Author Archives: Mary Turck

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About Mary Turck

News Day, written by Mary Turck, analyzes, summarizes, links to, and comments on reports from news media around the world, with particular attention to immigration, education, and journalism. Fragments, also written by Mary Turck, has fiction, poetry and some creative non-fiction. Mary Turck edited TC Daily Planet, www.tcdailyplanet.net, from 2007-2014, and edited the award-winning Connection to the Americas and AMERICAS.ORG, in its pre-2008 version. She is also a recovering attorney and the author of many books for young people (and a few for adults), mostly focusing on historical and social issues.
October 28, 2009 · 7:32 am

NEWS DAY | Twin Cities are tops in housing, safety / Police lie, Minneapolis pays / More U.S., U.N. deaths in AfPak war

Number One

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We’re number one! Forbes magazine has just named the Twin Cities the safest place to live, and Twin Cities home price increases lead the nation, with 3.2 percent in August, on top of 4.6 percent from June to July. Of course, when you look at the numbers a little more closely, you find that foreclosure rates are also higher than the rest of the nation, and that home prices are still one-third below 2006 levels, but why let the numbers get in the way of a good headline?

The Star Tribune reports that rising home prices in the Twin Cities lead the nation, though prices remain 13.7 percent below August 2008 levels. One of the factors bolstering the housing market is the federal first-time-home-buyer tax credit, which has pushed homes sales throughout the summer, but is set to expire at the end of November. The Strib reports: “The median price [for Twin Cities homes] peaked in September 2006 at $229,000 and bottomed in April at $153,000.” August’s median home price was $175,000.

Foreclosure rates are rising right along with home prices:

Data released today by Realty Trac, an online marketplace for foreclosed properties, show foreclosures rising faster locally than nationally. The Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area had 9,767 foreclosure filings in the third quarter, a 13.5 percent increase from the second quarter and nearly double the third-quarter total last year, Realty Trac said.

But at least Forbes loves us, gushing:

Minneapolis tops our list of America’s safest cities, and not just for its crime rate. In ranking the cities on our list, we looked at workplace fatalities, traffic-related deaths and natural disaster risk; the City of Lakes ranked in the top 10 of all four categories. It’s also one of America’s best places to live cheaply and offers easy access to some of the most scenic drives in the country.

And what about St. Paul? We’re just lumped in as part of the “Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI” metropolitan area.

Minneapolis pays again This time the city is paying $100,000 for bad policing, a settlement for police misconduct caught on a Hennepin County Safe Zone video camera, reports the Star Tribune. The lawsuit alleged false arrest and discrimination, and the video showed that police officers’ descriptions of what happened were just about 180 degrees from the truth. See the video on the Strib website. One of the officers is already under investigation for his actions as part of the Metro Gang Strike Force, but police spokesperson Jesse Garcia said he wasn’t aware of any internal investigation or discipline based on the north Minneapolis traffice stop resulting in the settlement.

Judge Robert Blaeser had earlier dismissed criminal charges filed against the couple in the case, after viewing the tape and reviewing the police reports:

“One officer says the car was silver; one says it was gold,” Blaeser said. “One says it ran a red light; one doesn’t say anything about that. One says he saw somebody throw something out the driver’s door; the other one did not. One says the passenger was jumping on the back of an officer, pulling the officer, and that he maced her; and the other one does not. I’m going to find that there’s not enough credible evidence for a stop in this case.”

Bostrom vs. Fletcher Assistant St. Paul police chief Matt Bostrom formed a Bostrom for Sheriff committee, which means he probably will run against incumbent Sheriff Bob Fletcher in next year’s election, according to the Star Tribune.

Bostrom starts his race with a lot of firepower backing him with campaign co-chairs including U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn.; state Sen. Mee Moua; Police Chief John Harrington and Ramsey County Commissioners Victoria Reinhardt and Tony Bennett.

