St. Paul

The three incumbent St. Paul school board members up for re-election this year have been endorsed by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers in past campaigns. But concerns about budget shortfalls, school restructurings and contract negotiations have caused the teachers’ union to withhold its support this year.

Chris Coleman is seeking a second term as mayor of St. Paul — and no other political office. After months of speculation that he would turn around and run for governor next year, Coleman told reporters at a press conference today that he did not intend to seek the state’s top post.

Can the Twins beat the New York Yankees? We’ll know the answer by the time Vice President Biden arrives for an Oct. 15 Democratic Party fundraiser at the Edina home of a member of the Pohlad family that owns the Twins. It’s Biden’s first time back since taking St. Cloud by storm last spring, and [...]

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman debates his Republican opponent, Eva Ng, tonight, and they’ll tangle again on Minnesota Public Radio the day before the election. But in Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak’s campaign says he doesn’t have any showdowns scheduled with his 10 challengers. (He’ll miss a mayoral forum Wednesday.) Instead, Rybak is shadow-boxing Gov. Pawlenty [...]

Someone alert the Republican Party of Minnesota: A campaign sign for St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has sprouted in the grass outside Minneapolis’ South High School.

“Parking” took on a new meaning Friday in parts of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The annual Park(ing) Day had groups of activists and artist hauling sod, grills and lawnchairs to parking spaces, where they plugged the meter all day and hosted impromptu parks. At ten locations — two in St. Paul, eight in Minneapolis — these temporary green spaces were up and running, most through 3 p.m. Friday, but some even later.

Between “Minnesota Nice,” Minneapolis’ hardy year-round cyclists and a pragmatism that often has us choosing winter warmth over fashion, you’d think we’d rank higher: According to a new survey by the financial website Mint.com, the Twin Cities aren’t among the most frugal major metropolitan areas this year. Not by a long shot.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman received nearly 70 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s four-candidate primary contest. The Democratic incumbent will face Eva Ng in the general election. Ng, who has been endorsed by the local Republican party, garnered support from just over 25 percent of voters.

Vain Mainstream just wanted to get to work. The 23-year-old Minneapolis resident was employed by Avalon Security on the opening day of the Republican National Convention last September. His assignment: to keep watch over a parking lot in downtown St. Paul and make sure that the thousands of protesters coursing through the streets of the city didn’t do any damage. Instead, he was swept up by police and detained in jail for three days. Now he’s among 27 plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against police today.

As if the 19th-century founders of once-flush, now-foundering newspapers didn’t have reasons enough to turn in their graves, last week two local landmarks associated with St. Paul Pioneer Press founder Frederick Driscoll found distressing ways into news columns again.