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<title>Members of copper wire theft ring charged in Ramsey County</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/members-of-copper-wire-theft-ring-charged-in-ramsey-county/</link>
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<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Gov. Tim Walz inspecting a lamppost in St. Paul with copper wire theft damage." decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Plus: Minneapolis teachers to get 4% raise this year; hygiene wipes causing problems for Roseville sewer infrastructure; how to watch Twins games; and more.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/members-of-copper-wire-theft-ring-charged-in-ramsey-county/">Members of copper wire theft ring charged in Ramsey County</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Gov. Tim Walz inspecting a lamppost in St. Paul with copper wire theft damage." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalzCopperWireTheft940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/5-charged-in-st-paul-copper-wire-theft-ring/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Josh Skluzacek at KSTP is reporting</a> prosecutors in Ramsey County have charged five members of an apparent theft ring with stealing copper wire from dozens of streetlights in St. Paul.
<a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/05/01/sports-betting-bill-odds-dim-as-time-winds-down-on-minnesota-legislature" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Clay Masters at MPR News is reporting</a> the odds around a bill to legalize sports betting in the state of Minnesota are getting slimmer by the week.
<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/04/horse-track-betting-plan-could-stumble-amid-pushback-from-key-gambling-players/">Related:</a> Horse track betting plan could stumble amid pushback from key gambling players [MinnPost]
<a href="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2024/05/02/minneapolis-teachers-raises-union-budget-deficit" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kyle Stokes at Axios reports</a> a new contract has put Minneapolis Public Schools’ teachers in line for 4% raises this year and 5% next year, but the district is also facing a $110 million shortfall that has already forced drastic cuts in next year’s budget, with the real possibility of school closures looming in the near future.
<a href="https://www.startribune.com/roseville-to-residents-stop-flushing-those-flushable-wipes/600363273/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Greta Kaul at the Star Tribune is reporting</a> the city of Roseville is asking residents to stop flushing down the toilet products like baby and personal hygiene wipes that are advertised as flushable because they cause problems for sewer infrastructure as the city responds to a rise in backups.
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wisconsin-mount-horeb-middle-school-active-shooter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Charlie De Mar at WCCO News reports</a> officials are saying a school shooting threat was “neutralized” at a middle school west of Madison, Wisconsin, Wednesday morning. School officials had posted on social media that an active shooter had appeared on the school’s campus. The suspect is dead.
<a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/sports/mlb/twins/how-to-watch-the-twins-minnesota-xfinity-comcast-bally-sports-blackout/89-17e77459-5f07-4d10-9288-c81d65e9393f" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bill Strande, Dana Thiede and Jeremiah Jacobsen at KARE 11 have advice</a> on how to watch Minnesota Twins games following the Bally Sports blackout.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/members-of-copper-wire-theft-ring-charged-in-ramsey-county/">Members of copper wire theft ring charged in Ramsey County</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<title>Minneapolis hoping for an injection of federal funds to help with its climate equity goals</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/metro/2024/05/minneapolis-hoping-for-an-injection-of-federal-funds-to-help-with-its-climate-equity-goals/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mohamed Ibrahim]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 16:18:18 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
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<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
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<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Minneapolis City Council" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Grants would help to fund the city’s Climate Equity Plan, which focuses on low-income communities and communities of color.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/metro/2024/05/minneapolis-hoping-for-an-injection-of-federal-funds-to-help-with-its-climate-equity-goals/">Minneapolis hoping for an injection of federal funds to help with its climate equity goals</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Minneapolis City Council" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MplsCityCouncilDais2024_940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
The Minneapolis City Council is hoping for an influx of millions of dollars that the city would use to help achieve its climate equity goals after approving applications to two federal grant programs. 
City officials, residents and businesses alike see the availability and potential influx of funding as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to go all-in on the implementation of climate initiatives that have only been discussed for years. 
On April 25, the council approved grant applications to the federal Environmental Protection Agency — one through its Commercial Energy Cost Efficiency cost share program and another that would help to fund home weatherization, energy efficiency and electrification. 
Both programs would be funded by the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, a piece of the larger Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 that allocates $5 billion to states and municipal and tribal governments to figure out and implement ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 
The Commercial Energy Cost Efficiency program consists of a cohort of cities that include Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Eagan, Edina, Hopkins, Richfield and St. Louis Park — all cities that have existing programs, which makes it easier for funding to be distributed to small businesses and community members. Should the application be approved, the cities listed would split $10 million, with Minneapolis likely receiving the largest chunk of the funding. 
The residential decarbonization program would grant the city of Minneapolis $10 million to continue the weatherization of homes. 
This would be in addition to <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2023/10/minneapolis-raises-utility-fees-to-fund-climate-plan-in-first-big-step-toward-implementation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$10 million invested last year into the city’s Climate Legacy Initiative</a> — which calls for 100% carbon neutrality by 2050 — and another $8 million given to the city by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for tree removal and replacement. 
“This was our hope when we created it, that when the mayor and City Council created this funding, we’d be able to create programs that we can use to leverage additional state and federal funding,” said Patrick Hanlon, the city’s deputy commissioner of sustainability. “We’ve created weatherization programs and small business grant programs, and so we’ll be able to take these federal funds and infuse them right into the Climate Legacy Initiative to be able to allow us to serve more people.”
The grant application approvals come nearly a month after city officials put in another application to the EPA for funding from the same grant program. Approved on March 30 by the council, the application asks for funds to continue the city’s Electric Vehicle Spot Network and car sharing programs. 
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-72ad60d9523537f2f272ed0e2827c88f">Related</h3>
<ul class="wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts"><li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/metro/2024/05/minneapolis-hoping-for-an-injection-of-federal-funds-to-help-with-its-climate-equity-goals/">Minneapolis hoping for an injection of federal funds to help with its climate equity goals</a></li>
<li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2024/05/lower-emissions-minnesota-startup-convert-diesel-engines-to-burn-ammonia-aza-power/">To lower emissions, a Minnesota startup wants to convert diesel engines to burn ammonia</a></li>
<li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/environment/2024/04/harmful-farm-pollutants-mississippi-river-epa/">Stemming the tide of harmful farm pollutants on the Mississippi ‘an extraordinary task’</a></li>
</ul>
Launched in 2022, the partnership between Minneapolis and St. Paul consists of 70 EV charging stations between the two cities and a fleet of vehicles that can be used by the public. City officials asked for $47 million in their application to add more cars to their fleet and build more charging stations. 
“We feel like we could do a rapid expansion of this program with those funds now,” said Dillion Fried, mobility and curbside manager with the city’s Public Works Department. “And it would help the city achieve a number of our climate and climate equity goals because there’ll be an immediate reduction in the number of car trips that are taken with internal combustion engine vehicles.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Equity program underway </h3>
Last year, the council adopted the Climate Equity Plan, which lays out a decade-long path, with a focus on low-income communities and communities of color, to achieve the city’s climate goals. To help pay for it, the city approved a plan in October to raise utility franchise fees, which is expected to generate about $10 million annually. 
Since then, implementation has been underway. The city has been assisting residents with weatherizing their homes via better insulation, doing zero-cost energy audits for homes and businesses, and operating the Green Cost Share program, which pays for property upgrades to simultaneously help residents and businesses save money and lessen environmental impact. 
Despite current efforts, Hanlon said the scope of the problem in tending to climate change at the local level is often greater than the amount of available funding can address. The infusion of federal funds, in addition to local sources like utility franchise fees, can really help meet the city’s robust goals while also empowering its residents and business owners to take part.
“To be able to leverage these funds helps us get at the bigger greenhouse gas emission targets,” he said. “But it also creates more resources for people in our communities, to be able to overcome their own financial challenges to make these changes in their households or in their small businesses across the city.”
Matt Kazinka, senior strategic initiatives manager with Lake Street Council, a coalition of businesses along the south Minneapolis corridor, has been helping small businesses explore more ways to save energy since 2015. As of late, he said, he has been impressed in how the city has been ramping up investments toward implementing more robust climate initiatives.
As the city considers which residents and small businesses would benefit most from these programs, Kazinka said the city needs to prioritize business owners and residents who have, in the past, been unaware or explicitly excluded from these types of opportunities. 
“What’s really critical is that we help the businesses who won’t hear about it, who won’t be ready to take advantage of these on their own, and that we invest in the capacity to help those businesses,” he said. “I think that the city is infusing that into their applications for these programs but it needs to be a constant sort of drumbeat for all of us as community members and for the organizations pursuing these funds that this is an opportunity to undo historic imbalances.”
<div class="wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex">
<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:15%"><div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="274" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Ibrahim225.png?resize=225%2C274&ssl=1" alt="Mohamed Ibrahim" class="wp-image-2100521" style="width:114px" data-recalc-dims="1"/></figure></div></div>
<div class="wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow" style="flex-basis:66.66%">
<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/author/mohamed-ibrahim/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mohamed Ibrahim</a> Mohamed Ibrahim is MinnPost’s environment and public safety reporter. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:mibrahim@minnpost.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mibrahim@minnpost.com</a>.
