You've got to give gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer a little credit for going into the belly of the beast and having a town hall meeting with angry waiters and waitresses.
He said in remarks earlier that he favored a lower minimum wage and that some waiters and waitresses can make $100,000 a year. He said he was told that by the owner of a St. Paul cafe, who he says, now says he didn't say it.
Here's a Strib story and video worth watching.
Of course, he had supporters in the room ready to clap at appropriate times, but his message was still mainly clear. If you're a good servers, you should make a little more than minimum if you're not good you should "maybe" make a little less and "work your way up."
I don't think I've ever seen a candidate talk to people about how they should work and what they should be paid. It's an unusual conversation.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Editor's take: Today's news 7/14
Are felons for Democrats?
Another story getting a lot of attention is the discovery that several hundred convicted felons were allowed to vote in Minnesota.
The research by conservative watchdog group Minnesota Majority unearthed a bunch of felons who voted in Franken-Coleman election.
Ramsey County is prosecuting, but as Majority spokesman says, nothing can be done legally. Some media, including ours quoting a third party, are coming up with headlines like "Felons favor Democrats"
It's not surprising to me that our system of counting ballots and making sure people are legal that relies on volunteers at a school cafeteria is going to have some flaws.
Heck, we can't even keep track of sex offenders.
There are some kinks in this investigation. The research was unable to show if the so called felons where indeed felons when they voted. You can be convicted of a felony in Minnesota and then later be allowed to vote once you've done your time and other circumstances are right.
Here's an excellent unearthing of the facts to caution some to not get too excited just yet.
Here's a fairly complete story on this felon vote controversy.
Mauer seems kind of listless at the plate
Watching Joe Mauer over the last few games, he seemed relaxed at the plate, almost too relaxed. His facial expression is not as intense as it normally seems.
Makes one wonder if his head is not in the game and if so why not. Lots of pressure from the big contract getting to him possibly.
The moving from second on a ball hit to the right of him on the infield was simply a mental error. Little leaguers are taught that rule from day one.
Mauer, of course, was thrown out.
Strib columnist called him "tepid." I agree
Will class warfare sell in politics this year
Given Mark Dayton's clear campaign message "Tax the Rich" and his surprisingly, to me at least, strong poll numbers, one wonders if there's just enough anger at "the rich" to turn this election into a fight between the classes like we've not seen in the past.
Here's the theory: The economy is bad, people are losing their jobs or being asked to do more with less at their jobs.
Average people equate their employer or manager as the "rich" therefore they have a lot more people to be angry at as opposed to just being mad at the neighbor down the street who bought a new Lexus.
Typical workers want to get back at how they've been treated. The "rich" are becoming their target.
The recent furor over Tom Emmer's comment about $100,000 waiters also seemed to suggest there is a bit of class angst out there.
As soon as Emmer suggested a lower minimum wage, one of his opponents, DFL candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher came out proposing a higher minimum wage. The thought here is again, creating that kind of two-class argument in the political arena.
Should be interesting to see how this develops and how the campaigns might use this emerging social trend in their messaging.
Another story getting a lot of attention is the discovery that several hundred convicted felons were allowed to vote in Minnesota.
The research by conservative watchdog group Minnesota Majority unearthed a bunch of felons who voted in Franken-Coleman election.
Ramsey County is prosecuting, but as Majority spokesman says, nothing can be done legally. Some media, including ours quoting a third party, are coming up with headlines like "Felons favor Democrats"
It's not surprising to me that our system of counting ballots and making sure people are legal that relies on volunteers at a school cafeteria is going to have some flaws.
Heck, we can't even keep track of sex offenders.
There are some kinks in this investigation. The research was unable to show if the so called felons where indeed felons when they voted. You can be convicted of a felony in Minnesota and then later be allowed to vote once you've done your time and other circumstances are right.
Here's an excellent unearthing of the facts to caution some to not get too excited just yet.
Here's a fairly complete story on this felon vote controversy.
Mauer seems kind of listless at the plate
Watching Joe Mauer over the last few games, he seemed relaxed at the plate, almost too relaxed. His facial expression is not as intense as it normally seems.
Makes one wonder if his head is not in the game and if so why not. Lots of pressure from the big contract getting to him possibly.
The moving from second on a ball hit to the right of him on the infield was simply a mental error. Little leaguers are taught that rule from day one.
Mauer, of course, was thrown out.
Strib columnist called him "tepid." I agree
Will class warfare sell in politics this year
Given Mark Dayton's clear campaign message "Tax the Rich" and his surprisingly, to me at least, strong poll numbers, one wonders if there's just enough anger at "the rich" to turn this election into a fight between the classes like we've not seen in the past.
