For more than 10 years, the Vikings under various owners have petitioned the Legislature to approve a stadium bill, now, among some of the toughest economic circumstances and the worst Legislative imbroglio, we have two proposals getting political support.
Go figure.
I like the Minneapolis Metrodome revamp proposal because it seems less costly and offers higher value for taxpayer money. On the other hand, I like the idea of options for tailgating at the Arden Hills site.
Thinking about where Vikings owners come from - New York Giants fans, ala Meadowlands, I'm not surprised the went for the more "romantic" option, the option the brings football back to its blue collar roots.
You presumably won't have to buy an $8 beer going to the game at Arden Hills, or at least you won't have to buy as many of them. You can bring your food and coolers to the tailgating party.
And we can even compete, in that respect, with Packer fans.
I also remember tailgating and excessive drinking gave Minnesota the reputation for the most high profile injuring of an NFL official. Somebody hit the ref with a whiskey bottled tossed from the seats. It was ugly.
The big money hangup appears to be the road infrastructure costs would exceed by in some estimates $100 million what the state was willing to pay into the project.
But if the commissioners in Ramsey County and road engineers are worth their salt, they'll find a way to come up with the money IF they really need that much.
StarTribune has been noting in its editorials favoring the Minneapolis site, that it has a land interest near the Metrodome site and the value of that land would be "affected" by that. They don't say how much.
So I'm torn. I like the idea of tailgating, and Arden Hills is not far from some of my old stomping grounds. And since Hennepin County said it couldn't afford another stadium, it may be Ramsey County's turn.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Quarterly review of the truth of politicians
I thought it might be useful to every once in a while just help debunk the half-truths, lies and misleading statements various public figures propagate from time to time.
As Mark Twain once said: A lie can make it halfway around the world while the truth is just getting on its shoes.
That's mostly because the truth sometimes takes a lot of work, and most of it is done by journalists not beholden to political causes (bloggers) or corporate interests (we'll let you decide who that might be).
There's an oft repeated figure that Gov. Mark Dayton's budget is increasing spending 22 percent to 29 percent.
Minnesota Public Radio's Catherine Richert has done a great job debunking this claim on MPR's "Poligraph" feature. Here it is.
Essentially, her research, done in conjunction with the Humphrey Institute shows the real increase in Dayton's two-year budget from current two-year budget is about 8 percent.
That's because the Republicans and others who cite the 29 percent figure don't consider $4 billion or so in one-time federal stimulus money that was used and the school funding shift that we didn't put on the books, but we are nonetheless committed to pay.
Richert describes the 22 percent claims as "misleading." I agree, and think that is a rather generous assessment.
What people also don't understand about this raw number is that a lot of the increases are increases for more people accessing programs for which they are eligible. And the eligibility standards were often agreed to years ago by both parties.
So for politicians of either party to assess blame on one party or the other is also a bit misleading. Their colleagues, at one point or another, agreed to this level of eligibility.
If we're going to blame someone for out of control spending, blame those who set the eligibility standards years ago. You'll likely find blame with lots of folks from both parties.
As Mark Twain once said: A lie can make it halfway around the world while the truth is just getting on its shoes.
That's mostly because the truth sometimes takes a lot of work, and most of it is done by journalists not beholden to political causes (bloggers) or corporate interests (we'll let you decide who that might be).
There's an oft repeated figure that Gov. Mark Dayton's budget is increasing spending 22 percent to 29 percent.
Minnesota Public Radio's Catherine Richert has done a great job debunking this claim on MPR's "Poligraph" feature. Here it is.
Essentially, her research, done in conjunction with the Humphrey Institute shows the real increase in Dayton's two-year budget from current two-year budget is about 8 percent.
That's because the Republicans and others who cite the 29 percent figure don't consider $4 billion or so in one-time federal stimulus money that was used and the school funding shift that we didn't put on the books, but we are nonetheless committed to pay.
Richert describes the 22 percent claims as "misleading." I agree, and think that is a rather generous assessment.
