Category Archives: St. Paul Notes

Global students in St. Paul: LEAP High School

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Rose Santos, LEAP principal, with self-portraits created by LEAP students. 

“A cow will drink calf’s milk.” What does this proverb mean? On a sunny winter afternoon, eleven students from six different countries share proverbs from their own countries. They say the proverb first in the original language, then translate, and finally explain the meaning. The cow drinking calf’s milk? “When they get older, parents must depend on their children.”

The students discussing proverbs are among 272 students from 20 different countries enrolled at LEAP High School, a St. Paul public school that welcomes new immigrants who are 15-20 years old. They study a regular high school curriculum, in all-English-language classes, trying hard to cram 12 years of education into four or five or six.  Continue reading

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Raccoons vs. recycling: Twin Cities composting gets easier

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Photo by Luke Hollins, published under Creative Commons license.

I’m a klutz at composting. Every time I’ve tried, the stuff just sits there. So I am happy to see that the Twin Cities are making composting easier, with curbside pick-up for organics in Minneapolis and easy organics drop-off sites in St. Paul. Big news: St. Paul now has 24/7 drop-off sites, so you can get rid of the accumulated food waste before the raccoons raid your collection bin. Continue reading

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St. Paul picks Eureka: Now let’s talk organics recycling

 

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Photo courtesy of Eureka Recycling

Eureka Recycling will continue as St. Paul’s recycling provider, the city announced June 24. That’s a big win for all of us in the city, as well as for the non-profit Eureka Recycling. After a lengthy contract process, the city rejected bids by the nation’s two biggest trash-and-recycling companies. So what comes next? Continue reading

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In sickness and in health: St. Paul stories

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Fatuma Ali told about her old job, running a ride at the Mall of America. “I know what it’s like not to be able to leave the job,” she said. One day she was sick. “I had to stay at my ride for five hours, while being sick in the garbage can every 30 minutes,” she recalled. She had no sick time. If she had left her job, she said, she would have been fired. Continue reading

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Money, grit and Galtier: School news round-up

school busI devour school news — probably far more of it than is good for my mental health. Several recent stories seem especially worth noting:

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You, Stephen Colbert, and St. Paul Public Schools

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Today is #BestSchoolDay on donorschoose.org, and Stephen Colbert is leading dozens of celebrities in funding teacher requests for books and materials their classrooms need. Students in Mrs. Hall’s classroom at Como Park Elementary School need A-D leveled guided reading books for small-group instruction. Her students come from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds, and many speak English as a second language. You can click here to help buy books for Mrs. Hall’s students.   Continue reading

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Organizing St. Paul: Trash and alley plowing on the agenda

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Image via Fotolia: #80127845 | Author: vostal

Walking around my neighborhood, I counted the different names on garbage cans in a couple of alleys. One block had garbage cans belonging to seven different trash haulers. Another block had eleven. That’s eleven different trucks coming down the alley on different days of the week, every week, and that’s a feature of the current “open” system for trash pick-up. Rational? Efficient? Environmentally friendly? Not in my book. Continue reading

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Recycling ride-along in St. Paul

Screen Shot 2016-02-14 at 6.45.12 PMLike Twins players, Eureka drivers star on trading cards. The back of Kirk Frauenhelm’s card reveals that he’s an avid gardener, has been driving for Eureka since 2010 and has picked up almost 10 million pounds of recycling. That’s an old card, so he’s well over the 10-million-pound mark now. Luckner Clerveus started just last year, and boasts only a little more than a million pounds picked up. Continue reading

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Trash talk in St. Paul

Recycling ddustbins

Image via Fotolia: #80127845 | Author: vostal

St. Paul has 19 licensed residential trash haulers. I’m sure they are all good, but I’d rather not see and hear different trucks rumbling through our alley five days a week. A study by Wilder Research and another by the Macalester Groveland Community Council find that most St. Paul residents agree, and many trash haulers would also like to see a more organized, rational system. The Mac-Groveland study ended up recommending that “haulers contract with the City through a consortium to develop a more efficient trash collection system which will benefit all of us, including the small and local haulers whom we seek to support. “ Continue reading

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Eureka Recycling: Pro-employee, pro-environment, local and responsible

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Sorters at Eureka’s MRF – photo courtesy of Eureka

The Minneapolis Public Works Department has recommended a five-year contract with Eureka Recycling to process all of the city’s recycling. Next, it’s St. Paul’s turn to decide between the local non-profit and the biggest private companies in North America for pick-up and processing. Choosing Eureka makes sense from both economic and environmental perspectives. Continue reading

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