For Keystone XL foes, oozing Canadian crude in Arkansas spill is black gold
The rupture of an ExxonMobil pipeline that sent a gooey black stream of heavy Canadian crude oozing across lawns and driveways in suburban Mayflower, Ark., last Friday has been seized upon by opponents...
View ArticleEdison High innovator engages kids, reaches finals in Teach-Off
Impressed by the number of his students who loved working with their hands, last year Chris Pennington tried a modest experiment. A life skills teacher at Minneapolis’ Edison High School, he told an...
View Article'GERD' label for infant fussiness leads to unnecessary treatment, study finds
When a healthy baby’s spitting up and crying are labeled by a doctor as symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), parents become eager to give the baby medications, even when they are also...
View ArticleBachmann's leadership PAC could be key to ethics investigation
WASHINGTON — The recent claims of ethical lapses within Rep. Michele Bachmann’s political organizations have investigators digging into Bachmann’s version of an oft-used but frequently overlooked...
View ArticleVictory Memorial Drive, with its remarkable sightlines, is a well-named parkway
Victory Memorial Drive sits in the upper northwestern corner of the city, creating its western border, then turning east and running parallel to the city’s northern border about nine blocks south. It’s...
View ArticleHoneybee collapse worsens; one Minnesotan's losses run to 65%
Commercial pollinating is in full sway in California's orchards, and the season has brought a spate of discouraging updates about the colony collapse disorder (CCD) afflicting honeybees.Hive losses to...
View ArticleMassacres and denial: Why can’t America get it right?
Thoughtful Bastards Wikimedia CommonsOn December 29, 1890 the 7th Calvary tried to disarm a group of Indians in South Dakota. A shot rang out and up to 300 Indians were massacred in what the US Army...
View ArticleLegislators to volunteer at Dorothy Day Center for the homeless
Nearly two-dozen Minnesota legislators plan to volunteer Wednesday night at the Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul, preparing meals and laying down mats for homeless and needy people.The efforts was...
View ArticleHow would you spend $1 million to improve St. Paul?
If you had $1 million to spend to improve St. Paul, what would you do? That's the question posed by the Forever St. Paul Challenge, a competition sponsored by the St. Paul Foundation that seeks ideas...
View ArticleGOP rep offers 'civil union' bill as gay- marriage alternative
Something tells me this isn’t going to cut it. A WCCO-TV story says: “A Republican state lawmaker is introducing a bill to establish civil unions for Minnesota gay couples as an alternative to...
View ArticleSt. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman makes it official, will seek third term
No surprise here: St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is running for a third term.And with no real competition emerging yet for the November election, the announcement in this DFL-dominated city might almost...
View ArticleCivil unions: It looks like an uphill fight for compromise idea
A group of Republican lawmakers on Wednesday outlined a civil-union alternative to the controversial gay-marriage legislation cooking at the Capitol this session, but it’s unclear whether the...
View ArticleMinnesota's campaign-finance system should be more transparent
Legislators are focused on campaign-finance reform this session, and for good reason. In the aftermath of the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down the prohibition...
View Article38% of Minnesota schoolkids on free or reduced-price lunch
A smack of reality ... Julie Siple of MPR reports:“New data from the Minnesota Department of Education show the number of students on free or reduced-price lunch rose 3.8 percent over last year. There...
View Article'New affluent workers' and 'precariats'? Britain's classes get makeover
Britain's infamous class system has become fragmented and unrepresentative of the country’s new social and economic order, a new study has concluded.Instead of the traditional three groupings of upper,...
View ArticleMadrid, Catalonia play down secret talks on independence
Spain’s central government and its secessionist-minded economic motor Catalonia hardened their positions Wednesday after a discreet attempt to renegotiate the region's fiscal deal with Madrid went...
View ArticleWhen Egypt's satirists poke fun, public prosecutor hits back
Egypt is escalating a series of cases against government critics, and pursuing investigations against journalists, comedians, and activists in what the president's critics say is a bid to silence them....
View ArticleSyrian conflict exacts heavy toll on women
IDLIB PROVINCE, Northwest Syria — A group of young women sits huddled around a diesel heater sipping tea in a stone cottage in the village of Seyjar. Outside, their children use stick guns to play...
View ArticleIsrael, Gaza exchange heaviest strikes since cease-fire
JERUSALEM — Israel and Gaza have exchanged some of the heaviest airstrikes since the truce negotiated in November which ended Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense on the Strip.The Israel Air Force...
View Article'Close your foreign accounts or be fired,' Putin tells Russian officials
President Vladimir Putin has ordered all Russian officials to get rid of any bank accounts and financial securities they may hold abroad and bring them home to Russia by July 1, or face being fired.The...
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