Bostrom helped oversee RNC security plannning, and drew criticism from Fletcher during that time, recalls the Minnesota Independent, with Fletcher “repeatedly warning that the St. Paul department had failed to recruit enough police officers to ensure that it went off without serious problems.” Fletcher’s RNC conduct is certain to be an issue in the campaign, but it’s not the only one:

The four-term incumbent’s also been at the center of an investigation into the activities of the beleaguered — and now disbanded — Metro Gang Strike Force. Two damning reports released earlier this year alleged that the law enforcement agency routinely seized money from citizens without justification, failed to adequately keep track of its assets and displayed a general disregard for the civil rights of citizens, particularly minorities. The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department was the fiscal agent for the gang strike force.

War Reports

Pakistan Nearly 100 people are already reported killed in a market bombing in Peshawar, reports NPR, as Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arrived in Islamabad for a three-day visit. According to the Washington Post:

The bombing early Wednesday in a crowded market in Peshawar — about three hour’s drive from the capital — was the deadliest attack in Pakistan this year, and the latest in a wave of suicide bombings, assassinations and attacks staged in response to a major Pakistani offensive against insurgent sanctuaries near the Afghanistan border.

Afghanistan Eight more U.S. troop deaths in two attacks Tuesday brought the total U.S. troop toll to 55 for October, the highest number in any month since the war began, according to AP. All the deaths were in Kandahar province, and other troops were wounded in the fighting.

The military issued a statement saying the deaths occurred during “multiple, complex” bomb strikes. It said several troops were wounded and evacuated to a nearby medical facility, but gave no other details.

In addition to military deaths, three U.S. DEA agents were killed, along with soldiers, in a helicopter crash on Monday, and the bodies of three civilian crew members were recovered from the wreckage of a U.S. army plane that crashed in western Afghanistan two weeks ago. According to BBC, the three were also U.S. nationals.

Also on Wednesday, reports AP, the Taliban attacked both a U.N. guesthouse and a luxury hotel in the capital city of Kabul:

Gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital early Wednesday, killing 12 people – including six U.N. staff – officials said. The U.S. Embassy said one of the U.N. dead was American. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.

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October 27, 2009 · 7:19 am

NEWS DAY | Pilots blame laptop / One more hole in the safety net / Flu anxiety epidemic / Waking up hungry / more

NWA planeBlame it on the laptop Maybe the air traffic controllers trying to reach the two pilots on Northwest Flight 188 should just have emailed them. According to MPR:

First officer Richard Cole told the National Transportation Safety Board that he was explaining the scheduling procedures to the plane’s captain, Timothy Cheney, while the plane cruised past the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport at 37,000 feet. The new scheduling system was initiated following the merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines.

For an hour. As they heard and ignored radio calls from air traffic controllers. And failed to notice messages from company dispatchers.

The pilots acknowledged that while they were engaged in working on their laptops they weren’t paying attention to radio traffic, messages from their airline or their cockpit instruments, the board said.

Former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall called the pilots’ behavior “inexcusable,” and no one is arguing with that. MPR’s News Cut has the NTSB memo and LOTS of discussion. The comments and the responses from Bob Collins make for interesting reading and are a great example of what a comment section looks like when it works – intelligent, informed discussion and dialogue.

Meanwhile, systemic problems still need to be addressed. MinnPost reports that everyone agrees on the need for better rules about airline safety, including revisions of sleep standards to prevent pilot fatigue, which was implicated in several recent incidents, summarized in the Christian Science Monitor.

One more hole in safety net Two emergency aid programs will end this week, reports the Star Tribune, probably putting more people on the street. Governor Tim Pawlenty cut funding for Emergency General Assistance and the state’s Emergency Minnesota Supplemental Aid (EMSA), both last-chance lifelines for impoverished, childless adults.  Emergency funds are frequently used to get people into housing, by paying the upfront security deposit costs that would otherwise be an insurmountable barrier, even for individuals or families that can pay the monthly rent.

State officials say that the counties should use stimulus funds to meet their needs:

But that’s not an ideal solution, said Tom Pingatore, program manager with Hennepin County’s Economic Assistance department. Part of the problem, he said, is that TANF money goes to families with children, not single adults or childless couples.