Here's the theory: The economy is bad, people are losing their jobs or being asked to do more with less at their jobs.
Average people equate their employer or manager as the "rich" therefore they have a lot more people to be angry at as opposed to just being mad at the neighbor down the street who bought a new Lexus.
Typical workers want to get back at how they've been treated. The "rich" are becoming their target.
The recent furor over Tom Emmer's comment about $100,000 waiters also seemed to suggest there is a bit of class angst out there.
As soon as Emmer suggested a lower minimum wage, one of his opponents, DFL candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher came out proposing a higher minimum wage. The thought here is again, creating that kind of two-class argument in the political arena.
Should be interesting to see how this develops and how the campaigns might use this emerging social trend in their messaging.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Editor's take: today's news developments
Steinbrenner dead at 80
Making big news today is the death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who apparently had a heart attack.
The hard-nosed longtime businessman will be remembered for a lot of things, not all of them complimentary.
From an AP story of today.
"With the national unemployment rate still at an alarming 9.5 percent, it's common sense that politicians back up grand talk about job growth by supporting policies that actually help the companies that do the hiring.
Unfortunately, common sense seems in short supply when it comes to an important but little-known piece of legislation called the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which helps keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. The MTB comes up for renewal periodically, and in previous years -- most recently 2006 -- it garnered broad bipartisan support. But this year, its routine passage is jeopardized primarily because Republicans have recently redefined the term "earmark," political slang for directing appropriations to favored programs or projects.
Because of this, they now consider MTB's longstanding duty reductions or suspensions on raw materials imported by American manufacturers to be earmarks, a big problem when U.S. House Republican leadership announced an earmark moratorium. Despite this ban, the nation's political leaders need to hammer out a compromise quickly. With the economy still struggling to recover, lawmakers need to do everything they can to encourage economic growth and preserve key measures such as the MTB that have helped firms in Minnesota and across the nation stay competitive for years."
Link to full article
Making big news today is the death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who apparently had a heart attack.
The hard-nosed longtime businessman will be remembered for a lot of things, not all of them complimentary.
From an AP story of today.
After building his fortune in the shipbuilding industry, Steinbrenner purchased the Yankees from CBS in 1973 and returned them to the glory of the Babe Ruth-Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle-Yogi Berra-Whitey Ford era teams.
It was later revealed Steinbrenner invested less than $200,000 in the $10-million deal — but turned the Yankees into the most valuable franchise in sports history, with an estimated worth of well more than $1 billion.
"Owning the Yankees is like owning the 'Mona Lisa,' " Steinbrenner once said.
Politics erupts on budget, deficit issue
There appears to be a lot of steam behind the story of the House of Representatives failing to pass a "budget outline" for the first time since 1974.
It's turning into a fairly spirited political debate and will heat up for the election.
Here's the best, most objective and clear story I've found on this complicated issue.
I'll be writing an editorial for tomorrow's print edition on the subject, pending approval of course.
What's great about this debate is for once we're bringing the complex subject of the federal budget to voters and typical Americans everywhere.
That can only be good.
Manufacturing program in jeopardy
Here's an interesting editorial on a program that helps manufacturing companies do business overseas.
It points out that though the program has had broad bipartisan support in the past, Republicans are now describing it as an earmark.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz is mentioned in the article as supporting it for the good of jobs and making sure we don't through another uncertainty at manufacturers who have come to rely on this program.
Here's relevant parts of the edit from StarTribune
It was later revealed Steinbrenner invested less than $200,000 in the $10-million deal — but turned the Yankees into the most valuable franchise in sports history, with an estimated worth of well more than $1 billion.
"Owning the Yankees is like owning the 'Mona Lisa,' " Steinbrenner once said.
Politics erupts on budget, deficit issue
There appears to be a lot of steam behind the story of the House of Representatives failing to pass a "budget outline" for the first time since 1974.
It's turning into a fairly spirited political debate and will heat up for the election.
Here's the best, most objective and clear story I've found on this complicated issue.
I'll be writing an editorial for tomorrow's print edition on the subject, pending approval of course.
What's great about this debate is for once we're bringing the complex subject of the federal budget to voters and typical Americans everywhere.
That can only be good.
Manufacturing program in jeopardy
Here's an interesting editorial on a program that helps manufacturing companies do business overseas.
It points out that though the program has had broad bipartisan support in the past, Republicans are now describing it as an earmark.
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz is mentioned in the article as supporting it for the good of jobs and making sure we don't through another uncertainty at manufacturers who have come to rely on this program.
