but now you're telling me that everything else is okay," Greening told Michigan Radio. "You can't just fluff off this error as one error. It raises too many questions about all your other numbers. And I'm sorry, I now have lost faith in what you're doing."

Michigan Radio's audio feature on the project, including the Greening interview, can be found here.

In reply, Ontario Power Generation said:

The 2010 Reference Inventory report which Dr. Greening references provides an estimate of the final projected inventory that would be placed in the DGR by 2062. OPG was aware that this was an estimate and has continually worked towards improving the projection. The construction of the DGR, pending a successful regulatory approvals process, is still several years away. 

It should be noted the DGR safety case was developed knowing that the inventory was uncertain. The safety case considered the implications of uncertainties through conservatisms in the analysis and through sensitivity studies, to ensure a large envelope of safety well beyond the anticipated impact. The DGR design, the location at 680 metres beneath the surface in low permeability limestone and the properties of the rock formations in and around the repository provides this large envelope of safety. OPG checked the implications of Dr. Greening’s analysis and the safety case for the DGR Project remains valid. Any future revisions to the reference inventory will be reflected in updates to the DGR safety case. 

I found that response at OPG's main page on the project, which is here.

CC/Flickr/Jeffrey Beall

“The outdoor lifestyle and livable qualities here are a big attraction” to Denver, says Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation executive Tom Clark.

The nation’s leader in attracting educated young people, the Mile High City thrives as a result of urban assets such as a strong downtown and extensive light-rail network. This article is part 1 of three pieces exploring what a trio of other cities can teach Minneapolis-St. Paul. It is adapted from a new McKnight Foundation report, "A Tale of Three Cities."

The history of Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) has not been one of steady growth and prosperity. We peaked in the Censusrankings of largest U.S. urban centers in 1890 at No. 9, ahead of Washington, Detroit and Los Angeles. 

The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 diminished our influence as a gateway to the Pacific Coast. Amid the social unrest of the 1930s, Fortune magazine warned, “The revolution may come from the Minneapolis gateway district” and went on to pronounce St. Paul “cramped, hilly and stagnant. … Its slums are among the worst in the land. … [if] the entire city slid into the Mississippi and disappeared, it would hardly make a ripple in the economic life of the United States.”  

Over the past 70 years, however, we have enjoyed unprecedented stability and a national reputation as a progressive, prosperous, pleasant place to live. But we won’t maintain this enviable position by continuing to do things as we always have. It’s more important than ever to pay attention to what’s going well here and what needs attention and action.

One good way to make sure we keep up is to look at “peer cities,” for innovative ideas to borrow. That’s why I recently visited Seattle, Denver and Toronto for a McKnight Foundation report, which will be excerpted in MinnPost starting with Denver today.

Like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver is a landlocked city in a remote location that thrives thanks to its surprising urban sophistication and nearby outdoor opportunities. While there are no easy, off-the-shelf solutions to our problems, Denver offers inspiration and practical examples to help us make sure MSP will be a good place for everyone to live, work and raise a family.

Top region for educated young people

Denver is not the first place we expect to find fresh ideas for making sure the Minneapolis-St. Paul region continues to thrive. Many of us tend to think of it as the place we claim our luggage and rent a car before skiing or hiking in the mountains. Well, not anymore. The Mile-High City boasts many enviable assets that we ignore at our peril. It’s the top region in the country for attracting educated people aged 25-34, according to a Brookings Institution study, which ranked MSP 36^th.

“The outdoor lifestyle and livable qualities here are a big attraction — similar to Minnesota,” says Tom Clark, executive of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation. He ought to know, since he grew up in Canby, Minnesota, and attended college in Moorhead before embarking on a career promoting Denver as a great place to do business. Two years ago, the Denver Post named Clark “Business Person of the Year,” citing his role in attracting to town a new U.S. Patent Office, the relocation of several corporate headquarters, the addition of direct flights to Tokyo, and hundreds of new jobs at Hitachi Data Systems and the Kaiser Permanente health care organization.

This is quite a turnaround from the 1980s, when a crash in the energy business threatened to turn Denver into a ghost of its former self. The downtown office vacancy rate was 31 percent. The city of Denver’s population dropped almost 10 percent between 1970 and 1990.

But since then it’s grown by 32 percent. What happened?

Denver climbed back by shaking off the dust of its frontier past, and creating a strong, proud urban identity. A forest of cranes constructing new lofts and high-rise apartment buildings can be seen all around the downtown area. The city is strikingly diverse, with 48 percent of residents being people of color and 23 percent speaking Spanish at home. The Denver area is attracting clusters of companies in well-paying industries like biosciences, aerospace and wind power.

“Denver’s attracting people by being the best urban place we can be,” explains Thomas Gougeon, president of the local Gates Family Foundation and a former city official and developer. “That’s not a luxury, it’s how you find your role in the world. Even the suburbs now want downtowns; they want transit, they want density, they want public spaces, they want diversity, they want culture.”

Here are some pillars of Denver’s success:

1. Invest heavily downtown

A local point of pride, repeated to me several times during my visit, is that Denver’s downtown is 10^th largest in the country even though the metro area ranks 21^st in population.

It’s Tami Door’s job to keep things lively. As president of the Denver Downtown Partnership (DDP) she’s in charge of everything from throwing a New Year’s Eve party for 75,000 to organizing 150 events drawing 5,500 people and 650 companies during Denver StartUp Week, a celebration of entrepreneurism. 

“Nothing you see in downtown Denver is an accident,” she says. “There isn’t a tree or public space that wasn’t thought about methodically.”

The Downtown Partnership focuses on keeping people happy with programs to expand park facilities for better gathering places, to ease the way for starting new businesses, to improve walking for better connections around town, and to build protected bike lanes for safer, smoother cycling.

2. Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate.

