He once carried the nuclear football for the guy who said ketchup was a vegetable … . For the Strib, Allison Sherry writes, “… GOP Rep. John Kline is trying to slow down implementation of new rules requiring school breakfasts and lunches to have more fruits, veggies and whole grains and less simple starch and sodium. … Kline and the powerful food lobby that donates money to him, say the new rules are onerous and expensive for school districts and there is more food waste when students are required to take foods they would not otherwise choose.” If Frito-Lay gives him money, do the kids get to eat Cheetos?
The [U of M] Prez isn’t happy about this one. The Strib’s Maura Lerner reports, “For the second time in two years, the University of Minnesota is fending off accusations that it has one of the most top-heavy administrations in higher education. On Sunday, the Institute for Policy Studies singled out the U as one of the five ‘worst overall offenders’ in a report called ‘The One Percent at State U.’ The report, by a self-described progressive think tank, accuses the U and other schools of spending lavishly on top executives and administrative staff at the expense of students and faculty.”
Some warmth to a cold case? In the PiPress, Will Aschenmacher and Kristi Belcamino report, “Maple Grove police announced Sunday that they had executed a sealed search warrant at the home where a 13-year-old girl had lived when she went missing in 1989. Police Capt. Keith Terlinden said the department has never closed the case on Amy Sue Pagnac, who disappeared from an Osseo gas station almost 25 years ago. He said authorities planned to be on the site in the 9700 block of Hemlock Lane until Friday.”
Post-session, Tom Scheck of MPR offers his look at the politics of fall 2014 … . “Republicans … are sticking to the economy, government spending and jobs. Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, says Democrats could be putting the state in poor fiscal shape for the next budget cycle. He said recent tax collections are not hitting projections.”
Reserve your “parklet.” In the PiPress Frederick Melo writes, “Just as St. Paul is setting out chairs and tables for outdoor seating along the new Lowertown sidewalk extension on Sixth Street, Minneapolis plans to try out a temporary version of the same concept. … Taking its cue from San Francisco and New York City, the city of Minneapolis this summer will experiment with three ‘parklets,’ or temporary outdoor seating areas that serve as extensions of the sidewalk.” Would you like your gnocchi with or without bus fumes?
And it’s not even officially running … . Says Tim Nelson at MPR, “Metro Transit authorities are reminding drivers to use extra caution along the Green Line after a third crash between a motorist and a train this week. A driver turned into the side of a train near Highway 280 on Friday morning.”
In that Philip Nelson assault incident … . The AP says, “According to a post on his CaringBridge site, 24-year-old Isaac Kolstad remains in critical condition at a Mankato hospital. His family says the latest surgery went as planned Friday morning. They say no further procedures or surgeries were planned for the next couple days and they’re hoping for an uneventful weekend.”
Kevin Love may have played his last game as a Timberwolf. At Yahoo Sports, Adrian Wojnarowski says, “ … ‘For the first time, [Timberwolves general manager Flip Saunders] sounds like looking at deals for [Love] is an option,’ one rival executive told Yahoo Sports. … Boston and Los Angeles plan to make high-lottery picks in the 2014 NBA draft available in offers for Love, sources said.” AP’s Jon Krawczynski says it’s not pressure from Love but a reasonable response to the All-Star’s contract, which expires at the end of the coming season. The Strib’s Jerry Zgoda quotes Wolves owner Glen Taylor saying they’ll be no trade “by the draft.”
rumblings at the U
I hear the University is setting up a task force to investigate the accusations of administrative bloat. Also forming a seperate oversight committee to monitor the task force. This will all be enabled by a “minimal” hire of new administrative staff and contracting with an outside professional staffing company who will be hired to “streamline” the process. Results are expected by the fourth quarter of 2018.
At first, Bill, I took your post
…but then I noted the following in the Strib’s article:
” In 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported that the University of Minnesota had the largest share of administrative employees among the nation’s 72 top public research universities, and that its administrative ranks had grown by 37 percent since 2001.
The university disputed those findings, saying that it had reported the information incorrectly to the federal database that was used for comparison.
SINCE THEN, THE UNIVERSITY HAS COMMISSIONED A NUMBER OF STUDIES THAT CONCLUDED IT WAS NOT UNUSUALLY HEAVY WITH ADMINISTRATORS.” (my emphasis added)
On John Kline
The answer to your closing question, Brian, is yes.
But I can’t help but I can’t help but wonder how the citizens of the 2nd feel, knowing that Rep. Kline’s votes are so clearly up for auction,…
that auction being won by whatever individuals and lobbying groups contribute the most money to his latest campaign,…
the reality being that, with the sums involved, the vast majority of the voters in the 2nd aren’t even in on the bidding war,…
a situation kept carefully concealed behind a smokescreen of agreement on “conservative” social issues and “small government (except for the military), low taxes, cheap wages and powerless workers philosophy.
For Mr. Kline, there is hardly a single way the powerful might invent to exploit and extract wealth from the powerless, including most of the voters in his district that he wouldn’t find completely acceptable.
Yes, Mr. Kline may not care about school kids’ nutrition, but…
…he knows which side HIS bread is buttered on !!
Rep. Kline
I’ll give Rep. Kline this much: Unlike the others who would turn over the education of our children to corporate America, he doesn’t try to peddle any song-and-dance about how “it’s all for the students!” His ideas are, to put it charitably, wrong-headed, but at least there is no pretense of concern for anything other than private profits.
Dump Kline
Trailer for movie, “Fed Up”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCUbvOwwfWM&sns=tw