Iron Range ‘Gatsby’ must pay $18 million to settle fraud suit

No jail, but an $18 million penalty for Minnesota’s Iron Range Jay Gatsby. Stribber David Phelps writes: “Philip Falcone, the onetime Chisholm rink rat who became a billionaire hedge fund manager, has agreed along with his firm to pay $18 million to settle a year-old fraud lawsuit accusing Falcone of using other people’s money to pay his personal taxes and giving preferential treatment to certain investors. … The proposed settlement highlights a stunning free fall for the Iron Ranger whose picture graced the pages of Vanity Fair magazine in a 2011 profile that compared Falcone, 50, and his wife, Lisa Maria, to characters in a real-life version of ‘The Great Gatsby.’ … In its disclosure, Harbinger Capital Partners and its affiliates said that they entered the settlement ‘without admitting or denying’ any of the SEC allegations.” Why is that still allowed to happen?

With Gatsby in mind, you have to relish Colin Covert’s Strib review of the latest film adaptation of our guy Fitz’ best known book: “Each of [the cast] seems to be acting in a different movie. [Leonardo] DiCaprio conveys Gatsby’s passion with a gaze that suggests advanced constipation. [Carey] Mulligan operates in two modes — Doe-Eyed Stare for languid moments, and Mascara Eruption for high drama. [Joel] Edgerton attacks every line of dialogue like a bull in a porcelain showroom. [Tobey] Maguire drifts through his performance with the vacant smile of a forgettable lad sitting for his high school portrait. … Like Fitzgerald’s narrator, watching this gaudy mess, ‘I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled.’ But mostly? Bored.” For me, two Dramamine and four Advil weren’t enough to blunt the effect of “Moulin Rouge.”

It’s a … bike trip to promote creative farming? Sasha Aslanian at MPR says: “At 8 a.m. today, five bikers and runners from the University of Minnesota began a 10-day trek across the state to show school kids all the creative approaches to farming employed in rural areas. Starting on the western border, near Madison, the group will stop at farms and towns along a pretty much straight route to the Twin Cities. Graduate student Bryan Runck dreamed up the idea with some fellow grad students. ‘We are passionate about the cool and innovative things happening in these rural communities, especially in agriculture,’ he said. … Runck will make daily videos of the trip, including interviews with farmers, and upload them to the project website each evening. Stops will include Carmen Fernholz’ organic grain farm near Madison, Moonstone grassfed beef farm near Montevideo and Garden Fresh Farms, which grows indoor herbs and produce, near St. Paul.”

Consumers will begin picking up the rest of the tab for repairs to Minnesota Power’s Thomson dam up north. Mike Creger of the Duluth News Tribune writes, “Damage from last year’s historic flooding in the Northland will probably mean an increase in electric bills for Minnesota Power customers to cover $35 million to $44 million in repairs at its dam in Thomson. According to annual and quarterly filings this year to the Securities and Exchange Commission by parent company Allete, the repairs and improvement costs at the Minnesota Power dam at the Thomson Energy Center will go beyond insurance payments and will be included in capital costs. Company officials estimate that repairs to the earthen holding pond walls that breached above the dam, the forebay, will cost $25 million to $34 million. None of the work to fix and improve the forebay is covered by insurance.” That’s a really good policy they’ve got there.

Following the gay marriage votes here in Minnesota for The RawStory, Eric Dolan writes: “Minnesota state Rep. Tim Faust (DFL-District 11B) on Thursday said the Bible was no argument against marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. ‘Not too long ago, I probably would have voted ‘no’ on this bill, but in the past there have been a couple of things that changed my mind on this,’ Faust, a Lutheran minister, said on the House floor. ‘The first one is, in the last ten years I’ve had conversations with hundreds — and I guess now it is in the thousands — of people about this issue, and in 99.9 percent of the time the people that are opposed to gay marriage at some point in their discussion they always say, ‘My Bible says.’ ‘And so if this is the reason or rationale for being opposed to this or why this law is currently in place, the question that keeps going through my mind over and over again is do we as a society have the right to impose our religious beliefs on somebody else?’ ” Actually, I think the Constitution pretty well has that covered, sir.