What people also don't understand about this raw number is that a lot of the increases are increases for more people accessing programs for which they are eligible. And the eligibility standards were often agreed to years ago by both parties.
So for politicians of either party to assess blame on one party or the other is also a bit misleading. Their colleagues, at one point or another, agreed to this level of eligibility.
If we're going to blame someone for out of control spending, blame those who set the eligibility standards years ago. You'll likely find blame with lots of folks from both parties.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Bin Laden's dead body photos: Are we CSI?
There's been a long running debate if newspapers and media should publish images of death.
What makes a photo of a dead body newsworthy?
The issue has once again been raised with the possibility of the U.S. military releasing photos of a dead, and mostly likely bloody, shot-up Osama bin Laden.
Of course, there are no rules, only guidelines and judgments.
Without seeing the photos, it is always tough to make a decision. If the photo is extremely graphic, for example, one contemplates either not using it at all, or using it on an inside page, where it will not ruin the breakfast appetite of our readers.
On the other hand, the death of bin Laden was no ordinary death or even ordinary homicide. This was the most sought after terrorist in the world.
Would we expect our readers to endure more death images and more gore when we're mostly glad the man is dead?
We ask ourselves: What does this photo tell the readers that the story and the print can't or don't tell?
With conspiracy theorism on the rise in the U.S. (i.e. Obama's birth certificate), should we publish the "real McCoy" dead Osama photo to prove to such theorists they're wrong, and silly? Do we have to prove bin Laden is dead? Will a photograph in the newspaper prove that?
Maybe the photo tells us the degree to which bin Laden was shot. Once, twice, multiple times. Would that tell us the nature of the military tactics involved or shed light on the people who did the shooting?
Would the photo show us bin Laden was gaunt and skinny and weak or fat and sedentary? How much of this do we need to know?
Will we be able to sell more newspapers if we run the photo? Will our competition run it and we'll look stupid by not running it?
I can tell you that it would be my bet that more people would buy our newspaper off the newsstand (about 10 percent of all sales) if we had a picture of a dead bin Laden on the front.
Just my hunch after about 25 years experience in this business. That isn't always a reason to publish. Some of our longtime subscribers (90 percent of our circulation) might be offended and cancel their subscription.
Tell us what you think. We've set up a discussion on our Facebook page, (Facebook.com/mankatofreepress) or e-mail us at editor@mankatofreepress.com
What makes a photo of a dead body newsworthy?
The issue has once again been raised with the possibility of the U.S. military releasing photos of a dead, and mostly likely bloody, shot-up Osama bin Laden.
Of course, there are no rules, only guidelines and judgments.
Without seeing the photos, it is always tough to make a decision. If the photo is extremely graphic, for example, one contemplates either not using it at all, or using it on an inside page, where it will not ruin the breakfast appetite of our readers.
On the other hand, the death of bin Laden was no ordinary death or even ordinary homicide. This was the most sought after terrorist in the world.
Would we expect our readers to endure more death images and more gore when we're mostly glad the man is dead?
We ask ourselves: What does this photo tell the readers that the story and the print can't or don't tell?
With conspiracy theorism on the rise in the U.S. (i.e. Obama's birth certificate), should we publish the "real McCoy" dead Osama photo to prove to such theorists they're wrong, and silly? Do we have to prove bin Laden is dead? Will a photograph in the newspaper prove that?
Maybe the photo tells us the degree to which bin Laden was shot. Once, twice, multiple times. Would that tell us the nature of the military tactics involved or shed light on the people who did the shooting?
Would the photo show us bin Laden was gaunt and skinny and weak or fat and sedentary? How much of this do we need to know?
Will we be able to sell more newspapers if we run the photo? Will our competition run it and we'll look stupid by not running it?
I can tell you that it would be my bet that more people would buy our newspaper off the newsstand (about 10 percent of all sales) if we had a picture of a dead bin Laden on the front.
Just my hunch after about 25 years experience in this business. That isn't always a reason to publish. Some of our longtime subscribers (90 percent of our circulation) might be offended and cancel their subscription.