Advocates point out that emergency money to keep or place people in housing actually saves money in the long-term. St. Stephens compared costs to the county for six people during the year before they were placed in housing and the year after:

The year they were homeless, the six cost the county and city about $95,000 for time spent in jail and at the workhouse, detox center, shelter and emergency room. The year they had housing, the cost came to about $16,000 — an average savings per person of $13,000.

Flu anxiety epidemic Park Nicollet opened and closed a flu shot hotline Monday, after the hotline was swamped with 120,000 calls in four hours, reports the Star Tribune:

The clinic, which had announced that it had 17,000 doses, was so unprepared for the outpouring that its entire phone system temporarily crashed under the weight of the calls.

Minnesota needs 718,000 doses for high risk patients, and expects to receive a total of 300,000 by the end of this week. As for Park Nicollet – they are asking high-risk patients to email flushot@parknicollet.com.

The Washington Post reports that federal officials blame vaccine makers for overly-optimistic delivery schedules:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in television interviews Monday that officials had been “relying on the manufacturers to give us their numbers, and as soon as we got numbers we put them out to the public. It does appear now that those numbers were overly rosy.”

World/National News

Let them eat cake Although the House passed a bill extending unemployment benefits last month by a huge 331 to 83 vote, the Senate is still haggling over Republican objections and amendments, according to Minnesota Independent — and 125,000 workers have run out of benefits while they bicker.

Waking up hungry AP reportsthat hunger is rising around the world, and that food prices are rising for the poor, even as global commodity prices and prices to farmers drop precipitously.One out of six people in the world “will wake up not sure they can even fill a cup of food,” according to Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program.

“The food crisis is not over. We have an anomaly happening where on global, big markets, the prices are down, but for 80 percent of commodities in the developing world, prices are higher today than they were a year ago, and the prices a year ago were double what they were the year before that,” she said.

Sheeran cited climate change, escalating fuel costs and falling incomes as causes for the increase in hunger, saying that 1.02 billion people are now “urgently hungry,” an increase of 200 million in the past two years.

Ex-Marine Foreign Service officer resigns in protest Matthew Hoh, who served in the Marine Corps in Iraq and then as a civilian Foreign Service officer in Afghanistan, resigned in protest last month, reports the Washington Post. Hoh said he had “lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan,” and that his resignation was “based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.” He said that U.S. military presence in Afghanistan was strengthening the insurgency in what is essentially a civil war.

“I’m not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love,” he told the Washington Post.

“There are plenty of dudes who need to be killed,” he said of al-Qaeda and the Taliban. “I was never more happy than when our Iraq team whacked a bunch of guys.” …

As the White House deliberates over whether to deploy more troops, Hoh said he decided to speak out publicly because “I want people in Iowa, people in Arkansas, people in Arizona, to call their congressman and say, ‘Listen, I don’t think this is right.’ “

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October 26, 2009 · 7:24 am

NEWS DAY | The flu or the weather? / God’s bank closed / Under the radar and off the web / more

SH-Med-syringe-082204-4The flu or the weather? Everybody’s talking about them, and nobody seems able to do much about the course that either will take. This week’s forecast: rising flu saturation throughout the state, with a continuing shortage of flu shots.

Crookston schools closed Wednesday, as 15 percent of the districts 1,270 students were out with the flu, according to Minnesota 2020. Some 210 schools across the state reported flu outbreaks October 4-10, according to the Minnesota Department of Health’s most recent figures, up 72 percent over the preceding week. The MN 2020 article has more recent reports from a dozen schools across the state.

A 54-year-old Waseca hospital administrator died Saturday night, after an H1N1 diagnosis, reports MPR. It’s not yet clear whether H1N1 was the cause of death. The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed 10 deaths due to H1N1 and others are under investigation.

The Star Tribune reports that H1N1 is keeping lawyers busy. That doesn’t sound like a logical connection, but the story is that employment lawyers are getting queries from businesses about what kind of workplace rules they can establish — Can they require vaccination? Do they have to pay people who are sick but have no sick days? And so on.

