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The Prairie Island nuclear reactor |
We almost lost our water
BY ED FELIEN
There was an “unusual event” on March 6 at the Prairie Island nuclear plant that seems to have escaped the local media but caught the attention of newspapers in western Wisconsin, the Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Chronicle in California and the Miami Herald in Florida.
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Excuse me Council Member John Quincy, but what is it about ‘Referendum’ you don’t understand?
BY ED FELIEN
It’s quite simple. The people of Minneapolis on two separate occasions, in 1973 and in 1997, passed amendments to the City Charter that required the City of Minneapolis to allow the voters of Minneapolis to determine whether they wanted to use city money to pay for a sports stadium. The Charter quite clearly says the voters must approve that kind of expenditure.
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Airport noise meeting March 15
Council Member Sandy Colvin Roy recently wrote: “Airport noise has not gone away and neither have area council members. A flurry of activity in the last six weeks has included a detailed report from the FAA responding to 1) the formal City request for an analysis of the current conditions and what caused the change; 2) testimony at the Noise Oversight Committee where Colvin Roy and Quincy asked that the Metropolitan Airport Commission not proceed with the Environmental Assessment of the long-term capital plan until we know more about the true conditions that will exist in 2020; and 3) developments in federal legislation that will affect airport operations in the future.
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Rybak wants to eliminate
citizen review of the police
BY ED FELIEN
I first became interested in city politics in 1971 when a young, unarmed man was shot to death by the police. His crime: possession of marijuana. A grand jury was investigating to see if excessive force was used by the officer. Some of us decided to stage a large march from his West Bank apartment downtown to City Hall and lay a wreath at the door of the grand jury room. It was solemn and majestic on a cold February afternoon. After we placed the wreath we decided to go downstairs and talk to Mayor Charlie Stenvig, an ex-cop and reactionary conservative, and ask him what he thought about the incident.
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Strength training: An all-in-one workout
BY RAINA GOLDSTEIN
BUNNAG
 Choosing a new exercise program can be overwhelming. With fads like Zumba, pilates and boot camp classes all promising body changing results, it is hard to know the best options. In our fast paced society, we often search for quick fixes with immediate results. When it comes to finding a fitness plan we may have different goals, e.g., losing a few pounds, increased energy or toning our arms for bathing suit season. No matter what the goal, there likely is not an easy solution.
Sorry, just telling the truth. A fitness program requires consistency and hard work to get the desired results.
One type of exercise that is often overlooked (although tried and true) is strength training. Strength training uses weights and body resistance to build muscle. Many people think that strong muscles are just for athletes or for those wanting to bulk up. However, strength training touts a long list of health benefits and is even included in the Center for Disease Control’s recommendations for daily exercise.
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The hungry insurgent
BY CHARLEY UNDERWOOD
Are you one of those folks who believes that the hard times are still ahead, that the mayor is going to get you to pay for a new billion-dollar sports palace, that the Congress is going to buy you a new three-trillion dollar war—who notices that gas is getting expensive, that the climate is changing, that lots of mortgages are underwater and that your retirement plan has mostly disappeared? And you wonder: How am I going to eat? I want to write a column for you.
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From where I stand
By Polly Mann
Whenever I attend a presentation and realize it’s going to be a “power point,” I am tempted to leave. I’ve never quite brought myself to do it, but then, I’ve never been sitting someplace where I can slip out unnoticed. These are, without doubt, the most uninspired, dull, non-productive meetings I’ve ever been to. A friend to whom I was fulminating about this said he used them, they were fine, and I should (in effect) loosen up.
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SELF International and Sabathani to host a free day of science fun for grade and middle school students
BY STEPHANIE FOX
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Christine and the Horizon Girls: left -Kobi Gregory, center - Christine Spiritwolf, right - Imon Robinson |
A South Minneapolis non-profit organization, SELF International, Inc., has teamed up with Sabathani Community Center and the Science Museum of Minnesota to create an event aimed at students who may not have had the opportunity to explore cutting edge science or to talk with scientists and science educators.
SELF International (Science, Education, Literacy, Fine Arts) began as a collaboration with a network of micro clinics in Ghana and a plan to use science education to lower the rate of infectious diseases in that country. But when funding for that project dried up, the local organization saw that there was a need in Minneapolis for science education to prepare the next generation for careers in science, engineering and technology. SELF’s long-term plan, said Executive Director Bonnie Everets, is to target interested students who might not otherwise have to chance to learn about science and to get them interested in science during their early years in school.
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The buzz on Buzzer
ALEXANDER PALACHE GUTTERMAN
“Buzzer” follows the lives of a trio of friends. Jackson is a young up-and-coming black attorney and self-styled “gentrifier” who purchases an apartment in his old ghetto neighborhood. His mildly neurotic white girlfriend, Suzy, who recently moved in with him, works as a teacher in an urban public school. Don, white, an old friend of Jackson from a wealthy background, recently sober and bursting with the language of 12-step recovery, moves in with the couple.
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Watchdogs with cameras
 Anyone who has participated in a public demonstration is used to seeing police with video cameras recording us commoners as we dare to exercise our constitutional right to protest. Authorities insist that being videoed should not worry demonstrators … as long as they’re doing nothing wrong.
But what happens when the cameras point the other way? Cell phones and video cameras are now ubiquitous, so police agents frequently find themselves being recorded doing everything from traffic stops to arresting protesters. This has exposed police abuse and even led to some convictions of agents caught roughing up the citizenry, but it has also produced a police backlash against camera-wielding citizens. Across the country, irate cops have been arresting people for the “crime” of filming police actions. Such states as Illinois have outlawed the recording of police without their consent, while Maryland and Massachusetts have even tried to stretch their anti-wiretapping laws to prosecute citizen videographers.
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March
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Peace Vigils on the Bridge
The Wednesday vigils throughout March are dedicated to speaking out against the threat of a U.S. war on Iran. Join any of the vigils to SAY NO! to a new U.S. war, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River between Minn-eapolis and St. Paul. The vigil is sponsored by Twin Cities Peace Campaign and Women Against Military Madness. The special March emphasis against a war on Iran is endorsed by Anti-War Committee, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and Veterans for Peace. For more information call 612-522-1861 or 612-827-5364.
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March 2012 
