• twin_cities: ISO grassy metro parks for a guinea pig festival! “The grass has to be chemical free as dozens of hungry guinea pigs will be snacking on and simultaneously fertilizing it.” OMG SO KYOOT!
• MPR: College of St. Catherine to become a university. “The new name hasn’t been determined, but will include ‘St. Catherine’s’ and ‘university.’”
• Minneapolis Issues Forum: Do Idaho’s bike safety statutes make more sense?
• MinnPost: How we’re doing so far. Joel Kramer reports in on the first six months of MinnPost. “MinnPost.com has more than 100,000 absolute monthly unique visitors, as measured by Google Analytics. This makes us the most-visited local-news website in Minnesota that is not driving traffic to itself from a legacy medium, like TV, radio or print.”
• Minnesota Monitor: Congress studies wrong city for RNC disaster preparedness. “The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee found that Minneapolis’ Hennepin County Medical Center did not have sufficient capacity to handle a terrorist attack. The committee completely overlooked St. Paul’s Regions Hospital, which would be the first responder in the unlikely event of a terrorist attack on the RNC.”
• Southwest Journal: Neighborhood organizations are adjusting their fundraising strategies in preparation for the loss of NRP funding. They mention Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association; Elliot Park Neighborhood, Inc.; and East Harriet Farmstead Neighborhood Association.
• City of Minneapolis: Sustainability Initiatives
• City of St Paul: Sustainable Saint Paul
• The Deets: Ed looks at recent reports on the link between local food environments (i.e., stores/restaurants in your neighborhood) and obesity and diabetes. Ed’s theory: “The distance you drive to buy groceries effects how you shop.”

Deal reached for bridge collapse victims

I’m really not sure how to feel about this. Can I borrow your moral compass?

• Downtown Journal - Three arrested in Downtown BASE jumping attempt. BASE jumping is illegal in Minneapolis. And most cities.
• Behind the Mortgage - Condo for sale in doomed development includes Adult Entertainment room, complete with mirrors, couches, and poles. BTM is offering a bounty for photos.
• Metro Independent Business Association - The MetroIBA members featured in City Pages’ 2008 Best of the Twin Cities.
• MPR - Rural Renewable Energy Alliance donating solar home heating systems to low-income families.
• St Paul Issues Forum - On 24-hour health clubs. The city is trying to close them down because they don’t keep a CPR-trained staff person onsite round-the-clock. This is supposedly overly restrictive and a remnant of sex-club crackdowns from the ’80s.
• 76th Street - “Does Richfield have too much senior housing but not enough affordable senior housing?” If you even have to ask…
• Longfellow Nokomis Real Estate Guide - Foreclosures in their neighborhood. There are LOTS.
• Northstar Commuter Rail - Construction begins on Coon Rapids station.
• District del Sol - This weekend’s Cinco de Mayo activities in St Paul. (pdf) The lowrider car show is Friday from 4-9 on Wabasha.

I’m not really convinced that minors are actually drinking more as I am convinced it’s being reported in the news more frequently. 

From the Star Tribune: 76 cited for underage drinking at St. Paul party
 ”Eight to 10 officers converged on the bash about 12:15 a.m. as part of the police department’s ZAP (Zero Adult Providers) program, police spokesman Peter Panos said.

Unlike the busts often carried out by the multiagency patrols near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Saturday’s crackdown was not a spontaneous event, but a result of advance tips and planning.”  *emphasis mine.

I have a few concerns and questions on this topic. 

1) They knew about the party in advance and didn’t bust it until after midnight?

 This reeks to me of a publicity stunt and, if true, it seems reckless. It’s possible the party had just started, but that wasn’t mentioned.

2) Does anyone really think that minors are partying more today than in years past?

I drove through some nasty hail on 494W on my way home from The Mars Volta concert in St. Paul last night. Lightning was striking all around the airport and MOA, the hail was pelting my car’s recently refurbished paint job (thanks a lot, God) and the thunder was shaking my car.

Turns out just around that same time three construction workers were struck by lightning at MSP Airport. More info here here and here.

From KARE 11:

According to police reports, the man was setting out orange cones around 10:20 Monday night, for a construction project at the airport. Two other workers were with him. Lightning from a passing storm hit the man in the head, then passed on to his co-workers, who both got jolted in the hands and arms.
“Like an electric fence,” one of them told police.

