• CANDO has a new website. CANDO = Central Area Neighborhood Development Organization. [Where’s the Central neighborhood?]
• The Twin Cities Media Alliance is having its first ever membership campaign. If you join now, you’ll be a founding member (oooohhhh, aaaaahhhhh </Smurfs>). Donations accepted online. You can mail your check to their offices but honestly, if you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming you can manage the online thing. If you want to spread your local independent media love/dollars around, MinnPost would love to take your money, as would the Center for Independent Media which operates MnIndy and its sister sites. Personally, I’m discontinuing my Minnesota Public Radio membership. I’m not sure that indy media is my #1 priority, but I’d consider either (or both) of these two outfits a fair swap for MPR.
• Several bike-related items via Bicycling in Minneapolis:
  1. The West River Parkway and 2nd Street SE bike paths under the I-35W bridge have reopened.
  2. According to this Census 2007 Report (pdf), Minneapolis bicycle mode share increased to 3.8%. That’s up from 2.5% in 2006. We’re still #2 to Portland, which has a bicycle mode share of 3.9%. Y’all are riding your bikes more just because your competitive, right?
• The 8th Annual Twin Cities Book Festival is next Saturday, 10/8, 10am-5pm at MCTC. Exhibit info here. (via @alexisthegirl)

I put in a wrong address and got the following:

MinnPost.com 404 error page

Heh!

The Twin Cities is celebrating National Park(ing) Day today. Participating Minneapolis parking spots are conveniently mapped for you. The Park(ing spot)s will be on display from 11am-2pm. There’s a community gathering/happy hour from 5pm-8pm sponsored by Community Design Group and Solutions Twin Cities. All the deets about the parks and today’s events are at TC Streets for People.

Solutions Twin Cities is also hosting a big ol’ game of Urban Capture the Flag on Northrop Mall tomorrow (Saturday, 9/20) at 4pm. Info and RSVP at that link.

Max went to the grand opening of the new W Hotel downtown, which I think of as “the Foshay, where Keys’ Cafe is.” He hated the event and liked the 29th-floor bar Prohibition. (When Max, as a cocktail connoisseur, says drinks are good, they are really good.) You should read his review as much for his opinion as for the fact that it’s very well written. It’s long, but it’s worth it.

Minnesota Public Radio now has an application in the iTunes App Store. It allows you to stream MPR’s three stations (news, classical, The Current) on your iPhone or iPod Touch. I couldn’t find any mention of this on MPR’s website, so thanks to Future Tense‘s Jon Gordon for the heads up.

MinnPost is hosting debate watching parties. See the presidential candidate debate on Friday, Sep 26, the VP candidate debate on Thursday, Oct 2, the Minnesota Senate candidate debate which is still TBD. All events hosted at Trocadero’s. Admission and snacks free, cash bar, RSVP required. Only open to MinnPost members — which technically means it’s not free — so you can join online or at the door.

The Minnesota Campaign for Change (i.e., the Obama campaign) is hosting four National Security Townhalls this weekend. Saturday in Duluth and St Cloud, Sunday in Rochester and the Twin Cities. Free and open to the public. RSVP required.

Art was just talking about how totally tubular our local internet news sources that aren’t affiliated with newspapers or tv are and I mentioned how much I like the TC Daily Planet (or the idea of it, anyway, on account of the abysmal state of their RSS feeds).

Well, a lot of people like the Daily Planet. The Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists love the Daily Planet. So much so that earlier this month MNSPJ awarded the Daily Planet first place in the 2008 Page One awards for Best Web Site (Independent).

That was cool news presented by Twin Cities Media Alliance Executive Director Jeremy Iggers, tacked onto the end of his latest brown bag lunch with a journalist announcement. Then I looked at the whole list (xls).

2nd place in that category went to MinnPost. 3rd place went to Minnesota Monitor (slash-Minnesota Independent).

These three publications are the only ones that won anything in any independent news website category (see also, newsroom blog and single news story). I mean, if I had to name the top three sites that fell into the category of independent news website, it would be those three, but I wonder if there were any others even in consideration.

Still, I’m pleased that MNSPJ even has a category for independent news websites. I kind of wonder how they’d stack up if you threw them into the mix with affiliated websites.

All three of those sites are among my primary sources for local news. None of the affiliated websites are.

• 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.”