</div>
</div>
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/metro/2024/05/minneapolis-hoping-for-an-injection-of-federal-funds-to-help-with-its-climate-equity-goals/">Minneapolis hoping for an injection of federal funds to help with its climate equity goals</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></content:encoded>
<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2163336</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>If pride and honor mattered, both Donald Trump and Nicole Mitchell would step aside</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2024/05/if-pride-and-honor-mattered-both-donald-trump-and-nicole-mitchell-would-step-aside/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Schultz]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 15:46:43 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Community Voices]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163328</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="680" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?fit=940%2C680" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Former President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Alina Habba, shown at the Manhattan Federal Court in a courtroom sketch from Jan. 25." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=190%2C137 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=640%2C463 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=768%2C556 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=400%2C289 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=706%2C511 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?fit=940%2C680&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Hypocrisy is at play here, as Democrats call Trump unfit for office while Republicans say Mitchell should resign.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2024/05/if-pride-and-honor-mattered-both-donald-trump-and-nicole-mitchell-would-step-aside/">If pride and honor mattered, both Donald Trump and Nicole Mitchell would step aside</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="680" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?fit=940%2C680" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Former President Donald Trump and his lawyer, Alina Habba, shown at the Manhattan Federal Court in a courtroom sketch from Jan. 25." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=190%2C137 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=640%2C463 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=768%2C556 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=400%2C289 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?resize=706%2C511 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/TrumpHabbaSketch940.png?fit=940%2C680&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
If pride in honor mattered, Donald Trump would not be a candidate for president of the United States. In Minnesota, Sen. Nicole Mitchell would resign from office. If pride and honor mattered, both of the supporters of Trump and Mitchell would demand the same of both of them.
Character matters, or at least it should. We should expect at least the same standard of conduct among public officials as we would expect among the rest of us. But we should expect more. There is, or should be, a higher standard of conduct that we should expect of them than simply saying they have not been convicted of a crime.
For more than 25 years, I have taught ethics and done ethics training for a variety of professions. They range from government officials, lawyers, accountants, fraud investigators and people in Fortune 500 corporations. One of the things we all agree on is that merely following the bare minimum of the codes of conduct for those professions does not make one ethical or a leader. Those who are the bottom feeders, who merely aspire not to be disbarred or have their professional licenses taken away. That is not enough to be considered ethical.
It is also about pride and honor.
According to Merriam Webster, <a href="https://url.avanan.click/v2/___https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride%23:~:text=%3A%20the%20quality%20or%20state%20of,satisfaction%20in%20oneself%20%3A%20self%2Drespect___.YXAzOm1pbm5wb3N0OmE6Zzo3ZWE2ODg4M2ZmYTljMDIwZDRlN2NlNzQ2OTRmYjViZTo2OmI0MDM6MDJjMWRmNGViZGU1MTRiOWU5ZDU0YjczNTM5OWY4NTA4NWI1YjlmOGE3MDMyZjc1OGUyMDk2ZTVhN2E0MTI4ODpoOlQ">pride</a> is about self-respect and dignity. For Merriam Webster, <a href="https://url.avanan.click/v2/___https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honor___.YXAzOm1pbm5wb3N0OmE6Zzo3ZWE2ODg4M2ZmYTljMDIwZDRlN2NlNzQ2OTRmYjViZTo2Ojc5ZGM6MTg1ODY4MmNmOGI1YzI0YjAzNjgxN2E0MjQ4YTc5Njc5MmE4ZjU0NWI1N2Q4OGE1MGE0ZWFkYzdhMjkxZjgzOTpoOlQ">honor</a> is about a good name. It is about public esteem, reputation, merit and privilege to serve in office. To serve in a professional capacity is about pride and honor.
And the question is, where is that pride and honor for Donald Trump, Nicole Mitchell, and their supporters? Trump faces four criminal trials and 86 charges. Yes, his supporters may argue that some of this is political retribution or that he has not been convicted of any crime. Yet, look at the New York trial where one sees a pattern of behavior no one would find acceptable, evidenced by, according to testimony, he worked with the editor of the National Enquirer to suppress stories that both of them knew were less than flattering. Trump has already been found liable for defamation and for business fraud. He has already settled disputes with other government entities regarding shady business dealings surrounding Trump University. His personal conduct of marital infidelity renders him less than a Boy Scout.
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<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="740" height="472" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?resize=740%2C472&ssl=1" alt="State Sen. Nicole Mitchell" class="wp-image-2162312" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?w=740 740w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?resize=190%2C121 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?resize=640%2C408 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?resize=400%2C255 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?resize=706%2C450 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SenNicoleMitchell740.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">State Sen. Nicole Mitchell Credit: <a href="http://workingpressphotoagency.com/">MinnPost photo by Tom Olmscheid</a></figcaption></figure></div>
Look at what he did on Jan. 6, in terms of the speech that he gave encouraging the events that led to the storming of the Capitol. Look at his call to the Georgia Secretary of State to find votes or his refusal to turn over documents housed at the Mar-a-Lago. Trump may or may not be found legally guilty, but certainly no one can claim that his behavior is ethical or that it reflects pride and honor. He should not be a candidate for president and his supporters should not encourage him.
Mitchell, meanwhile, may or may not be found guilty of the charges alleged against her. But certainly no one can say that her behavior, according to police, of dressing up in black, breaking into someone’s house in the middle of the night and then admitting “she did something bad” is an example of pride and honor. As a military officer, Mitchell should know what pride and honor is, too. Her supporters and her fellow senators should ask for her to step down.
The hypocrisy here is not just with Donald Trump and Nicole Mitchell. The hypocrites include those Republicans calling for Mitchell to step down if they don’t ask the same of Trump. The same is true for Democrats who are supporters of Mitchell, insisting that she should remain in office while calling Trump unfit for office.
David Schultz is a distinguished professor at Hamline University. He teaches in political science, legal studies and environmental studies.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2024/05/if-pride-and-honor-mattered-both-donald-trump-and-nicole-mitchell-would-step-aside/">If pride and honor mattered, both Donald Trump and Nicole Mitchell would step aside</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<title>Great chemistry leads to great expectations for the Minnesota Timberwolves in upcoming playoff series against Denver</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2024/05/minnesota-timberwolves-nba-playoff-series-denver-nuggets/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Britt Robson]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 14:54:31 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163266</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Chemistry and confidence abound following the first round sweep of Phoenix and ahead of the second round series against the defending champion Nuggets.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2024/05/minnesota-timberwolves-nba-playoff-series-denver-nuggets/">Great chemistry leads to great expectations for the Minnesota Timberwolves in upcoming playoff series against Denver</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/KarlAnthonyTownsYelling940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
The great, late Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders once defined team chemistry to me as players on the roster knowing and accepting their proper place in the pecking order when it came to roles and primacy.
When I related that to current Wolves Coach Chris Finch in one of our long preseason conversations a couple of years ago, he wasn’t happy with the definition but struggled to come up with something else.
“It is this thing that exists and you know it when you have it,” Finch said. “You know you have it when that team expects to win that night rather than hopes to win that night.”
Both definitions acknowledge the chicken-or-the-egg nature of chemistry and winning. Each drives the other. It is much easier to know and accept your role on a team when it is successful, just as expecting rather than merely hoping to win is obviously driven by a preponderance of victories.
The 2023-24 Timberwolves won 56 games during the regular season and four more in their recent sweep of the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs, so it is hardly surprising that the chemistry in the locker room and on the court is so authentic, and more widespread than at any point in my coverage of the team over the past 34 years.
But it is still remarkable. So here are some remarks.
After Karl-Anthony Towns tore the meniscus in his knee in early March, the Wolves posted a 12-6 record in the 18 games he missed, including 10-4 when Naz Reid took his place in the starting lineup. Just before KAT returned in the next-to-last game of the regular season, Finch mentioned the two had an extensive discussion about “specific” things relative to his reintegration in the rotation.
After the Wolves defeated the Suns in Game 3 last week, KAT was asked what those specifics were.
“Just sacrifice and being willing. Naz did a great job of having the ball flow through him and capitalizing on opportunities when he could shoot. I wanted to be able to do that. So one of the things was just being more unselfish with the ball and having the game dictate if I was going to get 30-to-40 (points) or not.”
Less than three years ago, KAT was the clear-cut alpha star of the Wolves; then president of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas, did everything but erect a statue of him to showcase his preeminence. With the ascension of Anthony Edwards, there was inevitable concern the past season or two about how KAT would handle losing that status. Now here he was matter-of-factly copping to the notion that Naz – the undrafted player who has worked himself into becoming the Sixth Man of the Year this season – had set an example for him to follow. One that involved further subordination.
KAT watched, listened, learned, and delivered.
His usage rate dropped from 26.8 in the regular season to 23.2 against Phoenix – lower than in any year of his career except for the one beside Jimmy Butler in 2017-18. He shot less often but more accurately, leading the team in effective field goal percentage. He lowered his turnover ratio from 12.3 to 9.6 while keeping his assist ratio steady at 14.7.
Less than 48 hours after his frank talk about unselfishness and choosing moments in the post-Game 3 locker room, his shooting prevented the Wolves from being blown out in the first half of Game 4. KAT was 5-for-7 from the field; the rest of the team 12-for-38. He was 3-for-3 from three-point range, while the other Wolves went 1-for-15.
