News Day

“• The ECD shall not be used in any interview or interrogation situation unless the physical defense of the officer or others becomes an issue.

“• The ECD should not be used as a pain compliance technique including used to escort or prod individuals. …

“• A subject who is simply walking or running away from a scene and not posing assaultive/violent or potentially assaultive/violent behavior should not be exposed to the ECD.”

That’s what the St. Paul Police Department Manual says about prohibited use of “Electronic Control Devices,” one of which was deployed against Chris Lollie in January.  Chris Lollie is the St. Paul man who was waiting for his kids to get out of daycare in downtown St. Paul, and was then shot with the ECD and arrested after he refused to give police his name. Continue reading →

© waldemarus – Fotolia.com

Back in the day, when I practiced law, I frequently appeared before a judge who really didn’t like my (juvenile, poor, wrong-side-of-the-tracks) clients. On one memorable day, I began my protest with, “The law says …”

He cut me off, saying “I know what the law says, and I don’t have to follow it.” Continue reading →

Jeffry Martin (Photo by Charles Hallman, Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, 2011)

Jeffry Martin said he expects absolutely no action from police or the City of St. Paul on the Chris Lollie case. “They [the police] think they’re 100% justified,” he explained. So there will be “no change in policy, no discipline of police.” Continue reading →

Ferguson police shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. St. Paul police tased and arrested Chris Lollie, a black dad who was waiting for his kids in a public space near their preschool. Beverly Hills police stopped, cuffed and arrested Charles Belk, a film producer and business executive, as he walked to his car, because he “fit the description” of a bank robber — “tall, bald head black male.”

After the YouTube and Facebook posting, after the protests, what happens? Continue reading →

Nicaragua is not sending waves of refugees to the United States. Instead, Nicaragua, along with Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize, is receiving waves of refugees coming from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. What’s going on here? Continue reading →

From Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Picture this: a silver bullet solution for the Achievement Gap, a single thing that schools can do to get all children reading by third-grade and college-ready by the end of high school. Continue reading →

Used with permission, Creative Commons 2.0

St. Paul kids need you. With 38,000 students heading back to school, the St. Paul Public Schools Foundation is partnering with more than 20 community locations and all of the city’s libraries to offer everything from homework help to targeted math tutoring. Last year, they fielded 1600 tutors working with more than 6,500 kids. This year’s big plans include a medley of training sessions for tutors in September and October, as well as welcoming back hundreds of experienced and enthusiastic volunteers. Continue reading →

We’re working more and often getting paid less, which makes Labor Day this year:

(a) more important

(b) more ironic

(c) a great day to shop the sales. Continue reading →

For decades, my dad complained that people didn’t understand how little of the food dollar goes to the farmers who grow the food. Every time the farmer’s price went up — for milk or corn or pigs — the grocery store price went up by even more. When the farmer’s price went down, the grocery store price usually didn’t follow in that direction. Continue reading →

Does helping high school students learn have to mean making life and learning more difficult for first-graders? That’s the question many St. Paul parents are asking, as St. Paul Public Schools (SPPS) makes plans for later high school start times, beginning in 2015/16. Continue reading →