St. Paul

Rep. Betty McCollum’s town hall at Macalester College was largely civil, but it was not without tense moments and defensive tones. McCollum took heat from Democrats who said the party leadership is not doing enough to counter misinformation from the Republicans.

Yesterday, St. Paul became the third municipality in Minnesota to offer a domestic partnership registry. No citizens testified against the measure, and the city council unanimously approved the registry Wednesday afternoon. Mayor Chris Coleman signed the ordinance into law surrounded by LGBT advocates at the St. Paul gay bar, Camp.

Iran has proven the headline prescient, even if the terminology needed tweaking: “The revolution will be Twittered.” That was the title of Tom Elko’s Sept. 9, 2008, Minnesota Independent post about how Twitter messages (technically, “tweets” that were “tweeted”) came in handy during protests outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

St. Paul City Council members Dave Thune and Lee Helgen will be introducing a proposal for a domestic partner registry this week. For a $20 fee, couples who cannot marry (and some who wish not to) can get their relationship recognized through a city registry. Proponents say the registry will aid couples, especially same-sex couples, [...]

Gov. Tim Pawlenty wants to cut nearly $200 million from the Local Government Aid program as part of his plan to eliminate the state’s $2.7 billion budget deficit. While the fiscal hit to the program is less than feared (Pawlenty had originally proposed whacking $450 million from LGA), it will still present a significant fiscal [...]

“Shaken.” That’s a word Mayor Chris Coleman used to describe St. Paul during today’s State of the City address. “A near-collapse of financial markets” has already forced to make “significant cuts,” Coleman said. But he reminded citizens that CIty Hall was built during the Great Depression and promised that even in “excrutiating times,” St. Paul would continue to “refuse to be ordinary.”

They’re wearing riot gear in London and they’re talking recounts in New York. It’s all so St. Paul, last fall.

In a clever distraction from dire predictions about its fate, the Pioneer Press has launched a late-winter companion to its popular Winter Carnival medallion hunt. The PiPress blog City Hall Scoop notes the appearance of a new anti-Chris Coleman blog called MyMayorIsCheatingOnMe.com:
But who’s behind it? … many are unsure — but they’re trying to find out. [...]

FBI whistleblower-turned-activist Coleen Rowley is on a roll. She rips into the City of St. Paul’s report on Republican National Convention law enforcement in a new commentary column, and Tuesday she will join others from Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) in filing formal complaints with Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher over RNC policing tactics. And Rowley’s inquiries into what she suspects was overbroad surveillance during the RNC are starting to bear fruit — of a sort.

Good news: Demand for help to get off meth is down by half in the Twin Cities. And that indicates lower meth use, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Minnesota Public Radio reports. The proportion of meth-related admissions to metro treatment programs — 6 percent — was twice what it was two years ago, [...]