Here's relevant parts of the edit from StarTribune
"With the national unemployment rate still at an alarming 9.5 percent, it's common sense that politicians back up grand talk about job growth by supporting policies that actually help the companies that do the hiring.
Unfortunately, common sense seems in short supply when it comes to an important but little-known piece of legislation called the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), which helps keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. The MTB comes up for renewal periodically, and in previous years -- most recently 2006 -- it garnered broad bipartisan support. But this year, its routine passage is jeopardized primarily because Republicans have recently redefined the term "earmark," political slang for directing appropriations to favored programs or projects.
Because of this, they now consider MTB's longstanding duty reductions or suspensions on raw materials imported by American manufacturers to be earmarks, a big problem when U.S. House Republican leadership announced an earmark moratorium. Despite this ban, the nation's political leaders need to hammer out a compromise quickly. With the economy still struggling to recover, lawmakers need to do everything they can to encourage economic growth and preserve key measures such as the MTB that have helped firms in Minnesota and across the nation stay competitive for years."
Link to full article
Monday, July 12, 2010
Things you didn't know about this "news enterprise"
There's still a lot of gnashing of teeth about the future of newspapers out there.
Explaining our emerging new modes of operation in my social gatherings, I find people terribly out of the loop on what newspapers are doing that's new.
That's partly, perhaps mostly, our own fault.
First let's re-describe ourselves as "news enterprises" as the "paper" part is becoming less and less significant.
As a news enterprise we now:
1. Can link you and get you to all manner of news via the website, including hourly weather forecasts for Mankato or a specific GPS location in Mankato. You want the weather forecast for Franklin Rogers Park, we can provide you the easy tool to find it.
2. Can connect you to friends and neighbors engaging in enlightening discussion through our forums or chatting on our FACEBOOK site. The Free Press now has 1200 Facebook fans, who post their ideas, and especially their storm photos. We can put those photos up on a rotating widget on our website.
3. Help you to influence city hall or county board in a number of ways. You don't like something city hall's doing, you can write a letter to the editor that will, at no cost to you, go out to 60,000 readers. We still are among the few news enterprises who actually accept letters to the editor and have them reviewed before they are published by a professional editor who, incidentally requires, letter writers to provide sources for facts not generally known. Find that service on a ragtag blog or website.
4. You can interact with some dozen or so Free Press staffers who regularly write about what they do, their hobbies or what they think through our blogs.
5. You can interact with those in power by pointing out civic problems that need correcting. A interactive pothole map we posted on our website this spring garnered some 300 participants pointing out the worst potholes to Mankato City Hall. City Hall officials monitored the site and fixed the potholes. Wow.
6. Want to know monthly crime statistics for Mankato? We've posted the regular report under our police logs category.
7. This news enterprise is currently producing two magazines that according to our readers are top notch and over the top. Mankato Magazine and Minnesota Valley Business Journal are keeping people having fun and in the loop.
8. Newspapers still hire skilled reporters who are critical thinkers and can question officials and hold them accountable. Those officials don't always like it and many threaten retribution, but we take the job seriously. Bloggers, number one, often don't have the credibility to get an official to call them back, and two, they don't have the power of publicity that comes with working for an organization able to print 20,000 editions at midnight and get them on the street by 6 a.m. 7 days a week, 364 days a year.
9. Newspapers can cast public shame and the spotlight on corrupt public officials. We can call them out and write editorials about their chicanery. It often works and works pretty well to get someone fired or defeated in an election
10. The news enterprises of today still attract honest people who want to help a democratic system work. It doesn't work without good information. It's one of the few industries that still attracts a lot of smart people who are not motivated by seeing how much money they can acquire.
Explaining our emerging new modes of operation in my social gatherings, I find people terribly out of the loop on what newspapers are doing that's new.
That's partly, perhaps mostly, our own fault.
First let's re-describe ourselves as "news enterprises" as the "paper" part is becoming less and less significant.
As a news enterprise we now:
1. Can link you and get you to all manner of news via the website, including hourly weather forecasts for Mankato or a specific GPS location in Mankato. You want the weather forecast for Franklin Rogers Park, we can provide you the easy tool to find it.
2. Can connect you to friends and neighbors engaging in enlightening discussion through our forums or chatting on our FACEBOOK site. The Free Press now has 1200 Facebook fans, who post their ideas, and especially their storm photos. We can put those photos up on a rotating widget on our website.