Clark, who is in charge of boosting business throughout the Denver area, says “the urban center is the shop window for the whole region — even people in the suburbs see the advantage of making it strong.”  That’s just one sign of a carefully cultivated collaborative culture that grew out of the 1980s economic bust. “Things were desperate then,” he says. Cities and suburbs knew they couldn’t keep squabbling among themselves.

There are now two rules that govern business and civic leaders here, Clark outlines: “You can’t steal from other communities, and you can’t speak ill of your neighbors.”

3. Think big about rail

Gougeon credits a coalition of regional mayors for the 122 miles of light rail and commuter rail lines now running or under construction throughout the Denver area. The Metro Mayors Caucus championed a $4.7 billion transit initiative based on a 0.4 percent hike in property taxes, which was approved by Denver region voters in 2004 despite strenuous objections from then-Gov. Bill Owens. There are now six light-rail lines converging downtown with a new one slated for 2016, plus three commuter rail routes expected to serve the newly remodeled downtown Union Station by 2016, with another coming in 2018. Together this marks the most ambitious new transit system built in America since the Washington subway in the 1970s.

CC/Flickr/Daniel Tobias

The Denver area now features 122 miles of light rail and commuter rail.

“The 20- to 35-year-olds, they’re not big on cars,” Tom Clark points out. “They want to ride trains to work and entertainment. From an economic point of view, if you can offer them a number ways to get around you’ve got a great advantage.”

4. Welcome newcomers

Besides its urban amenities and 300+ days of sunshine a year, Denver has become a magnet for newcomers because it makes them feel at home. Michael Leccese, director of the Urban Land Institute-Colorado moved here from Washington, D.C., and remembers how different it felt. 

“You could go into someone’s office and say, ‘This is who I am and here’s what I do.’ It’s a really friendly place.”

Tami Door, originally from Detroit, concurs, “The sense of community is great at all levels.  If you have an idea, somebody will listen and take you seriously.”

5. Create city districts from scratch

Denver has become a national leader in the movement to create new places from the ground up that embody the qualities we cherish in traditional neighborhoods. 

The most promising project I saw is Belmar, built on the site of what was the Villa Italia mall in suburban Lakewood.  It bustles with the energy of a downtown thanks to walkable streets filled with diversions such as public art, a pub, a town commons, cinemas and a bowling alley as well as upscale shops. Parking is accommodated in a series of small lots and ramps, which for the most part do not detract from the ambiance. Nearby housing and office space provide the key ingredient for an urban experience — a mix of uses within walking distance. The most important takeaway from Belmar is that it’s possible to transform an auto-dominated suburban landscape to a place where people matter as much as cars.

5½ Boost public education (although there are no easy answers)

A possible downside to all the talented people moving to Denver, wonders Gougeon (who moved here from Philadelphia), is whether it contributes to the achievement gap because well-educated newcomers scoop up the best jobs — which is good for the economy but not for the region’s disadvantaged residents.  MSP is not alone in facing a stark racial disparity in economic and educational outcomes.

Reducing the achievement gap throughout Colorado is one mission of the Gates Family Foundation that Gougeon heads.

“We’re closing the gap in Denver schools,” he explains, “but at a pace that will take decades to catch up. About half of all poor kids will not graduate from high school, and only one in 10 will graduate from a four-year college.”

City schools are seeing a jump in test scores, and in a period when public-school enrollment is shrinking in many cities Denver is showing the biggest gains of any big city district in the country. Both trends are explained in part by a switch to neighborhood schools within the context of a citywide choice system, as well as by the city’s growing middle-class population. However it should be noted that Myron Orfield, who charts education trends across the country at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, says Denver is one of the most rapidly re-segregating school districts in the country.

6. Vitalize public housing

Disparities in achievement among low-income students cannot be solved solely in the classroom. The home environment exerts a big influence on kids’ success in school and beyond. That’s one reason for the Denver Housing Authority’s Healthy Living Initiative, which promotes fitness, good nutrition and social well being as steps to a better life.

This philosophy is showcased at Mariposa, a new community just south of downtown where 278 dilapidated public housing units are in the process of being replaced by attractive mixed-income apartment buildings (1/3 market rate, 1/3 subsidized housing, 1/3 public housing) that Housing Authority senior developer Kimball Crangles says is designed to help close “the gap in education and job opportunity caused by the cycle of poverty.” 

Education and employment services are available to residents, together with cooking classes and plots in a community garden for healthier eating. Buildings, streets and public spaces around Mariposa are designed to maximize physical activity. Walking for transportation and recreation is encouraged by wider-than-usual sidewalks and traffic-calming devices to prevent motorists from speeding. An innovative project in one of the newest buildings entices residents to take the stairs over the elevator by reinventing the traditional open staircase (to meet modern fire codes) equipped with a whimsical light and music show that begins whenever you climb up or down.

Thursday: What we can learn from Seattle.

MinnPost file photo by Terry Gydesen

Matt Entenza

With minutes to go before a deadline to file as a candidate for the fall election, former DFL House Minority Leader Matt Entenza submitted his name to take on fellow DFLer and State Auditor Rebecca Otto, drawing the ire of some progressive leaders in the state.

Entenza, who served in the House representing St. Paul from 1995 to 2007, filed his paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office just before the 5 p.m. deadline to file for office Tuesday, touting his long career “championing progressive policies” in the Legislature and as founder of liberal think-tank, Minnesota 2020.  

“I’m running for State Auditor so that we are doing more than just balance the books. We need an auditor fighting to protect pensions that are under attack, who will go after corporate giveaways at the local level,” Entenza said in a statement. “We need an auditor who will scrutinize education spending and school budgets, focusing on why Minnesota schools have such a bad achievement gap.”

Entenza hasn’t shied away from challenging other Democrats in primary elections. He was part of a three-way primary for the DFL nomination for the governor’s race in 2010, pumping nearly $6 million into that contest. He finished third in the gubernatorial primary.

DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin made it clear that the party will protect Otto, who was endorsed for re-election at the party’s convention over the weekend.

