The herd milling to be Minneapolis’ next mayor has been culled by one.Eric Roper at the Strib says: “Gary Schiff, one of the first candidates to publicly mull a candidacy, dropped out. Schiff's decision comes several days after he placed third on two ballots at the DFL endorsing convention. His campaign manager then resigned, telling the Star Tribune that he ‘did not see a path to victory.’ He is the first candidate to drop out of the race to succeed outgoing Mayor R.T. Rybak, but likely not the last.A 12-year veteran of the council, Schiff threw his support Wednesday behind colleague Betsy Hodges, who is leading the DFL pack along with former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Andrew.”
Whoa! Author Vince Flynn has died.WCCO-TV/AP report:“Best-selling author Vince Flynn, who wrote the Mitch Rapp counterterrorism thriller series and sold more than 15 million books in the U.S. alone, died Wednesday in Minnesota after a more than two-year battle with prostate cancer, according to friends and his publisher. He was 47. Flynn died Wednesday morning at United Hospital in St. Paul. He was surrounded by about 35 relatives and friends who prayed the Rosary, said longtime family friend Kathy Schneeman. … After releasing his 13th, “Kill Shot,” Flynn talked with WCCO-TV’s Frank Vascellaro about his battle with stage three metastatic prostate cancer. You can watch that full interview here.”
Kristin Tillotson’s Strib piece says: “Vascellaro called Flynn’s death ‘heartbreaking.’ A good friend who introduced Flynn to the woman who would become his wife, Lysa, at a Vikings game, Vascellaro has a lake place in Wisconsin next door to the Flynn family’s. ‘I saw him there Memorial Day weekend, and physically he wasn’t doing well, but it brought him joy to be at the lake,’ Vascellaro said. Most people weren’t aware of ‘what a huge, worldwide success he was as an author,’ Vascellaro said, ‘because when you met him, he was just Vinny from St. Paul, a guy from a big Irish family who was grounded in his values and convictions, a loyal friend and an extraordinarily generous person who helped all kinds of people both publicly and privately.’ One example of that is a capital campaign he co-chaired to raise money for the high school he attended, St. Thomas Academy. The campaign, which Flynn continued to work on after his cancer diagnosis, raised more than $18 million, said headmaster Thomas Mich.”
Nice collection of then-and-now Duluth flood photos by Derek Montgomery of MPR:“Up to 10 inches of rain fell over northeastern Minnesota in June 2012, causing more than $100 million in damage. Rivers and streams flooded their banks, severely damaging roads and bridges. About 1,500 hundred homes also suffered significant damage. A year later, most of that damage has been repaired. Some work still continues though, including on the iconic swinging bridge at Jay Cooke State Park.”
The AP has a piece on mayors from around the state celebrating the restoration of $80 million in Local Government Aid:“Mayors from around Minnesota are gathering to discuss how an $80 million bump in state aid to cities will affect their cities. The increased local government aid also means $40 million more for counties and $10 million for townships. The mayors were meeting Wednesday with Revenue Commissioner Myron Frans. Local government aid was an attractive target for state budget cutters over the years, which local officials have blamed for making sharp property tax increase unavoidable. In approving the higher allowances, legislative Democrats said they hoped it would ease pressure on homeowner tax bills.”
The U of M’s graduate enrollment numbers aren’t good. At The Minnesota Daily, Janice Bitters writes: “National graduate and professional student enrollment rates have soared in recent years, but the University of Minnesota is bucking that trend. While enrollment nationwide increased 16 percent between 2005 and 2010, across the University’s five campuses it decreased more than 6 percent from 2006 to 2012. At the same time, the number of graduate program applications at the University hit more than 15,000 in 2010 and has continued to rise. In 2012-13, the University had almost 17,000 graduate school applications, up 17 percent from four years ago. Belinda Cheung, assistant vice provost of the Graduate School, said the disparity between applications and enrollment is to be expected. ‘Enrollment trends seem to lag a bit in terms of the application trend,’ she said. ‘Any change you see in the application trend is not going to reflect right away.’ ”
We’re back to … below average.John Myers at the Duluth News Tribune reports: “Minnesota’s brush with record-high gas prices — among the highest in the U.S. — has ended, with the statewide average price this week dropping below the national average for the first time in weeks. The average price per gallon of regular unleaded self-serve gasoline dropped to $3.57 in Minnesota today, the lowest price in months and down from $4.28 one month ago, according to Minneostagasprices.com. That compares to today’s U.S. average of $3.60 a gallon, a price that hasn’t changed much for several weeks, dropping only a few cents.”
Her people showed her lots of love …Kevin Diaz of the Strib covered Our Favorite Congresswoman’s Tea Party rally today: “[T]he Minnesota Republican assured a crowd of several thousand that despite her pending retirement from Congress, ‘I’m here to say to the liberals I’m here for a long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long time.’ (That’s eight ‘longs’ for those keeping track.) Then in a moment that felt like a political farewell, she held a baby and led the crowd in singing ‘God Bless America.. When she was done, Texas Republican Louie Gohmert, her Tea Party colleague in Congress, offered a testimonial he said he heard from a Democratic woman in Congress. ‘She said, you know, people give Michele Bachmann a lot of grief,’ Gohmert said. ‘But we have to have some respect for her because there’s never been a woman in American history that didn’t have a family name to launch her career, that didn’t have someone select her as vice president.’ ” Oh she’s a classic bootstrapper, all right.
The pilot of a mosquito-control helicopter has crashed and died. Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy of the Strib say: “A helicopter crashed into a detached garage in Maplewood near the Maplewood Nature Center this morning, narrowly missing a house. Acting Maplewood police chief Dave Kvam confirmed that the pilot, who has not been identified, died in the crash. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner was on the scene as of 9:15 a.m. Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, State Patrol, Maplewood firefighters and police are also at the scene. The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash. The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District confirmed that the chartered helicopter was dropping a mosquito larvae-killing agent for the district.”