President Obama declared  a national state of emergency Saturday, in regard to the H1N1 flu. According to the Washington Post, the declaration will allow greater flexibility for hospitals to respond:

The president granted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the power to lift some federal regulations for medical providers, including allowing hospitals to set up off-site facilities to increase the number of available beds and protect patients who are not infected.

Oh, and that weather forecast? WCCO says rain possible by Wednesday, staying through Friday, with temps above freezing until Saturday.

God’s bank closed, others on watch list Riverview Community Bank failed Friday, becoming the fifth Minnesota bank and the 106th U.S. bank to be closed this year. MPR reports that the bank’s owner had claimed divine backing:

When Riverview opened in March 2003, co-founder Chuck Ripka told the Pioneer Press that God told him to get the bank going.

“He said, ‘Chuck, if you do all the things I told you to do, I promise you I will take care of the bottom line,”‘ Ripka said in 2004.

The bank was cited by the FDIC in June for “unsafe and unsound” banking practices, according to the Minnesota Independent. Former MN secretary of state Mary Kiffmeyer was on the bank’s board of directors.

According to MPR, bank regulators from the MN Department of Commerce said in October that 71 of the state’s banks, some 22 percent of the total, are on a watch list. That’s up from 65 on the watch list in the spring. Riverview’s two branches were set to reopen on Saturday as branches of Stillwater-based Central Bank.

The City Miracles blog wrote about the bank in 2004:

One of the key indicators of the success of the Elk River prototype, and a component of the detonation process, has been Riverview Community Bank. This bank, founded in March, 2003, has accumulated $100 million in deposits in 28 months, making it one of the fasted growing start-up banks in the history of the State of Minnesota. During this period 100 people have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord during banking hours. Additionally, 70 people have been healed when they received prayer at the bank. The New York Times wrote a ten-page article about this bank in their Sunday Magazine published on October 31, 2004.


Under the radar and off the web In a print-edition-only article Sunday, the Star Tribune reported the latest on a fraudulent currency investment program promoted by Twin Cities money managers that swindled investors across the United States, Europe and Latin America. According to the Strib, “complaints have flowed into federal authorities” since at least last November. In July, nine people from Ohio filed suit in Minneapolis federal court, and since then the feds have been investigating through the SEC and a grand jury. At that time, the Star Tribune reported:

Two Ohio families and their pastor filed a federal lawsuit in Minneapolis this week accusing some “confusingly intertwined” Twin Cities investment advisers and a dozen business entities of fraud, misrepresentation and other breaches in the handling of their life savings.

The eight plaintiffs claimed Trevor Cook, 37, of Burnsville and Gerald Durand, 58, of Lakeville persuaded them to invest nearly $5 million in a currency arbitrage program that guaranteed instant liquidity and promised annual returns of 10.5 to 12 percent

According to several sources, the Department of Justice simply does not have enough experienced staff members to keep up with complex financial fraud cases. Maybe they should hire the Strib’s Dan Browning, who has reported extensively on the story, following the money trail from Minnesota to California to Panama. Browning’s reporting is a textbook example of the need for full-time, salaried investigative reporters. Few if any free-lancers or bloggers could afford to devote as much investigative and reporting time to this story that he has done, and that time is needed to produce comprehensive coverage of a real public menace.

The October 25 article says that Jerry Watkins used his “Your Money matters” radio show to recruit investors for Oxford Global Advisors, and that the firm was also promoted by Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook, Burnsville radio talk show host Pat Kiley (“Follow the Money”), and associates at “a number of Twin Cities business entities that have Oxford, Universal Brokerage or the initials UB in their names.” The investments were also promoted on the Worldwide Christian Radio shortwave network. Watkins continued to promote the schemes and take people’s money, even while awaiting sentencing in Minneapolis on “an unrelated scheme that had bilked $20 million from investors,” which was run by Forest Lake preacher Neulan Midkiff.

Christopher Bebel, a former SEC attorney and federal prosecutor, said:

“I’d have to say that this case is especially appallling because it’s an affinity fraud in the sense that it focuses on investors who have their guard down because of the trusting environment–the Christian radio network that was utilized.”