Tell us what you think. We've set up a discussion on our Facebook page, (Facebook.com/mankatofreepress) or e-mail us at editor@mankatofreepress.com
Monday, May 2, 2011
Editor's picks: Bin Laden coverage
Roving the wire all day today and finding what seem to be interesting tidbits on the Bin Laden coverage.
I'll update regularly
Here's a Politico story quoting Rudy Giuiliani saying the "elation" feels strange.
Bin Laden story getting reaction from Minnesota political leadering, including Rep. Tim Walz, John Kline
Interesting AP story: Inside the Bin Laden raid
Interpol's take on future of Al Qaida
Politico: Bin Laden used wife as a human shield
Politico reporter gives a few details on Bin Laden's burial at sea.
I'll update regularly
Here's a Politico story quoting Rudy Giuiliani saying the "elation" feels strange.
Bin Laden story getting reaction from Minnesota political leadering, including Rep. Tim Walz, John Kline
Interesting AP story: Inside the Bin Laden raid
Interpol's take on future of Al Qaida
Politico: Bin Laden used wife as a human shield
Politico reporter gives a few details on Bin Laden's burial at sea.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Quiet week in Lake Wobegon
The story commentors were their usual selves this week, discussing the nuances of voter ID laws to global warming and who deserves Medicare more as they continued their heated coffee klatsch in the electronic version of the Chatterbox cafe, where, incidentally, all seem to be above average.
Trouble is, there's no resolving that issue, or many of the others taking up our cyber-world table space. Don't they know we've got to make money here?
I had the usual amount of anonymous letters, not parsing words about the quality of our punctuation and use of split infinitives and BTW wishing us good luck in our endeavor to put out "that rag." Will we never learn?
Got a few congratulatory letters on our "Newspaper of the Year Honor" and a call from an angry fellow who wanted us to give the award back and pull our self-congratulatory ads because we forgot to publish the bingo numbers.
We aren't so smart and high and mighty if we can't remember the bingo numbers, he said.
I got a nice phone call from a young woman with a southern accent asking me to fill out a survey from the University of Georgia Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research. I didn't know such places existed in Georgia. She politely mentioned she'd e-mailed me the survey some months ago, and hoped I would remember.
Good luck with that lady.
She sounded so nice, I had to make like I would really attempt to fill out the survey should she send it again. In Minnesota, sometimes, we're just to nice for our own good. I received the survey and put it at the top of my file as a reminder to the requisite guilt I should be feeling.
Three grumpy businessmen, two irate mothers of felons and one reader who hinted at disappointment should we pull the "Ask Us" column rounded out the month.
This newspaper editor gig is tough work. I hear there's an opening for a radio host in the Twin Cities, someone to tell odd stories about average people one runs into in Minnesota.
I might be qualified.
Trouble is, there's no resolving that issue, or many of the others taking up our cyber-world table space. Don't they know we've got to make money here?
I had the usual amount of anonymous letters, not parsing words about the quality of our punctuation and use of split infinitives and BTW wishing us good luck in our endeavor to put out "that rag." Will we never learn?
Got a few congratulatory letters on our "Newspaper of the Year Honor" and a call from an angry fellow who wanted us to give the award back and pull our self-congratulatory ads because we forgot to publish the bingo numbers.
We aren't so smart and high and mighty if we can't remember the bingo numbers, he said.
I got a nice phone call from a young woman with a southern accent asking me to fill out a survey from the University of Georgia Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research. I didn't know such places existed in Georgia. She politely mentioned she'd e-mailed me the survey some months ago, and hoped I would remember.
Good luck with that lady.
She sounded so nice, I had to make like I would really attempt to fill out the survey should she send it again. In Minnesota, sometimes, we're just to nice for our own good. I received the survey and put it at the top of my file as a reminder to the requisite guilt I should be feeling.
Three grumpy businessmen, two irate mothers of felons and one reader who hinted at disappointment should we pull the "Ask Us" column rounded out the month.