According to the Strib:

The three construction workers, whose names were not immediately available, were hurt at 10:20 p.m. when lightning struck the vehicle they were in on a taxiway near the E concourse north of the Lindbergh terminal…

Well, whether they were standing outside or in a truck, it’s good everyone’s okay. That lightning was nasty.

Oh, and in case you think you’re safe in your car, the Strib says:

Contrary to belief, rubber tires and rubber shoe soles do not provide protection from lightning, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency website.

NONE OF US ARE SAFE!

Photo adapted (poorly) from Flickr via Creative Commons Attribution remix license.

This month’s Twin Cities Media Alliance Brown Bag Lunch features FOX 9’s Robyne Robinson. The TCMA’s brown bag lunch series of course puts the spotlight on journalism, but if you want to go all fanboy/fangirl on RR and tell her how awesome her commitment to the community is, it’s a pretty casual affair.

Wednesday, April 23 (tomorrow)
East Lake Library (2727 E Lake St)
12:00 noon
TCMA provides the coffee, you bring your lunch

I got blasted the last time I brought this up.

A neighbor reported about 20 people carrying chickens into a home on St. Paul’s East Side. When officers went to the home, they were told nobody was fighting chickens inside. But officers heard roosters crowing.

It’s not that I have no sensitivity for animal cruelty. It’s just that the wording of these stories cracks me up.

The news today is “Five of the seven major US airlines (Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and US Air) plan to charge most customers $25 each way to check a second bag starting May 5″

*Note - Delta and Northwest being linked is from the source.

[Via] - Airlines Win Big on Those who Overpack

Overcharging or legitimate price increase?

I can see both sides.

On one hand, it seems suspiciously timed with a business merger. On the other hand, fuel prices have gone through the roof.

What do you think?

You may have already heard about the media kerfuffle,Land of 10,000 Dead Car Batteries , regarding The Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche, but tonight’s Mn Wild playoff game is shaping up to be a penalty-fest heart breaker.

At the time of this post the Wild are down 5 - 1 with 14 minutes remaining.

As a hockey fan, that attends a bunch of Wild games during the year, something extra has been bothering me while our home team plays the Avs in Colorado; I fear their arena music is better.

Pantera’s Cowboys from Hell, Metallica’s Master of Puppets, and a crowd that continues singing once the game play has resumed? Really?

It’s unsettling. 

Do you think the time has arrived for Minnesota to update it’s musical playlist for sporting events? 

It’s official: Northwest Airlines is being acquired by Delta. David Brauer’s got a great summary of the news so far in today’s MinnPost Daily Glean.

Delta wasted no time getting a PR site — newglobalairline.com — up and running. They’ve even got a state-by-state breakdown of Delta/Northwest’s service. It’s not overly revealing, but here’s what it says for Minnesota:

Minnesota will continue to benefit from major hub service with increased access to markets in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean

• Minneapolis/St. Paul’s status as a premier hub is enhanced with addition of new international destinations
• Delta / Northwest’s 2008 schedule includes 2 new international routes from Minnesota: Minneapolis/St. Paul to London-Heathrow and Paris
• New domestic service in 2008 includes Minneapolis/St. Paul to Dubuque, Fort Wayne, Jamestown (North Dakota), and Iron Mountain
• Improved single carrier access to Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa
• Delta / Northwest carried more than 10.5 million passengers traveling to and from Minnesota
• Delta / Northwest service generates more than $12.8 billion in annual economic benefit and employs approximately 12,625 people (DL 125 / NW 12,500) in Minnesota

The other piece of info there is that Delta currently maxes out at 17 departures a day from MSP (I’m sure at least half those are to Atlanta). Northwest maxes out at 522 departures a day.

Your Northwest Worldperks Miles will likely turn into Delta SkyMiles, but unless you’re one of those business types with some kind of elite status, you’re better off using up your miles sooner rather than later.

[A]irlines merge in part to take advantage of more efficient operations; i.e., fuller flights. Fuller flights mean a diminution of available seats for frequent flyers.

I’ll be working on replacing my Worldperks Visa.