Archives for November 2007

Research out today shows higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark. Next month the World Health Organization will consider declaring shift work “a probable carcinogen.” What’s already on that list? * Art glass, glass containers and pressed ware (manufacture of) * Cobalt metal with tungsten Read more →

Sorry, kids, the jigger is up. It turns out Mom and Dad know something about your liquor habits while you’re off at school… at least if you’re at the University of Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Daily, a course, “Seminar for Parents: Alcohol Use on Campus,” opened to all parents this semester after being limited Read more →

The explosion of an oil pipeline in Minnesota showed us all just how fragile the world oil market is. Oil prices soared when word got out about the explosion. The quick run-up in prices — it had jumped $5 a barrel — eased when it was revealed that the pipeline where the explosion occurred was Read more →

The Centers for Disease Control reported this week what many parents, and most school authorities figured out some time ago: bullying isn’t just for the schoolyard anymore. Much of it has moved to the Internet. Youth can use electronic media to embarrass, harass or threaten their peers. Increasing numbers of adolescents are becoming victims of Read more →

They’re aghast in Massachusetts today, because a report shows the state, which was the incubator of the computer industry, is now dead last in job creation. The report from the Center for Labor Market Studies and MassINC, identifies Minnesota as a “competitor state.” It says the Massachusetts economy has pretty well tanked; Minnesota is portrayed Read more →

There is a hint today in Minnesota — just a hint — that the blogosphere can police itself when it comes to ethics, a step toward meeting the medium’s apparent goal as “the new journalism.” True North is a conservative Minnesota blog with several contributors. One of them, who goes by the name of Seventh Read more →

The cable TV business channels have always seemed to have a love-hate relationship with ethics. A few years ago, CNBC regularly put “analysts” on the air hawking a particular stock or two, without disclosing that the analyst or the analyst’s firm had a significant interest in the company being hawked. Now upstart Fox Business Channel Read more →

Mark Cohen, the editor at Minnesota Lawyer, penned a fine column a week or so ago on diversity in Minnesota’s court system. After acknowledging the obvious requirements to be a Supreme Court justice, Cohen wrote… Diversity is probably the biggest other factor that is on the mind of the legal community. With Hanson’s departure, the Read more →

Back in 1999, when we were putting together The Surveillance Society project at MPR, privacy concerns were still in a quaint stage. We figured the threats to our privacy were surreptitious individuals mining the data after hacking into some giant mainframe somewhere and stealing nuggets about ourselves. It’s still true. It’s a threat. We didn’t Read more →

The West Central Tribune of Willmar reports that a Prinsburg man has been sentenced today to six months in jail (served off and on) because he provided alcohol to a 16 year old girl at a party at his home. She was killed while driving home. What caught my attention is this additional note: …and Read more →

Since 2002, Cirrus Design’s SR22 has been involved in 17 accidents resulting in 35 deaths, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Over the weekend, four were killed in Faribault when the plane flipped while trying to land in gusty conditions. When a Cirrus plane crashes, it usually ignites a debate — at least in Read more →

In the world of marketing, you can make something true, just by saying it is. Newsies working on a slow day usually blare, “the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year,” except it isn’t. The Saturday before Christmas is. And getting up at 2:30 on Friday to go shopping isn’t normal. Read more →