A couple of Minnesota musical acts scored at the Grammys last night. The Current’s Andrea Swensson says: “Hours before the 55th annual Grammy Awards were telecast, several albums with Minnesota ties picked up Grammys in a pre-show ceremony — most notably the Okee Dokee Brothers, who won in the Best Children’s Album category for their 2012 album Can You Canoe? … Also of Minnesota interest is nominated work by Concordia College professor, conductor, and composer René Clausen. An album of his material, Life & Breathe: Choral Works by René Clausen by the Kansas City Chorale won three separate Grammys Sunday: Best Choral Performance; Producer of the Year, Classical; and Best Engineered Album, Classical.”
What are your thoughts about raiding the cigarette fund to pay for the health insurance exchange? At the PiPress, Christopher Snowbeck writes: “[A] majority of Democrats on the tax committee voted Thursday, Feb. 7, to amend the health exchange bill in the Senate so that operating funds would come from an existing fee on cigarettes, which currently sends money to the state's general fund. The move has sparked disagreement among members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which control the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature. Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook and chairman of the Tax Committee, said the change provides a broader base of funding for the health exchange and won't add to premium costs.”
The oldest (known) black bear is sleeping off another winter right here in Minnesota. Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune says: “Somewhere just south of us, the oldest known wild bear in the world — 39 years old — rested peacefully in her den. … there, under an upturned stump with roots dangling from a 15-by-15-inch opening, lay the old girl that biologists call No. 56. In the shadowy depths of the den, No. 56 stirred slowly from her winter lethargy. Her pink tongue licked at the air. Her big head rose in slow motion from where it had rested on her black paws. Her sizeable hulk nearly filled the earthen cavity. She was unlikely to stir more than that. In hibernation, Garshelis said, bears remain drowsy, their body temperature down from a normal 99 to about 90 degrees, their heartbeats slowed and intermittent. A hibernating bear does not drink, and may go the full six months without urinating or defecating.”
There’s a strike in the offing. Rupa Shenoy of MPR reports: “A group of Twin Cities janitors and security officers voted Saturday to authorize a strike. Their union, SEIU, represents more than 6,000 employees in the metro area. They work at companies that include Target, Wells Fargo and US Bank. The workers object to proposed cuts to full-time positions, wages and health care.”
Is this a surprise to anyone?Jason Keyser of the AP says: “Hundreds of Midwest manufacturers stand to benefit from a web of high-speed passenger rail routes emerging from Chicago's rail hub ... The report released Friday by the Chicago-based Environmental Law & Policy Center found that 460 manufacturers in seven Midwest states are poised to reap new business, along with a dozen more highly visible companies that make rail cars and locomotives. Those additional supply-chain manufacturers make everything from seats, couplers and bolts to ceiling panels, interior lighting and air horns. ... What we're seeing is that old-line Rust Belt manufacturers are making the equipment for modern new rail cars,’ the group's director, Howard Learner, told The Associated Press.” Now who’d want to create that kind of work when there’s still so much life left in fast-food franchising?
Our carbon footprint isn’t going to decrease dramatically anytime soon. Dave Shaffer of the Strib says: “The end of coal burning is coming to a dozen Minnesota electric generators. But it will hardly put a dent in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, a Star Tribune analysis shows. Over the past year, utilities in Minnesota have announced that 12 coal burners are being retired or switched to burn natural gas … When the smaller coal plants ... are gone, Minnesota electric customers still will be getting a major share of their power from a fleet of larger, newer coal plants that utilities plan to keep operating. The remaining 12 coal generators spew nearly six times more carbon dioxide than the small units slated to go away.”
I guess they sent a message … Frederick Melo of the PiPress says: “Wearing signature white masks, members of the group Minnesota Anonymous protested outside of the Church of Scientology on Wabasha Street in downtown St. Paul on Sunday ... The protest, which was expected to last roughly six hours, drew a modest turnout amid the snowfall, with seven Anonymous members congregating quietly across the street from the church ... in an effort to call attention to what they deemed to be cultlike practices. A protestor wrote an inflammatory message in red chalk on the church wall, but other protestors discouraged his behavior and alerted St. Paul police.”
Uh, no. Your MnPASS transponder will not do anything for you in any other state. Tim Harlow of the Strib says: “MnPASS is not compatible with other systems such as Illinois' I-PASS or the E-ZPass system that is used in 15 states ... Those states have millions of users, collect fees on their large system of toll roads, and share technology. They also have agreements on transferring funds between states. MnPASS is much smaller, with just 20,000 customers. ... Minnesota would have to install a separate set of antenna readers to the MnPASS lanes or make a major investment in technology to make the system compatible, said Brian Kary, a MnDOT freeway operations engineer.”
Don’t mess with Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk. Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Strib tells us: “Asked Friday if he owned any guns like the type some lawmakers have contemplated banning, Bakk said: ‘Well, I don't know. I don't own an AR-15. I own a lot of semi-automatics. The first one I bought when I was in 11th grade. It's a Remington 308. It's the one I use for deer hunting. I own a lot of semi-automatic weapons and if some people think those are assault weapons, then I have some. But I don't own an AR-15.’ How many guns does he have? Bakk, DFL-Cook, couldn't count.”