National/International news

Zimbabwe Some 50 government soldiers were sent to search and ransack the offices of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, headed by Prime Minister Mogan Tsvangirai. AP notes:

The raid signals the fragility of Zimbabwe’s unity government and undoubtedly will worsen the already bitter relationship between President Robert Mugabe and the prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Mr. Mugabe was forced into a power-sharing government with Mr. Tsvangirai, a longtime opposition leader, after disputed elections. Mr. Tsvangirai withdrew from the coalition government on Oct. 16.

War Reports

Afghanistan Fopurteen U.S. soldiers and civilians were killed in two helicopter crashes, reports NPR. In the south, two helicopters collided. In the west, the helicopter had left an area of heavy fighting, but U.S. officials said it was not shot down. Two other U.S. troops died on Sunday, bringing the total number for October to 46 so far. August was the worst month for U.S. combat deaths, with 51.

Run-off elecdtions scheduled for November 8 have been agreed to by both President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah. But now, reports BBC, Abdullah Abdullah is demanding the removal of the head of the election commission. That commission presided over and tried to deny the massive fraud in the August 20 elections.

Iraq car bombs kill more than 150 Two car bombs in Baghdad killed at least 155 people on Sunday, and wounded at least 500 more, reports BBC. The bombs “hit the ministry of justice and a provincial government office near the heavily fortified Green Zone” during the morning rush hour, in the deadliest attack since April 2007. Analysts fear a ramping up of violence will continue as the January elections approach.

Pakistan army claims gains After a week of the offensive in South Waziristan, the Pakistan army says it has captured Kotkai. The New York Times explains:

The town, Kotkai, most of whose 5,000 residents had already fled, is the home of the new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, and one of the most feared Taliban commanders, Qari Hussain.

As fighting continued in South Waziristan, NPR reported that violence still wracks the rest of the country, with Friday bombings killing 24 people, including 17 who were on their way to a wedding. The army claims a total death toll during the South Waziristan offensive of 23 soldiers and 163 militants. Because access to the area is restricted, no independent verification is possible.

According to McClatchey news service, one of Friday’s car bombs exploded outside a suspected nuclear weapons facility, the airbase at Kamra.

Al Qaida has made clear its ambitions to get hold of a nuclear bomb or knowledge of nuclear technology. Several other sites associated with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons have been hit previously.

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October 23, 2009 · 3:52 pm

Too good not to share – Billionaires for Wealth Care

The Billionaires for Wealth Care took their song and dance to AHIP — — one of the big, industry-funded lobbying groups opposing a public option for health care. Here’s their YouTube video of the event, along with the lyrics to their song:

AHIP is the powerful insurance lobby that spends 5 million dollars a week trying to kill health care reform. Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network looking to stop them – with song.

• AHIP and other insurance and HMO interests spend nearly $5 million per week undermining real health care reform, including a public option.

• AHIP has resorted to out-right lying and scare tactics to block health care reform. They sent letters that lie to seniors about what health care reform means for Medicare, and they issued a report on the costs of health care reform legislation that is so misleading even the reports embarrassed authors distanced themselves from the way AHIP used their work.

• Every year, 45,000 people die because they cant get access to the health care they need. Yet AHIP continues to stand in the way of health care reform that would provide coverage to millions of Americans because the industry is more concerned with protecting profits than saving lives.

Lyrics to “Public Option Annie”

(to the tune of “Tomorrow” from Annie)

SINGER #1

No, thank you!

FOR KILLING THE PUBLIC OPTION

AND BLOCKING ANY HOPES OF ITS ADOPTION

THANK YOU, SIR!

SINGER #2
Sure,

BUT WHAT ABOUT COMPETITION?

IT’S AN OLD AMERICAN TRADITION

OR SO I’VE HEARD?

SINGER #1
Meh.

SINGER #3

WHEN OLYMPIA SNOWE

SAID NO,

IT CROAKED

Right?

SINGER #2

NO, THE OPTION’S NOT DEAD

SINGER #3

OR RED!

SINGER #1

EXPLAIN!

Who let these hippies in here?

