“The ride-sharing company Lyft announced it is kicking off its service in Minneapolis. However, Minneapolis officials say the company’s model violates city ordinances,” writes MPR News reporter Brandt Williams. “Lyft allows people to use their own cars to give other people rides. Riders can use a mobile phone app to find a participating driver in Read more →
“Both sides in a debate over electronic cigarettes conceded Wednesday there’s scant scientific evidence about the health effects of the devices, but that might not stop efforts in the Minnesota Legislature to regulate them like traditional tobacco products,” writes AP reporter Brian Bakst. “We do know enough to know that risks are here, we just Read more →
Both DFL and GOP operatives say their party stands to gain politically from President Barack Obama’s visit today to Minnesota, writes MPR News reporter Mark Zdechlik. [W]ith the president’s popularity here at an all time low, his presence may hurt Democrats at the polls in November. Republicans are tying DFLers to the president’s struggles — Read more →
— Dave Peters, editor, Beneath the Surface, Minnesota’s Pending Ground Water Challenge You can’t talk about water use in Minnesota for long before you get around to talking about farming. That’s clear from two recent stories by MPR News. One, by MPR News reporter Dan Gunderson, showed how increased irrigation and leaching of nitrates from Read more →
“Supporters of legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota are considering a new approach for the 2014 session, and the potential changes are winning the backing of some law enforcement groups. “State Rep. Carly Melin, the chief author of the bill in the Minnesota House is working on a much narrower proposal that would allow Read more →
ED @peggyflanagan on far right with MN mayors supporting #RaiseTheWage to $9.50 by 2015! http://t.co/KNP9dqoXLo pic.twitter.com/XogHSzPd30 — CDF MN (@cdfmn) February 7, 2014 “Raising the wage is a top priority for Democrats going into the 2014 Legislative session. Last year the Minnesota House passed a bill to raise the wage to $9.50. The Senate passed Read more →
A couple of weeks ago, a reader here challenged my biases on pot and driving. Here's the story that came from that: http://t.co/GIFaQfzcZO — Maggie Koerth-Baker (@maggiekb1) February 17, 2014 “In a 2012 study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, only 30 percent of people under the influence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, failed Read more →
A CSPAN poll places Abraham Lincoln at the top of the list, he’s followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Today’s Question: Who is the most significant U.S. President?
“Some strategists still see a small window of opportunity to address climate change before the effects become damaging and costly. At least one economist, for example, says we can make a lot of progress if at least half the world agrees to put a price tag on the carbon we dump into the atmosphere. “But Read more →
Jonny Thakkar, a lecturer in philosophy and humanities at Princeton University, makes the case at Aeon magazine that ugly people are oppressed. We don’t choose the configuration of our facial features any more than we choose our skin colour, yet people discriminate based on looks all the time. As the psychologist Comila Shahani-Denning put it, Read more →
Michael Olson
MPR News Staff