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Are Vikings stadium e-Pulltabs charities quality charities?
The Deets One common argument in support of e-pulltabs is that a portion of the money goes to support charities. While that’s true, the efficiency of some of the more popular e-pulltabs charities is...
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Mbakwe monster dunk
University of Minnesota basketball start Trevor Mbakwe got the Gophers' game against Indiana Tuesday off to a good start with an impressive slam dunk. The Gophers went on to win 77-73. They play next...
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Tracking the pulse of minority-owned Minnesota businesses
While Minnesota has much to be proud of when it comes to being a great place to work and live, reports in recent years have revealed the state is one of the worst in the nation for employing and...
View ArticleWho won the drug war? Drugs did
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — On the books, marijuana is illegal in Cambodia. But on the streets — in particular, the capital’s main riverside promenade — travelers will find a poor man’s Amsterdam.Phnom...
View ArticleThe new business of Lebanon: kidnapping
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Ibrahim’s relatives are rich and powerful. But the young Lebanese taxi driver was reluctant to go into the family business when he found himself struggling to make ends meet. His...
View ArticleCircling the wagons? Putin urges 'drastic upgrade' to Russia's military
In a speech to Russia's top military brass, President Vladimir Putin has urged them to make a "drastic upgrade" to Russia's armed forces within the next five years to counter a series of emerging...
View ArticleEthiopia makes help difficult for world donors advocating civil society, rights
Of the many outreach programs run here by Germany’s Heinrich Böll Foundation, one caused special alarm for an official new Ethiopian agency that is starting to block and restrict the promotion of civil...
View ArticleRepublicans call foul on release of immigrant detainees
The move this week by US immigration officials to release hundreds, possibly thousands, of detained illegal immigrants to prepare for automatic spending cuts has Republicans calling foul. It’s renewed...
View ArticleBradley Manning pleads guilty to some WikiLeaks charges
The case of the young US Army private tied to the largest leak of government secrets in US history took a major turn Thursday when Pfc. Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to 10 of 22 charges against him —...
View ArticleWhy Republicans think Obama's back is against the wall on 'sequester'
On a chilly day in Washington this week, Rep. Dave Schweikert (R) of Arizona put his hands over the grate of a burning fireplace just off the House floor while discussing the "sequester," $85 billion...
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Minnesota forecasts lower budget deficit; Gov. and legislative leaders respond
Minnesota leaders got some good news with Thursday's budget forecast, where what had been a $1.1B projected deficit in the coming biennium was slashed to just $627 million. All sides welcomed the news,...
View ArticlePaul Krugman is on fire
In today's NYTimes column, Paul Krugman picks up on the coming 10th anniversary of the Iraq War. The problems with the Bush administration's case for war were obvious in advance, Krugman says, but the...
View ArticleLike it or not, sequestration takes hold: a round-up
WASHINGTON — Today is the deadline for lawmakers to avoid sequestration, the deep federal spending cuts they have been warning about for months, and have known were coming for more than a year.It’s...
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Should battered women be given asylum in the U.S.?
Among the hundreds released from immigration detention facilities nationwide as federal budget cut kick in today is a Honduran woman we’ll call Delores.Like many other undocumented persons she is...
View ArticleKate Kelly to head St. Paul Police Foundation
The St. Paul Police Foundation has named Kate Kelly as its new executive director.Kelly once worked in advertising for the Star Tribune and later was head of the St. Paul Winter Carnival's parent...
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Forecast gives DFL legislators ‘flex’ to ‘invest’ — while dumping Dayton’s...
On the surface, the good news contained in Thursday’s state economic forecast did nothing to mellow the positions of DFLers and Republicans over how state government should be run.The good news is that...
View ArticleAlan Simpson's assessment of where these guys have put their nuts
From a Bloomberg overview of what we might call Simpson-Bowles-ism comes this typically blunt, salty, hilarious assessment by former Sen. Alan Simpson of the sequester:“I’ve never seen anything like it...
View ArticleSouthern Minnesota Latino youth leaders will push for immigration reform in D.C.
Latino youths from southern Minnesota will meet with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., next week as part of National Latino Advocacy Days.Young people and group leaders will be among the 40-member...
View ArticleWolves in the dog days: Lost in Los Angeles
There are, of course, many, many different ways to lose a basketball game.Last Sunday, the Minnesota Timberwolves played their most enjoyable quarter of the season in the first period against the...
View ArticleHealth exchange forum set for Humphrey School
Lawmakers and Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter will discuss the pending health care reform in Minnesota during a forum Monday, March 4, at the University of Minnesota's...
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