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MinnPost Asks

MinnPost Asks is an occasional series that features Q&A interviews with interesting and newsworthy people with some sort of connection to Minnesota. Most will be from our community, but some will be Minnesotans living and working elsewhere. The folks will range from those with high-visibility positions to behind-the-scenes individuals who don't get a lot of publicity but who are leading rich lives and who have something interesting and insightful to say.

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Rev. Steven Baines

Religion and politics 101: A Q&A with Rev. Steven Baines

By Beth Hawkins | 04/25/13

An ordained Southern Baptist minister, Baines has a passion for the intersection of politics and religion and for issues involving the separation of church and state.

Lynette Reini-Grandell and Venus DeMars
MinnPost Asks

Talking with the taxman about poetry — and deductions

By Jim Walsh | 04/23/13

The couple, who were the subject of the 2004 documentary “Venus of Mars,” say the state is auditing their Schedule C deductions.

David Carr on alt-weeklies, phone apps and all things media
MinnPost Asks

David Carr on alt-weeklies, phone apps and all things media

By Brian Lambert | 04/09/13

The New York Times’ culture and media columnist has a particularly acute radar for shifting currents in the news game.

buffalo sculpture photo
MinnPost Asks

N. Dakota's anti-abortion moves growing, drawing backlash

By Beth Hawkins | 04/02/13

Sarah Stoesz of Planned Parenthood talked to MinnPost about the changes, including planned legislative action today.

pope benedict waving
MinnPost Asks

Benedictine nun offers insights into papal transition

By Beth Hawkins | 03/11/13

Nancy Bauer is a canon, or church lawyer, a talented photojournalist and, from 2005 to 2011, was prioress of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn.

TakeAction’s Liz Doyle
MinnPost Asks

TakeAction’s Liz Doyle Q-A: Health exchange must be consumer-friendly and help small businesses

By James Nord | 02/18/13

The progressive coalition wants a “smart-purchaser” authority that can negotiate on behalf of Minnesota individuals and small businesses.

Business supports health exchange
MinnPost Asks

Chamber’s Kate Johansen Q-A: Business supports health exchange … but plan needs ‘ton’ of work

By James Nord | 02/12/13

The four biggest concerns, she says, are its governance structure, the board’s  powers, the financing and the accountability.

House Speaker-designate Paul Thissen
MinnPost Asks

House Speaker-designate Paul Thissen: ‘First job is fixing the budget long term’

By James Nord | 11/20/12

“Our goal really is to govern well, and hopefully with transparency and focused on the basics,” the DFL leader says.

LWV President MacNamara
MinnPost Asks

LWV President MacNamara: Our goal is ensuring free, fair elections open to every eligible voter

By James Nord | 10/17/12

The national League of Women Voters and its local chapter oppose Minnesota’s voting amendment as unfairly restricting access to the polls.

Maria Schneider
MinnPost Asks

Maria Schneider on composing, her CDs, the SPCO — and her Windom roots

By Michael Anthony | 09/28/12

Maria Schneider, who has been called “the foremost big-band composer of her generation,” is recording and performing this week with the SPCO.

John Wodele
MinnPost Asks

John Wodele: Experience dealing with hearing problems make him good fit for state commission duties

By Joe Kimball | 06/28/12

The former Ventura spokesman said he learned then of the group’s work in improving the lives of those with hearing and vision disabilities.  

Mike Ciresi
MinnPost Asks

Mike Ciresi on education equity: 'We're in it for the long term'

By Beth Hawkins | 05/30/12

"The emphasis almost from day one was on children’s issues. We gravitated toward education because it’s the civil-rights issue of our time."

Lizz Winstead
MinnPost Asks

‘Lizz Free or Die’ is Winstead’s latest chapter of social activism and commentary

By Jim Walsh | 05/21/12

“My job is to parse through the wilderness of the world every day. It’s what I’m driven to do.”

Sister Brigid McDonald
MinnPost Asks

Sister Brigid McDonald calls Vatican's reprimand of U.S. nuns group a 'misuse of power'

By Beth Hawkins | 05/04/12

'I think it is pretty impossible for us to all change our beliefs on these issues to coincide with his beliefs.'

Bill McCallum and Sarah Agnew
MinnPost Asks

Sarah Agnew reflects on her role in 'Time Stands Still'

By Pamela Espeland | 04/27/12

The Guthrie regular discusses her latest role as a journalist badly injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Jesse Saperstein
MinnPost Asks

'Life With Asperger's' author to speak at MOA

By Delma Francis | 04/19/12

Jesse Saperstein, author of “Atypical: Life With Asperger’s in 20 1/3 Chapters,” talks about his life in a Q&A.

Mitch Pearlstein
MinnPost Asks

Mitch Pearlstein: Connecting family and achievement gap

By Beth Hawkins | 03/27/12

Pearlstein argues that the achievement gap will not be solved by educational reform.

House of Coates cover
MinnPost Asks

Fanfare for the broken man: a Q & A with Brad Zellar

By Jim Walsh | 03/23/12

“House Of Coates,” a collaboration with Alec Soth, is the story of one broken man, the reclusive Lester B. Morrison.

Rev. Grant Stevensen
MinnPost Asks

Engaging congregations: A Q&A with Minnesotans United's Grant Stevensen

By Beth Hawkins | 03/19/12

Lutheran pastor will help facilitate faith communities' conversations about the marriage amendment.

Kurt Elling
MinnPost Asks

Kurt Elling: 'Any music that jazz encounters, it absorbs and transforms'

By Pamela Espeland | 02/17/12

JazzTimes once outlined a “royal bloodline of male jazz singers”: from Louis Armstrong to Mel Tormé to Jon Hendricks to Mark Murphy to Kurt Elling.

Author Margaret Wurtele
MinnPost Asks

Arts leader and memoirist takes novelistic turn with 'The Golden Hour'

By Susan Albright | 02/08/12

New American Library has released her first novel, "The Golden Hour," and tonight she’ll begin a round of readings — the first one at the Loft in Minneapolis.