The new landing/takeoff patterns for MSP International will be a serious hassle once word gets around. Says the Strib’s Eric Roper: “[Minneapolis] City Council members are fuming over the lack of public engagement preceding a Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) vote Monday to dramatically alter flight patterns in the area. The proposal to concentrate routes of planes taking off from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport will impact thousands of homeowners who may have to endure more — or less — jet noise. Who is affected? Several Council Members said Thursday that it's impossible to tell. … Paul Mogish, who serves as an alternate for the city on a MAC committee that discusses noise, said there has been little information on how the new flight plans would differ from the old ones. He added there has been little information about what this will look like years from now, when the number of flights grow. ‘I’m part of the [city's] airport working group and I feel like I’m totally confused,' said Council Member Elizabeth Glidden.” According to the accompanying map, a lot of flights will go directly over the Glean World Headquarters. I want new windows!
… And not in their backyard, either.Kelly Smith of the Strib says: “With strong words and threats of lawsuits, more than 300 people packed St. Louis Park City Hall on Wednesday, most of them to convince Hennepin County and Metropolitan Council officials not to send freight trains through their neighborhoods. To make room for a proposed Southwest light-rail line, officials want to reroute freight trains now going through Minneapolis to St. Louis Park instead. More than 100 protesters gathered outside City Hall before Wednesday's meeting — the second of three public hearings that Hennepin County is holding this month to hear from residents on the possible environmental impacts the Southwest line could have on the five cities it would go through if approved.”
Everyone hoping for a protracted brawl over the Vikings stadium seat license business is going to be disappointed. At MPR today, Tim Nelson writes:“Speaking outside an education conference in Plymouth, Dayton said that he would accept the concept, but that he didn't think it had been fully disclosed during stadium negotiations this spring. ‘The legislation is 70 pages long, but it didn't cover every detail, and not every card was face up on the table,’ Dayton said. ‘Fortunately, we have a system where we have the stadium development authority responsible for issuing these stadium builder licenses ... They're the ones who now can decide, and should decide, what level of these seat licenses are appropriate, if any at all.'" Has the governor ever tried to read a health insurance contract?
In addition to those essentially static unemployment numbers, fewer homes are entering foreclosure than a year ago. At the AP, Alex Velga writes:“U.S. homes are entering the foreclosure process at a slower pace than a year ago, and fewer properties are being repossessed by lenders, new data show. Foreclosure starts in Minnesota dropped more than 40 percent in October compared to October 2011, according to data from foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac Inc. released Thursday, Nov. 15. Less than 1,200 foreclosures were completed in October compared to October 2011, a 17 percent drop.”
Can I say, “Barbies for boobies,” on MinnPost? Molly Guthrey of the PiPress reports: “Joan Sullivan is going to be giving Barbie dolls as Christmas presents this year — a lot of Barbies. She's skipping the big-box stores, though. She thinks her dollars will go further and do more good at the Hope Chest for Breast Cancer's resale store in St. Paul. A St. Paul woman who wants to be identified only as Connie donated the lifetime collection of Barbies of her late mother, Rosemary — more than 1,000 dolls and almost all of them in their original packaging — to the nonprofit organization. The collection is valued at $40,000 to $50,000.”
Who doesn’t want to be in the movies? Chris Hewitt of the PiPress writes: “Should the Land of 10,000 Lakes be renamed the Land of 10,000 Extras? The people behind a new production company planning to shoot as many as a dozen films in Minnesota in the next few years hope so. First up is a romantic comedy currently titled ‘Thanksgiving at Denny's,’ which plans to shoot on the Iron Range next spring. Exact locations have not been selected but, at a press conference Thursday, writer/director Josh Blum said photos of sites in Virginia, Eveleth and Hibbing ‘got me and my team excited’ about shooting ‘Denny's’ in Minnesota. (Blum declined to discuss money but described the film as ‘modestly budgeted.’) … That ambitious plan likely will hinge on what happens with rebates in Minnesota. The state competes with dozens of other states that offer bigger pools of funds and larger filming incentives than Minnesota's 15 to 20 percent spending rebate program.” The mere mention of anything at place owned by a guy named “Denny” kinda gets my heart racing.
Jody Ambroz at KMSP-TV reports on a cyberbullying attack up in the Anoka-Hennepin School District. “The Anoka-Hennepin School District and police are investigating a group of middle school students who took a fight to Facebook and began a bout of cyber-bullying that crossed a scary line. Officials say at least one of the bullies made a post on Facebook urging a group of girls to go kill themselves. Parents told FOX 9 News that's when the comments crossed the line, and students are suffering. For middle school students, schoolyard name-calling may be nothing new — but in social media circles, fights are getting nastier than ever.”
High school football is going to have a two-year scheduling problem. Rick Weegman of the Forum papers says: “The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome has hosted the Prep Bowl since 1982 — and the semifinals in recent seasons — but the facility’s lifespan is in its waning years. The Minnesota Vikings plan to build a new stadium on the Metrodome site in downtown Minneapolis. That means, at least for a couple of years during construction of the new dome, Minnesota state tournament games will need to find a new home. The University of Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium is the most likely option, but scheduling dilemmas at the home of the Minnesota Gophers — and the Vikings during the construction phase — mean changes are afoot at the high school level.”
All that wind up in Mahtomedi a week ago? Another tornado. Andy Rathbun of the PiPress says: “After determining a tornado was responsible for storm damage in Mahtomedi, the National Weather Service office in Chanhassen has expanded the number of tornadoes that struck the state Saturday, Nov. 10, to four. The total tornado count for the day will stand at that number, said Todd Krause, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service. That brings the state's total number of tornados for the year to 37 — a number likely to be final, he added. The three other tornadoes Saturday night occurred in Dakota County. All four were rated EF-0 — the lowest rating for tornadoes — and no injuries were reported. The Mahtomedi tornado touched down just east of the White Bear Lake shoreline and traveled about 4 miles northeast through Grant.”
They’re doing God’s work in Barnesville … . Eric Burgess of the Forum papers has a story saying: “If you want to be a Catholic, you have to be 100 percent Catholic. That’s the lesson one family here learned after their 17-year-old son was denied confirmation after the priest at the Assumption Church here found a pro same-sex marriage post on the teen’s Facebook. The decision by the Rev. Gary LaMoine to deny the religious rite of passage for Lennon Cihak in mid-October shocked his mother, who said her son has gone to church every week and volunteered around the community in preparation for his confirmation this year. … The Facebook post in question was a photo of Lennon in front of an altered political sign. Originally reading ‘Vote Yes’ on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment, which would have changed the state’s constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, Lennon scribbled out the ‘yes’ and replaced it with ‘NO!’ ” The Church needs some serious PR work.