On defense, KAT, whose feet sport an astonishingly long size 20 shoe, also had the unenviable assignment of being the primary defender on sure-fire Hall-of-Famer Kevin Durant after Game 1. It enabled the Wolves to match up more formidably at the other four positions. He acquitted himself well (by contrast, Durant toyed with Naz) in a thankless role.
Finally, Game 3 of the playoffs was originally the date KAT was going to be cleared to start playing 5-on-5 in practice after the early-March surgery on his knee. His dedication to rehab sped up that schedule by a crucial two weeks. In the past, KAT would have trumpeted that fact as if he were leading a brass band. In the locker room in Phoenix, he deposited the info like a c-note tip beside the tab for dinner, subtle and classy.
Tandem interviews became a thing for Wolves media in Phoenix, and after Game 3, Mike Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (NAW) conducted one by Conley’s locker stall. For the second year in a row, NAW has elevated his performance in the playoffs. Last season, with Jaden McDaniels out with a broken hand, it was NAW’s stalwart defense on Denver’s Jamal Murray. This year it has been his versatility at both ends of the court, including his shooting and playmaking on offense as well as his wing defense.
Asked to comment on NAW, especially as the de facto backup point guard, Conley joked, “He won’t tell you but I groomed him well. He’s been taking some of my moves – a little sidestep for the three (point shot) in the corner. But nah, he’s been great. I’m sure he’s going to take over one day and do his thing.”
As Conley lingered, NAW talked about being too hard on himself sometimes and the need to stay humble. When Conley went to shower, Alexander-Walker said, “Now that he left, I can say he was not far off from the truth. I mean, that’s like a big brother to me, through and through. The ability he has on the game – someone who doesn’t even want to shoot. He keeps people together and then when it’s time, you see another version of Mike that people are surprised by. I always tell him, ‘They don’t know it is by choice.’ Mike is choosing to play that way because he has this view of the bigger picture. And ultimately it has helped me.
“When I got there in Utah (where Conley was already on the roster for the Jazz), my game changed,” NAW continued. “I was an eager guy, trying to score every possession. Now I’ve been watching his (play)-making the reads and I’ve been picking his brain the last two and a half years. He just keeps the main thing the main thing, makes sure we’re not getting caught up in silly things, distractions in life.”
You can’t talk chemistry without including Ant. Saunders was on to something by linking it to the pecking order – the personality of a team is undeniably affected by its best player. It is like a dominant gene in the family DNA. Ant’s phenomenal athleticism quickens the pulse; his ability to retain the innate goodness in his character while maturing out of flaws in his play and the mistakes of his youth enable fans to expect to revel in this team rather than merely hope to revel.
And then there’s Ant’s guileless demeanor under the near-constant media spotlight that is disarming and durably attractive. He goes out of his way to give credit to his teammates and coaches, a generosity of spirit that melds humor, compassion and an appreciation for the cosmic joke that unites infants and sages. To invoke a cliché, Ant is “a real one.”
The 2024 playoffs are accelerating his escalator to superstardom. Like NAW, Conley’s mentorship has raised the level of his basketball IQ and honed his perspective and approach to the game. Finch has expertly brought him along, while frequently stating that Ant “allows me to coach him hard,” an invaluable dynamic for the team overall as well as the alpha star himself.
When it comes to basketball, the growth is dramatic in two areas thus far. On offense, Ant is recognizing the increasingly vast resources opponents use to stymie his scoring prowess and is developing the patience and global awareness to rebut them, primarily through passing, but also ambush-quick responses in the shot or off the dribble. Through the four-game sweep he led the Wolves in scoring and steals, tied for first in assists and blocks and was third in rebounds. He made 51.1% of his field goals overall, and boosted his accuracy up to 43.8% from three-point range and 83.9% from the foul line.
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="740" height="493" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?resize=740%2C493&ssl=1" alt="Anthony Edwards" class="wp-image-2160864" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?w=740 740w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?resize=640%2C426 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?resize=400%2C266 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?resize=706%2C470 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AnthonyEdwards740.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Anthony Edwards Credit: MinnPost photo by Craig Lassig</figcaption></figure></div>
On defense, Ant sustained his focus, a simple but stupendous improvement, given that inattention has long been a glaring deficit in his play at that end of the court. When I asked the Wolves’ defensive linchpin and stalwart Rudy Gobert what elements were most improved during the playoffs thus far, he said “our awareness and getting back in transition.” I later asked him if that was mostly about Ant’s leap forward. He didn’t answer in words but his sly smile was confirming.
Ant and Gobert shared the court for 113 minutes in the first round series. During that time the Wolves scored 61 more points than the Suns – the highest plus/minus of any duo in the postseason as of Wednesday morning. In the 79 minutes they weren’t together, the Wolves were outscored by a point.
The pair shared the podium after Game 3 and praised each other, of course. But the best part was hearing Ant talk about his learning process. He’s been absorbing information like a sponge in preparation for this postseason, and in his remarks squeezed the sponge for our benefit.
Asked about the productive calibrations he had been making to balance his scoring with his playmaking, he replied, “My teammates and coaches do a great job of letting me know every time: Like, ‘Hey, the low man is in the corner,’ or ‘The low man is straddling the fence and Rudy is open.’ They tell me everything they are seeing and I just take it all in.
“It comes from watching film. (Assistant Coach) C (Chris) Hine sends me the film and we watch it. So, I know (the opposing team’s) game plan is high wall (defense) and put two (defenders) on me. So therefore when Rudy rolls we pull one side in so one is going to be open. Or they are going to bump Rudy on the roll, so the (teammate on the) wing is going to be open. Or if they don’t put two on me, I’m going to attack. Watching film helps me a lot.”
Asked if the intensive week of preparation between the end of the regular season and the onset of the playoffs was helpful, Ant devoured the question.
“Sure. I mean, my first few times in the playoffs I wasn’t able to prepare like that because it was a play-in game (and the Wolves didn’t know their opponent in advance),” answered Edwards. “So to me, I will say it was super important. I got in the best shape of my life that week. I was able to really understand a playoff game plan and learn how to execute everything, see how everything goes. The coaching staff a phenomenal job, I will say that.”
When the Wolves traveled to Denver for the playoffs last season, Ant clapped back when their local media referred to him as not yet a star.
“So, what will it take for you to be a star?” media asked.
“To win in the playoffs,” Ant answered.As of last Sunday night, even by his own standards, Ant is a star. On this coming Saturday, they are back in Denver for their first second-round playoff appearance in 20 years. The Nuggets are the reigning champions. The Wolves do not hope to win. They expect it.
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<figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/imagecache/author_photo/images/author/brittrobsonillo190.jpg?w=1400&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-124282" style="width:128px;height:auto" data-recalc-dims="1"/></figure></div></div>
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<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/author/britt-robson/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Britt Robson</a> Britt Robson has covered the Timberwolves since 1990 for City Pages, The Rake, SportsIllustrated.com and The Athletic. He also has written about all forms and styles of music for over 30 years.
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The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/sports/2024/05/minnesota-timberwolves-nba-playoff-series-denver-nuggets/">Great chemistry leads to great expectations for the Minnesota Timberwolves in upcoming playoff series against Denver</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2163266</post-id> </item>
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<title>Minnesota House approves ban on ‘mommy’ social media accounts that profit off of kids’ images</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/05/minnesota-house-approves-ban-on-mommy-social-media-accounts-that-profit-off-of-kids-images/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Peter Callaghan]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 14:49:58 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[State Government]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Top Story]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[2024 legislative session]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163285</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="House File 3488 would ban making money off of social media accounts that feature children under the age of 14." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
The bill received just 26 Republican ‘no’ votes and goes before the Senate for a vote next.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/05/minnesota-house-approves-ban-on-mommy-social-media-accounts-that-profit-off-of-kids-images/">Minnesota House approves ban on ‘mommy’ social media accounts that profit off of kids’ images</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="House File 3488 would ban making money off of social media accounts that feature children under the age of 14." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/MomTwoKidsDogSelfie940b.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Minnesota would be the second state in the U.S. to regulate a social media phenomenon known by various names — mommy run accounts, sharenting and kidfluencers — if a bill that easily passed the state House Wednesday wins approval in the Senate.
<a href="https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/bs/93/HF3488.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">House File 3488</a> would ban making money off of social media accounts that feature children under the age of 14. It passed the House 103-26. A similar version is in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley. If it becomes law, it would take effect in July 2025.
Many of the sites are <a href="https://www.navigatingparenthood.com/7-moms-you-should-already-be-following-on-instagram/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slice-of-life serials</a>, often with parenting advice included. Profits come from subscriptions, advertising and more-likely compensation by companies that supply products that are featured on the sites. All raise privacy concerns for children who don’t choose to be featured on videos that include their births and milestones. But some — as reported in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/us/instagram-child-influencers.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York Times investigation</a> — include sexualized images of young girls.
In addition to the under-14 ban, the bill sponsored by Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, would require that a share of the money earned from accounts featuring children 14 and older be set aside for that child. Money earned would need to be set aside in a trust account — something required in most states for child actors and models.
