Free Republic

A $409 million tab projected for retiree benefit costs looms for the cash-strapped St. Paul Public Schools. Some on the school board are urging the district to tackle the liability more aggressively. But officials say there's little they can do to put a dent in the costs, which have bumped up tax bills and diverted money from the classroom. St. Paul recently started socking away money to help cover the benefits, slated to sunset in 2014. But the investment came later and started out smaller than planned, and recent market turmoil chipped away at it. "I feel we're throwing a...

“Life with Archie No. 16″ hits newsstands next week, featuring the interracial, same-sex wedding of character Lt. Kevin Keller, a white American soldier wounded in Iraq, and Clay Walker, the black physical therapist who helped him recover. Archie Comics CEO Jonathan Goldwater told CNN it’s part of a concerted effort to make Archie Andrews’ universe mirror the diversity and complexity of today’s world

What makes a "green" job? A Minnesota hair salon once identified its hair stylists as being in green jobs. Another business claimed a bartender was green. But after two years of study, state labor market researchers have come up with a more conservative view of the new and emerging jobs in the "green" sector. Funded through a stimulus grant of $1.6 million, the state scoured job descriptions at thousands of companies and talked to many of them one by one about the nature of their job openings. Minnesota now defines a green job as one that is directly related or...

Growing numbers of New Yorkers seeking food stamps have created an unwelcome spillover effect at some of New York City's job centers: overcrowding that in some cases has grown so severe, benefits were jeopardized. The crush of people grew so large at one Brooklyn center in November that the Fire Department intervened and prevented anyone from entering the building.

Thank you - and your colleagues Edward Lotterman, Frederick Melo and Ruben Rosario - for shedding light on the city of St. Paul/Ramsey County real estate tax "system." That system puzzles me. Should I conclude that it is broken? Perhaps even a less than artful attempt, like mine below, might add to your helpful analysis. Compare the real estate tax system to the "progressive'' income tax. A published schedule indicates the basic tax burden that a particular amount of income will bear. Or, compare the real estate tax to the "regressive'' sales tax. A product purchase price leads to a...

Mike Colalillo, the last Medal of Honor recipient in Minnesota, has died. He was 86. Colalillo died Friday at a Duluth nursing home, the Dougherty Funeral Home confirmed Monday. He received the nation's highest military honor for bravery in combat for killing or wounding 25 Germans and helping a seriously wounded comrade to safety during a fierce firefight near Untergriesheim, Germany, on April 7, 1945, toward the end of World War II. Forty-six Minnesotans, including Colalillo, have received the Medal of Honor, according to the Minnesota Military Museum at Camp Ripley in Little Falls. According to the Medal of Honor...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Minnesota Republicans elected political consultant Pat Shortridge as their new state chair Saturday as the party deals with debts that could total $2 million. Shortridge, a former top aide to former U.S. Rep. Mark Kennedy, defeated businessman Todd McIntyre and Terry McCall, the party's 2nd District chairman, at a meeting of the party's State Central Committee in St. Cloud. Shortridge won on the first ballot, with 66.5 percent of the vote. McCall received 30 percent and McIntyre 3 percent. "It's about reinvigorating and galvanizing our activists . to restore their confidence in what we're doing," Shortridge told the...

The Minnesota Republican Party's debts total about $2 million, including more than $700,000 in contested legal fees from the 2010 gubernatorial recount. The party's financial troubles were no secret, but an internal review released Friday detailed the extent of the problems. It shows the party has obligations totaling $1.3 million over and above the legal fees, including $415,000 that hadn't been reported before and $120,000 in Federal Election Commission fines. "The debt number is higher than anyone wants it to be," said Jeff Johnson, chairman of the party's executive committee and a Hennepin County commissioner. "There's some pretty ugly stuff...

A prosecutor asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday to reopen his lawsuit challenging Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law, contending a justice who voted to dismiss the suit earlier this year got free legal help from the firm defending the law. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne argued in filings with the court that it should vacate its decision because Justice Michael Gableman never disclosed his arrangement with the Michael Best and Friedrich law firm. Wisconsin's ethics code prohibits state officials from accepting free gifts, and the judicial ethics code bars judges from accepting gifts from anyone likely...

Duluth made history last week when it became the first city in the state to pass a resolution in support of a constitutional amendment that would essentially overturn a U.S. Supreme Court decision, namely Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. The court ruled in 2010 that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as individual U.S. citizens. A majority of justices also concluded that political spending was a form of free speech and that corporations should be able to spend an unlimited sum of money to influence voters, without disclosing financial details of their activities. Although Duluth is...

who will win and how? why do PPV buyers only get 5 fights and have to jump around to Spike and Facebutt for the others?

A wind farm that was to be the first such large-scale operation in central Minnesota is about a year behind schedule. Edina-based Geronimo Wind Energy has the necessary permits to build the 95-megawatt wind farm. But the company hasn't been able to find a utility company willing to buy its energy. Geronimo spokesman Charlie Daum attributed the delay to a slow market. "That's really the only thing that's holding us back right now," Daum said, adding that the situation was "not a concern as much as a frustration." By now, as many as 60 turbines, each about 400 feet high,...

WILLMAR — The Willmar Municipal Utilities Commission on Tuesday rejected a motion to study the feasibility of a solar project for Willmar Municipal Utilities at this time. The commission defeated a motion to sign a nonbinding letter of intent with tenKsolar of Minneapolis to study the feasibility of a 600-kilowatt-hour project as a showcase to prospective national and worldwide customers. The study had been proposed by tenKsolar executives Joel Cannon, chief executive officer, and Jim Losleben, business development vice president.

A history teacher received a lesson in criminal justice Thursday after being arrested for having a year and a half long sexual relationship with one of his own 8th grade students. And it was his wife who dropped the dime on him.

Dozens of teens and teachers froze as they say 40-year-old Ronette Ricketts began viciously stabbing fellow English teacher Cynthia Glozier. 3 wounds to the head, 2 puncture wounds to the neck, a dozen more to her back and body.

The University of Wisconsin System will have to cut an additional $46.1 million over six months, atop a previously approved $250 million two-year reduction, under a detailed budget-balancing plan Gov. Scott Walker's administration released Friday. The new cut to UW was part of $123.2 million in additional reductions ordered to be made across state government. The amount in cuts was approved under the budget passed in June but not specified until Friday. Walker's Department of Administration ordered agencies to make the cuts without layoffs, if possible.

nice version of "Deck the Halls".

Shocking details have surfaced in the murder of up-and-coming rapper Slim Dunkin (born Mario Hamilton). Atlanta police has told WSB-TV, that the Waka Flocka Flame associate was shot and killed during a fight over a piece of candy. Incredulous as the story may sound, authorities are still investigating the case and the shooter remains at large.

The district attorney who filed a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's law passed this year effectively ending collective bargaining rights for most public workers said Thursday he is considering asking the state Supreme Court to rehear the case. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne told the Associated Press he was looking at making the request after learning that Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman had received free legal services from a firm that defended the law in that case decided in June. Gableman was part of a four-justice majority that upheld the law, which generated massive opposition protests and made Wisconsin the center...

HASTINGS, Minn. - Dakota County prosecutors have charged a St. Paul man with making terroristic threats and assault after an attack on a coach of his son's youth hockey team. A criminal complaint says 49-year-old Thomas Tonda attacked the coach after he disciplined Tonda's son following an incident during practice.