This newspaper editor gig is tough work. I hear there's an opening for a radio host in the Twin Cities, someone to tell odd stories about average people one runs into in Minnesota.
I might be qualified.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
The dreaded "presser": Who cares about press conferences?
I'm not sure who invested press conferences, but from a controlling the message point of view, this person was a genius.
I'm guessing the institution arose out of some kind of war where reporters were told it was too dangerous to be on the front line and therefore "appropriate spokespeople" would be available to answer their questions, or more often, give "non-answers" to their questions.
In fact, if I remember my history right, the Lyndon Johnson Administration had such press conferences (if I remember right they were called the "5 O'clock follies") during the Vietnam War. They garnered the name because they were so bogus and filled with propaganda they were deemed not credible.
So, it's only logical that today's news consumers and news reporters should question the value of press conferences.
We've had two in two days in Mankato. Republicans in the Legislature stopped at the Mankato Airport to give their take on things as they are going at the Capitol.
Next day, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman stopped in Mankato to make a statement about his opposition and that of our own city leaders to cuts those Republicans were making to local government aid.
Very little new was said at either press conference. So why do we continue writing about them? A fair question. Sometimes, it's a slow news day. Sometimes, we write reports to let people know what's happening, and we were there.
Sometimes, we hope a challenging question from our enterprising reporters will elicit something new. We can only hope.
But we should aspire to more than that. It's not on reporters. Many would rather not write about the same thing. Sometimes, we spend time going to these hoping something new might be said. So our coverage is kind of a defensive mechanism to make sure we don't miss anything or get beat on anything.
We have skipped these on occasion when the presenting party announces what they're going to announce in a morning press conference in the Twin Cities. The story is on the AP wire by 10 a.m. and yet they fly down to Mankato and offer the same news at 3 p.m.
I always jokingly wonder, do they thing we are in a different time zone? Maybe just a different universe.
I always tempted to tell these folks: We do have running water down here now.
I'm guessing the institution arose out of some kind of war where reporters were told it was too dangerous to be on the front line and therefore "appropriate spokespeople" would be available to answer their questions, or more often, give "non-answers" to their questions.
In fact, if I remember my history right, the Lyndon Johnson Administration had such press conferences (if I remember right they were called the "5 O'clock follies") during the Vietnam War. They garnered the name because they were so bogus and filled with propaganda they were deemed not credible.
So, it's only logical that today's news consumers and news reporters should question the value of press conferences.
We've had two in two days in Mankato. Republicans in the Legislature stopped at the Mankato Airport to give their take on things as they are going at the Capitol.
Next day, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman stopped in Mankato to make a statement about his opposition and that of our own city leaders to cuts those Republicans were making to local government aid.
Very little new was said at either press conference. So why do we continue writing about them? A fair question. Sometimes, it's a slow news day. Sometimes, we write reports to let people know what's happening, and we were there.
Sometimes, we hope a challenging question from our enterprising reporters will elicit something new. We can only hope.
But we should aspire to more than that. It's not on reporters. Many would rather not write about the same thing. Sometimes, we spend time going to these hoping something new might be said. So our coverage is kind of a defensive mechanism to make sure we don't miss anything or get beat on anything.
We have skipped these on occasion when the presenting party announces what they're going to announce in a morning press conference in the Twin Cities. The story is on the AP wire by 10 a.m. and yet they fly down to Mankato and offer the same news at 3 p.m.
I always jokingly wonder, do they thing we are in a different time zone? Maybe just a different universe.
I always tempted to tell these folks: We do have running water down here now.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
When Legislators don't listen to their constituents
Rural Republican legislators are starting to see just how much budget cuts they're supporting hurt their constituencies, even more so than other places around the state.
An MPR report out of Tracy, Minn., shows those attending town hall meetings attended by newly elected Sen. Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls and State Rep. Chris Swedzinski of Ghent showed rural areas fear budget cuts more than tax increases.
From the MPR story:
"Once the meeting in Tracy got started, it was clear the audience wasn't much interested in the Republican versus Democrat struggle at the capitol. Voters like Diana Slyter of Florence were mostly interested in their own backyards.
