A new stadium for… big league soccer?

Even if you’re among those who think soccer will need a lot more consistent offense to replace football in America’s heart, big time soccer is under the spotlight again this weekend. In the PiPress Andy Greder says, “The Vikings are a lead promoter of the International Champions Cup and consider the event a precursor to an increased focus this fall on a possible MLS bid. Meanwhile, [Minnesota] United owner Bill McGuire has invested heavily in his club, explores sites for a new stadium and quietly considers MLS possibilities.” You read that right: “new stadium.”

Ayn Randian deep thinking has suffered a loss. In the PiPress, Amy Carlson Gustafson reports, “Conservative talk radio host Jason Lewis quit his show during the middle of his program Thursday evening. ‘The Jason Lewis Show’ is syndicated by the Burnsville-based Genesis Communications Network and heard locally on Clear Channel’s KTLK 1130 AM. ‘He told me two months ago he intended to retire Aug. 1’, said Mike Crusham, president and market manager of Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Minneapolis/St. Paul.”

Cell phone access across a big chunk of the BWCA is (obviously) an asset in emergencies. John Enger of MPR writes, “Paddlers can also rent Spot locators, which work like an emergency beacon, sending distress signals, or pre-written emails to family members at the press of a button. They’re about the size of an Altoids tin, and less expensive than bulky satellite phones. Cell phones are starting to work too. Cell companies can’t put towers in the BWCA, it’s a national wilderness area. As time goes on, however, they are ringing the multi-million acre dead zone with towers.”

There is apparently a good deal of interest in becoming an official pot manufacturer. Lorna Benson at MPR says, “[Assistant Commissioner Manny] Munson-Regala said many interested parties have already inquired about the manufacturing requirements. ‘They range from folks who have experience with [medical cannabis in] other states to folks who run local nurseries and growing hydroponic tomatoes and those kinds of things, law firms, medical providers who are interested in the therapeutic possibilities — a range of diverse individuals,’ he said.” I don’t doubt that at all.

Also… Robbie Feinberg at City Pages notes the first meeting of the governor’s marijuana “task force.” “In the past, we’ve reported on the questionable makeup of the group, most notably that many of the appointees only want to see medical cannabis in very restricted scenarios. While that’s still a worry, the four legislators appointed to the task force may help to balance the leanings of the group. The two chairs of the task force are Sen. Scott Dibble and Rep. Carly Melin, who both initially supported legislation that was broader than what ended up getting passed. And the other two legislators brought on to the task force are Rep. Pat Garofalo, who supports broader coverage, and Sen. Branden Peterson, who wouldn’t even vote for the eventual bill that passed due to its specificity.”

Diversity in public school faculties is getting attention. Catharine Richert of MPR says, “As Minnesota becomes more diverse, schools in Brooklyn Park and beyond are facing a shortage of teachers of color. Some school districts want to change that, mindful that the success of their students depends on it. Minnesota ranks just below the national average on the ratio of non-white teachers to non-white students, sometimes called the diversity gap. Only 3.5 percent the state’s public school teachers are of African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American or Native American descent, according to the Minnesota Department of Education. Meanwhile, nearly 30 percent of Minnesota’s students are children of color.”

And in case you were planning on going anywhere this weekend… Tim Harlow of the Strib says, “Southwest metro drivers already dealing with the long-running closure of northbound Hwy. 169 from I-494 to Bren Road in Minnetonka will find another obstacle in place from late Friday night until early Monday. The Crosstown will be closed in both direction at the Hwy. 169 interchange. Access to Hwy. 212 will also be affected East metro motorists will find it more difficult getting into downtown St. Paul. The southbound lanes of I-35E will be closed between Hwy. 36 and I-94.”

Speaking of traffic… Some of you may be going down to Target Field Saturday night to see some old British guy. Chris Riemenschneider of the Strib writes, “Other stops on Macca’s current Out There! Tour have neared the three-hour, 40-song mark. That includes the handful of gigs the 72-year-old icon has played since postponing Asian concerts in May on doctors’ orders due to a virus.”  

A couple Glean readers complained yesterday that an item on Our Favorite Congresswoman plucked from the Talking Points Memo site was grossly misleading. At the link the full context of Ms. Bachmann’s statement on a radio program was clear, or at least as clear as the TPM folks could make it. They have since “updated” their post. David Kurtz writes, “Bachmann went on to suggest that putting migrant children into the foster care system would offer hospitals more subjects to use for medical research, as she accused Boston Children’s Hospital of doing to Pelletier. ‘That’s more kids that you can see how — we can’t imagine doing this, but if you have a hospital and they are going to get millions of dollars in government grants if they can conduct medical research on somebody, and a ward of the state can’t say “no,” ’ she said. … ‘So here you could have this institution getting millions of dollars from our government to do medical experimentation and a kid can’t even say “no.” It’s sick.’ ” TPM concludes by saying that a spokesman in Bachmann’s office wouldn’t get into what she meant by “medical experimentation.”