MNJAC update: Fusion center’s board adopts privacy recommendations

A state law enforcement center set up to collect, analyze and share suspicious activity reports has taken a step toward addressing some of the concerns raised about it by privacy and civil rights advocates. The governing board of the Minnesota…

You don’t know MNJAC: Anti-terror fusion center grapples with security flaw, new privacy policy

A post-9/11 intelligence agency created to collect and analyze suspicious activity reports from across Minnesota is operating without an important and widely used safeguard meant to check against inappropriate use of data. Most law-enforcement databases are protected with software that…

McCain, Clinton agree on energy plan: Here, take 30 bucks

In today’s New York Times, Thomas Friedman calls Hillary’s and McCain’s “gas-tax holiday” proposal what it really is: money laundering masquerading as energy policy. Both candidates say they want to temporarily suspend the…

Minnesota’s Green Economy: Legislators want to power up state’s green-job strategy

In this two-part series, Minnesota Monitor examines the state’s efforts to build a greener industrial base and create new jobs in the process. Part I: When it comes to recruiting “green-collar” jobs to Minnesota,…

Minnesota’s Green Economy: Pawlenty gets out-hustled by his peers in recruitment of green jobs

In this two-part series, Minnesota Monitor examines the state’s efforts to build a greener industrial base and create new jobs in the process. Monday: When it comes to recruiting “green-collar” jobs to Minnesota, critics say Gov.…

Minneapolis hip-hop group denied entry to Canada

Local hip-hop act Atmosphere canceled a show in Toronto tonight after Canada apparently banned their entry into the country. A message on the group’s Facebook page last night says the show was scrapped “due to an immigration…

Capitalism consuming itself? Fund investors help inflate food prices

Ethanol critics have widely bashed the corn-based fuel for its role in inflating food prices worldwide. But a fascinating article in Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, says classic supply and demand can’t…

Gallup Poll: Most Americans not too worried about global warming

A new Gallup Poll suggests Americans are no more concerned about global warming than they were almost two decades ago.

In a telephone survey last month, 37 percent of 1,012 adults interviewed said they worry…

In defense of doing something

Here’s for all the cynics out there: Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” argues in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine why seemingly small, individual steps to save the planet are…

Minneapolis City Council decides on ranked-choice elections policy

The Minneapolis City Council voted this morning on logistics for adopting instant-runoff or ranked-choice voting in the city, but the ordinance cleared without unanimous support and only after significant debate on an amendment to count mismarked ballots.…