Phil Duran - Latest Stories

School advocates say anti-bullying laws needed, Emmer says no

By Andy Birkey | 09.08.10 | 11:21 am

The suicides of three gay students in the state’s largest school district over the past year has brought a new sense of urgency to advocates seeking stronger anti-bullying measures. Among Minnesota’s three major-party gubernatorial candidates, only one says he won’t sign anti-bullying legislation should it reach his desk. The GOP’s Tom Emmer says he’d wouldn’t sign the Safe Schools for All bill, the same measure Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed in 2009.

MN Sex Offender Program costs $70 million a year but rehabilitates no one

By Paul Demko | 11.13.09 | 9:39 am

By any reasonable standard the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has been an unmitigated failure. In its nearly two decades, it has failed to rehabilitate a single patient. The only people who have graduated from the program have done so in body bags. Yet, since 2003, the program’s budget has ballooned by nearly 400 percent, from $18.5 million annually to $71.6 million.