By the way they talk, I assumed someone somewhere was standing their ground against a violent hoodlum every couple of minutes or so. But no. Brandon Stahl of the Strib tells us: “Even though a record number of Minnesotans have permits to carry firearms, only a tiny number ever have pulled the trigger in self-defense. Five instances of justifiable use of a firearm by a permit holder have been reported to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) since 2003… . The annual BCA gun reports also show that permit holders have been convicted of 124 crimes using a firearm since 2003. Gun control advocates say the rarity of justifiable uses points to a need to more tightly restrict access to firearms.” So ... 25 times more convictions than incidents of actual self-defense ...
Prince will appear on Jimmy Fallon’s show. The AP says:“Prince is continuing to ramp up his public profile. This week, he'll make an appearance on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.’ A representative for the late-night talk show confirmed the pop legend will appear on the show Friday and will perform two songs. It's not clear whether he will perform new material or some of his classics.” That’s impressive. But let’s see him book Bob Dylan.
Tax Court Judge George Perez isn’t likely to have a good week. David Hanners of the PiPress writes: “In a tribunal that convenes Monday, Feb. 25, in St. Paul, Perez — who until January was chief judge of the Minnesota Tax Court — will face accusations that he often delayed rulings long past their deadlines, pushed work off to other judges and then covered up his misconduct by falsifying records. The hearing promises some uneasy moments as two of Perez's former colleagues — both now federal judges — will testify against him. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kathleen Sanberg and U.S. Tax Court Judge Diane Kroupa are among those whom lawyers for the Minnesota Board on Judicial Conduct will call as witnesses.”
PiPress movie critic Chris Hewittliked the divas on display in last night’s Oscarcast. “The extraneous movie tributes that sounded like such a time-wasting idea ahead of time — the salutes to 007 and musicals — turned out to be some of the best parts of the evening, courtesy of singers Shirley Bassey (who did ‘Goldfinger’), Barbra Streisand (‘The Way We Were,’ as part of the annual In Memoriam segment) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (an abbreviated ‘All That Jazz,’ from ‘Chicago’). In general, it was a good night for musical performances. The ‘Les Mis’ bit was somewhat chaotic, but Adele knocked ‘Skyfall’ out of the park and the Rodriguez name-check during the acceptance speech for the documentary, ‘Searching for Sugarman,’ should help Rodriguez (also known as Sugarman) sell a few records.”
The Strib’s Neal Justin writes: “[Producers Criag] Zadan and [Neil] Meron may have done themselves a disservice by dedicating this broadcast to music, setting themselves to be compared to the Grammys, Tonys, the Kennedy Center Honors and a dozen other shows that specialize in show-stopping numbers. In the end, this Oscars couldn’t keep up the tempo. For much of the night, [Seth] MacFarlane did a decent impression of Ricky Gervais, but for the most part, he didn’t do enough to convince us that he should venture far from the sound booth for his juvenile cartoons. Final verdict: Down for the count.” Tough crowd …
Now here is what you can actually call “progress.” The Strib’s Neal St. Anthony mentions the Vikings sports palace before saying: “Meanwhile, a bigger, more critical, but less publicly electrifying project will complete about $1 billion worth of work this year alone. It’s the $2.2 billion overhaul of the state’s electrical transmission system and replacement of 1970s-vintage technology that dates to before the Metrodome was built. The nine-year process has been marked by landowner disputes and several lawsuits. Regardless, the huge upgrade, to be completed by 2015, will mean a more reliable, efficient, cleaner way to power Minnesota.”
Susie Jones of WCCO-AM gets a St. Thomas prof’s predictions on who’ll be the next pope:“Professor Charles Reed at St. Thomas University, expert on Canon Law, says there are about five men who are in the running for the next Pope. ‘Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet is one of the front runners. ... Others include Ghana’s Peter Turkson, president of the Council on Justice and Peace. ‘He represents a more conservative take on the church,’ Reed said. Then there’s Odilo Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo. He is a German Brazilian. ... ‘He represents a moderate kind of middle-ground between church liberals and more powerful conservatives,’ he said.” The church hierarchy dominated by conservatives? That is just so surprising.
Further proof that our millionaires have not yet moved to South Dakota …Jim Anderson of the Strib says: “[M]illion-dollar homes are coming back to Woodbury in a big way. The Woodbury City Council this week is expected to approve plans for a development called Autumn Ridge, a cluster of 20 homes spread across more than 61 acres on what had been farmland at the southwest corner of Military Road and Radio Drive, north of Glen Road, in the southwest part of the city. … ‘Nobody’s really done an estate-type development in Woodbury in more than 25 years,’ [Tim Thone, of Thone Property Investments] said.”
KSTP-TV has a quick rundown of the hit Minnesota will take if the sequestration cuts go through. Kaitlin Stevens says:
“EDUCATION:
• Minnesota would lose about $7 million for primary and secondary education, putting about 100 teacher and aide jobs at risk.
• About $9.2 million would be cut for 110 teachers, aides and staff who help children with disabilities.
• 920 fewer low-income students would get aid to help pay for college and 500 fewer students would get work-study jobs.
• 700 kids would lose Head Start and Early Head Start services. ...
MILITARY:
• About 2,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed.”