Well, of course, you never actually say "never" … Abby Simons of the Strib says: “The Minnesota Supreme Court will not consider Amy Senser’s final bid for freedom, bringing an end to the highly publicized fatal hit-and-run case that began on a darkened Minneapolis freeway ramp two years ago and culminated with a prison term for the wife of an ex-Minnesota Vikings player. ‘Based upon all the files, records, and proceedings herein, it is hereby ordered that the petition of Amy Margaret Senser for further review be, and the same is, denied.’ Chief Justice Lorie Gildea wrote in the one-sentence order that now means Senser will remain in prison until at least October 2014.”
Well, I guess it’ll do until they get that casino built … Sheila Regan at City Pages writes: “This fall, Hennepin Theatre Trust, an organization with a longtime presence on Hennepin Avenue, hopes to inject Block E with new life through an initiative titled Made Here. The project will be led by Artists in Storefronts' energetic leader, Joan Vorderbruggen. For the past year and a half, Vorderbruggen has been helping to transform the Whittier neighborhood through commissioning murals, enlisting artists to create pop-up galleries in storefront windows, and hosting events in unexpected places like bars and restaurant basements. ... By the end of September, Made Here will illuminate 40 of Block E's outside-facing windows, erect poetry on the marquees of the defunct movie theater, and play local music curated by performance artist Jaime Carrera from the speakers facing the sidewalk.” I still say they need some kind of Moby Dick’s redux.
Of course, if there were typos on the website, he’d be demanding the whole thing be shut down. In the Miami Herald, Tia Mitchell tells her readers: “A data breach in Minnesota has added fuel to Gov. Rick Scott's latest crusade against the Affordable Care Act: privacy concerns. Now, he's asking U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner to address the questions raised about whether patient information will be protected when they are assisted by enrollment advisors or use web-based programs to sign up for coverage. … Of course, similar advisors have been helping Floridians sign up for Medicare, Medicaid and a separate program for children for years. These programs also have web-based enrollment, operating similar to how the exchanges are expected to when they start signing up patients on Oct. 1.”
Same colors as the flag … Karen Turner, in the Ottawa Citizen, reports: “No more cross-border shopping trips for bargains at Target. The U.S. discount department store chain is bringing its trademark red-and-white outlets closer to home, with the opening of three stores in Ottawa Tuesday. … According to one customer-satisfaction survey by Forum Research in August, only 27 per cent of those Canadians polled said they were ‘very satisfied’ with their experience at Target, which opened its first Canadian stores in March.”
And from a couple days ago in the Montreal Gazette, Jeff Heinrich writes: “Join our team. Expect the best.” So say the recruitment ads for Target, the U.S.-based discount retail giant that’s opening the first of 25 stores in Quebec on Tuesday. In French, the slogan promises more: ‘Joignez-vous à nous. Trouvez ce qu’il y a de mieux.’ Find the best, not just expect it. But will the Quebecers hired by Target — over 4,000, or an average of 150 per store, part of a Canada-wide expansion — really get what they’re looking for? Wages, working conditions, benefits — in these non-union shops, the onus will be on the company to prove it can deliver.”
TCF is No. 1! Jennifer Bjorhus of the Strib says: “TCF National Bank has a new distinction: gripe king. When it comes to bank accounts and services, the Wayzata-based lender is the most complained-about bank in the country, based on the ratio of consumer complaints to total bank deposits. That’s according to a report out Tuesday from a major consumer advocacy group analyzing the consumer complaints database created by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau … Most of the problems, by far, were with checking accounts, an anchor account at banks, with the biggest chunk of the issues being about account opening, closing or management — a broad category that includes the fees consumers so despise. … Wayzata-based TCF ranked No. 1 with 24.9 complaints per billion dollars of deposits. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo was No. 12 at 4.1 complaints, and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank ranked 22 at 3.5.”
Can you slap someone by craigslist? At the Strib, Kristin Tillotson reports: “A 27-year-old Minneapolis law-office employee named Lindsey (last name withheld) is attracting a growing stream of online reaction for posting an unusual ‘Missed Connections’ item on Craigslist that reflects the frustration many women feel about catcalls or suggestions to ‘smile’ given them by random male strangers they encounter in public. Lindsey said she was waiting for the light rail at American Blvd. and 34th Ave. in Bloomington, arms laden with take-home paperwork, when a middle-aged man in a green SUV leaned out his window and ‘made some ridiculous series of leering comments about whether I was wearing a thong, right as the light changed and you peeled off, pleased with yourself and saved from any consequences.' " It could have been worse. He could have looked her up on the driver license database and then cruised by her house.
Uh-oh. Does Edina really want to look like a bully getting tough with a hard-working immigrant family? Mary Jane Smetanka of the Strib says: “A retired couple who until recently ran a dry cleaning business at 50th and France in Edina are fighting to keep their building, which the city wants to condemn to expand public parking in the area. The Edina City Council, acting as the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority, was scheduled to act on the proposal Tuesday night. It would be the first use of eminent domain by the city of Edina in a decade. Last fall, Edina began negotiating to buy the Hooten Cleaners building ... from Soon and Jenny Park, but the Parks have refused to sell. … The city made a purchase offer based on an independent appraisal, [said Bill Neuendorf, Edina’s economic development manager], and the Parks countered by asking for an amount that was three or four times above that appraised value.”
There’s some common sense in a Strib commentary on this feral cat business. Hannah Specht, a U of M grad student writes: “Those favoring caretaking of feral cat colonies tout [“trap, neuter, release”] programs as being more effective than euthanasia in controlling colony size. Neither program is effective at reducing feral cat populations unless they are used much more aggressively than they currently are in Minneapolis. TNR programs attempt to restrict the growth of feral cat colonies, while euthanasia programs seek to directly reduce the population. ... Furthermore, TNR programs haven’t been effective in limiting population growth unless used in combination with adoption and euthanasia. Euthanasia is a more effective way to directly reduce colony size.” Insert “swing a dead cat” joke here.