In downtown St. Paul, if you unbuild it, will they come?

There is lots of history in the row of buildings that sit on the bluff between downtown St. Paul and the Mississippi River. There’s the former home of West Publishing, which marks the place where a company with national, even global, reach grew up before relocating to Eagan. And then there’s...

MN Blog Cabin Roundup, 5/29

What’s wrong with the agriculture, environment and natural resources bill? It’s hard to know where to begin. Partly, the problem is the bill is too damn big. Along with the budget items, (mostly) Republican legislators threw in a pile of bad laws that they thought they could get through at the...

The Marv Davidov files: A life under surveillance

Among Twin Cities peace activists, Marv Davidov was a long-time fixture. A proponent of nonviolent direct action, Davidov was heavily involved in the civil-rights movement and later actively opposed the Vietnam War through protests and pickets. Starting in the late 1960s, his anti-war activism...

Behind the music of Black Lives Matter: Jayanthi Kyle’s 'Hand in Hand'

You kinda have to wonder how Jayanthi Kyle finds the time. “I have a two year old, I have a five year old, I have a six year old,” she said. “I’m in over eight bands. I’m in multiple projects. I can barely tell you what bands I’m in.” Kyle has been singing since she was little, belting gospel...

Nicollet Mall: As in the '80s, redo saw a need for skyway-street connection but abandoned it

“Movable chairs come to Nicollet Mall!” the headline reads, touting a brand new idea from an urban design consultant. The effort is part of a redesign aimed at revitalizing Minneapolis’ main shopping street. Only the headline is from 1988, when the Metrodome was still new, and the chairs quickly...

Adoption play tells community stories; ‘Juno and the Paycock’ to open at the Guthrie

A new play is taking shape that may change our notions about adoption – how it informs our ideas of family and identity, what it means to families and communities, why we should care. “Adoption is not a one-time event,” said writer and playwright Alan Berks. “It affects how people live their...

Rosa Garcia-Peltoniemi: For nearly 30 years, work with torture survivors has been a way of ‘giving back’

In 1987, when Rosa Garcia-Peltoniemi, Ph.D., called to volunteer her services, The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) was a 2-year-old independent nonprofit providing rehabilitative care to torture survivors in Minnesota. Garcia-Peltoniemi, then a newly minted clinical psychologist, sought out...

'Secret shapes' form backbone of essays in 'The World Is on Fire'

The other day, an item about the Sarah Winchester house made the social media rounds. A few photos, a breezy couple of lines of gawking description; I glanced at it for three seconds and then moved on, while some ad placement agency got its click. It was not a satisfying read. I wouldn’t have...

How the pope is shaking up the debate on climate change

The Vatican doesn’t have a great track record on science. It took them a bit more than three and a half centuries to acknowledge that Gallileo was right, after all, with that business about the Earth revolving around the sun. So it’s not surprising that word of a major new Vatican focus on climate...

Vietnam 40 years later — and why Americans should visit

Why is it that mentioning Vietnam to people of a certain age often incites a knee-jerk response such as “Don’t they hate us?” or “Why would you want to go there?” as if the country were caught in a time warp, forever recycling 1975? Coming of age in the '70s means that I do have images of the...

How to lose 10 Kilos of stomach fat in just 4 Weeks with these 2 diet programs that celebrities use.

Garcinia Cambogia is the latest weight loss fad. This so called Superfood that you take as a supplement to lose weight have been getting a lot of international attention. In fact, it was recently featured on the popular US TV program, The Dr Oz Show where he called it "The most exciting breakthrough...

Hong Kong quarantines 18 over MERS fears

BEIJING (AP) — Hong Kong authorities quarantined 18 fellow passengers of a South Korean man who arrived in the city infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. The Chinese city's health authorities said Saturday the 18 are quarantined in the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village resort in...

Holiday in socialist fairyland? North Korea woos tourists

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — If you're still looking for somewhere exotic to go this summer and don't mind a vacation that comes with a heavy dose of socialist propaganda and leader worship, North Korea says it's just the place for you. Fresh off a drastic, half-year ban that closed North Korea's...