With three murders in the last week pushing the year’s toll to 24, Minneapolis crime is in the news. The latest three: a shooting on the Northside on Thursday, and two shootings in south Minneapolis on Saturday and Sunday. The Daily Planet explains how to find the statistics, and has a chart of the past ten years. Continue reading
Author Archives: Mary Turck
NEWS DAY | Murder in Minneapolis / What would Emmer cut? / Bring on the drones / more
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NEWS DAY | World Cup / Political shenanigans from MN to SC / More on BP
The World Cup international soccer tournament, held every four years, launched with opening ceremonies in South Africa last night. Less-known in the United States, the World Cup is a huge international event, leading news and Twitter postings worldwide. More than three million tickets have been sold, and hundreds of millions will watch on television in 215 countries. This is the 19th World Cup, and the first time the tournament has taken place in Africa. The 64 games will take place over the next month, with the final game on July 11. Wikipedia describes in detail how the 32 national teams were selected and scheduled. Continue reading
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NEWS DAY | RIP Officer Duy Ngo / Nurses’ warnings / Helen Thomas / Paying Afghan bad guys
Officer Duy Ngo committed suicide June 7, seven years after he was shot repeatedly by a fellow officer. In a sorrowful and angry column, MPR’s Bob Collins recalls the shameful history of the Minneapolis Police Department’s treatment of Officer Ngo: Continue reading
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Following the numbers – not always easy, even for journos
When I read the Strib article on home health care overbilling, I recalled last year’s 60 Minutes exposé of highly-organized health care fraud in Florida, and tried to check back to see what has been done to investigate, prosecute, and stop the fraud. The first article that turned up was a May 6 CBS I-Team report from Florida, charging that “government investigators say CMS still can’t accurately track improper Medicare payments.” That sounded important, but the article itself was confusing, referring to the 60 Minutes report, quoting President Obama in a context that was not clear, and referring to “a new bill” to attack fraud. Continue reading
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By the numbers: Figuring out health care fraud
Billing for 32-hour days for three days in a row, as reported in the May 23 Star Tribune, looks like an outrageous example of health care fraud. Turns out – it wasn’t. The personal care assistant in the example didn’t receive the overpayment. The health care billing agency that did receive the money paid it back when they discovered the mistake. Continue reading
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Mainstream meets Twitter meets Gaza Flotilla
A “late-breaking” news item at the end of the 10 p.m. TV newscast said the Rachel Corrie ship, part of the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla,” had been boarded by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). That sent me diving for my computer, to find out what I could.
UPDATE 8:15 a.m. 6/5/2010 Minnesota time: About five hours after the Twitter and news reports described in this post, the Rachel Corrie was, in fact, boarded by the IDF and towed into Ashdod. That would be between 3 and 4 a.m. CDT, between 4 and 5 a.m. EDT, or between 11 a.m. and noon in Jerusalem.
The Twitter-verse was full of news on #RachelCorrie and #flotilla, mostly about the IDF boarding the ship, placing all aboard under arrest, and steering the ship toward Ashdod. I like Twitter, but consider its reliability very limited, so I headed for more traditional news media. Continue reading
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Unemployment numbers, MN nurses, Gaza news, BP cap
Officially, unemployment fell slightly in May, to a seasonally adjusted 9.7 percent. The total unemployment figure, including those who are marginally attached to the workforce, discouraged workers, and those working part-time because they cannot find full-time work – seasonally adjusted at 16.6 percent. Continue reading
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No campaigns / No Hope / No BP fix / Erlinder update
Campaign season, but these politicos can kick back and relax: Willmar’s West Central Tribune reports that MN Representative Paul Anderson from Starbuck (District 13A) doesn’t have to worry about campaigning this summer. He’s one of five legislators with no opponent in November. All five are Republicans – State Senator Warren Limmer (District 32), Representative Paul Shimanski (18A), Representative Paul Torkelson (21B), and Joe Hoppe (31B). Continue reading
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News Cut / Twin Cities schools / BP, Gaza, Afghanistan
I’m a fan of MPR’s “Five by 8” – five stories highlighted by 8 a.m. in the NewsCut blog. They range from the deadly serious (competing video accounts of Israel’s attack on the Gaza flotilla) to the whimsical (robots creating robots) to the silly (do dogs prefer HDTV?) A little later than 8 a.m., my picks for the stories of the day include Twin Cities school news and lay-offs, Gaza news coverage, attacks on peace talks in Afghanistan, and BP’s ongoing failures as the oil slick nears Florida beaches. Continue reading
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BP: “This scares everybody”
UPDATE 6/2/2010: The latest maneuver – trying to cut the pipe and then cap it – ran into trouble, as the drill got “stuck.” The Justice Department is now pursuing unspecified criminal investigations. And the oil is nearing Florida’s beaches.
Operation Top Kill has failed to stop the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The Los Angeles Times quotes BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles: “After three full days, we have been unable to overcome the flow from the well, so we now believe it is time to move on to another option . . . This scares everybody — the fact that we can’t make this well stop flowing or the fact that we haven’t succeeded so far.” Continue reading
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Mary Turck