“Although he was a one-time House DFL leader, Matt Entenza has a history of running in DFL primaries. His last-minute filing is an insult to the hard-working DFLers he has to win over,” Martin said. “The DFL takes the endorsements of its candidates seriously and will put the full weight of its party resources behind Auditor Otto’s candidacy. I am confident that she will prevail in the primary and general election.”

Entenza hit on two progressive issues in particular — his staunch opposition to voter identification legislation and proposals to ban gay marriage in the state. He pointed out that Otto, a former legislator running for her third term as auditor, voted in favor of those proposals in the Legislature.

“She voted with Republicans to place a ban on marriage equality on the ballot and voted in support of Voter ID legislation restricting Minnesotans’ access to voting,” he said.

Otto said she didn't know Entenza was going to file to run against her, but she's prepared for a primary competition. 

"I had a great weekend last weekend at the state DFL convention. I’ve traveled the state and talked to thousands of activists and Minnesotans and people are very proud of the work that I’ve done for Minnesota," Otto told MinnPost, citing a national award she won for cutting energy costs for local goverments and her work on issues like affordable housing for low-income Minnesotans. "I have accomplished much and there is more I would like to do on behalf of Minnesotans. I’m confident voters will reward my hard work with another term."

She dismissed Entenza's criticism of her previous votes in the Legislature. "[That was] 11 years ago," she said. 

The winner of the Aug. 12 primary will face endorsed GOP candidate Randy Gilbert and Independence Party Candidate Bob Helland in November.

Otto won her first race against Republican State Auditor Pat Anderson in 2006 by about 10 points, but she only won re-election in 2010 by 1 point, fighting a huge GOP wave year.

Gov. Mark Dayton said he pledged his support for Otto before he knew of Entenza's intentions to run. “I stand by my promise to support her," Dayton said in statement from his campaign. "Although Auditor Otto and I disagree on some issues, she has been a good State Auditor, and she deserves re-election." 

When Dick Beardsley was last in the media limelight, it was not because of a running victory (which he had enjoyed in 1981 and 1982 at Grandma’s Marathon), and it was not because of another riveting finish-line drama (as there had been in 1981, when he tied with Inge Simonsen at the London Marathon, and again in 1982, when he ended the Boston Marathon just two seconds behind Alberto Salazar — after colliding with a police motorcycle).

Instead it was because he’d been caught forging prescriptions for Percocet, Valium and Demerol in such large quantities that law-enforcement officials thought he was dealing. But, no, he was taking them all himself— about 80 to 90 pills a day.

“It was to the point where they weren’t even doing any good anymore,” the Minnesota native and marathon legend said in a lengthy phone interview Sunday from his new home in Austin, Texas. “I had terrible headaches, and was burning a hole in my gut.”

The jig was up on Sept. 30, 1996, after Beardsley walked into the Walmart pharmacy in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and submitted forged prescriptions, as he had done so many countless times before (there and elsewhere at all the little drugstores along Highway 10). The pharmacist, a friendly man who had patronized Beardsley’s fishing guide business, did not look up or issue his customary greeting. Beardsley flushed, instantly aware of what would happen next.

After a pause, the pharmacist came out from behind the counter, took Beardsley by the arm and steered him down an aisle where there were no customers. “Dick, everybody knows what’s going on,” he said.

3,000 pills in a month

Beardsley said he felt “relieved,” and agreed to go immediately to his doctor’s office, where U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Regional Drug Task Force agents were waiting. “I knew I needed help,” he said. “And I knew if I didn’t stop, one of these nights I was going to take a handful of pills and probably never wake up.”

The agents had evidence that Beardsley had written prescriptions for more than 3,000 pills in the month of August alone. After he persuaded them that he had not given away or sold a single pill, they packed him off to treatment, telling him that it was his one and only get-out-of-jail-free card.

Beardsley, who didn’t start using until after his competitive running career, eventually pleaded guilty to one count of a fifth-degree controlled substance violation, and was sentenced in 1997 to five years’ probation and 240 hours of community service. A judge, who was impressed with Beardsley’s progress in treatment, waived a hefty fine in exchange for 200 more hours of community service — speaking to groups about his addiction.

The humiliation of getting caught, Beardsley said, was nothing compared to the unwanted media attention that followed his booking. His name, he said, was everywhere — from the Fargo Forum to the Star Tribune: “Beardsley charged with forging drug prescriptions.” TV cameramen were staked out in Detroit Lakes, waiting for his court appearances and even a scheduled talk at the YMCA. Rumors flew that he was dealing cocaine. His lawyer decided, finally, that he needed to call a press conference with his client, during which Beardsley came clean to the world.

But if anyone could transform shame and humiliation into jubilance and exultation, it would be Beardsley.

Running the trap line

Beardsley got his runner’s running start in the undeveloped swamps and woods along a 3-mile-long trap line he’d set en route to school in Wayzata. Once at school, he’d hand over his .22 rifle and ammunition clip to the principal, and stash any dead animals (muskrat, mink and beaver) in the lunchroom cooler. A janitor would help him skin the animals at the end of the school day. He’d repeat the same drill on his way home.

Courtesy of the University of Minnesota Press

Beardsley on his dairy farm in Rush City, Minnesota

He lusted for the great outdoors, and, though not a farm kid, he eventually would work on dairy farms for a living, and then buy a dairy farm or two of his own, and then own a fishing guide business.

Dad was a traveling clothing distributor, and Mom a medical secretary. Beardsley, who had one older and one younger sister, remembers clapping his palms over his ears to shut out the arguments and shouting that would ensue after his parents had been drinking.

Neither parent saw much of a future in running or dairy farming. But Beardsley, primed for competition from his woodsy treks, shut out the nay-saying and trained first at the University of Minnesota in Waseca and then at South Dakota State University.

Beardsley doesn’t complain about his parents, who divorced when he was in college. He doesn’t blame them. He knows they “did the best they could.” And he loves them.