3. Help you to influence city hall or county board in a number of ways. You don't like something city hall's doing, you can write a letter to the editor that will, at no cost to you, go out to 60,000 readers. We still are among the few news enterprises who actually accept letters to the editor and have them reviewed before they are published by a professional editor who, incidentally requires, letter writers to provide sources for facts not generally known. Find that service on a ragtag blog or website.
4. You can interact with some dozen or so Free Press staffers who regularly write about what they do, their hobbies or what they think through our blogs.
5. You can interact with those in power by pointing out civic problems that need correcting. A interactive pothole map we posted on our website this spring garnered some 300 participants pointing out the worst potholes to Mankato City Hall. City Hall officials monitored the site and fixed the potholes. Wow.
6. Want to know monthly crime statistics for Mankato? We've posted the regular report under our police logs category.
7. This news enterprise is currently producing two magazines that according to our readers are top notch and over the top. Mankato Magazine and Minnesota Valley Business Journal are keeping people having fun and in the loop.
8. Newspapers still hire skilled reporters who are critical thinkers and can question officials and hold them accountable. Those officials don't always like it and many threaten retribution, but we take the job seriously. Bloggers, number one, often don't have the credibility to get an official to call them back, and two, they don't have the power of publicity that comes with working for an organization able to print 20,000 editions at midnight and get them on the street by 6 a.m. 7 days a week, 364 days a year.
9. Newspapers can cast public shame and the spotlight on corrupt public officials. We can call them out and write editorials about their chicanery. It often works and works pretty well to get someone fired or defeated in an election
10. The news enterprises of today still attract honest people who want to help a democratic system work. It doesn't work without good information. It's one of the few industries that still attracts a lot of smart people who are not motivated by seeing how much money they can acquire.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Your federal deficit: good news and bad
My blogging buddy Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office offers a bit of good news on the federal deficit, though he doesn't call it good news. Numbers, after all are the perfect objective fact, they're neither good nor bad, just what they are.
So far, the federal deficit is down compared to last year. Down by about $80 billion. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's still about $1 trillion. That's the amount we spend over the amount we took in for the first nine months of the year that ends Sept.30.
Part of the good news is that corporate tax revenues are up like $30 billion or so. That means businesses are earning a profit and paying more taxes, or as Elmy notes, they got fewer tax right offs for capital losses, depreciation and such.
The Dougster's a swell blogger and I have a link to his blog on my blog site (and people wonder what I do for fun!).
Anyway, he has a quick succinct way of telling you the deal on the budget. Defense spending up 6 percent over last year as is a lot of the social program spending.
We're also getting more money for the Federal Reserve because it's buying riskier investments in housing (isn't that reassuring), and spending for the Trouble Assets Program is down.
So, all in all, the deficit's down, not by much, but maybe that's a start.
Here's the short and easy to read summary of how we're spending and how much we've got coming in.
http://www.cbo.gov/aboutcbo/organization/od.htm
So far, the federal deficit is down compared to last year. Down by about $80 billion. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's still about $1 trillion. That's the amount we spend over the amount we took in for the first nine months of the year that ends Sept.30.
Part of the good news is that corporate tax revenues are up like $30 billion or so. That means businesses are earning a profit and paying more taxes, or as Elmy notes, they got fewer tax right offs for capital losses, depreciation and such.
The Dougster's a swell blogger and I have a link to his blog on my blog site (and people wonder what I do for fun!).
Anyway, he has a quick succinct way of telling you the deal on the budget. Defense spending up 6 percent over last year as is a lot of the social program spending.
We're also getting more money for the Federal Reserve because it's buying riskier investments in housing (isn't that reassuring), and spending for the Trouble Assets Program is down.
So, all in all, the deficit's down, not by much, but maybe that's a start.
Here's the short and easy to read summary of how we're spending and how much we've got coming in.
http://www.cbo.gov/aboutcbo/organization/od.htm
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Political coverage: how to be fair
Every election season it usually doesn't take too long for one political candidate or political party to accuse The Free Press of bias or favoritism in coverage of candidates.
Sometimes, it may look like we're covering one side more than the other. Believe me, we really try to play it pretty even, and we rely on our reporters to tell us why they think a certain event should be covered and why one can be listed in our campaign notebook as an item of interest.
Local newspapers must focus on local people. So the local candidates will get top priority in coverage in many, but not all cases. Relevance to our readership is another consideration. A candidate discussing local government aid might get more attention than one speaking say on U.S. foreign policy.
Above all, we must focus on information that will be useful to our voters. I'm always amazed how candidates want to get coverage for every stump speech they make, even if it's the same one time after time, but are less willing to answer hard questions about their voting record.
But we know the public and our readers want us to be fair in our coverage and that is what we strive to do with the added criteria of local relevance.