Slyter said she fears that the partisan wars are distracting lawmakers from what they really should be doing, taking care of their home districts. She said long after the two political parties have hurled their final challenge at the other side this legislative session, the people of Minnesota will have to live with what sort of budget they end up passing.
That sort of sentiment was echoed by others at the Tracy meeting. Jason Swanson, the administrator of the nursing home in Tracy, said care centers in rural areas need more state support from lawmakers.
"We are not getting a fair shake out here," Swanson said. "We are over-regulated, we're under-funded. And who's getting hurt the most is not only our residents, our vulnerable adults, our grandparents, our parents, but also our staff. I'm not able to pay our staff what they deserve. And I'll be the first one to say that."
The one guy who did talk partisanship, actually, was on Dayton's tax the rich side.
"The person that's on a $9-an-hour job out here, cannot pay any big tax bill," says Bud Hayes. "But the guy that's making $600- $700,000 dollars a year can afford it. And you can only get it from those that's got it."
MPR story reported: "Dahms said he didn't think there was any chance Republicans would change their 'no tax increase' stance. He said his big worry is that if taxes are raised, it's a fix that won't last very long because if legislators approve the Dayton plan, in two years they'll be looking at more tax increases. He fears the next round of tax increases would reach into the middle-income earners."
Full MPR story
I haven't really heard Republicans defend their all cuts budget to outstate areas that will be hit very hard, but this worry that the tax increases will filter down to middle class seems, lets just say, far fetched, especially a middle class tax increase coming from a Democratic governor.
The demographics of this district show a median income of $38,917, and at near virtual tie for Obama and McCain at 48 percent each in the 2008 election.
If I were a newly elected Republican in places like Tracy, I'd be very wary about endorsing an all cuts budget.
An MPR report out of Tracy, Minn., shows those attending town hall meetings attended by newly elected Sen. Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls and State Rep. Chris Swedzinski of Ghent showed rural areas fear budget cuts more than tax increases.
From the MPR story:
"Once the meeting in Tracy got started, it was clear the audience wasn't much interested in the Republican versus Democrat struggle at the capitol. Voters like Diana Slyter of Florence were mostly interested in their own backyards.
Slyter said she fears that the partisan wars are distracting lawmakers from what they really should be doing, taking care of their home districts. She said long after the two political parties have hurled their final challenge at the other side this legislative session, the people of Minnesota will have to live with what sort of budget they end up passing.
That sort of sentiment was echoed by others at the Tracy meeting. Jason Swanson, the administrator of the nursing home in Tracy, said care centers in rural areas need more state support from lawmakers.
"We are not getting a fair shake out here," Swanson said. "We are over-regulated, we're under-funded. And who's getting hurt the most is not only our residents, our vulnerable adults, our grandparents, our parents, but also our staff. I'm not able to pay our staff what they deserve. And I'll be the first one to say that."
The one guy who did talk partisanship, actually, was on Dayton's tax the rich side.
"The person that's on a $9-an-hour job out here, cannot pay any big tax bill," says Bud Hayes. "But the guy that's making $600- $700,000 dollars a year can afford it. And you can only get it from those that's got it."
MPR story reported: "Dahms said he didn't think there was any chance Republicans would change their 'no tax increase' stance. He said his big worry is that if taxes are raised, it's a fix that won't last very long because if legislators approve the Dayton plan, in two years they'll be looking at more tax increases. He fears the next round of tax increases would reach into the middle-income earners."
Full MPR story
I haven't really heard Republicans defend their all cuts budget to outstate areas that will be hit very hard, but this worry that the tax increases will filter down to middle class seems, lets just say, far fetched, especially a middle class tax increase coming from a Democratic governor.
The demographics of this district show a median income of $38,917, and at near virtual tie for Obama and McCain at 48 percent each in the 2008 election.
If I were a newly elected Republican in places like Tracy, I'd be very wary about endorsing an all cuts budget.
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