He and his father had that familiar emotional impasse, in which the son says, “I love you, Dad.” And the dad says, “Me too.”

They had a breakthrough after Dad quit drinking, cold turkey just like that, on May 1, 1982. It was shortly after he’d seen his son’s spectacular finish at the Boston Marathon. Beardsley never forgot his father’s sobriety date. “I love you Dad,” he said after a phone call to commemorate the date. “I love you too D.,” his father said.

Little did Beardsley know that he’d have a date of his own to remember.

A storm was coming

Beardsley retired from competitive running in the late 1980s, and persuaded his wife, Mary, to renovate and operate a rundown dairy farm with him in the town of Shafer.

On Nov. 13, 1989, it was cold and the skies were overcast when Beardsley got up at 4 a.m. to milk his herd of 70 cows. He felt pressured and rushed: There was corn to unload, a neighbor was coming to help finish the combining, and there was a snowstorm in the forecast. Usually after milking, Beardsley would return to the house to hug Mary and his son, Andy, good morning, and tell them he loved them, and then walk Andy to the end of the gravel driveway to catch his school bus.

But this day he skipped the morning ritual and headed straight for his tractor to unload corn. He revved up the tractor and pulled the lever for the power takeoff to get the corn elevator moving. The drawbar (for stepping up onto the tractor) was wet ... or icy. His foot slid.

You have to imagine a steel shaft rotating at 600 revolutions per minute. And then you have to imagine a person’s leg being wrapped around that shaft like a spaghetti strand. And then you have to imagine what happens when the shaft runs out of leg. One agriculture safety web site reports that a human being caught on a power takeoff rotating at 540 rpms will spin at the rate of 9 revolutions per second — with little chance to escape.

As he was being whipped around, and his head thwacked on the ground with each revolution, Beardsley made a grab for the shut-off lever, which was just out of reach. His mind was racing (why didn’t he say good morning and good bye to his family? would he ever see them again?). The machines were thrumming loudly, muffling his screams for help. He’s not sure how long this had been going on when suddenly things got very quiet and bright and still. Three words came to him: “Flick your hand.”

He did that, and by some miracle found himself standing naked, his clothes ripped off in the accident. In shock, he thought, “I must have forgotten to get dressed today. I’ve got to get home.” He took one step and face-planted into the dirt. His left foot was practically in his ear, which caused him to muse, “I know I’m not that flexible.”

With one unbroken hand, Beardsley grabbed tufts of grass and dragged his battered body 100 yards to the driveway where Mary could see him.

A ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling

There were many, many surgeries and therapies that followed — to repair broken bones, stitch ligaments, replace a knee, treat ghastly (and potentially deadly) infections, and, much later, to fuse shattered vertebrae.

But in those first few hours, lying in the emergency room, Beardsley remembered (and never forgot) the “warm and fuzzy” feeling he got from that first shot of Demerol.

Said Beardsley: “If the sheriff had come in and said, ‘Dick, here’s the deal, buddy: We need to take you back out to the farm and wrap you around that power takeoff, turn it on and let you slip around a few times to try to figure out how it happened,’ I would have said, ‘That’s A-OK with me, as long as you bring that nurse over there with that stuff called Demerol.’”

The shots were given so frequently that his hips began to “look like a pin cushion.” So the injections were replaced by an IV pole with a self-administering device, which soon was replaced by an automatic drip.

Each time Beardsley began to heal and withdraw from pain meds, there were more accidents: A driver blew a stop sign and T-boned the Beardsley family as they were returning from a weekend getaway in Wisconsin. There was a hit and run, while Beardsley was out running. There were falls.

There were so many accidents that one Frazee schoolchild, after Beardsley had given a presentation that included his litany of unfortunate events, asked him: “Mr. Beardsley, did you ever purposely get into an accident so you could get the drugs?”

He was, and still is, flummoxed by the question.

After Dad died

Like many who live to tell the story of their addiction and recovery, Beardsley has moments of debasement and desperation permanently lodged in his memory.

There was the time after his father died of cancer that he raced back to the house to collect the leftover fentanyl patches and morphine. But his sisters, who were on to him, had already disposed of the medications.

There was the time that his doctor tore a page from his prescription pad to write down the telephone number of a chronic pain specialist. Later, when he was running out of painkillers, Beardsley remembered the folded paper, pulled it out of his wallet and headed straight for the nearest Kinkos.

There was the time that he blocked a University of Minnesota surgeon from leaving the room — three times — insisting that he give him a refill for Percocet. The disgusted doctor finally wrote out a prescription, and threw it at Beardsley on his way out. Beardsley did not discover that it was for one pill only until he reached the pharmacy window. The pharmacist didn’t bother with a bottle.

There was the time that he got down on his knees and pulled on a doctor’s pants leg.

And there was the time when he licked the paper cup after a nurse had dispensed one-quarter of a Valium to help him through withdrawals.

He made many deals with God, and one day was forced to say: “God here’s the deal: We have no more deal.”

To any medical professional who suggested treatment, he would say: “Treatment? I don’t need treatment — I’ve got willpower. I can run through brick walls.”

Timing, self-awareness (what was left of it, anyway), a desire to live and his encounter with the law all combined to convince him otherwise, and Beardsley entered treatment in the fall of 1996 after his Walmart outing.

The toughest part, it turns out, was withdrawing from the methadone maintenance, a University of Minnesota inpatient process that he remembers vividly: “I remember lying in my room at night, going through withdrawals, and the pain in my bones, in my arms and legs, was so intense that honestly if I had had access to a sharp knife or a saw, I would have sawed them off. In the morning it was a chore just to get my legs over the side of the bed and to put on a clean shirt and a clean pair of pants. But I never missed group. There were some moments I was so sick, I could not stand up and walk. I would crawl along on the floor, like a dog.

“After a while, I actually slept a little bit and the next night a little bit more and a little bit more. I was there for about three weeks. I finally felt what it was like to be me without all those drugs in my body, and I liked how it felt.”

