Free Republic

ST. PAUL, Minn.—A Ramsey County judge on Monday blocked a unionization vote by Minnesota child care workers that was to get under way this week, saying the issue must go through the state Legislature. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that the Democratic governor exceeded his powers with the executive order setting up the election. "If unionization of day care is to become the law of Minnesota, it must first be submitted to the lawmaking body of the state," Judge Dale Lindman said after hearing three hours of testimony. Lindman also said he was "bothered" that less than half of the...

You won't be hearing wind chill warnings in the Twin Cities this winter - but not because it won't get cold. Several National Weather Service offices, including the office in Chanhassen, are replacing wind chill warnings with what they're calling "extreme cold" warnings. "In large part, it's just a name change," said Todd Krause, warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service's Chanhassen office. Krause said warnings used to be issued if the wind chill factor dropped to minus 35. But if the temperature was minus 35 with no wind, no warning was issued. The new extreme cold warning will be...

The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration voted Thursday to file a "friend of the court" brief in support of a lawsuit seeking to stop an upcoming unionization election for in-home child care providers. The vote was 6-1 along party lines, with Republicans in favor and the lone Democrat in attendance, Richard Cohen of St. Paul, opposed. GOP senators argued that Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat, overstepped his legal authority in issuing an executive order for the election. Filing an amicus brief does not make the Senate a party to the suit but offers support for the complaint submitted Monday...

Senate Republicans and Democrats have finally reached an iron-clad, bipartisan agreement to cap spending. Their Secret Santa presents won't cost more than $10. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., organized the Senate gift exchange, which will take place at a holiday party sometime next month. An outspoken liberal voice, former "Saturday Night Live" funnyman Franken would seem an odd partner for the conservative, buttoned-down Johanns. "We're as near to polar opposites as you could find in the Senate," Johanns acknowledged, "and yet I think it's a good idea, and when he asked me I didn't hesitate a...

Exclusive FR photo:when not fighting global climate change, Algore is saving the UN on the Island of Misfit dictators from the evil, republican Bumble.

Angel Buechner of Minneapolis, a member of the Welfare Rights and Minnesota Coalition for the Peoples Bail Out, was one of about a half-dozen picketers outside the hearing. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

SAN FRANCISCO - Government regulators are sharing some alarming information about Facebook: They believe the online social network has often misled its more than 800 million users about the sanctity of their personal information. The unflattering portrait of Facebook's privacy practices emerged Tuesday in a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that Facebook exposed details about users' lives without getting legally required consent. In some cases, the FTC charged, Facebook allowed potentially sensitive details to be passed along to advertisers and software developers prowling for customers. To avoid further legal wrangling, Facebook agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy...

Dayton, a Democrat, ordered the election two weeks ago so that providers could vote on whether to be represented by a union in "meet and confer" talks with the state. The order allows in-home providers who participate in state-subsidized Child Care Assistance Programs to vote on whether to be represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) or the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), depending on where in the state their business is. Ballots are scheduled to be mailed Dec. 7 to about 4,300 of some 11,000 in-home providers in Minnesota. They would be counted Dec....

About 15 percent of black students in St. Paul were suspended at least once last year, compared with 3 percent of whites. To address the problem, the district decided in 2009 to spend about $450,000 of $58 million it received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to institute the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program. The program requires administrators and teachers to periodically evaluate their school rules and determine which ones call for suspensions and which call for lesser punishments. They're also encouraged to be more explicit about what is expected of students in order to be successful...

A substitute teacher for a special-education school in North St. Paul has admitted to trying to sway a student to engage in prostitution. Tameshia Leeann Allen-Hodges, 23, of Oakdale was accused of bringing a 21-year-old female student with developmental disabilities to her home, where she took photos of the student in lingerie and suggested she perform sex acts for money. The photos were posted online with the student's contact information. The student told police she received multiple calls and said at least one man came to Allen-Hodges' apartment, though the student said she did not engage in any physical contact...

