Timeline on St. Paul soccer stadium unclear

by MinnPost staff 07/01/201607/01/2016

No stoppage time available. The Pioneer Press’ Frederick Melo reports: “To open in 2018 as proposed, construction of the $150 million, 21,500-seat expandable stadium once was expected to have started by June. That hasn’t happened, and the team has been relatively quiet on all things stadium-related. It’s unclear how much longer construction could be delayed and still open by the 2018 season.”

Medical marijuana became legal in Minnesota one year ago. How’s that going? MPR’s Riham Feshir looks at the program: “Overall, while most patients report seeing benefits from the drug the past year, others are still having a hard time finding doctors who would certify them. Many say it’s too expensive, so they end up getting marijuana off the black market. … Jennessa Lea qualified for the state program a year ago to ease the pain from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a collagen disorder that affects her joints, skin and blood vessel walls. But she doesn’t plan to renew her enrollment. She can’t afford to pay $1,000 a month for the legal treatments.”

Turns out scalpers are a rip off. The Star Tribune crunched the numbers: “More than ever this summer, Minnesotans are being shut out of the hottest concerts and ripped off by ticket scalpers. It’s part of a nationwide ‘ticketing epidemic,’ as a recent New York attorney general report calls it, fueled by the proliferation of online ticket buying and resale sites such as StubHub. … A Star Tribune analysis of 10 recent and upcoming concerts in the Twin Cities found that 10 percent to 20 percent of tickets to the most popular shows typically wind up on resale sites, including an inordinate number of the best seats.”

Is Minnesota better than Wisconsin? The Nation’s Ari Berman looks at our two states’ divergent paths recently on voting rights: “…[I]n 2008 and 2012, Wisconsin trailed only one state—Minnesota—in voter turnout. The two states are practically twins, with nearly identical demographics, geography, and cultural history. Both states have a long-standing progressive tradition dating back more than a century, from Wisconsin Governor Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette to Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In the 1970s, they were also the first states to allow Election Day registration, which has significantly boosted turnout. ‘Demographers call it the “civic-responsibility belt,”’ says Craig Gilbert, Washington bureau chief of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. … But the two states have clashed sharply in recent years, becoming case studies in the difference between Democratic and Republican rule. Whereas Wisconsin elected Walker and a GOP legislature in 2010, Minnesota narrowly elected Mark Dayton, and two years later a Democratic legislature. Minnesota raised taxes on the wealthy, invested in public education, expanded health care, and boosted unions, while Wisconsin did the opposite. Now Minnesota is winning the border war, with faster job growth, higher wages, and lower unemployment.”