A counselor named Sue (in outpatient back home) helped him through the shame and humiliation. For a while, he would get his gas and groceries out of town, unable to show his face. But one day she told him: “You know Dick, your close friends and family know who you are and what you stand for, and it really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.” That gave him the courage to return to the gas station, and when he did his buddies greeted him with acceptance and affection.

Shout, don’t whisper

Beardsley, now 17 years sober, lives happily in Austin with his second wife, Jill. They complement each other: She’s organized, he’s impulsive; she’s deliberate and thoughtful, he’s devil-may-care. They love animals, and have six rescue dogs and two cats.

Photo by David Grice

Dick and Jill Beardsley on their wedding day in 2007

Beardsley speaks respectfully and lovingly of his first wife, Mary, for all that she endured. His son Andy is grown and self-supporting. He loves his two stepchildren “who are like my own flesh and blood.”

Together, Dick and Jill run the Dick Beardsley Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to educating others about the disease of addiction. He maintains his sobriety by running (50-60 miles a week), by giving back, and by telling his story (90-100 appearances a year).

He dreams of making a home again some day in Minnesota, and admits that he’s been spoiled by the hundreds of lakes within running distance.

His job right now is to convey hope, he said. “I can’t remember the last time I spoke somewhere where I haven’t had people come up to me and say, “I’m a friend of Bill W.” So many people out there are affected by [addiction]. There’s such a stigma about it. People come up to me who are in recovery, and they almost whisper. And I almost want to say, why are you whispering? This should be shouted for joy!”

Upcoming events:

Friday June 20, 4 p.m.: Grandma’s Marathon guest speaker at Edmund Fitzgerald Hall at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center.

June 27-29weekend retreat on “Running and Recovery” at the Dan Anderson Renewal Center, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in Center City. The retreat includes fitness and running level assessments and guidance about training and goals for beginners and seasoned runners alike. The cost of the weekend retreat varies (from $138 to $338). Those not able to attend for the whole weekend are invited to a $20 evening presentation at the center on Friday June 27, from 7-8:30 p.m. For tickets and to register call  800-262-4882.

Books of interest:

“Staying the Course: A Runner’s Toughest Race,” by Dick Beardsley and Maureen Anderson (University of Minnesota Press, 2002).

“Duel in the Sun: The Story of Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America’s Greatest Marathon” (Rodale, 2007).

Pete Hegseth, new finance chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota, explained to a Republican seniors group Tuesday in Bloomington that he wears three hats: chief fund-raiser for the GOP, contributor to Fox News, and CEO of Concerned Veterans for America.

Hegseth, 33, an Iraq War veteran and Bronze Star medalist, will wear the third hat Thursday when he testifies before the U.S. Senate Veteran Affairs committee on the VA Management Accountability Act, a bill that passed the House overwhelmingly with bipartisan support.

“It’s long overdue that there be some real accountability in the Department of Veterans Affairs, meaning that not a single senior executive has been fired even since the Phoenix VA scandal because it nearly impossible to fire a top-level government employee,” Hegseth said in an interview.

The reform legislation, H.R. 4031, was prompted by an Inspector General’s report that a VA facility in Phoenix had manipulated records on waiting times for medical care, an investigation that has expanded to other facilities nationwide.

HR 4031 is a three-page bill that gives the Secretary of Veterans Affairs the authority to remove managers who are failing in their duties.  “It is not a partisan issue, it is about — do you defend the status quo or are you going to be for reform in a department that badly needs it,” Hegseth said.  

But for the Republican Seniors of Minnesota, Hegseth, a U.S. Senate candidate in 2010, put a partisan spin on the VA problems.  “The Department of Veterans Affairs is probably the best preview anywhere of what government-run, top-down, single-payer health care looks like,” he told the group.  “No choice, no transparency of cost, lots of bureaucracy.”   

Concerned Veterans for America is part of a network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch.  The group has launched a campaign of letters, phone calls and advertising aimed at five Democratic senators, urging them to support the reform legislation.  The ad campaign also praises Democrats who voted for the bill in the House.

Matt Entenza, last seen getting 18% of the vote in the 2010 DFL Gubernatorial primary, has filed to run for the office of state Auditor against Rebecca Otto, who was last seen getting endorsed by the DFL in their convention this last weekend and is the two-term incumbent state Auditor.

The last time Matt Entenza didn’t abide by the DFL endorsement he made it well known ahead of time that he was not going to abide. This time he didn’t do that — he waited until the last possible day to file before announcing that he was going to file. And last time he was running for an open seat. This time he is running against, as mentioned previously, a two-term incumbent.

So why would he make this move and why wait until the last minute?

To answer the last part of that question first, since he is running against an incumbent rather than for an open seat, it may be the better choice, strategically, to wait until the last minute to file. You have a better chance of catching your opponent flat-footed and you shorten the window in which the campaign will take place, which somewhat blunts the effect of the DFL endorsement, which is mainly good as an organizing tool.

As far as why, well, only Matt Entenza knows. What he has going for him, to the degree that he has things going for him; in the 2010 Gubernatorial primary the DFL endorsed candidate only got 40% of the vote, meaning 60% went to non-DFL-endorsed candidates. And this would be Otto’s third term; Mark Ritchie for instance is getting out of the way after two terms.

But I suspect the heart of what Entenza view’s as his “path to victory” can be found in the excerpts below from his candidacy announcement (the entirety of which can be found here):

I have decided to take on this challenge to bring our shared progressive DFL values to the office of Auditor.

…

Two of the most important issues we’ve been fighting for have been the rights of LGBT couples to marry and the right of all Minnesotans to vote without extra burdens being placed on them. These are issues that I have always fought for and issues I have championed as the leader of the DFL House caucus. Currently we have an Auditor who as a Legislator voted to put a constitutional marriage ban to a popular vote and voted for Voter ID.

…

Your support is the only way we can bring our shared progressive DFL values to every office in St. Paul.

