Mall Of America

We crossed a line in the turf this month when the publicly owned place where the Minnesota Vikings (alone, now) play football was renamed “Mall of America Field at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.” Let the re-branding of one of Minnesota’s greatest statesmen begin. 

Advocates of single-payer health care, a government-run alternative to private health insurance, had their voices heard in Congress on Wednesday, but Republicans are railing against the idea.
Minnesota’s John Kline, the ranking Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee’s subcommittee on health, employment, labor and pensions, said that Canadians are crossing the border to access [...]

Photo: Adbusters

If ever there was a year in which Buy Nothing Day might really take off, it’s 2008, as the foul economy clouds consumer confidence and impedes the Black Friday shopping impulse. But since a byword of BND, as the international grassroots anti-consumerism movement is known for short, is “Do Nothing,” Buy Nothing Day [...]

Supporters of Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., have managed a sizable advertising buy with a pointed message aimed at attendees of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul.
According to Paul’s Campaign for Liberty, two billboards in downtown Minneapolis and an ad campaign on the closed-circuit televisions at the Mall of America (MOA) were purchased by [...]

In the 1990s, Bloomington successfully waded into the murky constitutional waters that swirl around questions of free speech in privately owned places that receive public funds. In the 1999 landmark ruling  State v. Wicklund, the Minnesota Supreme Court said the state constitution’s freedom of expression clause did not apply inside the walls of the Mall [...]

Official merchandise for the Republican National Convention was unveiled at the Mall of America earlier this morning. Roughly 50 folks gathered in the mall rotunda to witness the runway fashion show. “The excitement in the room is palpable,” noted one TV cameraman as we waited for the show to begin.

RNC president Maria Cino noted that [...]

At the moment, consumers are paying the same price — about $3.50 — for a gallon of milk or a gallon of gasoline. Serendipitous spending happens at the state government level, too. Here’s what the same sum — $20 million — is buying for the state of Minnesota these days:
  * A new hockey arena/event [...]