Minneapolis parks, Pride tussle over anti-gay group

Twin Cities Pride and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are locked in a disagreement over whether the Pride Festival, a gathering of nearly 300,000 LGBT people and allies held annually in Loring Park, should be compelled to allow an anti-gay group to distribute Bibles at the event. Festival organizers say they paid ten of thousands of dollars to secure the park for this weekend’s celebration, giving them a right to control the message of the event. The Park Board has given the OK to Brain and Lois Johnson to distribute the Bibles, saying it is merely standing up for free speech.

Deal would tap Met Council funds to buy member’s family business site

The Minneapolis park board is planning to use $1.7 million in Metropolitan Council funds to buy a piece of Mississippi riverfront property from the family business of a Met Council member.

University, like park board, finds deals with Red Bull, Coke don’t mix

The University of Minnesota is the latest public body to make a mess with multiple beverage-marketing deals. The U of M has canceled a contract with Red Bull because the energy-drink company’s on-campus ads conflicted with the university’s…

AM.MN: A death panel Sarah Palin could love

“Panel tells DNR moose hunting should be allowed.” Other news media also cover a new report from Minnesota’s Moose Advisory Committee to the state Department of Natural Resources, but only the Star Tribune’s headline hinted at the…

AM.MN: This is only a test. Had this been a real nuclear accident …

Do not be alarmed, you residents near the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant. The state, federal and local officials you see acting as if there’s been a terrible nuclear accident are doing just that: acting. They do this…

With veteran Minneapolis parks official bowing out, Crown Hydro plan is in play

Minneapolis park commissioner Walt Dziedzic’s rumored decision not to run for re-election this year gets confirmation in the Star Tribune today. With his announcement, Dziedzic — a deceptively nimble pol who can convincingly channel Rambo and playact…

RNC host committee’s financials say it all — with flowers

Found, in the Republican National Convention Minneapolis St. Paul Host Committee’s filings with the Federal Election Commission over the last few days: big corporate donations (Target, Best Buy and UnitedHealth each gave more than $1 million) and a sizable sum left over unused ($4.7 million). Together with analyses of donors’ lobbying activities, they tell a tale about the costs and benefits of throwing a party for the national Republican Party.

Lost amid the news accounts and watchdog reports: some of the lesser line items that suggest their own story lines. Here are a few, after the jump.

Lowe’s ads get OK in Minneapolis parks

A proposal floated May 21 to put ads for Lowe’s home-improvement chain in Minneapolis parks passed the full park board Wednesday, despite commissioners’ stated misgivings about the signs. The two banners, along with 12-by-17 inch indoor signs at…

Did Minikahda Club’s illegal pipe put skanky pool water into Lake Calhoun?

A Minneapolis Public Works Department investigation into the source of a mysterious milky-white substance that appeared in Lake Calhoun April 29 has led to the discovery of an illegal sewer line from the swimming…

A new low(e): Ads proposed for Minneapolis parks

Bus windows and skyways get covered in ads; are public parks next? Minneapolis taxpayers could soon be greeted at their city parks by banners advertising a national home improvement chain that has no stores in the…