As you can see, Matt Enenza is going to run as the “true progressive.”

As far as the substance, at least one of the votes that are being referred to above actually happened.

The constitutional amendment to define marriage between one man and one woman, house file 2798, was voted on in March of 2004. Rebecca Otto voted for it and Matt Entenza voted against it.

It may not seem like much, if all Entenza has is how Otto voted on a couple issues ten years ago, but it’s also possible he’s just setting her up. By trying to run to Otto’s left, what Entenza may be doing is attempting to get Otto to run on her Polymet stance to show just how progressive she is. Which Entenza would be hoping gives him an opening in Northern Minnesota. And wouldn’t you know it, this ad appeared on my internet only recently:

I don’t know if that is a direct response to Entenza’s entry into the race, but I suspect it will be a big part of her campaign against him going forward. In this way Entenza doesn’t even have to mention PolyMet in order to make PolyMet an issue in this campaign, Otto will seemingly make it an issue for him.

It seems like Matt Entenza will try to win by convincing some progressives, likely a large segment of those voting in the DFL primary, that he is more progressive than Rebecca Otto while also hoping that in the process she alienates herself from DFLers in Northern Minnesota. What’s not clear is how that affects the job that he would do, or that Otto has done, as state Auditor.

Will Entenza’s gambit work? It doesn’t seem likely, but ten weeks is a long time.

As a person who prefers primary elections to convention endorsements as a means of candidate selection, I have no problem with this move from Entenza. Politics ain’t beanbag. If, though, you are a person for whom this move upsets them there is something that you can do about it. You can help Rebecca Otto win.

This post was written by Tony Petrangelo and originally published on LeftMN. Follow LeftMN on Twitter: @leftmn.

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Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships may make the headlines, but you’re much more likely to catch the nasty bug in a local restaurant, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In fact, cruise ships account for only 1 percent of all reported norovirus infections reported in the United States, while restaurants and catering services are responsible for 81 percent.

“Norovirus outbreaks from contaminated food in restaurants are far too common,” CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., said in a press statement released with the report. “All who prepare food, especially the food service industry, can do more to create a work environment that promotes food safety and ensures that workers adhere to food safety laws and regulations that are already in place.”

Common and highly contagious

An estimated 21 million Americans become infected with norovirus each year, making it the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (diarrhea and vomiting) in the United States. The illness can lead to severe dehydration, a situation that is particularly problematic for young children, the elderly and people with other serious illnesses. Noroviruses are responsible for 70,000 hospitalizations each year in the United States and up to 800 deaths. The cost of treating these illnesses is about $777 million each year.

Most people mistakenly self-diagnose a norovirus illness as “a stomach bug” or “the flu.” It’s also sometimes referred to, incorrectly, as “food poisoning.” But the source of the illness is people not food — specifically the feces and vomit of infected individuals.

In most cases, the illness is passed person to person. You pick up the virus by touching a contaminated surface, and then you unknowingly transfer the virus to your mouth, eyes or nose. Swallowing as few as 18 norovirus particles can make you sick. That’s a very tiny — and unnoticeable (except under a microscope) — amount. As the CDC report points out, enough norovirus particles could fit on the head of a pin to infect more than 1,000 people.

To make matters worse, noroviruses are notoriously “environmentally stable.” They can remain infectious on surfaces for up to two weeks, and are resistant to common disinfectants, freezing temperatures and heat below 140 degrees F.

All that makes them, as the CDC report notes (with some understatement), “challenging to control.”

Analyzing four years of data

For the CDC’s current report, researchers analyzed data on norovirus outbreaks that had been reported between 2009 and 2012 through the National Outbreak Reporting System. These were outbreaks that involved two or more cases and that were linked to a common exposure source. (The vast majority of norovirus cases go unreported.)

Courtesy of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Number and rate of reported foodborne norovirus outbreaks (per 1 million

person-years*), by state — National Outbreak Reporting System, United States,

2009–2012 * Legend indicates rate ranges divided by quartile.

A total of 4,318 reported outbreaks were reported, resulting in 161,253 illnesses, 2,512 hospitalizations and 304 deaths. Most of those outbreaks (2,976, or 69 percent) were the result of person-to-person contact, but 1,008 (23 percent) were transmitted through infected food, mostly in restaurants (64 percent) or in catering or banquet settings (17 percent). (The rest of the reported cases were transmitted through water or an unknown source.)

Minnesota, by the way, tied California with the most reports of foodborne norovirus outbreaks during the four years of the study — 117 per 1 million person-years. CDC officials point out, however, that state differences in such numbers are more likely to reflect how well individual states identify and report outbreaks than in the actual number of outbreaks themselves. Minnesota has a very good reporting system.

For 520 of the national foodborne outbreaks, CDC officials were able to pinpoint a specific contributing factor. In 70 percent of those outbreaks, that factor was an infected food worker, and in more than half of those cases, the infected worker had been preparing food with his or her bare hands.

A further digging into the data revealed that in about one-third (324) of the foodborne outbreaks, one or more specific foods could be identified as the source. Some 75 percent of the contaminated foods were ones that are eaten raw, especially lettuce and other leafy vegetables, fruits and mollusks (such as oysters).

Infected workers need to stay home

CDC officials want restaurants, caterers and others in the food-service industry to take more stringent steps to reduce foodborne norovirus infections. They specifically recommend:

• Making sure that food service workers practice proper hand washing and avoid touching ready-to-eat foods, such as raw fruits and vegetables, with their bare hands before serving them.

• Certifying kitchen managers and training food service workers in food safety practices.

• Requiring sick food workers to stay home [until 48 hours after symptoms have gone], and considering use of paid sick leave and on-call staffing, to support compliance.

That last recommendation may be particularly difficult to enforce. A 2013 study found that 1 in 5 restaurant workers had worked while ill with symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea for at least one shift during the previous year. Most said they worked through the illness because they feared losing their job or they were concerned about leaving their coworkers short-staffed.