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS

IF WE GET A PUBLIC OPTION

WE CAN SNIFF OUT WASTE

JUST LIKE A DACHSUND

COSTS COME DOWN!

SINGER #1

Hey, those “costs” are my profits!

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS

THE OPTION

THE OPTION

THE PUBLIC WANTS OPTIONS

WITHOUT IT,

IT’S A GIVEAWAY

SINGER #1

Exactly. To us. Am I in the right room?

THE OPTION

THE OPTION

THE PUBLIC WANTS AN OPTION

SINGERS #2 AND #3, and CHORUS MEMBERS

OR REFORM IS A CORP’RATE GIVE-A-WAY!

SINGER #1

Well, I’ve heard enough – my helicopter is parked in a handicap space.

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October 23, 2009 · 6:58 am

NEWS DAY | The plane / Animal stories / Flu scams / more

Question MarkWhat happened on that plane? Nobody knows, but the black box may tell. Pilots on Northwest Flight 188 say they were involved in a heated policy argument … that apparently distracted them so much that they didn’t see city lights below them, didn’t hear radio calls from Denver and Minneapolis, and completely lost track of the passage of time, as the plane flew over Minneapolis and continued for 100 miles off course into Wisconsin on Wednesday evening. Not everyone is buying the “heated argument” explanation, with some suspecting the pilots fell asleep. Continue reading →

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October 22, 2009 · 8:32 am

NEWS DAY | St. Paul school board / Insurance denied: Too fat, too thin, too … raped? / more

tc_schoolhouseSt. Paul school board elections – a real contest? With the teachers’ union endorsing challenger Jean O’Connell, and refusing to endorse incumbents Elona Street-Stewart, John Brodrick, and Tom Goldstein, the school board race is shaping up to be a real fight, reports the Pioneer Press, despite the fact that no incumbent has lost in the past three election cycles. In addition to O’Connell, who is running as an independent with both union and chamber of commerce endorsements, two Republicans are also in the race — Chris Conner and John Krenik. Then there’s the separate race to fill the seat vacated by Tom Conlon, with DFL and union-endorsed Vallay Varro squaring off against Republican-endorsed Pat Igo.

The achievement gap between students of color and white students and budget issues are at the top of every candidate’s issues list. For more info, see:

John Brodrick (incumbent)
Chris Conner
Tom Goldstein (incumbent)
John Krenik
Jean O’Connell
Elona Street-Stewart

Pat Igo
Vallay Varro

Insurance denied: Too fat, too thin, too … raped? After Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert both went after insurance companies for denying coverage to a “fat” baby, UnitedHealth is now in the spotlight for denying coverage to a too-skinny, but healthy, two-year-old, according to the Star Tribune:

Aislin, who weighs 22 pounds, was turned down by UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule subsidiary for not meeting height and weight standards. Children who are considered to be too slight are often viewed as at higher risk for contracting an illness.

After Aislin’s family went on national television, UnitedHealth reversed its decision.

Another insurance company is taking some heat for denying coverage because of a woman’s medical treatment for rape, apparently another pre-existing condition. The Huffington Post Investigative Fund reported her story, and says it’s not the only one.

Meanwhile, Governor Tim Pawlenty, who believes in leaving health care insurance to the insurance companies and keeping the government out of it, is proposing a new interstate compact tolet health insurance companies sell across state lines. The PiPress quotes the Guv: “Our citizens will benefit from more robust competition, leading to increased choices and better values.”

And Paul Krugman reminds us that, when it comes to health care reform, “the facts have a liberal bias:”

Reform with a strong public option is cheaper than reform without — which means that as we get closer to really doing something, rhetoric about socialism fades out, and that $100 billion or so in projected savings starts to look awfully attractive.

Land of 10,000 (polluted?) lakes Environment Minnesota released a new report showing that more than two million tons of toxic chemicals were dumped into Minnesota lakes and rivers in 2007, part of 232 million tons of toxic chemicals dumped in waters across the country. Minnesota ranks 30th among the states in tonnage of toxic chemicals reported.

