But can it outsell “Core of Conviction”? Kevin Diaz of the Strib writes: “From the people who brought you the federal election complaints and affidavits against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, now comes the book: ‘Bachmannistan.’ The tell-all book comes direct from the whistleblower, Florida minister Peter Waldron, the man behind most of the legal turmoil that has visited the Minnesota congresswoman since she ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The ‘report from the inside’ is co-authored by Twin Cities attorney John Gilmore, the lawyer who represented former Bachmann aide Andy Parrish, who helped engineer her run for the presidency before a falling out in Iowa. … Waldron promises that much remains to be told, and he’s naming names. ‘It’s explosive,’ said Waldron, who was the campaign’s point man for the evangelical pastor community. ‘It’s like handling an IED.’ ” … Or a loose cannon.
He was 58 and she’s 29 and … it didn’t end so well … Paul Levy of the Strib reports: “A 29-year-old Shorewood woman was charged Monday with killing her boyfriend as he tried to leave the relationship, apparently beating him with a closet rod before wrapping him in plastic and duct tape and stuffing him into a freezer. … The name of the victim has not been released and authorities have offered no explanation of why.”
Best Buy’s founder and largest shareholder is beginning a selldown … Thomas Lee of the Strib says: “Richard Schulze will sell an undisclosed amount of stock over a six-month period, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Schulze, who owns more than 70 million shares, or 20 percent of the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, will reduce his holdings over predetermined times between October and next March. The sales, the first time Schulze has sold Best Buy stock in six years, will be sold in varying amounts on the open market at prices subject to an undisclosed minimum price threshold. Under the plan, Schulze will have no control when the stock gets sold, a tactic designed to prevent company insiders from trading on nonpublic material information.”
There just aren’t as many freedoms anymore … John Brewer of the PiPress writes: “The Fair put the new rules in place after years of studying the [smoking] issue — and an incident in 2012 in which a lit cigarette was accidentally poked into a young girl’s eye. Brienna Schuette, a spokeswoman for the Fair, said 14 messages had been left with guest services about smoking on the grounds. Half were in support of the new restrictions, half not so much. ‘It’s very few comments when you consider how many people come to the Fair,’ she said. … Smoking still will be allowed in the on-site campground along Snelling Avenue and in parking lots beside the Fairgrounds. And cigarettes still will be sold at Steichen’s Grocery Store and Deli, tucked behind the beer gardens on Carnes Avenue.”
The Des Moines Register picks up KARE-TV reporter Boyd Huppert’s piece on who has the best fair, Minnesota or Iowa? “Midwesterners are not programmed for bragging. It’s one of our better qualities. But all bets are off when it comes to our state fairs. ‘Absolutely the best state fair,’ said one Minnesotan, with the certainty of someone who had been to every other state fair. So it may come as a shock to Minnesotans that one state to our south exists another state with a fair superiority complex. ‘Nothing compares to the Iowa State Fair,’ blared the television commercials leading up to the Hawkeye State’s 12-day celebration earlier this month. … But how do the two state’s fairs compare in other areas? Longevity: Iowa wins by half a decade. The first Iowa State Fair was held in 1854. Minnesota got its fair act together in 1859. Size: The nod again goes to Iowa. Located east of downtown Des Moines, the Iowa fairgrounds cover 435 acres, including a spacious campground. Minnesota’s fairgrounds cover 320 acres. Attendance: Minnesota wins by a landslide. In 2012 the Iowa State Fair attracted just shy of 1.1 million people. Minnesota’s state fair pulled in nearly 1.8 million people. Only the Texas State Fair is better attended.”
Keep some silver bullets handy … Dave Orrick of the PiPress reports: “A 16-year-old boy camping outside in northern Minnesota was roused in the predawn hours by the pressure of a wolf’s jaws clamping down on his skull and face. While not fully confirmed, that’s the unlikely scenario authorities are investigating after a wolf apparently attacked the boy last weekend on the shore of Lake Winnibigoshish, possibly after tearing through other campers’ tents earlier in the evening. … If confirmed, the incident would be the first documented wolf attack of such severity in Minnesota and likely in the continental U.S.”
While only eight of the 35 candidates running for mayor of Minneapolis were on hand to debate, the Southwest LRT got a working over. Curtis Gilbert of MPR writes: “Most of the candidates at the MPR News debate would like to see the freight trains moved to St. Louis Park. Mark Andrew says that was the plan when he chaired the Hennepin County Board back in the late 1990s. He says the suburb agreed to eventually take that freight traffic in exchange for help cleaning up pollution left behind by a defunct lead smelting operation. Andrew says the freight trains were never supposed to stay in what’s called the Kenilworth Corridor of Minneapolis. … But Cam Winton, who’s running with the support of the city’s Republican Party, says there’s no way St. Louis Park will accept the freight trains now. Winton would like to see the entire light rail route redesigned so it runs next to the Midtown Greenway bike trail and through more populous parts of the city.”
At MPR, Alex Friedrich continues covering the Globe University whistleblower story: “About a year ago, I looked into allegations that Globe University / Minnesota School of Business was using deceptive marketing tactics to lure prospective students. That was also around the time that Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa had concluded an investigation of for-profit schools throughout the country. The Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which he chaired, looked into similar claims of deception, as well as complaints of things such as poor graduation rates and skyrocketing tuition. … [Whistleblower attorney Clayton Halunen] showed jurors examples of the Globe-MSB training manual for admissions reps and pointed out a number of passages that taught admissions representatives how to ‘sell education.’ The HELP report found a similar focus in many of the schools it investigated. Locally, for example, it found that Capella and Walden universities had a ‘sales culture’ or ‘enrollment-driven culture’ that may have influenced their approach to recruiting.”
The Current’s Andrea Swensson apparently enjoyed The Replacements’ reunion show Sunday night. She writes: “[A]t most points in the set, all I could manage to tweet was the song title and an exclamation point, and those exclamation points stood for so many things. At the risk of leaning too heavily on hyperbole, their performance sounded exactly like I hoped it would, and I got the overwhelming feeling everyone in the crowd around me was experiencing an intense, heightened sense of satisfaction. Like a decades-old bottle of champagne finally uncorked, the whole set had a celebratory, infectious, and downright giddy spirit to it that was most clearly illustrated in the giant smile spread across drummer Josh Freese’s face. There’s an undeniable joy in getting exactly what you’ve been craving, and on that note the Replacements delivered fourfold.” Would a hot night at Midway Stadium be too much to ask?