You can read the CDC’s report in the June 3 issue of the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. More information about noroviruses is also available on the CDC’s website.

Mike Harley

Environmental Initiative hosted its 20^th annual awards ceremony in Minneapolis on May 23. It was our best event yet, both in attendance and in the quality of our award recipients.  With the ceremony behind us, we at Environmental Initiative are taking a moment to reflect on the last 20 years, and one sentiment keeps rising to the top: pride in our community.

Since 1994 the Environmental Initiative Awards have honored those working in partnership to solve environmental problems in Minnesota. This overall mission has never changed. But what has grown immensely over the years is the caliber of innovations and spirit of collaboration to produce tangible, positive environmental outcomes in our state.

It’s fun to look back at our award winners over the last 20 years and use it as a measuring stick on how we’re doing with environmental achievement. Let me assure you – we’re doing very well.  At our first awards ceremony in 1994, we handed out four awards that were extraordinary at the time, but ordinary when measured against Minnesota’s current standards.  This year’s six innovative award winners are some of the very best.

Community Action & Partnership of the Year

Project Sweetie Pie is a grassroots movement seeding North Minneapolis with community gardens to create training opportunities for urban agriculture, food production, and the culinary arts. 

Energy and Climate 

Twin Cities Habitat Northside Net Zero Energy Home. Together with their partners, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity completed the first net zero home, which is designed to produce as much energy as it uses through solar electric and thermal systems.

Environmental Education

State of the River Report, a partnership between government and nonprofits, demonstrates a new and successful model of environmental education. By distilling complex information about the Mississippi River into simple terms that non-scientists can understand, the report arms citizens with information needed to make informed decisions about shared water resources.

Food Stewardship

The Fruits of the City program addresses the lack of access to fresh, healthy fruit for the economically disenfranchised by coordinating teams of volunteers and fruit tree owners to deliver thousands of pounds of fresh fruit to local food shelves. This program has harvested and delivered more than 230,000 pounds of fruit to more than 30 area food shelves since 2009.

Natural Resources

The Clearwater River Watershed Targeted Fertilizer Application seeks to lessen the amount of agricultural runoff by assisting farmers with changing their fertilizer application rates for their fields. The project has been successful in motivating farmers to test soil for nutrient requirements to optimize their use of fertilizer, which simultaneously protects water quality.

Sustainable Business

The Saint Paul Hotel Organics Recycling Project serves as a model for how counties throughout the state can partner with businesses to overcome barriers to recycling and composting. This partnership successfully implemented an organics collection program resulting in a 90 percent recycling rate – twice the average recycling rate in Minnesota.

Minnesota has long been known for its spirit of collaboration, and the Environmental Initiative Awards is living proof. We at Environmental Initiative are proud to live in a community that works together across platforms to do what’s best for the environment.  Twenty years from now, at our 40^th annual awards ceremony, I am hopeful that we will look back at the progress of collaborative environmental problem solving in Minnesota with the same pride we’re feeling today.

Mike Harley is the executive director of Environmental Initiative.

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Art Rolnick

You might not have realized, but the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus has become home to a veritable colony of researchers probing the economic value of early childhood education.

How did this happen? I’m not exactly sure. Maybe they gravitate toward one another, much in the way the geeks end up on the same side of the room at parties. In any case, the synergy has been amazing, not just for Minnesota’s littlest learners, but for the future of the state economy.

Because, you see, they are churning out a veritable mountain of evidence that shows that the return on every public dollar invested in high-quality pre-K programming is returned to taxpayers at a ratio of up to 16 to 1. And this research has been used to drive policy at the state and federal levels.

On Thursday night two of these rock-star researchers will be in the same place talking the talk for public consumption. If you’re at all interested in the role early childhood education plays in a vital economy, you will want to make your way over to the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. After RSVPing, of course.

The Mack Daddy of this public-policy research community is of course Art Rolnick, formerly an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and now a senior fellow at the Humphrey School. His research in this arena was pioneering.

Aaron Sojourner

Rolnick will be interviewed on stage Thursday by Aaron Sojourner, a professor at the Carlson School of Management and a labor economist. He is the author of recent research showing that the highest quality early care eliminates all gaps in school readiness between impoverished children and their wealthier peers at kindergarten. His work has shown that the effect persists into the later years.

Joining them will be Libby Doggett, deputy assistant secretary for policy and early learning at the U.S. Department of Education. This makes her the person in the Obama administration responsible for administering the early ed Race to the Top grants.

I had the privilege of hearing Doggett speak in February in New Orleans at a seminar on early childhood education hosted by the Education Writers Association. My .02: with these three on the same panel, there’s not going to be much disagreement about the value of using research to drive public policy.

Libby Doggett

I do think it will be interesting to hear where the three might differ, and how they imagine their research might be implemented in the field. For example, the programs that formed the basis for Sojourner’s research had price tags hovering in the range of $20,000 a year per child. Even standing atop a stack of studies, can Doggett come up with that much scratch?

The event is hosted by the Heller-Hurwicz Economics Institute, a new global initiative in the U of M’s College of Liberal Arts. Its aim is to drive public policy by supporting “frontier economic research” and making sure its findings find the right audiences.

The discussion will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Humphrey’s Cowles Auditorium, located on the West Bank at 301 19^th Ave. S., Minneapolis.

All 134 seats in the Minnesota House of Representatives are up for election this November, but seven incumbents can relax a bit this fall. No one filed to challenge them.

