Minnesota high schools taking football concussions seriously

MPR and KARE-TV went off looking for how concussion-awareness has changed Minnesota high school football. Writes Trisha Volpe at MPR, “Hundreds of players have been pulled from games and practices, game rules have changed and parents have been involved more fully in what their teenage players are experiencing, a months-long MPR News and KARE 11 reporting project found. Using the state data practices law, the project queried more than 100 districts about their policies, their budgets and other matters related to high school football. It found rapid change in recent years but it also made clear some schools have taken more steps than others.”

Here’s British coverage of the pretty dang macho story of a bowhunter going mano a mano with a 500-pound bear. Says Gareth Roberts in the Mirror, “ A hunter who brawled with a 37-stone black bear that “hit him like an American football player” is recovering in hospital after a fight to the end with the animal. The man … eventually fatally stabbed the 7 ft bear – which is heavier than a Honda Blackbird motorbike – 20 times with a hunting knife. He suffered two broken arms and wounds to his face, jaw, stomach and legs from where the bear mauled, scratched and bit him … .”

For the Forum News Service John Myers writes, “When [Craig] Lindstrom first saw [Brandon] Johnson, he also thought the end was likely near for his hunting buddy of 10 years. ‘He was covered in blood. I had to wipe his face off to see that it was really him,’ said Lindstrom, adding that some of his first-aid training as a Chisago City, Minn., volunteer firefighter kicked in. ‘I told him to breathe, I wanted to see if the bear had collapsed his lungs. He took a deep breath but he couldn’t open his eyes. He said he wasn’t going to make it and he was telling me to tell his family that he loved them.’ “

GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson’s support for restoration of the death penalty gets a look from MPR’s Tim Pugmire. “Minnesotans haven’t heard a governor pledge support for the death penalty in over a decade, but if Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson wins in October, that could change. Johnson, who first proposed reinstating capital punishment for some violent crimes during his unsuccessful bid for attorney general in 2006, said he still supports it.”  

The old comparison game: The Strib’s Jennifer Brooks, sparked by a Hudson-area campaign visit by Wisconsin’s Gov. Scott Walker, writes, “Walker, who took his own campaign to the Minnesota border Monday for a campaign swing through Hudson with fellow GOP Gov. Chris Christie, blasted back [at Democrat rival, Mary Burke]. Wisconsin might be dead last in Midwest job growth since he took office, but he points to statistics showing that the state added new jobs faster this year than most of its neighbors, including Minnesota. … According to statistics from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota has higher per-capita income, a lower unemployment rate and a more educated work force than Wisconsin does. Minnesota businesses added 6,100 jobs in August, while Wisconsin lost 4,300 private-sector jobs in the same month.” I guess I missed the part where Walker told the crowd in Hudson, “It’s working … .”

Polish your pitch … Katharine Grayson at the Business Journal reports, “Minnesota Cup winner 75F and a company that makes crop-fertilizing robots are among 10 startups that will pitch their business concepts to AOL co-founder Steve Case next week. Case will be in Minneapolis Oct. 7 as part of his ‘Rise of the Rest Road Tour,’ which highlights entrepreneurial communities outside Silicon Valley. He’s pledged a $100,000 investment in the winner of the Minnesota competition … .”

My brother-in-law just shook the Jamaican guys warning him that the IRS was coming for him … Now, Jennifer Bjorhus’s Strib story says, “[Restaurateur Lenny] Russo spoke out Tuesday to help launch a statewide ‘Slam the Scam’ awareness campaign backed by 13 Minnesota utilities. The campaign aims to combat swindles targeting utility customers, particularly small businesses with hefty power bills. … Customer complaints are soaring. Xcel Energy alone has logged about 1,200 complaints this year, on pace to triple last year’s total … .”

Excellent timing, folks. The Strib’s traffic watcher, Tim Harlow, reports, “Evening commuters who use westbound Interstate Hwy. 694 in the northern suburbs shouldn’t run into massive backups that frustrated morning commuters who were caught in a 5-mile backup from Brooklyn Center to New Brighton. MnDOT crews reduced the freeway to a single lane at Dupont Avenue about 6:15 a.m. to install a new overhead sign as part of a metro-wide project. Nearly instant gridlock resulted … .”

No opposition, huh? Robbie Feinberg at City Pages tells us, “Do you think Richard Stulz, Lac Qui Parle County attorney, is doing a good job spending taxpayer dollars by going after Angela Brown, the mother who gave her son medical cannabis to treat a brain injury? Apparently, other attorneys in Lac Qui Parle County are apathetic about that question, as according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website, Stulz is running for reelection without opposition this year. Stulz was present in Montevideo yesterday for Brown’s hearing, but he didn’t actually enter the courtroom. That’s because he’s delegated Brown’s prosecution to one of his assistants, Brown says. ‘He threw her to the wolves, and he’s out in the hallway,’ Brown adds … .”