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<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="289" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ZackStephenson2024_225.jpg?resize=225%2C289&ssl=1" alt="State Rep. Zack Stephenson" class="wp-image-2156150" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ZackStephenson2024_225.jpg?w=225 225w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ZackStephenson2024_225.jpg?resize=190%2C244 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ZackStephenson2024_225.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ZackStephenson2024_225.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">State Rep. Zack Stephenson</figcaption></figure></div>
So as to not include incidental or occasional appearances by those under 14 in social media videos that could make money, the under-14-minor would have to appear in 30% of the videos produced. The bill leaves in place the exceptions for child actors and models contained in state child labor law. It also does not cover teens ages 14 to 17 who by then could have their own social media accounts and produce photos and videos of other teens their age.  
As first <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/02/legislation-aims-to-protect-children-featured-in-mommy-run-accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">introduced in February</a>, the bill only created the need for trust accounts. Stephenson said it follows the logic of laws, first passed in California, that responded to parents keeping all profits made by child actors. The California law followed a scandal involving silent film child star <a href="https://www.sagaftra.org/membership-benefits/young-performers/coogan-law" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jackie Coogan</a> who ended up impoverished after his parents left with his film earnings.
But the New York Times investigation into sexual exploitation of children led the sponsors to adjust the bill, <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/03/minnesota-lawmakers-no-more-making-money-off-family-vlogs-child-influencers/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to ban any moneymaking</a> from content featuring children under 14.
During House floor debate Wednesday, Stephenson read from the Times investigation, citing examples of sites run by parents that show their daughters in dresses, leotards and bathing suits and that had clientele of convicted pedophiles.
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<figure class="alignright size-full"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="289" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DawnGillman225.jpg?resize=225%2C289&ssl=1" alt="State Rep. Dawn Gillman" class="wp-image-2163287" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DawnGillman225.jpg?w=225 225w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DawnGillman225.jpg?resize=190%2C244 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DawnGillman225.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/DawnGillman225.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">State Rep. Dawn Gillman</figcaption></figure></div>
“But what often starts as a parent’s effort to jump-start a child’s modeling career, or win favors from clothing brands, can quickly descend into a dark underworld dominated by adult men, many of whom openly admit on other platforms to being sexually attracted to children,” the Times reported.
Rep. Dawn Gillman, R-Dassel, said she knows three families who make all of their income from social media sites that show family life. One, she said, takes in income of $100,000 a month.
“They have retired their husbands from their big-time jobs … solely being online,” Gillman said. “And their children are a part of this business.” She said she worried about the burden placed on these families to keep records of how much time each child was featured, what profits resulted and how much to place in each trust account.
“They are compensating their children and their family by affording the life they have right now through their business,” Gillman said. 
Stephenson acknowledged that lots of money can be made from the accounts but said many viewers come for the cute kids, not the parents. 
“There’s all sorts of stories out there about what that looks like for the kids, how their daily life is impacted,” he said. “Even setting aside the sexualization, the work of content creation is work. It is my belief that if a child is engaged in that work, some of that money is theirs and shouldn’t just be taken away by the parents.”
Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, said he thinks the bill should be targeted on those who profit from sexualizing their children, something not mentioned specifically in the bill.
“We hear the horrific stories of sexual exploitation of children, but then we’re presented with language that doesn’t address that directly, at all,” he said. 
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<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="291" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/WalterHudson225.jpg?resize=225%2C291&ssl=1" alt="State Rep. Walter Hudson" class="wp-image-2110529" data-recalc-dims="1"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">State Rep. Walter Hudson</figcaption></figure></div>
Hudson also termed the sections that allow children to sue parents who failed to set aside money in trust accounts “an odd thing to try to facilitate and encourage.”
“The more I look into the details of this bill, the more arbitrary it feels and the more it feels as though what we’re actually accomplishing is just making ourselves feel good for having ‘done something,’” Hudson said.
Stephenson responded, saying his attempts to find language that stopped some content but allowed other content raised First Amendment issues. It would have been challenging — impossible even — to craft a law that only carved out videos and images that met a definition of sexualized or sexual exploitation, so he and Maye Quade decided to try to ban all profit-making from social media images and videos of children under 14.
“You have to take a more content-neutral approach to survive that First Amendment scrutiny,” he said.
Similar language is in a House Labor omnibus bill, something Stephenson said was done to increase the chances of the bill language passing. And while it is also in a Senate omnibus bill, he said he hopes the Senate takes it up as a separate issue as in HF 3488.
The bills give the attorney general the authority to enforce the prohibition on profiting from content featuring children under age 14. They also require the content creator, the account owner or another adult with control of the account to take down any images or video featuring a child if that person makes a request — either while still a minor or after they reach adulthood.
One section contains seemingly contradictory language. It first bans profiting from content featuring children under age 14 but then requires that 100% of the money made must go to the child. Maye Quade said that is included as an extra penalty for parents who violate the prohibition and to perhaps serve as a disincentive for doing so.
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<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/author/peter-callaghan/">Peter Callaghan</a> Peter Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/callaghanpeter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@CallaghanPeter</a> or email him at <a href="mailto:pcallaghan@minnpost.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">pcallaghan@minnpost.com</a>.
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The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2024/05/minnesota-house-approves-ban-on-mommy-social-media-accounts-that-profit-off-of-kids-images/">Minnesota House approves ban on ‘mommy’ social media accounts that profit off of kids’ images</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2163285</post-id> </item>
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<title>Coalition wants to create Minneapolis Civilian Police Accountability Commission</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/coalition-wants-to-create-minneapolis-civilian-police-accountability-commission/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Jazzmine Jackson]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 May 2024 11:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Glean]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163246</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/4thPolicePrecinct940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Minneapolis’ 4th Police Precinct" decoding="async" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Plus: Asia Mall expanding to Blaine; U of M interim president meets with student protestors; sentencing for Minnesotan who joined ISIS postponed; and more.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/coalition-wants-to-create-minneapolis-civilian-police-accountability-commission/">Coalition wants to create Minneapolis Civilian Police Accountability Commission</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/4thPolicePrecinct940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Minneapolis’ 4th Police Precinct" decoding="async" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<a href="https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2024/05/01/coalition-turns-in-signatures-for-mpls-community-control-of-police-ballot-measure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MPR’s Jon Collins reports</a> activists in Minneapolis want to put a proposal before voters that would create a “civilian police oversight organization to control the department’s budget, appoint the chief and discipline officers.” The coalition has turned in petition signatures that will now need to be verified by the city clerk before language for a proposal is finalized.
<a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/u-of-m-president-meets-with-student-protesters/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Via KSTP</a>: University of Minnesota Interim President Jeff Ettinger met with student protestors Wednesday. “Following the 90-minute meeting, which Ettinger called productive, the interim president said commencement ceremonies won’t be impacted by protests.”
Related: <a href="https://www.twincities.com/2024/05/01/protest-encampments-minnesota-campuses-war-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frederick Melo at Pioneer Press writes</a> about similar protests at Hamline University.
<a href="https://sahanjournal.com/business-work/asia-village-announced-in-blaine-northtown-mall/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alfonzo Galvan with Sahan Journal reports</a> developers of the popular Asia Mall in Eden Prairie will expand to Blaine’s Northtown Mall.
<a href="https://kstp.com/kstp-news/minnesotas-911-manager-in-virginia-investigation-prompts-calls-for-change-to-state-remote-work-policy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">KSTP’s Eric Rasmussen has a story</a> about how two emergency managers with the state have left their positions “after 5 INVESTIGATES raised questions about a telework agreement that allowed one of them to work full-time from the East Coast.”
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/sentencing-postponed-for-minnesota-man-who-regrets-joining-islamic-state-group/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">WCCO reports</a> the sentencing hearing for a Minnesota man who joined ISIS has been postponed to a later date.
“Federal prosecutors have recommended 12 years for <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/rochester-man-faces-terror-charge-for-allegedly-joining-islamic-state-group/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Abelhamid Al-Madioum</a> in recognition both of the seriousness of his crime and the help has he given the U.S. and other governments. His attorney says that seven years is enough…”
<a href="https://www.startribune.com/meet-the-twin-cities-only-tree-climbing-brass-band/600362992/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Richard Chin with the Star Tribune has a fun story</a> about a group of musicians who play shows in… trees?
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/coalition-wants-to-create-minneapolis-civilian-police-accountability-commission/">Coalition wants to create Minneapolis Civilian Police Accountability Commission</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2163246</post-id> </item>
<item>
<title>Walker Art Center reexamines the relationship between art and commerce</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/twin-cities-business/2024/05/minneapolis-walker-art-center-reexamines-relationship-between-art-commerce/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Adam Platt, Twin Cities Business]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 21:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Arts & Culture]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Twin Cities Business]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163057</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="636" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?fit=940%2C636" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Walker Art Center" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=190%2C129 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=640%2C433 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=768%2C520 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=400%2C271 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=706%2C478 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?fit=940%2C636&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
It’s an important year for the Walker, as it emerges from the pandemic with an eye toward diversifying revenue streams and becoming less reliant on philanthropy. 