The full 44-page report, based on the federal government’s Toxic Release Inventory, notes that the TRI covers only industrial pollution, and does not include pollution from wastewater treatment plants, agricultural facilities or other sources.

Pollutant releases from factories, power plants and other industrial facilities are a key contributing factor to the pollution that leaves 46 percent of the nation’s assessed rivers and streams and 61 percent of its assessed lakes unsafe for fishing, swimming or other uses.

The report recommends encouraging the development and use of safer alternatives to toxic chemicals and strengthening enforcement of the Clean Water Act, expanding it to include “headwaters streams, intermittent waterways, isolated wetlands and other waterways for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question as a result of recent court decisions.”

H1N1, but no shots Rather than the 120 million shots promised for October delivery, only 12.8 million were available by October 20, according to AP. Federal officials are now predicting 50 million doses by mid-November and 150 million in December. Adults need one shot, and children need two.

In a sign of how rapidly the virus is spreading, education officials said 198 schools in 15 states were closed Wednesday because of swine flu, with more than 65,000 students affected. That was up from 88 school closings the day before.

For Minnesota information, call the new Minnesota FluLine – 1-866-259-4655. Be prepared to wait – yesterday was the first day, and call volume was heavy.

R.T. for Dolan No surprise here.  Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak is backing Police Chief Tim Dolan for a second three-year term, reports the Star Tribune, citing an “unusually strong partnership.” After serving for six months as interim chief, Dolan was approved for the position in 2006 by a 12-1 council vote, with only councilmember Ralph Remington dissenting. Remington says he hasn’t changed his mind, but it’s unclear whether the next vote on Dolan will come before the end of the year, when Remington is retiring from the council:

[Remington] was troubled by allegations of institutional racism raised by five high-ranking black officers in a lawsuit, which the city settled for $740,000. Remington said Dolan also hasn’t been consistent in doling out discipline, an issue raised by the Police Federation. He criticized Dolan’s record on diversifying the department, though nearly 19 percent of the department are people of color, the most ever.

Dolan’s supporters point to double-digit decreases in violent crime over the past three years, and say he has disciplined more police officers than any other chief.

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October 21, 2009 · 7:38 am

NEWS DAY | Public wants public option / Jon Stewart on H1N1 / More

© nicolasjoseschirado - Fotolia.com

© nicolasjoseschirado - Fotolia.com

Public option or private bankruptcy A clear majority of 57 percent supports a public option for health care reform, according to the latest Washgton Post-ABC News poll. That’s up from a mid-August low point of 52 percent, but down from June’s 62 percent in favor of a public option. A majority of Republicans support a limited public option: Continue reading →

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October 20, 2009 · 6:37 am

NEWS DAY | Gangs in the news: MPCA gag order / Gang Strike Force claims / UnitedHealth profits up

<a href=MPCA issues gag order: What? Right, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued a gag order against a Carver County Commissioner after he showed — on camera — that their inspector’s report about a sewage system was wrong, wrong, wrong. How does the MPCA get the authority to issue a gag order? Not clear to me, or to Carver County Commissioner Tom Workman, according to the Star Tribune. Continue reading →

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October 19, 2009 · 7:55 am

NEWS DAY | Flu, vaccine, and MN pigs / Mortgage foreclosures dead ahead / War Reports

<a href=Flu, vaccine, and MN pigs “Unprecedented levels” of flu were reported by the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) last week, saying that “the amount of influenza and pneumonia mortality is above the epidemic threshold.” The CDC and others say that more swine flu vaccine will be available by the end of the month, and express concern about resistance to getting vaccinated. According to NPR, about one third of people who don’t want vaccination are worried about side effects, 28 percent say they don’t think they are at risk, and 25 percent say they can get medication and treatment if they do get the flu. Not necessarily, says Arthur Kellermann, an emergency medicine physician at the Emory University School of Medicine who has treated swine flu cases: Continue reading →

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October 16, 2009 · 9:47 am

NEWS DAY | More Michele, more of the time / What do MN unemployment numbers mean? / MN’s looming health care disaster

Michele BachmannMore Michele, more of the time With a feature story in the New York Times, talk show appearances, and continuing 24/7 coverage by local media, Michele Bachmann is riding high. This week’s crop includes reports that Bachmann has one of the worst show-up-for-voting records in the House of Representatives, that she has $600,000 in her campaign fund, that opposing candidates are “tip-toeing” around health care issues, that she’s talking to Glenn Beck (again), that she’s calling for the firing of Kevin Jennings, and that she has appeared on Glenn Beck’s show three times in September and three times in the first two weeks of October.