The bill to keep frac-sand mining away from trout streams would stop at least 10 mines in their tracks. Elizabeth Dunbar of MPR says: “MPR News has identified and mapped more than 20 proposed frac sand mines, most of which are in a designated area of southeastern Minnesota that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has identified as vulnerable to the impacts of mining. In comparing those maps to maps provided by the DNR showing designated trout streams and karst springs, at least 10 sites overlap with the proposed buffers. The Minnesota Senate on Friday is expected to consider the trout stream and springs buffer rule, sponsored by Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, as an amendment to the game and fish bill. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton supports the rule, and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr has been testifying in Senate hearings to push for the buffer.”

Police have made their first inspection of the body of Kira Trevino. For the Strib, Nicole Norfleet says: “According to a motion filed Friday, the naked body of Kira Steger Trevino who was found in the Mississippi River near downtown St. Paul earlier this week and identified Thursday had numerous injuries including a head wound, broken finger, bruising inside her upper lip and lacerations to her liver. During her autopsy, a wadded piece of duct tape was also found in her hair. More analysis is needed to determine if the duct tape matches other duct tape found with human hair and white animal hair at Keller Lake Park. Steger owned a white dog, which could be the source of the animal hair.”

Getting drunk and running your boyfriend over will get you four years … . Chao Xiong of the Strib reports: “A St. Paul woman was sentenced Thursday to a little over four years in prison for running over and killing her boyfriend on the East Side of St. Paul in late January. Arlene P. Garcia, 54, pleaded guilty in March to criminal vehicular homicide in the death of Mark L. Urang, 50. Her attorney, Christopher Anderson, argued Thursday before Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro that it was an accident. … The charges filed against Garcia gave a less forgiving picture of that night. According to the complaint, Urang was run down by Garcia as he was on the phone with 911 calling for help. In the recording, Urang is heard describing the suspect as Garcia. An argument, a scuffle and the sound of Urang apparently being run over ends the call.”

Foreign service vet Dick Virden of Plymouth wades into the hyper-partisan Benghazi frenzy … . In a Strib commentary, he says: “What makes this cacophony more than mildly irritating is that it’s cloaked in such obvious hypocrisy. What is portrayed as concern for our slain ambassador and three other American officials is in reality a blatant effort to exploit the Benghazi attack for partisan political advantage. This offensive campaign is a disservice to the diplomats who died in Libya and to their colleagues everywhere. … Nor has any plausible reason been given why the administration would try to disguise the facts. In fact, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commissioned an independent inquiry into what happened and accepted every one of its findings and recommendations. Those who see conspiracy in the chaos and confusion of that night in Benghazi overlook what Clausewitz called the ‘fog of war.’ It is rarely immediately clear what’s going on.”

The 30 semi-finalists have been announced in that $1 million St. Paul Forever Challenge. Bob Shaw of the PiPress writes: “The foundation’s idea competition has been operating for years, but interest exploded when the prize was jacked up to $1 million this year. More than 900 entries were received, and community-building conversations were launched across the city. …
GREAT RIVER FLOATING MUSEUM … A floating museum would dock in St. Paul and travel annually down the Mississippi River, according to the idea from Jamie Parker, 38, of St. Paul. ‘St. Paul needs to stake her claim as one of the great river cities in the world,’ said Parker … He said the downtown museums — Science, Children’s and Minnesota History — could share in the construction of the museum and might even find it to be a revenue source. …
WIND OVER WABASHA  … New street lamps on the Wabasha Bridge could turn the area into a green-energy corridor if John Hink has his way. Hink, 42, an environmental engineer, wants to install solar- and wind-powered streetlights on the bridge. The installation of self-sustaining lights could help spur public interest and create other green-energy corridors or districts. He picked the Wabasha Bridge for its iconic look and downtown location, but the lights could be installed anywhere, he said.” … And 28 more.