February 8, 2016 · 9:43 pm

Minnesota’s children deserve better

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“Jessica is a young mom, who lived in foster care most of her teen years. She has two young children, both in diapers and is separated from the father of her children because of his drug and alcohol use. He recently went through treatment. Jessica was on maternity leave when she separated from him, and lost her job when she found herself the sole caregiver for the two young children.”

For now, Jessica relies on MFIP and SNAP — more commonly known as welfare and food stamps. Each month, she and her children get $532 in MFIP benefits and $473 in SNAP benefits, which can be used only for food. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2016 · 4:10 pm

Getting the lead out — in Flint, in St. Paul and across the country

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Twenty-some years ago, my kids tested with high lead levels. Ron and I were shocked and horrified. Before our oldest was born, we had tested the paint in the house – no lead. Tested the water – no lead. Tested for radon – no radon. Tested for every single thing we could think of, and everything came back safe. And now our children had high lead levels. Continue reading →

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February 5, 2016 · 7:15 pm

Rich renters wanted — the rest of you can leave

You are where you live — or at least that’s the implication of common U.S. code words like “the wrong side of the tracks” and now the use of “Section 8” as a racial slur. Increasingly, poor people who have been priced out of housing are also being pushed out of rent-subsidized housing. A combination of racism and prejudice against poor people lead many private landlords to refuse to rent to people who use federal rental assistance, commonly known as Section 8 vouchers. At the same time, new federal policies encourage government agencies that own and manage low-income housing to turn it over to private developers. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2016 · 3:30 pm

Bernie-the-cabdriver: SSP abandons new rental restrictions

Bernie Beermann

Bernie Beermann called in to talk to me after one of my Wednesday morning KFAI Morning Blend news discussions, and I met him in a parking lot for an interview.

I was heading to the locker room in the gym at 6 a.m. when the phone in my pocket rang. “Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you up,” Bernie-the-cabdriver said. “I was just going to leave a message.” The message was good news: South St. Paul had passed some amendments to the city’s rental ordinance, but not the per-block restrictions on rentals that had been proposed. Continue reading →

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February 2, 2016 · 12:56 pm

Immigration agents should not be above the law

No warrants, no consent, no lawyers — that’s the story told by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s first-person report on raids targeting Central American mothers and children in January.

Here’s part of Ana Silvia’s story: Continue reading →

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January 31, 2016 · 10:59 pm

Trash talk in St. Paul

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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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January 31, 2016 · 6:43 am

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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January 30, 2016 · 1:08 pm

Good news for the weekend: Culturally relevant pedagogy succeeds in San Francisco

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Among the books banned in Arizona, when the legislature tried to limit ethnic studies.

In San Francisco high schools, students taking an ethnic studies course improved attendance and overall grades. Students identified as “at risk” – in this case, not a code word for race or poverty, but rather a designation for entering high school students with an eighth grade GPA below 2.0 — were automatically enrolled in the course, according to the Stanford researchers who studied 1,405 students in three high schools from 2010 to 2014. Continue reading →

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January 26, 2016 · 2:35 pm

Justice delayed is justice denied

Use extreme caution sign“Plain and simple, if you f*ck with me I’m going to break your legs before you even get a chance to run. Be honest. I don’t screw around.”

That’s what Minneapolis police officer Rob Webber told 17-year-old Faysal Mohammed last March. When one of the teens asked why he was being arrested, Webber responded, “Because I feel like it.” Continue reading →

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January 19, 2016 · 4:28 pm

Rental ordinance changes: ‘Like farting under blankets’

Bernie Beermann

Bernie Beermann called in to talk to me after one of my Wednesday morning KFAI Morning Blend news discussions, and I met him in a parking lot for an interview.

UPDATED February 4, 2016 — Bernie-the-cabdriver, sitting in his green and white taxi van, calls it as he sees it, and he doesn’t like South St. Paul’s proposed rental ordinance changes. The changes will fly under the radar for most people, because almost no one pays attention to city council meetings. Making city ordinances, Bernie says, is “like farting under a blanket.” Eventually, the smell gets out, but nobody knows who is responsible.  Continue reading →

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