APPLETON, Wis. - An Appleton native is the creator of the iconic "blue fist" graphic in the shape of Wisconsin used in spring protests at the state Capitol. Graphic artist Carrie Worthen graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She now lives and works in Los Angeles, but she kept in touch with members of the AFL-CIO and, in February, the union asked her to take the germ of the fist idea and make it stand out. "To me it needed to be bold and clear and loud and simple," Worthen told Wisconsin Public Radio.

MANSFIELD, Ohio -- The old, imposing prison in Ohio where the movie "The Shawshank Redemption" was filmed has become a hot spot for weddings and hosts an annual bridal show. What was once known as the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield is all booked up for weddings through the end of 2012 and has begun taking reservations for 2013. The bridal show is called "Glamour in the Slammer" and is in its fifth year.

does anyone know of one made that can be recharged? all the ones I own (and ones sold in stores) are sealed . if they are left in a cold place(like an unheated garage), they become just as dead as the battery in the car you're trying to start.

DULUTH, Minn.—Jeno Paulucci, a Minnesota business icon whose restaurant ventures included a company that popularized the finger food known as pizza rolls, has died. He was 93. Paulucci's daughter Cindy Paulucci Selton tells the Duluth News-Tribune he died Thursday morning at his Duluth home. His wife, Lois, had died just four days earlier. In 1944, Paulucci founded Duluth-based Chun King, which sold a line of canned Chinese food. More than two decades later, he sold that company to R.J. Reynolds Food Inc.

Hopefully for the Minnesota Wild, goalie Josh Harding stays healthy on Wednesday night, because their backup is 51 years old. Paul Deutsch, who runs a printing business in Richfield, Minn., is filling in for Niklas Backstrom, who's out for personal reasons, and Matt Hackett, who couldn't make it to St. Paul from the team's AHL affiliate in Houston in time. Deutsch, according to the Star Tribune, is a friend of former assistant coach Mike Ramsey and filled in for Wild goalies in the past, but only in practice.

We have been given expensive ringside seats to quite a public backscratching. Unions - AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and SEIU, Service Employees International Union - have been patting their old pal, Governor Dayton, on the back and saying, "You can do it" and "Atta boy, go get 'em." And lo, Dayton, who is beholden to unions, looked out his window one day and decided he saw some people he could bring into the collective fold. Now, how the governor has the constitutional authority to order anybody to take a vote on joining a union...

ARLINGTON, Texas - Longtime Twins closer Joe Nathan and the Texas Rangers agreed Monday night to a two-year contract with a club option for 2014, a move that means Rangers closer Neftali Feliz will shift to the starting rotation. "We look at this as almost like two acquisitions," general manager Jon Daniels said. The two-time defending American League champions had discussed moving Feliz into the rotation last spring, but the timing wasn't right then. Daniels said being able to sign Nathan made that move easier now. It also would help offset the loss of free-agent starter C.J. Wilson if the...

Minnesota lawmakers got some answers Monday about a vote to unionize in-home child care providers, but with just more than two weeks before ballots are mailed, key questions remain. Chief among those emerging from a House committee meeting: Will any agreements reached between state-subsidized providers and the state apply to those who don't receive subsidies, and if so, shouldn't those who don't receive subsidies be allowed to vote? Meanwhile, there is an effort in Ramsey County to block a budget allocation for a nonprofit group linked to the union organizing child care providers. Gov. Mark Dayton touched off the flurry...

Governor Dayton reportedly made a promise to union leaders to sign the executive order in exchange for their support in the last election. Greedy union bosses want to skim union dues from taxpayer-funded subsidies designed to help poor parents pay for childcare services. And childcare providers are just the beginning. In other states, family members caring for relatives with disabilities have also been forced to join a union.

scooter ratings...looking for something showing cost per mile to own/operate various scooters (50-125cc) IIRC, MCN (Motorcycle Consumer News) had/has something like this for cycles,but none for scooters that I could recall.