Category Archives: Uncategorized

Giving unsolicited advice is silly, but just for today, I’m going to do it anyway. Graduates, especially, probably have much better things to do than reading my advice, such as finishing those final papers, basking in the sunshine, or enjoying free food at a succession of graduation parties. No matter. I’m going to unleash my hard-earned wisdom on the world whether anyone reads it or not. Continue reading →

With rental rates rising and transit-oriented development booming along the almost-ready-for-prime-time Central Corridor, what’s happening to poor people in the Twin Cities? Two recent articles sound distress signals, but there’s a ray of hope from the legislature. Continue reading →

Ron Meador — longtime and trusted environmental journalist — reported today on the latest study on honey bee die-offs, and the news is not good. The Harvard study adds to the evidence that neonicotinoid insecticides are the chief, and perhaps the only, factor in the die-offs known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Moreover, the neonicotinoids cause harm at a lower level than previously believed, and persist in soil and water for years. Continue reading →

UPDATED 5/22/2014 – A patriotic criminal, a fearful daughter, and a fraud preying on fear: three stories show three views of just how crazy our immigration system is. Continue reading →

1700 onion sets and 40 pounds of blue potatoes — such is the stuff that springtime dreams are made of! Continue reading →

A Native American group says the Sandpiper crude oil pipeline will endanger land protected by treaties. Will the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and, ultimately, state and federal courts consider the treaty claims? Continue reading →

Rents go up, long-term unemployment persists, and hard work is “just not enough” to get out of poverty. Continue reading →

276 girls kidnapped from their school in Nigeria. Oromo students shot down by police in Ethiopia. What do these tragedies have to do with Minnesota? Continue reading →

Want to get slower internet service? Want to let two or three big corporations control what you can find on the internet? No? Then you need to care about net neutrality. Continue reading →

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Eight years ago, I began writing a book about immigration. I wanted to explain, in very simple terms, the way that U.S. immigration laws worked, how they failed to work, how they hurt people, and what needed to change. Some people asked my why I would work on such a book, when “everything is going to change next year with immigration reform.” Continue reading →