Any Michele Bachmann story guarantees a bump in readership numbers, both from those on the right who love her and those on the left who hate her, but can’t pass up one more Michele story. Michele stories drive ratings, and that means the stories will just keep coming.

What do MN unemployment numbers mean? Minnesota’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.7 percent to 7.3 percent in September, but the state also lost 7,900 jobs. How does that work?

The biggest part of the explanation is that MN unemployment figures do not include people who have given up looking for work. The MN Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) offered one explanation:

About 15,000 more Minnesotans were employed in September, but there were nearly 19,000 fewer who were unemployed. That means that 4,000 people left the labor force, reducing the state’s labor force participation rate to 72.3 percent last month. The labor force participation rate is the percentage of working-age people in Minnesota who are employed, or unemployed and looking for a job.

State economist Tom Stinson, quoted in the Star Tribune, cautioned that the 7.3 percent figure might be an anomaly, and cautioned:

“This is a big change, and the concern is that anytime you have a big change in a number that comes from a relatively small survey, it may just be a problem with the sample,” Stinson said. A similarly low number next month would confirm the unemployment rate has fallen this far, he added.

And in a continuation of the good news/bad news theme, MPR notes that lower unemployment numbers will mean more unemployed workers losing unemployment compensation benefits:

While the declining unemployment rate is an encouraging sign, it also means thousands of the state’s unemployed will be eligible for fewer weeks of benefits.

McElroy said the U.S. Department of Labor is expected to certify the new numbers next week, which would reduce the maximum number of weeks of unemployment benefits from 79 to 72 weeks. Up to an estimated 7,000 people could be affected by the change, 4,200 of them starting Nov. 14.

Minnesota’s looming healthcare disaster With General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) ending on March 1, by the governor’s decree, about 35,000 Minnesotans will be left without health care coverage. Casey Selix details the impact in MinnPost today, ranging from the financial wallop to hospitals to loss of desperately-needed prescription medications for individuals.

Program funds may run out even sooner, some time in February, reports MPR:

“Right now, we’re seeing that more and more people are needing health coverage under the program so the money is going faster than we thought it would,” said Michael Scandrett, director of the Minnesota Safety Net Coalition, a group is made up of dozens of hospitals, clinics, and other health providers. “It looks now like it could be some time in February when people could lose their coverage”

GAMC covers individuals making less than 75 percent of federal poverty guidelines, which would be about $8,000 for a single adult. Many make far less than that. Some 28 percent are homeless. Just over 60 percent have mental health and/or chemical dependency diagnoses.

The impact will go far beyond the people who lose GAMC coverage and their doctors, especially in Hennepin County, home to 41 percent of GAMC enrollees, and Ramsey County, home to 12.6 percent.  Monica Nilsson, director of street outreach for St. Stephen’s Human Services in Minneapolis, told MinnPost that downtown businesses will also see the effects:

“They’re always complaining about panhandling and people causing disturbances,” Nilsson said, “and I’ve been saying that if you think we have an economic development issue now, just wait until our folks can’t get their anti-psychotic meds. There will be a lot more people talking to themselves” on March 1.

While Pawlenty has said that GAMC recipients should enroll in MinnesotaCare, advocates say that’s no answer. MinnesotaCare charges both premiums and co-pays, and the people receiving GAMC have no money for either.

Meanwhile, costs for another Minnesota health care program are skyrocketing. Politics in Minnesota examines the state’s high-risk insurance pool – a nonprofit called the Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association (MCHA). While enrollment is holding steady at about 28,000, costs are increasing and MCHA’s funding base is eroding.

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