Filings closed Tuesday, and according to the Secretary of State's election filing page, these House members — six Republicans and one DFLer — will run unopposed:

Republicans:

• Tony Cornish, Vernon Center, District 23B
• Kurt Daudt, of Crown, District 31A
• Joe Hoppe, Chaska, District 47B
• Joe McDonald, Delano, District 29A
• Marion O'Neill, Buffalo, District 29B
• Duane Quam, Byron, District 25A

DFL:

• Kim Norton, Rochester, District 25B

Sometimes-colleague David Brauer, writing in the Southwest Journal, looks … just a bit closer at the details of the Vikings/private interests' claim to use of “The Yard,” the supposedly great public space to be constructed in front of The People's Stadium. “In a Star Tribune op-ed, Rybak noted an original deal gave the Vikes ‘use of the Yard for all 10 home games, and the stadium operators got 10 additional days. That’s a lot.’ What Rybak didn’t say was that in the final month of his own administration, a term sheetgave the Vikings 22 days and the Authority 40 days — two full months. That’s a lot.” What “the people” need more than a stadium is their own army of contract attorneys.

There’s some good jing in those cars and boats and guns … James Shiffer of the Strib says, “On the eve of reforms to criminal forfeiture laws, Minnesota law enforcement agencies netted $6.9 million last year from property confiscated from drunken drivers, drug traffickers and other criminal suspects. A report on 2013 forfeitures from the Minnesota State Auditor showed a rise in both the number of forfeiture cases (6,955 in 2013, versus 6,851 in 2012) and the net proceeds (up from $6.7 million in 2012).”

Echoes of the Watergate hearings: Madeleine Baran of MPR writes, “Faced with tough questions under oath last month, former Twin Cities archbishop Harry Flynn said at least 134 times that he could not remember how he handled clergy sexual abuse cases during his 13-year tenure, according to documents made public Wednesday. Flynn, 81, retired six years ago. He said he didn't have dementia or other diagnosed memory problems. "I think it has more to do with age than anything," he said, although he noted that he has been diagnosed with cancer, pneumonia and Legionnaires' disease. The former archbishop said he did not report any accusations of child sexual abuse to police and doesn't recall asking anyone else to report abuse claims, either … .” The work of the Lord requires a lot a person’s attention.  

From a new study on gender equality, via Northland NewsCenter in Duluth, “The study saw two top competing trends ... one that women's earnings are important to families and two, that there is still a 20 percent gap between men's and women's salaries. … Perhaps most startling is 684-thousand women have fallen victim to sexual and domestic violence ... enough to fill Target Field 17 times.”

Interesting story on oil-eating bacteria … The AP says,“A Lakehead Co. pipeline northwest of Bemidji split on Aug. 20, 1979, and released about 440,000 gallons of crude oil. Today, the site attracts scientists from around the world who are collecting data from sensors that sample soil, water and air. Scientists are working to learn more about oil-eating microbes. They've found the bacteria that breaks down oil is everywhere, even in northern Minnesota.”

Second team? WCCO-TV notes that Kevin Love is not among the Top Five. “The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Wednesday that forward Kevin Love was selected to the All-NBA Second Team. … Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Joakim Noah, James Harden and Chris Paul were selected All-NBA First Team.”

Duluth is more #1 than Minneapolis. Says Pam Louwagie in the Strib, “If you can believe voters on the Internet, Duluth is a better town than Minneapolis — at least as far as outdoorsy people are concerned. Voters hit an online contest in droves through the weekend to promote Duluth in a national Outside magazine contest of best towns. With more than 60,000 votes in the fourth round, which ended Tuesday night, Duluth scored at least 10,000 more votes than any other town on the list. … The town is now facing off against the winner of the South: Asheville, N.C.” How did Superior rate?

Still, a beacon for oppressed North Dakotans … The AP says, “Nearly two times as many same-sex couples from North Dakota have filed for marriage licenses across the border in Clay County than Minnesotans have. Deputy Recorder Lisa Kunze says 40 of the 68 same-sex marriage licenses filed in the county have been between two North Dakotans. Five more involved one North Dakota resident.”

I dare them to call it “Franken’s Trips Festival.” MPR’s Brett Neely says, “The list of celebrities raising money for Sen. Al Franken keeps getting longer. The latest: former Grateful Dead singer and guitarist, Bob Weir, who will perform with his current band, Ratdog, at a fundraiser for Franken next week at the Northrop Auditorium. ‘As you know, I really love the Grateful Dead. Really’, wrote Franken in an invitation obtained by MPR News.” And how about a holographic campaign speech from Owsley Stanley?

WASHINGTON – Sen. Al Franken is trying again to pass a bill clamping down on so-called “stalking apps.”

Franken held a hearing of his Privacy, Technology and the Law panel on Wednesday to discuss the bill, an updated version of legislation he introduced last session. Franken said the bill would ban location-based apps specifically designed to allow users to stalk other people's locations in secret, force apps to get a user's permission before collecting their location data and require popular apps to report the data they’re collecting and who's using it.

Franken said he was inspired to write the bill a couple years ago after hearing about stalking problems from the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women, which highlighted a northern Minnesota woman whose abusive partner used a GPS-based app to track her movements at a courthouse. He cited a report that found more than 70 percent of domestic violence victim support groups had dealt with victims of stalking apps.

“In most of these cases, the perpetrator was arrested because it’s illegal to stalk someone,” he said. “But it’s not clearly illegal to make and market and sell a stalking app. And so nothing happened to the companies making money off of stalking. Nothing happened to the stalking. My bill would shut down these apps once and for all.”

Brian Hill, a detective with the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, said he has seen an “exponential” increase in the number of digital stalking investigations his office has undertaken over the last two years. He said his office averages 30 such “forensic examinations” every month.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a version of Franken’s bill in the waning days of the 2012 session with the idea of revisiting it when the new Congress took office in 2013. At the time, there were concerns over the broadness of the bill — liability issues for the app-making industry, compliance problems, etc.

Franken said he has rewritten portions of the bill to try alleviating those concerns. Sen. Jeff Flake, the ranking Republican on Franken’s subcommittee, said he still had a handful of concerns about over-regulation and threats to innovation within the new version.

Wednesday’s hearing was informational only — the full Senate Judiciary Committee would need to pass the bill again if it’s to go to the floor before the end of the year.

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

Smartphone photo by Flickr user John Salvador and used under Creative Commons license.