Karl Rove's 'Crossroads' told the IRS it would do little explicit political work
As you know, the regimen of campaign finance regulations in the Citizens United era is more loophole than law. The particular loophole that allows donors to avoid having their names disclosed requires...
View ArticleMinnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities outlines legislative...
Key initiatives for advancing independence for those with disabilities will be advanced at the Minnesota Legislature this year, says the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities.The group,...
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Post-amendment fight, Catholic healing time?
MPR’s Sasha Aslainian files a story on wound-healing among Catholics after the church’s not-exactly bonding efforts over the defeated marriage amendment:“More than a month after Minnesota became the...
View ArticleGov. Dayton offers condolences after 'dastardly, cold-blooded murder of...
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton issued this statement this afternoon, about the elementary school shooting in Connecticut:"This dastardly, cold-blooded murder of innocent children and their educators by a...
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'Our hearts are broken today,' President Obama says of Newtown school shootings
An emotional President Obama, reacting to the Connecticut school shootings, said Friday afternoon that "our hearts are broken today."The president promised action to prevent such tragedies but did not...
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MN Blog Cabin Roundup, 12/14
Tax land, not buildingsfrom streets.mn by Chris KeimigThe conventional property tax, which taxes land and buildings at the same rate, is essentially backwards when it comes to the behaviors it...
View ArticleBeyond treatment, cancer patients, families need safe haven — and future...
As a young real-estate professional just starting my career, I didn’t even think about cancer. During a routine checkup I mentioned to my doctor that my mother had just been diagnosed with breast...
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Architect/philanthropist John Larsen talks about going beyond grantmaking
From the carriage house next to John Larsen's home on Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis, Larsen and business partner Ted Barnhill run the residential architecture firm Design 45 (named for the 45th...
View ArticleCommissioner Cassellius on Newtown tragedy: 'Nothing is worse than when our...
Minnesota Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius released the following statement regarding the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Connecticut:"Today, innocent children and educators lost their...
View ArticleMcCollum calls for new gun laws after Connecticut school shooting
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum was the first member of the Minnesota congressional delegation to call for new gun control laws after a school shooting in Connecticut.A gunman killed 26 people,...
View ArticleCourage Center to merge with Sister Kenny Institute, become part of Allina...
Two well-known agencies for those with disabilities, Courage Center and the Sister Kenny Institute, have agreed to merge.The combined operations will be part of the Allina Health System."The boards of...
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Rethinking school safety in the wake of the Connecticut massacre
In the wake of Friday's school massacre in Connecticut, I’ve been thinking of grade-school security systems I’ve experienced worldwide.In 1976, my family moved from the United States to Jerusalem,...
View ArticleProminent blogger: Arm teachers, staff
Regarding the Connecticut massacre, Power Line’s John Hinderaker knows what should be banned: “If newspapers, magazines, web sites and above all television and radio stations were prohibited from...
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False urgency: Social Security and Medicare reform and the 'fiscal cliff'
It may be necessary to reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but there is no reason — aside from politics — that such reforms should be a part of the current negotiations between the...
View ArticleNorth Korea holds memorial service for former leader, Kim Jong-il
A year after the death of Kim Jong-il, North Korean leaders have dedicated last week's successful rocket launch to its Dear Leader and his sucessor Kim Jong Un.At a somber memorial service Sunday, Kim...
View ArticleIndia: Did I say 7%? I meant 5.7%. My bad.
India lowered its economic growth forecast for fiscal 2013 to 5.7-5.9 percent from an earlier estimate of 7.6 percent, in an apparent pitch for the central bank to slash interest rates.The Mid-Year...
View ArticleJapan's deadlock over? A supermajority emerges in exit polls
Japan’s main conservative party pulled off an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s election, giving its leader, Shinzo Abe, a mandate to pursue his hawkish security agenda and abandon the country’s pledge...
View ArticleTaliban attack on Pakistani airport highlights changed tactics
Pakistani security forces reestablished control today over one of the country's international airports after Taliban militants stormed the installation, in an attack that highlights the group's recent...
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Fixing our system: Would another constitutional convention do the trick?
One in a series of articles. You can read the whole series here.As I mentioned in the previous installment, the constitutional amendment process has been used a few (but very few, OK three) times to...
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How might Supreme Court justices view the gay-marriage issues before them?
The discomfort some DFL lawmakers are feeling about murmurs they might “overreach” in “continuing the conversation” about gay marriage? Their hunch that the safest political course is to lay the...
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