One thing we want to make clear to all candidates: We don't endorse any candidates for any office. We discontinued our endorsement practice in the 2008 election.
We don't want to be viewed as "kingmakers" and suggest that our endorsement would somehow translate to our readers feeling we favor one candidate over the other in news coverage. The editorial page opinion decisions were and are always made separate from the decisions on coverage.
It doesn't mean however, we won't take it upon ourselves to criticize a particular candidate's position on an issue.
Our readers expect us to use our knowledge of the issues from covering things for decades to inform them about the impact policies may have on them.
Sometimes, it may look like we're covering one side more than the other. Believe me, we really try to play it pretty even, and we rely on our reporters to tell us why they think a certain event should be covered and why one can be listed in our campaign notebook as an item of interest.
Local newspapers must focus on local people. So the local candidates will get top priority in coverage in many, but not all cases. Relevance to our readership is another consideration. A candidate discussing local government aid might get more attention than one speaking say on U.S. foreign policy.
Above all, we must focus on information that will be useful to our voters. I'm always amazed how candidates want to get coverage for every stump speech they make, even if it's the same one time after time, but are less willing to answer hard questions about their voting record.
But we know the public and our readers want us to be fair in our coverage and that is what we strive to do with the added criteria of local relevance.
One thing we want to make clear to all candidates: We don't endorse any candidates for any office. We discontinued our endorsement practice in the 2008 election.
We don't want to be viewed as "kingmakers" and suggest that our endorsement would somehow translate to our readers feeling we favor one candidate over the other in news coverage. The editorial page opinion decisions were and are always made separate from the decisions on coverage.
It doesn't mean however, we won't take it upon ourselves to criticize a particular candidate's position on an issue.
Our readers expect us to use our knowledge of the issues from covering things for decades to inform them about the impact policies may have on them.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Riverfront Park fireworks
From where I was sitting Sunday night, the Riverfront Fireworks were a hit.
One tip: don't sit behind the street lights, they will dull the full effect of the fireworks. I'm guessing the streetlights can't be turned off for safety reasons.
But there was plenty of room for pulling up a chair at Riverfront Park, even when the band was still playing.
I parked a few blocks away on 4th Street and had no problem getting out. The traffic seemed fairly well dispersed. The crowd estimate was about 5,000 at the park, with a capacity to comfortably hold twice that amount.
The allowance of alcohol in coolers didn't seem to create any problems. Everyone seemed pretty well-behaved. The music could be heard fairly well in front of the bandstand, but not off to the side, probably good by design.
Lots of folks watched from their homes and their yards and parked at different places around the city. The map the city provided offered ratings of the view from various places around town. That was a good idea.
The map was published big in the Valley Section of Saturday's Free Press and online.
All in all, the new location for fireworks worked well, and is worth considering doing it there again next year.
One tip: don't sit behind the street lights, they will dull the full effect of the fireworks. I'm guessing the streetlights can't be turned off for safety reasons.
But there was plenty of room for pulling up a chair at Riverfront Park, even when the band was still playing.
I parked a few blocks away on 4th Street and had no problem getting out. The traffic seemed fairly well dispersed. The crowd estimate was about 5,000 at the park, with a capacity to comfortably hold twice that amount.
The allowance of alcohol in coolers didn't seem to create any problems. Everyone seemed pretty well-behaved. The music could be heard fairly well in front of the bandstand, but not off to the side, probably good by design.
Lots of folks watched from their homes and their yards and parked at different places around the city. The map the city provided offered ratings of the view from various places around town. That was a good idea.
The map was published big in the Valley Section of Saturday's Free Press and online.
All in all, the new location for fireworks worked well, and is worth considering doing it there again next year.
Friday, July 2, 2010
New face of blogs
We're in the process of making our blogs a little easier to find and hoping you can access what we believe to be some added value to all the news we are now providing in print and online.
One of the best ways to access all blogs at once so you can find the writer you're looking for is simply to go to the green navigation bar at the left side of our website and find "Free Press Blogs" and then click on it.
You'll find some 10 blogs there on everything from sports and fitness to pets.
Our Pets on Parade blog also asks readers to submit entries as the title says showing off their pets or just exchanging some helpful information on pets.
One of the best ways to access all blogs at once so you can find the writer you're looking for is simply to go to the green navigation bar at the left side of our website and find "Free Press Blogs" and then click on it.
You'll find some 10 blogs there on everything from sports and fitness to pets.
Our Pets on Parade blog also asks readers to submit entries as the title says showing off their pets or just exchanging some helpful information on pets.
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