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/twin-cities-business/2024/05/minneapolis-walker-art-center-reexamines-relationship-between-art-commerce/">Walker Art Center reexamines the relationship between art and commerce</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="636" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?fit=940%2C636" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="Walker Art Center" decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=190%2C129 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=640%2C433 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=768%2C520 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=400%2C271 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?resize=706%2C478 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WalkerArtCenterExterior940.png?fit=940%2C636&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Discussing the <a href="https://walkerart.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walker Art Center</a> is an endeavor steeped in paradox. Many consider it a museum, but it’s more than a repository of visual art. It’s a multidisciplinary center of multiple art forms executed primarily by living artists, yet that core is dwarfed in attendance by the rather static <a href="https://walkerart.org/visit/garden/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Minneapolis Sculpture Garden</a>, which the Walker curates. The Walker presents work that even its advocates acknowledge is, by design, “niche” and “challenging” — yet it’s probably better known locally for rooftop mini golf and summer alt-rock concerts.
The Walker is the region’s most prestigious and influential arts institution. It’s the antithesis of a business, really — occasionally dipping into populism to ring the cash registers — but with a mission that bends toward niche. “Art has gotten a lot more arbitrary,” explains Lyndel King, the longtime (now retired) director of the <a href="https://wam.umn.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Weisman Art Museum</a> on the University of Minnesota’s East Bank campus. “Art has become more symbolic and inscrutable and intellectual. It’s a secret language. [Artists] use words designed for insiders or those who aspire to be insiders.”
Another challenge is that, unlike much of the 20th century, “there is no dominant artistic school or style right now,” says Adam Weinberg, former director of New York’s Whitney Museum and a key curator at the Walker through the 1980s. That makes the experience of art more intellectually chaotic.
Because the Walker’s mission is to reflect what living artists care about, its hands are tied to some extent. And as art evolves, the Walker evolves with it. “[Art critic] Robert Hughes called it ‘the shock of the new,’ ” explains Dennis Scholl, former vice president/arts for the <a href="https://knightfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Knight Foundation</a> and now on the board of the Perez Art Museum Miami.
Yet the Walker tries to maintain a delicate balance, working to avoid the trappings of elitism without compromising its mission, which is by nature rather elitist — in a Midwestern sort of way. “What distinguishes us is the five disciplines, independently curated,” says senior curator Philip Bither, referring to performing arts, visual arts, moving image, design, and education (which the Walker considers a discipline).
Related: <a href="https://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2024/04/art-is-for-everybody-keith-haring-walker-art-center-artfest/">‘Art is for Everybody’ celebrates the work of Keith Haring, reflects on his impact in the Twin Cities</a>
Later this month the Walker will open a blockbuster exhibition of the type it has rarely programmed in the last decade. A survey of the life and art of Keith Haring, a pop artist of the 1980s whose work has special relevance to the Walker. Haring’s art is sunny and accessible but with serious political and social undertones. He’s an important name brand whose work is easily recognizable beyond the art world, from an era that did not produce many. The exhibition, organized by The Broad contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, will help the Walker drive attendance and, by extension, visitor spending by casual contemporary art fans, who will be reminded that friendly art still exists beyond Spoonbridge and Cherry and Hahn/Cock (the blue rooster).
“We’ll be prepared to maximize Haring,” says Felice Clark, Walker director of new business, a job created by Walker executive director Mary Ceruti in 2021. “It is our first such opportunity in many years,” says Clark, noting that Haring “leaned into merchandising during his lifetime.”
What makes understanding the Walker so complex is that key figures there would perhaps disagree with much of what you just read and are about to read — if not its veracity, then its emphasis. (Is visual artist Julie Mehretu a name-brand artist? Was her 2022 Walker show a blockbuster?) That’s because so much of the discourse around art, especially contemporary art, is in the eye of the beholder.
“The avant-garde isn’t an elitist exercise,” insists Bither. “I’ve tried to convince people that it may seem opaque, but if you [attend] something, you’ll see the drier academic stuff isn’t what we do.”
Yet “contemporary art museums can seem elitist. You leave feeling dumber than when you walked in,” notes Walker board member John Christakos, co-founder and CEO of Minneapolis furniture concern <a href="https://www.bludot.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blu Dot</a>. “[Our] board asked, ‘Why not frame that same work to broaden the aperture to make the Walker more welcoming?’”
It’s an important year for the Walker, as it emerges from the pandemic with an eye toward diversifying revenue streams and becoming less reliant on philanthropy. “That [philanthropic] foundation is built on what’s past more than what’s now,” says King. “[The Walker is] a beneficiary of shrewd and smart people of previous generations.”
So there’s a new urgency to the enduring dilemma: Can the Walker optimize its balance of art and commerce?
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Data diffusion</h3>
Like everything else about the Walker, its core metrics are open to multiple interpretations. What can be said, definitively, is that the Walker embarks on its quest for more consumer spending from a firm footing. In FY23 it had nearly a $23 million budget. It has doubled its invested endowment in a decade, to roughly $300 million, drawing down 4.5% annually for operations. That’s a big endowment for an institution of its size and location. The Walker also maintains a healthy annual flow of philanthropy between $5 million and $8 million, which has been down slightly since the pandemic.
Director Ceruti, <a href="https://tcbmag.com/tcb-100-people/mary-ceruti-2/">who joined in 2019</a>, has made “getting people to look at data a priority.” And some of the Walker’s metrics would alarm a business. There’s financial data for the Walker dating back to the groundbreaking of its Edward Larrabee Barnes building in FY70 (July 1, 1969-June 30, 1970), but there’s no consistent historical data about attendance, membership, or the contribution of various business units.
The Walker admits 50%-75% of visitors for free, depending on the year. But attendance remains “an important metric for relevance. We want to be the gathering spot,” says Christakos.
The Walker reported attendance of 450,000 in FY77 and 473,000 in FY86 (it’s assumed that includes gallery and performance/event attendance) but otherwise didn’t focus on attendance in annual reports between 1969-1988. In 1989 it began reporting combined building/sculpture garden attendance. It wasn’t until FY09 that the Walker began breaking down attendance between garden, galleries, and events. In the years since, combined building attendance never exceeded 290,000, and it stood at 251,000 in the year prior to the pandemic.
The Walker’s offerings in the 1970s and 1980s consisted of an extraordinary array of exhibitions: Miró, Matisse, Kandinsky, Rothko, Johns, Picasso, Hockney, and Gehry among them. It was also an era when locals had less competition to fill their free time, and there was no internet to gaze into.
(Sculpture garden attendance peaked after its renovation in FY18 at an amazing 860,000. But all entrants are counted, whatever their purpose — to view art, take high school photos, or shortcut the commute home. A more consistent annual metric is 350,000-450,000.)
<h3 class="wp-block-heading has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-72ad60d9523537f2f272ed0e2827c88f">Related</h3>
<ul class="wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts"><li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2024/05/weekend-picks-symphony-ball-at-orchestra-hall-women-skateboarders-show-off-their-art-the-jungles-a-jumping-off-point/">Weekend Picks: Symphony Ball at Orchestra Hall; women skateboarders show off their art; The Jungle’s ‘A Jumping-Off Point’</a></li>
<li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2024/05/jungle-theaters-a-jumping-off-point-explores-who-gets-to-tell-a-story/">Jungle Theater’s ‘A Jumping-Off Point’ explores who gets to tell a story</a></li>
<li><a class="wp-block-latest-posts__post-title" href="http://www.minnpost.com/artscape/2024/05/esprit-de-corps-women-artists-in-twin-cities-skateboarding/">Esprit de Corps: Women Artists in Twin Cities Skateboarding </a></li>
</ul>
Christakos finds the idea of decline unconvincing, while Ceruti suggests showing a growth story isn’t a holy grail: “Attendance metrics are iffy. There is an audience for what we do, but [we’re] not for everybody.”
Senior curator Siri Engberg, whose history at the institution dates to 1990, echoes Ceruti, basically saying, “So what?” “[Attendance is] one angle, but so is strong community engagement and putting artists on the map.”
The Walker also sells half as many memberships as in the 1980s and ’90s—around 6,300 prior to the pandemic and 4,800 in 2022-23. “They’re declining nationally,” says Ceruti. “People are less likely to join. It’s a generational phenomenon. They don’t like subscriptions.”
There is no disputing that the Walker values and increasingly prioritizes earned revenue (as opposed to donated revenue). But it’s trended downward since its peak at 42% of budget in 1992-93. It stood at 29% in 2018-19, in range of the optimal three equal sources — earned revenue, donations, and endowment — that arts organizations typically target.
Christakos notes that “museums that are [most proficient] at earned revenue tend to be the ones with smaller endowments, because they have to be.”
It’s difficult to find comparable metrics for an entity like the Walker. Peer museums MOMA in New York City and SFMOMA in San Francisco attract a tourist-driven visitor base that spends more lavishly. The closest local analogue is <a href="https://new.artsmia.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MIA</a>, which charges no admission. MIA’s attendance peaked at 891,000 in FY17 and is similar in size to the Walker if you include the sculpture garden. MIA sold over 26,000 memberships in FY00; in FY23 it had 12,500 paid members. (MIA added a free tier in 2000 and counts roughly 10,000 non-paying members.)
