March 20, 2009 · 10:15 am

News Day: RNC acquittals / More Michelle / MN tax and budget wrangling/ Ethanol, books, coffee, more

I’m writing on the fly this morning — literally — and hoping to post when we land in Newark, so advance apologies if I miss any late-breaking news. I’m out of town until Wednesday, so Monday-Wednesday blog posts may be shorter, later, or just a little different.

Not guilty for RNC protesters Two more RNC protesters were acquitted by a Ramsey County jury Thursday. That continues a solid winning streak, with no protesters yet convicted at trials. The jury evidently found police testimony not credible. Another RNC trial is still going on, with Sean McCoy facing misdemeanor charges of parading without a permit and fleeing a police officer. Some lawyers from the National Lawyers Guild suggest that St. Paul city attorney John Choi should just throw out all of the remaining misdemeanor cases. (He’s already decided that hundreds of arrests lack a basis for prosecution.)
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March 19, 2009 · 8:17 am

News Day: MN unemployment up to 8.1% / Liberian countdown / Best AIG advice / Civil rights in Minneapolis / more

UPDATED: Minnesota’s unemployment hit 8.1 percent in February, matching the national rate, as the state shed 13,300 jobs during the month, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development. January’s MN unemployment rate was 7.6 percent (NOT including “discouraged” workers, who have given up looking for full-time jobs, or those who are involuntarily working part-time because they can’t find full-time work.)

Nationwide, new unemployment insurance benefit claims last week were down to “only” 594,121, a decrease of 58,515 from the previous week. For a little perspective — there were 335,917 initial claims in the comparable week in 2008, and the total number of people claiming state unemployment insurance benefits was 6,332,272, up from 3,297,238 in 2008. Full federal report here.
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March 18, 2009 · 8:16 am

News Day: Bachmann again / Dirty coal, clean wind / From CCC to Americorps / Budget battles / MN Job Watch / Sara Jane, AIG, more

Bachmann earmarks: Yes, you did! “I have not taken earmarks in the last three years that I’ve been in Congress, because the system is so corrupt.”

But, reports MnIndy, “government watchdog groups say she has requested them—seven, to be precise, totaling $3,767,600, since she was elected to the U.S. House.
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March 17, 2009 · 8:36 am

News Day: RNC court puzzles / One in ten MPS kids homeless? / Battle of the budgets / AIG awful / FMLN wins in El Salvador / more

RNC court puzzles In Minneapolis, the scheduled appearance of government informant Andrew Clark Darst (“Panda”) on criminal charges including burglary and assault from a January episode, didn’t happen. The Minnesota Independent reports: “Apparently owing to scheduling conflicts for attorneys involved in the case, the legal matter was dealt with in an impromptu hearing earlier in the day.” The upshot: no jury trial, meaning no public testimony. Instead, in a highly unusual arrangement, Darst agreed that a judge will decide whether or not he is guilty based on written court records. The ruling is scheduled for next Monday.
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March 16, 2009 · 8:02 am

News Day: Un-real tax values / MN Stimulus /Closed U /Jail bust, not break /CIA torture /Pakistan protests /more

Un-real estate tax values So you paid $155,000 for your house just two months ago — and now the tax man says it is worth $189,000? That’s the story for one south Minneapolis homeowner, reports the Strib, and homeowners throughout the metro area are girding to do battle over assessed valuations this spring. Though home values have fallen swiftly, the taxable values set by metro-area tax authorities have not. All seven metro counties predict declines in assessed valuation of two to ten percent, although the average home sales price has fallen by one-third since September 2007. Tax assessors say the problem is the lag time in estimating values. They expect an avalanche of appeals from assessed valuations this year.

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March 13, 2009 · 9:14 am

News Day: Coleman campaign circus / “Don’t do anything embarrassing” / Water bill / Recount and more

Where do you get your news? The mainstream media is now jumping on board with two stories that the independent media reported first and best — the Coleman campaign caught with its donors’ credit card info hanging out on the internet and the MN House of Reps’ outrageous attempts to decide what press gets freedom of the press. If you’re reading this, you’re already reading independent media. Tell a friend!

Coleman campaign lawbreaking or “hacking”? As the mainstream media belatedly begins to cover the Coleman donor database story, ably reported by the Minnesota Independent in January and now, some are ignoring plain facts: the Coleman site was not hacked; the Coleman campaign carelessly put donors’ credit card numbers and security codes out on the internet for anyone to scoop up; the Coleman campaign violated its own promise to donors not to store their credit card numbers; the Coleman campaign probably violated MN law by not notifying donors of the security lapse back in January.
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March 12, 2009 · 8:03 am

News Day: Coleman cyber-follies / Middle class pays more /Snowing the recount / Somali youth / Cops hate Sara Jane / more

Middle class pays more Even in Minnesota, says a Department of Revenue study, rich people pay less in taxes than the middle class. See Who pays Minnesota’s taxes>

Coleman cyber-follies While Norm Coleman is calling it “chilling” and “scary,” a closer look shows that the disclosure of names and credit card information of Coleman campaign donors on the internet is the fault of no one but … the Coleman campaign, which violated basic on-line security procedures. Continue reading →

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March 11, 2009 · 9:02 pm

Who pays Minnesota’s taxes?

Maybe it’s the influence of my daughter, immersed in her college econ class, muttering about progressive and regressive and constant taxes, and outraged to discover that the tax system actually benefits the upper one percent much more than the middle class. At any rate, when the 2009 Minnesota Tax Incidence study was released this week by the MN Department of Revenue, I expected headlines and deep analysis all over the place. Continue reading →

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March 11, 2009 · 8:12 am

News Day: Homeless in Minneapolis / Reprieve for schools, library / Molotov cocktail sentence / Media gluttons / EFCA / more

Not now, but soon If I can find some time later today, I hope to get to a slightly longer look at the MN tax incidence survey, which shows the increasingly regressive nature of MN taxes, and also write a couple of paragraphs on the difference between the push for a smart power grid and the decidedly dumb proposals for marching massive power lines across seven states. Stay tuned!

End in sight for recount? After seven weeks of trial, mostly devoted to the Coleman side’s case, Al Franken’s lawyers say they will wrap up today, after calling 70+ witnesses. Could the end be in sight? Well, Coleman now gets a chance to grab the stand again and put on rebuttal witnesses, and his lawyers won’t say whether or how long they will go on.
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March 10, 2009 · 7:25 am

Freedom of the press but not in MN House of Representatives

After being taken to task for refusing to recognize on-line media as journalists, the House of Representatives stumbled toward the 21st century last week, but didn’t quite make it. For those who haven’t been following the controversy, the House threw out video reporters for on-line media, barring them from committee hearings and saying that on-line media were not entitled to press credentials.
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