Aaaaand we’re back … Having survived the Mayan apocalypse, the town overrun with Packer fans and holidays with the relatives, we can report …
Even after scaling back its target, the Salvation Army came up $700K short on its bell-ringing. Randy Furst of the Strib says:“Still, the charity is hopeful that a public appeal made on New Year's Eve will bring enough envelopes in the mail this week to reach its $9.8 million goal. ‘I felt better [about making the goal] two weeks ago,’ said Annette Bauer, public relations director for the local organization. ‘I thought we'd be further along.’ The local Salvation Army set a larger goal in 2011 of $10.9 million, but fell $680,000 short, she said Tuesday. It was the first time in more than 15 years that the local organization did not meet its goal.” I assume the Apple stores hit their target numbers.
The Strib’s Josephine Marcotty says officials are worried about a spike in flu cases:“More than 120 Minnesotans were hospitalized with the flu in the week that ended Dec. 22 — nearly twice the number of the previous week and more than a third of the total so far this year. The number of cases confirmed by laboratory testing also surged during the same week, reaching peaks reported much later in the previous two flu seasons. Yet it's still early, said Kris Ehresmann, director of infectious disease at the Minnesota Department of Health. ‘That suggests this has the potential to be severe,’ she said.”
Add another $2.6 million to the tab for renovating state government accommodations …The AP says:“Minnesota officials are pushing ahead with a publicly financed $2.6 million renovation of the 100-year-old Governor's Residence, making what they say are overdue fixes to a historically significant property worth about as much as the restoration will cost. The planned upgrades — mostly to the building exterior — are the first of three phases of anticipated work on the Summit Avenue mansion just a few miles from the state Capitol. A 2011 facility assessment identified $6.3 million in possible needs, but there have been no commitments made beyond the first phase. … Other states are in the midst of renovating their aging executive mansions. High costs have caused consternation in a few places, especially where the governor rarely uses it. Vermont, Arizona and California lack a formal residence, with California turning its former mansion into a state park. In a few states, they are opting to cover repair costs with private fundraising instead.”
On its editorial page, Mother Strib is not pleased with the “energy drink” fad. “Members of the ‘Pepsi Generation’ have become the parents and grandparents of the Red Bull-Monster-Rockstar-Full Throttle generation. Determining whether this demographic shift to drinks laden with both everyday and exotic stimulants carries health risks — and whether these products are adequately regulated — should be a public-health priority in 2013.… Among the risks: increased heart rate, irregular heart rate and palpitations, increased blood pressure, increased risk of dehydration, sleep disturbances and hyperglycemia.”
MPR’s Brandt Williams updates his story on the guy in the minivan who thought he knew his Second Amendment rights:“The Hennepin County Attorney's office filed one charge of 'prohibited person in possession of a firearm' last month against 26-year-old Anthony Jon Paul Anderson, of Hermantown, MN. Actually, Anderson was allegedly in possession of more than just a firearm. According to the complaint, in October, Richfield police officers found Anderson sleeping in a minivan full of 19 rifles and shotguns — some of them loaded. Anderson is currently being held in St. Louis County facing felony first degree witness tampering, simple robbery, false imprisonment, felony domestic assault, and terroristic threat charges.” The van, you understand, is his castle.
MPR’s pop music “service,” The Current, inducted 14 songs from 2012 into its “Hall of Fame.”Writes Mark Wheat:“We played the Top 14 on the show this week, all song choices were the first song inducted into our Hall of Fame by that artist this year.
KEY;
{ } = The total number of weeks the artist spent on the chart.
( ) = Date of when these songs were inducted.
[ ] = Total number of weeks at #1 for all songs by that artist.
1 Jack White ‘Love Interruption’ {42 wks} (4-26) [4]
2 The Black Keys ‘Lonely Boy’ {40 wks} (2-2) [8]
3 Alabama Shakes ‘Hold On’ {34 wks} (5-31)
4 The Shins ‘Simple Song’ {28 wks} (4-19)
ALL OF THE ABOVE HAD MORE THAN 2 SONGS ON CHART
5 The Lumineers ‘Ho Hey’ (6-21) [6]
6 Of Monsters and Men ‘Little Talks’ (3-29) [4]
7 Father John Misty ‘Hollywood Forever Cemetary Sings’ (4-19)
8 Metric ‘Youth Without Youth’ (8-16)
9 Trampled By Turtles ‘Alone’ (5-10)
10 Doomtree ‘The Grand Experiment’ (2-2)
11 Polica ‘Wandering Star’ (1-19)
ALL OF THE ABOVE GOT TWO SONGS IN HOF {24 wks}
12 Mumford and Sons ‘I Will Wait’ (11-1) [8]
13 The Avett Brothers ‘Live and Die’ (10-18)
14 Frank Ocean ‘Lost’ (10-25).” And what? Nothing by Ted Nugent?
And just because it’d be a shame if you missed it, from a couple of days back, here’s Taylor Rose in the frequently batty World News Daily writing about their choice for “Woman of the Year”: “For her extraordinary dedication to America’s founding principles and steadfast defense of the Constitution, WND has named Rep. Michele Bachmann 2012 ‘Woman of the Year.’ Bachmann is a gutsy, pro-life fiscal conservative who dared to vote against raising the debt ceiling. She’s a God-fearing, gun-loving advocate of tax cuts and domestic oil drilling— and has proven to be one of Obamacare’s worst nightmares.” On my list for 2013 is finding out if you have to first be “gun-loving” in order to be “God-fearing.”
New Year’s Eve went off fairly quietly around the state. Andy Greder of the PiPress says: “[T]he Minnesota State Patrol reported one fatal accident and an average number of DWI arrests. If the accident that killed a 27-year-old man in northeastern Minnesota on Monday afternoon is not influenced by alcohol, it will mark the state's fifth straight year without an alcohol-related death on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, according to the state's Department of Public Safety. The State Patrol reported only 25 DWI arrests statewide on New Year's Eve, which is on par with a typical weekend night at the agency, said Lt. Eric Roeske, a State Patrol spokesman.”
As for the fiscal cliff/speed bump, Power Line’s John Hinderaker kinda torpedoes the credibility of his perspective on the deal by first describing himself as an “inveterate optimist.” He then goes on to say: “Raising taxes on those who are already paying roughly double their fair share, while leaving everyone else’s taxes the same, is lousy public policy. But from the Republicans’ point of view, it may be good politics. … Knowledgeable observers always knew that nothing Obama said about fiscal matters made any sense, because raising income tax rates on the ‘rich’ barely makes a dent in the deficit. But we learned in November that most voters are not knowledgeable.… with the Democrats’ BS about raising taxes on the rich out of the way, we can have a rational debate about the country’s fiscal future. And that is a debate the GOP can win, as most voters continue to believe that it is better to cut spending than to raise taxes on them.” Perhaps this will be the year that John offers his readers a list of specific spending cuts that would put the country's books back in order.