“We’d like to see earned [revenue] rise proportionally, but we don’t realistically expect it to become a larger part [now 10%] of our revenue pie,” says MIA CFO Ben Murray. “We are looking at growing attendance as a way of showing our funders the impact of their philanthropy.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">The quest for spending</h3>
The Walker that Mary Ceruti inherited in 2019 was coming off a high financial plateau, with earned revenue of $7 million averaging a third of budget, plus over 1 million in total attendance (including the sculpture garden). But 14 months into her tenure, the Covid-19 pandemic shut the Walker for most of a year. Its constituency was predictably slow to return. Surgical and N95 masks remain ever-present in the building today. Data for FY23 showed indoor attendance of 151,000, with earned revenue at 21% of budget. Philanthropy trended down during the pandemic, but government pandemic aid and a strong stock market buttressed the balance sheet.
Though Ceruti had focused publicly on diversity initiatives instituted before and during Covid, a second key emphasis was delayed. “The board’s intention is for the Walker to deliver earned revenue with the same focus as donations,” explains Christakos, who led the board after Ceruti’s hire.
“The goal is to create an entrepreneurial culture as opposed to specific financial goals,” says Ceruti. “I didn’t want to be at odds with our core mission.” The vast majority of the Walker’s programming operates at a substantial loss, says Ceruti, typical of institutions of its type.
Ceruti hired Clark to lead new business initiatives. “I’m the for-profit lens in a nonprofit organization,” Clark notes. She describes her role as “optimizing earned revenue streams and identifying new opportunities. … My lens is profit: Is the juice worth the squeeze?”
Clark’s mandate, for now, is to find revenue within existing Walker facilities and programming—things Ceruti agreed were “low-hanging fruit.” Clark has a seat at the leadership table, but her role is not to suggest a Picasso exhibit to curator Engberg because it will ring the cash registers.
Earned revenue matters to the Walker for several reasons. “Every nonprofit is struggling,” notes King. “People are accustomed to home.”
“The Walker has a great history presenting work that’s challenging, and we wanted to protect that niche,” says Christakos, implying that earned revenue can support the Walker’s nature rather than soften it.
A generation ago, the Walker would have just ramped up fundraising. But “expenses are rising, operating costs are rising, and the nature of philanthropy is changing,” says Ceruti. “Individual giving is tied to social justice causes; philanthropy is seeking evidence of return on investment. That’s harder to provide in a museum environment.” The Walker’s stable balance sheet belies those changes. “It’s been work to keep those numbers just flat because of loss of corporate giving and replacing our older legacy donors” as they die or their families change priorities.
And donors often ask more of arts orgs than they can provide. “The greatest generation and the boomers trusted institutions,” says MIA’s Murray. “Gen X and younger want to see social impact at work, right away.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">A profitable sandwich?</h3>
Not everything designed to make money at a museum does so.
The Walker pulled the plug on Rock the Garden because the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. The annual event, which ran from 1998 to 2022, operated barely better than break-even, “but was a huge organizational undertaking,” notes Ceruti. “Felice brought focus to questions like that.” (The Walker’s annual Avant Garden fundraiser is labor intensive and overtakes the campus as well, but it clears $1 million.)
“The goal is let’s monetize the things we have competencies for,” Ceruti continues. Idea House 3, the Walker’s rejuvenated store, is an extension of its design competency.
Blockbuster exhibitions do make money for museums. “Tokyo Form and Spirit” in 1986 gave the Walker its biggest earned revenue year, adjusted for inflation. “Haring will lead to a big jump in attendance, store sales, and membership giving,” notes Ceruti. “But blockbusters need to stay on-brand. What’s next, [not] what’s past. Haring is on-brand for the Walker.”
At MIA, budget director Kris Davidson says the goal is to have special exhibitions every 18 months, “but they’re not that frequent anymore.” Blockbusters have grown increasingly costly to mount (insurance, labor, transportation), and museums are reluctant to see their most beloved works travel for two or three years. The current blockbuster Mark Rothko exhibition in Paris was not organized by the Louvre or Centre Pompidou, but the private Louis Vuitton Foundation.
And if you’re cursing the skimpy mocktails at Cardamom restaurant, well, the Walker isn’t profiting off them either. “Very few museums make money with restaurants and hospitality,” says Ceruti. “It’s an amenity.” Clark adds that the iconic Walker shop of years past did best when it stocked a strong book selection. (The store represented 16% of earned revenue in FY91. Adjusted for inflation, it would be $1.5 million of store revenue today.)
Clark says items that sell are logo wear and exhibition catalogs — extensions of programming. “The program drives revenue streams and earned revenue,” she explains. “It’s the biggest lever we have.” If Clark can maximize her role, it will allow curators like Bither to continue to see his role as focusing “on works that can’t survive in the marketplace.”
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Balancing obscurity and accessibility</h3>
To leadership, the Walker’s next opportunity is marketing its offerings in a way that brings more people through the doors. “The Walker needs a welcoming brand, a personality with a friendlier face,” says Christakos, who believes Ceruti is elevating marketing to be as important as what’s in the galleries. “We wanted a mentality change without changing the product.”
That’s not simple in an age where there are few living artists who could fill Walker galleries through name recognition, as was the case in the era of longtime director Martin Friedman, who led the creation of the present-day Walker Art Center in 1971. The Walker is, in essence, trying to do better at selling its ambitious nature.
“The world has splintered a bit,” says Ceruti. “It’s maybe harder to create [an artist] of that stature. There are more artists, period, making recognition harder to attain. People emerge and disappear more quickly.”
Scholl of the Perez Art Museum believes that “Julie Mehretu [whose work evokes DeKooning] will be canonized by the end of her career.” The Walker mounted a survey of her work in 2021, when the artist was 50, while Friedman’s blockbusters were mostly of recently dead legends whose reputations were burnished over several decades more.
And today’s art is more often multidisciplinary and layered in symbolism. “[Abstract artist Frank] Stella said, ‘What you see is what you see,’ while today what you see has a meaning and message outside itself,” explains King. It’s that meaning and message, often quite detached from the visual representation, that can make contemporary art so challenging.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Tweaking bits and pieces to enhance the whole</h3>
The expectation is that these tweaks in tactics will allow the Walker’s mission to remain unchanged. Bither says his performing arts calendar is currently selling 72% of seats, proving the Walker has returned its core constituency to Vineland Place after years of Covid dormancy.
But the rest has been harder to coax back, so measuring what resonates is taking on greater importance. “Audience metrics are relevant to fulfilling our mission,” says Ceruti. “We have to always be tinkering with our offering.” So the Walker is redisplaying its permanent collection after Ceruti realized many of the institution’s most beloved works were in storage.
Another interesting case study is the annual British Arrows Awards, a 90-minute compilation of the best in U.K. TV advertising, which shows roughly 60 times each December to sellout crowds. It funds the Walker’s entire annual film program, says Ceruti.
The Arrows symbolize the Walker’s ambivalence about works of mass appeal. The event occupies more time and space on the Walker calendar than any other performance or film by a wide margin, introducing the Walker to many of the 20,000-plus attendees.
After 37 years of evidence of public fascination with advertising as an art form, one would think the Walker would curate and program more around it (advertising overlaps two curatorial areas, design and moving image). Perhaps that’s the low-hanging fruit that Ceruti will find unavoidably ripe in the years to come.
What’s incumbent on the Walker, says Weinberg, is to evolve smartly. “Money always follows great ideas,” he says. “The Walker is still a great idea.”
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/twin-cities-business/2024/05/minneapolis-walker-art-center-reexamines-relationship-between-art-commerce/">Walker Art Center reexamines the relationship between art and commerce</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<item>
<title>Lawmakers grill UnitedHealth CEO on the health giant’s data breach</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/lawmakers-grill-unitedhealth-ceo-on-the-health-giants-data-breach/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[MinnPost staff]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 18:28:12 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[The Glean]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163218</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty testifying before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday about the recent cyberattack at the company's technology unit." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Plus: Reports of an active shooter at a middle school near Madison, Wisconsin; Amtrak expands services between St. Paul, Chicago; Twins games no longer available on Comcast Xfinity; and more.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/lawmakers-grill-unitedhealth-ceo-on-the-health-giants-data-breach/">Lawmakers grill UnitedHealth CEO on the health giant’s data breach</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="627" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?fit=940%2C627" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty testifying before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday about the recent cyberattack at the company's technology unit." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=190%2C127 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=640%2C427 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=768%2C512 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=400%2C267 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?resize=706%2C471 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/AndrewWittyTestifying940.png?fit=940%2C627&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
<a href="https://www.startribune.com/unitedhealth-ceo-to-testify-on-cyberattack-at-congressional-committees/600362967/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Christopher Snowbeck at the Star Tribune reports</a> on testimony by UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty during Wednesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing. Witty offered an apology as he disclosed that a hacked server at the company’s Change Healthcare unit lacked multifactor authentication protections.
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/wisconsin-mount-horeb-middle-school-active-shooter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Anthony Bettin at WCCO News is following</a> reports of an “active shooter” at a middle school west of Madison, Wisconsin, on Wednesday morning.
