Lamb to the … next phase in his career. The Star Tribune’s Janet Moore reports: “Brian Lamb, the general manager and public face of Metro Transit, was ousted Friday in a leadership shake-up at the Metropolitan Council.”
Moving in the wrong direction. The Rochester Post-Bulletin’s Anne Halliwell reports: “In the past three years, Minnesota has dropped significantly in a nationwide ranking of disability inclusion. … The 2019 Case for Inclusion Report, which studies states’ treatment of and policies for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), came out last week. … Minnesota was ranked seventh in 2015, but now places 21st — barely above the median.”
More shutdown effects. NBC News’ Phil McCausland and Suzanne Ciechalski report: “Mallory Lorge, who suffers from type 1 diabetes, is forced to ration her insulin and look at her possessions to decide what she can sell to pay down her bills because she isn’t receiving a paycheck during the record-long government shutdown. … Lorge, who lives in the small town of River Falls, Wisconsin, said she has two vials of insulin left in her fridge, but she is rationing them because she can no longer afford the $300 copay.”
Carcinogen lawsuits. City Pages’s Hannah Jones writes: “It’s not summer in the suburbs until you see at least one dude in a sleeveless shirt spreading lustrous black goop over somebody’s driveway. The hot, dry season means it’s sealant time for Minnesotan pavement — a chance to re-apply protection against the rain, snow, and ice yet to come. … But as it turns out, eight suburbs in the Twin Cities area — Bloomington, Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, White Bear Lake, and, most recently, Eagan — now have concerns about that driveway sealant. So much so, in fact, that they’ve all filed separate lawsuits against the companies that sold them the goopy black stuff – seven companies including Koppers Inc. and the alliterative Coopers Creek Chemical Corporation — in the last month.”
In other news …
Not that high on the High Bridge: “Reviewing (and Grading) Saint Paul’s New Smith Avenue/High Bridge Design” [streets.mn]
Start planning your alternate routes now: “Maple Grove to Clearwater project on I-94 to launch this summer” [KSTP]
FYI: “The Who to perform with symphony, new songs Sept. 6 at Xcel Center” [Star Tribune]
I’m a bus operator/instructor at Metro Transit. We will miss Brian. He’s a guy who knows what his front-line employees do because he’s done it. The same can’t be said for the new guy, so we hold our breath and cross our fingers…