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.
September 22, 2015 · 8:41 am
In May the state of Washington contracted with the GEO Group, one of the largest for-profit prison companies in the U.S., to move up to 1,000 inmates from the state’s overcrowded prisons to its correctional facility in Michigan, thousands of miles from their homes and families. This makes family visits and connection with the community harder, though studies show that inmates who receive more visits are less likely to re-offend after release. Continue reading →
September 20, 2015 · 7:06 pm
Is Pope Francis a breath of fresh air, throwing Vatican windows wide open to the world again, heralding a new day for the Catholic Church? Or is he a cafeteria progressive, choosing only certain social issues — environment, refugees, the poor — and maintaining a hard line on others —acceptance of LGBT people, role of women, anything to do with sexuality? Continue reading →
September 19, 2015 · 3:42 pm
Monarchs loved the bright red zinnias in the Merriam Station Community Garden
Monarchs fluttered through the giant red zinnias during the Merriam Station Community Garden Day. A few people listened to the program as I wandered through the gardens, snapping photos of pumpkins and flowers. Some 70 well-tended garden plots occupy this spot, a block north of I-94 and not many blocks east of my home. Volunteers run the sign-up and clean-up details for the community garden. People grow vegetables and flowers in their individual plots, and also donate food to Keystone Midway Food Shelf, both from individual plots and from a plot dedicated to producing for the food shelf. Continue reading →
September 13, 2015 · 7:28 pm
Yao Yang explains use of trellis
As I drive south on Highway 52 on a sunny Sunday afternoon, city and suburban landscapes give way to long vistas of corn and soybeans. Half an hour from home, I see rows of kale, lettuce, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, flowers and other vegetables marching across neatly tended fields. That’s my destination: the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA) open house, celebrating two years on their Dakota County farm. Continue reading →
September 11, 2015 · 9:10 pm
Page from one of the now-withdrawn Reading Horizons “Little Books”
The million dollar boondoggle that is Minneapolis Public Schools contract with Utah-based Reading Horizons continues. Now MPS wants Reading Horizons to rewrite its offensive and racist “Little Books.” MPS insists that “research shows this program has been successful in improving student outcomes around the country, including outcomes in diverse districts like ours.” Where is the research that MPS relied on? Does it exist? And if it doesn’t, what is explanation for a $1.2 million contract? Continue reading →
September 11, 2015 · 9:09 pm
Page from one of the now-withdrawn Reading Horizons “Little Books” –
Sarah Lahm started telling the story in August: A corporate contractor got more than a million dollars from Minneapolis Public Schools and delivered offensive teacher training and racist books. Nine or ten blog posts later, the story continues to grow and now the Washington Post has picked it up, crediting Lahm for her investigative reporting, which uncovered the scandal. Continue reading →
September 9, 2015 · 7:00 am
The Star Tribune reported last week that more than 3400 Minnesota rape kits have never been processed, characterizing the number as “part of a continuing national scandal.” Nationwide, the number of unprocessed rape kits may reach the hundreds of thousands.
A similar Cleveland Plain Dealer investigation, ongoing for the past five years, revealed serial rapists who were never prosecuted because rape kits were never processed. That, says Columbia Journalism Review, “means that every unsolved case is even more likely to be another rape waiting to happen, and that removing even a single rapist from the street eliminates an ongoing threat.” Continue reading →
September 7, 2015 · 1:51 pm
Labor Day in September started as a way to co-opt the May 1 international worker solidarity celebration, but labor and unions deserve at least two days of celebration. On Labor Day 2015, recent news coverage includes wins and losses and on-going struggles. For example, we can celebrate an unemployment rate lower than it was at any time during the Reagan presidency, and lower than any time since April 2008. That’s good news — but the bad news is that young workers and black workers still suffer much higher unemployment rates. Continue reading →
September 6, 2015 · 8:50 pm
Sue Swain speaking at NAMI press conference. Also pictured, Sue Abderholden and Jill Wiedemann-WEst
“In February 2009, I was desperate,” Sue Swain said. “My life was out of control and I needed help.” Already stressed by work and being a family caregiver, she now had to contend with a cancer diagnosis. The combination was too much to handle. But Swain found help at the Diane Ahrens crisis residence. During three days there, she ate nourishing meals, got help with managing prescriptions, and found counseling to deal with her burdens. Her short stay at the crisis residence, she says, was the “first and most critical step on my path to wellness.”
Continue reading →
September 5, 2015 · 10:28 am
Had enough of this week’s death and horror? Here are six stories of hope and action, from Austria to California to Minnesota. Sometimes I need to focus on these stories to continue believing that each of us can make a difference. If you need that lift, too, read on. Continue reading →
Mary Turck