<a href="https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2024/05/01/minnesota-twins-games-comcast-bally-dark-negotations" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nick Halter at Axios reports</a> just as the Minnesota Twins were heating up, fans can no longer watch games on Comcast Xfinity after negotiations broke down between the cable provider and Bally Sports’ owner Diamond Sports.
<a href="https://www.startribune.com/all-aboard-amtrak-debuts-second-train-from-st-paul-to-chicago-on-may-21/600363049/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Janet Moore at the Star Tribune reports</a> Amtrak will expand services between Saint Paul and Chicago with the Borealis train. Fares start at $41.
<a href="https://mndaily.com/283622/campus-administration/ozempic-umn-researchers-insert-their-expertise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emma Walytka at the Minnesota Daily talks</a> with University of Minnesota researchers to address misinformation about Ozempic and describe how it works in the body.
<a href="https://www.startribune.com/st-paul-first-national-bank-building-owner-selling-entire-downtown-portfolio/600362928/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Katie Galioto at the Star Tribune reports</a> downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities, is seeking a single buyer to purchase its six office buildings, two parking ramps and a nearby restaurant, a transaction with potential to transform the capital city’s central business district.
<a href="https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/rondo-avenue-concordia-st-anthony-renamed/89-581f8321-ec3d-4d14-9afe-e0f8e5c3e52e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lydia Morrell at KARE 11 reports</a> hundreds of people gathered on Tuesday as the St. Paul City Council formally renamed sections of Concordia Avenue and St. Anthony Avenue as “Rondo Avenue.”
<a href="https://www.fox9.com/news/charges-filed-in-st-paul-french-bulldog-mix-theft" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Via FOX 9:</a> Charges have been filed after a St. Paul woman’s French bulldog mix was stolen while they were out on a walk. The dog, Clementine, was stolen on April 26 and reunited with her owner two days later.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2024/05/lawmakers-grill-unitedhealth-ceo-on-the-health-giants-data-breach/">Lawmakers grill UnitedHealth CEO on the health giant’s data breach</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2163218</post-id> </item>
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<title>Itasca County faces blowback over Ten Commandments display in new jail</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/greater-minnesota/2024/05/itasca-county-faces-blowback-over-ten-commandments-display-in-new-jail/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Megan Buffington, KAXE/KBXE]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 15:56:23 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Greater Minnesota]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163193</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="579" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?fit=940%2C579" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A wall in the gym at the Itasca County Jail displaying the Ten Commandments." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=190%2C117 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=640%2C394 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=768%2C473 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=400%2C246 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=706%2C435 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?fit=940%2C579&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
Freedom From Religion Foundation calls the installation a constitutional violation and advised the sheriff’s office to remove it.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/greater-minnesota/2024/05/itasca-county-faces-blowback-over-ten-commandments-display-in-new-jail/">Itasca County faces blowback over Ten Commandments display in new jail</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="579" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?fit=940%2C579" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="A wall in the gym at the Itasca County Jail displaying the Ten Commandments." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=190%2C117 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=640%2C394 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=768%2C473 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=400%2C246 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?resize=706%2C435 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ItascaJail10Commandments940.png?fit=940%2C579&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
GRAND RAPIDS — The new $75 million Itasca County Jail has been controversial since its proposal in 2019. Now, public tours of the new facility — days before inmates are expected to move in — have sparked a new controversy. During last week’s tours, the public saw an imposing display of the Ten Commandments posted in the facility’s gym, covering most of one of the walls. Concerns expressed on social media have swiftly evolved into legal pressure over whether the display violates the First Amendment Establishment Clause. Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich declined to officially state whether the county would remove the Commandments, but he implied the county was leaning toward painting them over. “Legal representation says that they should be painted over. We’re leaving the county open to litigation,” he said. “… My job is to manage risk, daily, and I need to weigh the risks and make a decision.” In a news release, Dasovich said the displays were meant to “encourage and support” inmate programs, which include spiritual services and mental health counseling. “The display and related quotes are not intended to offend or create division,” the statement read. “We will continue to provide diverse programming to our inmates as citizens of Itasca County.” He said the Ten Commandments mural and other quotes throughout the jail from former presidents, founding fathers and military leaders were selected by Lucas Thompson, Itasca County jail administrator, who Dasovich said acts as the jail’s construction manager. A number of the other quotes included religious references. “This build was approved and decided long before I was sheriff,” Dasovich said Monday. “Not that I’m against anything that’s up, it’s just that I had no part in that they were up or not.” On Tuesday, Dasovich said it would be an all-or-nothing decision for quote removal. If they are all removed, he said people involved with jail programming, such as programming staff, volunteers and mental health practitioners, will help decide what replaces the quotes.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘Favoritism toward a religion’</h3>
Corrections Deputy Garrett Smith was a guide during last week’s jail tours. Participants asked how long it would be before the county received a complaint about the Ten Commandments during a tour Thursday, April 25. Smith’s response indicated leaders were aware the display would be controversial before its installation. “I imagine it won’t be long, but my boss was like, ‘Well, I’ll put them up until I can’t,’” Smith told the tour attendee. “… And he was like, ‘Well, I’m going to be done in three years, I’m going to put them on there, and we’ll ride it out.’” Neighboring St. Louis County removed a decades-old Ten Commandments plaque from the Hibbing Courthouse in 2018 after a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based freethought association that advocates for the separation of church and state. St. Louis County Administrator Kevin Gray told the Hibbing Daily Tribune at the time that “laws and norms have developed considerably” since the plaque’s installation. After tips from Grand Rapids community members, including members of the Grand Rapids Area Freethinkers, the foundation sent a letter to Thompson recommending the jail remove the Ten Commandments and any quotes promoting religion. “Constituents — including prisoners — have the right to be free from the government proselytization,” the letter said. “Prisoners do not shed their rights by virtue of being in prison.” Chris Line, a staff attorney for Freedom From Religion Foundation, said displaying the Ten Commandments shows clear favoritism toward a religion. “It’s trying to impose potentially those views onto people that may not subscribe to them,” he said in a Monday phone interview. “… Everyone participating or having to deal with our government should feel like an equal citizen. Their government should take no position with regard to religion. It should neither favor nor go after religion. It should be completely neutral.” There’s been an increased effort to get religion into government and schools in the past few years, Line said. He thinks those advocates believe there’s an opportunity to tear down the separation of church and state with the current U.S. Supreme Court. “What we’re seeing is people knowing that something is illegal or has been and it has been ruled by the Supreme Court and thinking, ‘Well, worst case scenario, maybe we’ll have to take it down. But best-case scenario, maybe we’ll go up to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court will say, ‘Hey, we’re going to change the law and get rid of decades of precedent,’” Line said.
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Avoiding litigation</h3>
Dasovich said the county does not intend to enter litigation regarding the displays, but he did state he thinks they would win if the case were before the Supreme Court. If the county were to be sued for the display, there wouldn’t be notable liability or damages. But that doesn’t mean there’d be no consequences. “The way it’s structured, in order to incentivize and allow us to defend our rights, is if we were to have to sue over the Ten Commandments and win in court, then the government [in this instance, Itasca County] will have to pay our legal fees,” Line said. These types of cases can drag out of years, Line said, and the fees can end up costing municipalities hundreds of thousands of dollars. While he doesn’t recall a specific ruling regarding religious messages in jails, Line said the legal analysis would be similar to a courthouse display. “It’s actually more coercive because a lot of people have to go to the courthouse to deal with state business or something, but if you’re in jail or prison, you have to be there,” he said. “It’s the ultimate captive audience.” Dasovich said a data request about the cost of the displays was filed, but he’s not sure how quickly it will be filled because of the scope of the project. “My No. 1 priority is getting inmates in there,” he said. Requests for comment from Thompson were not returned as of Tuesday afternoon.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/greater-minnesota/2024/05/itasca-county-faces-blowback-over-ten-commandments-display-in-new-jail/">Itasca County faces blowback over Ten Commandments display in new jail</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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<title>Addressing childhood trauma before it becomes adult trauma</title>
<link>http://www.minnpost.com/race-health-equity/2024/05/unitedway-80x3-initiative-resources-trauma-informed-care-in-early-childhood/</link>
<dc:creator><![CDATA[Deanna Pistono]]></dc:creator>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2024 15:42:41 +0000</pubDate>
<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
<category><![CDATA[Race & Health Equity]]></category>
<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.minnpost.com/?p=2163142</guid>
<description><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="632" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?fit=940%2C632" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience before the age of 18, while “nearly 1 in 6” adults reported at least four adverse childhood experiences." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=190%2C128 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=640%2C430 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=768%2C516 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=400%2C269 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=706%2C475 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?fit=940%2C632&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
UnitedWay’s 80x3 initiative provides the resources for trauma-informed care in early childhood.
The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/race-health-equity/2024/05/unitedway-80x3-initiative-resources-trauma-informed-care-in-early-childhood/">Addressing childhood trauma before it becomes adult trauma</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
]]></description>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img width="940" height="632" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?fit=940%2C632" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="According to the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience before the age of 18, while “nearly 1 in 6” adults reported at least four adverse childhood experiences." decoding="async" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?w=940 940w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=190%2C128 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=640%2C430 640w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=768%2C516 768w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=400%2C269 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?resize=706%2C475 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LittleBoy940.png?fit=940%2C632&w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure>
As they grow, children are shaped by the environments in which they live and the people with whom they interact – learning who they are and how they should act. But not all of what they absorb is necessarily positive. 
“If we are in a healthy environment, both physically and emotionally, we continue to look for environments that are physically and emotionally safe,” said Jamie Bonczyk, program officer for the <a href="https://www.gtcuw.org/our-impact/80x3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">“80×3: Resilient from the Start” initiative</a> at Greater Twin Cities United Way. “The brain is pattern seeking. If we live in chaos or have a classroom of chaos, our brain will continue to look for that and our bodies will continue to bring those behaviors forward.”
Chaotic and unhealthy environments can lead children to experience adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. These experiences, which can be traumatic, include abuse (physical, emotional and/or sexual), neglect, witnessing domestic abuse or parental separation and having a parent who is incarcerated and/or who has substance use issues. According to<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/fastfact.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> the Centers for Disease Control,</a> nearly 64% of adults in the U.S. have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience before the age of 18, while “nearly 1 in 6” adults reported at least four adverse childhood experiences.
In addition to being common, adverse childhood events have a lingering impact on people’s physical and mental health. The CDC estimates around 1.9 million cases of heart disease and 21 million cases of depression could have been avoided if adverse childhood experiences had been prevented. 
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-full"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="234" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JamieBonczyk225-1.jpg?resize=225%2C234&ssl=1" alt="Jamie Bonczyk" class="wp-image-2163071" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JamieBonczyk225-1.jpg?w=225 225w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JamieBonczyk225-1.jpg?resize=190%2C198 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JamieBonczyk225-1.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/JamieBonczyk225-1.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jamie Bonczyk</figcaption></figure></div>
The 80×3 initiative – named in reference to the fact that 80% of brain development occurs by age three – is, Bonczyk said, a “systems change initiative” that addresses adverse childhood experiences by providing children with benevolent childhood experiences – where they feel safe and cared for – along with trauma-informed/trauma-sensitive care. The initiative’s website contains materials for <a href="https://80x3.org/caregivers-families/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">parents and caregivers</a>, as well as those <a href="https://80x3.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/80x3-Implementation-Guide_FINAL-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">working in early childhood education</a> and <a href="https://80x3.org/allies-advocates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advocates in various sectors</a>.
“Some people (are) like, ‘Oh, doesn’t everybody have (benevolent childhood experiences)?’ No, everybody does not,” said Bonczyk. “And some of it is because those adults that are caring for our children, they didn’t have (them).” 
In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWken5DsJcw&t=41s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video produced by the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Research Center</a>, a website run by the Center for Health Care Strategies, the experience of discrimination is listed as an adverse childhood experience. Leo Howard III, program manager at 80×3, explained that children from marginalized communities can benefit from trauma-informed care to cope with adverse experiences, especially because their communities “aren’t typically afforded the opportunity to make wellness a priority.”
“Life is teaching them that when you walk down the street, you can’t smile at somebody because that’s an opportunity for you to be taken advantage of,” said Howard. “You’re not able to just be free and be a child. You have to put these fronts up, these facades up. You have to protect yourself. And a way of protecting yourself is not developing coping strategies, not naming your emotions, turning all of that off, because anything that can be identified as a sign of weakness or that can make you think about things too much can be a jeopardy to your safety. You have this vicious cycle that continues to grow and continues to put marginalized communities in a space where not only do they not think therapy’s for them, but they think it’s going to get their kids taken out of their house. They think it’s going to get their program shut down. What we’ve been able to do is flip that.”
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-full"><img decoding="async" width="225" height="265" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LeoHoward225.jpg?resize=225%2C265&ssl=1" alt="Leo Howard III" class="wp-image-2163072" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LeoHoward225.jpg?w=225 225w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LeoHoward225.jpg?resize=190%2C224 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LeoHoward225.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LeoHoward225.jpg?w=400&ssl=1 400w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Leo Howard III</figcaption></figure></div>
How these negative ideas about therapy get “flipped”, according to Howard, is by “creating a shared language” around trauma-informed care. 
“A lot of the things that these organizations were already doing (were) centered in trauma-informed care,” Howard said. “But there just wasn’t a shared language to get to that space (of healing).” 
In practice, said Bonczyk, a trauma-informed approach to care prevents the suspension and expulsion of children from early childhood education centers. 
“What happens to children with big behaviors is that they’re actually asked to leave,” said Bonczyk. “So trauma-informed care might look like ensuring that this is the best fit for the child and making sure that the staff have the supports to keep the child stably enrolled (and) that there’s continuity and care with the adults.”
In essence, trauma-informed care is about being responsive, rather than reactive. 
“Reactive is when we just ask the child to be responsible for their own behavior and then actively disenroll them because we say we don’t have the supports (for them), without sometimes even trying,” said Bonczyk. “Trauma-informed (care) would say ‘If this is not (the) least restrictive environment for a child, we are going to work with the family to find another support.” 
Howard provided an example of how one organization working with 80×3 responded proactively to a child’s behavior. 
“For the first week, every single day (the boy) would throw tantrums and refuse to do anything else and just kept mentioning how hungry he was,” said Howard. “The director told me, ‘Leo … the thing that he’s communicating (to) me is that he’s hungry and he’d like to eat something. And how big of an ask would it be for me to change breakfast from 9:15 (a.m.) to 8:45 (a.m.)?’”
Though this change was small, it ended up having a large impact. 
“Once she made that change, (his) behavior immediately changed,” said Howard. “It was just her taking that time to sit down and say, ‘Any change in behavior is a form of communication. So this young person is communicating with me that they have a need and I have no idea what’s going on outside of these walls.’”
To respond to children proactively rather than reactively, educators must be able to access healing for themselves, especially since they are providing care that they may never have been given themselves. <a href="https://www.creativekuponya.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Creative Kuponya</a>, an organization that provides and seeks to decolonize mental health, provides accessible trauma-informed mental health care to personnel at organizations working with 80×3.
Sara Stamschror-Lott, LMFT, who co-founded Creative Kuponya with her husband Jamil Stamschror-Lott, LICSW, explained that Creative Kuponya provides access to therapists virtually, in their office and within the organizations themselves. Creative Kuponya’s therapists also run community healing sessions for organizations working with 80×3, where people learn and practice coping mechanisms as a community. 
“I’m a firm believer that every human has some trauma, whether it’s ‘little t trauma’ or ‘big T trauma,’” said Sara Stamschror-Lott. “We’ve all had things happen to us, so we’re all carrying some of that. But I think when you are working with littles in early childhood education and they are coming in with trauma, after a while, if you’re interfacing with those littles at all times, there’s no way you’re not absorbing it.”
<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" width="740" height="592" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?resize=740%2C592&ssl=1" alt="Creative Kuponya team members, from left: Jamil Stamschror-Lott, Sara Stamschror-Lott, Brittane Geleske, Anusha Ramaswami and Kahmiyah Anderson." class="wp-image-2163070" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?w=740 740w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?resize=190%2C152 190w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?resize=625%2C500 625w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?resize=400%2C320 400w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?resize=706%2C565 706w, https://i0.wp.com/www.minnpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CreativeKuponya740.png?w=370&ssl=1 370w" sizes="(max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" data-recalc-dims="1" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Creative Kuponya team members, from left: Jamil Stamschror-Lott, Sara Stamschror-Lott, Brittane Geleske, Anusha Ramaswami and Kahmiyah Anderson.</figcaption></figure></div>
Learning to effectively deal with their own trauma as adults, Stamschror-Lott added, means that they will be able to model good coping mechanisms to the children with whom they work. 
“If you’re around (children) on a regular basis (as) an early childhood educator and those children are seeing you take big, deep breaths, they’re gonna start mimicking that behavior as well,” said Stamschror-Lott. “Children will naturally observe and learn (to manage their) nervous systems, by just watching us.” 
The work to provide trauma-informed care to children in Minnesota, said Bonczyk, isn’t just about doing something nice. It’s a way to shape today’s children into tomorrow’s healthy adults – ready and eager to engage with the world. 
“You might see a child who’s had a really healthy positive early childhood experience. They might take a risk and take a class in junior high or high school that helps shape their career path,” said Bonczyk. “From a human development perspective, it’s incredibly important to be offering healthy, safe, predictable environments. If we want to have children who are adults that prioritize their own wellbeing, that prioritize rest and resilience, then we have to start that very early on in life and the people most likely to influence them are the people that spend every day with.”
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<a href="https://www.minnpost.com/author/deanna-pistono/">Deanna Pistono</a> Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/deannapistono" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">@deannapistono</a> or email her at <a href="mailto:dpistono@minnpost.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dpistono@minnpost.com</a>.
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The post <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/race-health-equity/2024/05/unitedway-80x3-initiative-resources-trauma-informed-care-in-early-childhood/">Addressing childhood trauma before it becomes adult trauma</a> appeared first on <a href="http://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a>.
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