SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MAY 9, 2016
THE FIGHTING SIOUX WON’T LEAVE “Officially, the UND Fighting Hawks won the NCAA hockey championship. But many fans who witnessed the Frozen Four victory would tell you the Fighting Sioux won.” -- From a GF Herald column by April Baumgarten. She said, “The chants of ‘Sioux Forever’ and ‘Let’s Go Sioux’ probably have never been so loud.” She stated the obvious: “The Fighting Sioux name isn’t going anywhere for a long time. It likely will take decades before ‘Sioux Forever’ fades into a whisper.”
UND’S MALAISE is the result of ”the forced removal of the beloved Fighting Sioux name and the botched nickname vote.” In a letter to ND newspapers, William Brotherton attributed much of UND’s recent problems to the process that denied the school it famed nickname and logo. He has a prescription: Dump the Fighting Hawks and make a deal with the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux. The resulting partnership could restore the glory of the Fighting Sioux. Brotherton is a Texas attorney who was lead counsel in a lawsuit to stop the nickname vote and says “it's not too late to try and fix this mess and save UND.”
TWO CLOSELY RELATED BAD NEWS ITEMS ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced that state agencies will need to make additional 6% budget cuts in the 2017-2019 biennium -- this follows a 4% cut in February. Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms told an oil industry group in Williston that he expects to see a “severe” drop that will take March oil production below 1.1 million barrels per day for the first time since June 2014.
GETTING ON BOARD Leading Republicans in ND are getting on the Donald Trump presidential band wagon saying they either endorse or support the Trump candidacy. Burgum and Cramer have endorsed Trump; Hoeven, Dalrymple and Stenejhem will support Trump if nominated.
A HUGE PRINCE “LOVE SYMBOL” has been carved in a field near Edgeley, ND. The culprit is 75-year-old farmer who used his tractor and a disc to make an elaborate symbol the size of a football field. Gene Hanson then hopped into his airplane and took an aerial photo of the results “which almost made him delirious.”
HEIDI HEITKAMP won a U.S. Senate race with a razor thin margin, but her constant media presence would lead you to think her public estimation is rising. Not so, a survey by Morning Consult indicates her approval rating is only 50%, while her disapproval rating is 35%. She is ranked 61st among 100 senators. Sen. Hoeven has a 74% approval rating, 10% disapproval and is ranked 3rd among all senators.
BADLANDS-INSPIRED Use your imagination for a moment -- pretend you are driving near the university campus in Dickinson where a large butte-like structure looms in front of you. The building is the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The $100 million project is in the planning stage.
DANIELLE TA’SHEENA FINN (25) of Porcupine was crowned Miss Indian World in Albuquerque. It’s the most prominent Native American pow wow in the world according to its organizers. She was the first enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the only member of ND's five tribes to win the title. She graduated from Century H.S. in Bismarck and is attending the Arizona State Univ. College of Law.
F-M SCHOOLS educate many students who speak foreign languages at home -- Fargo students speak 71 languages. In the three area school districts the most common language, after English, spoken at home is Somali (675 students). The next most common language is Nepali (374).
ARE YOU SURPRISED? Only 26% of Minnesotans have a favorable opinion of Black Lives Matter, the group which protested the Jamar Clark shooting. The Hennepin County Attorney’s decision not to prosecute the officers involved was supported by 66% of white Minneapolis residents (only 11% disagreed), while 68% of black residents disagreed.
WIDENING DISPARITIES among minorities are one of the most well-covered subjects in Minnesota newspapers. Actually, the reports are mostly about blacks, other minorities generally do better and are improving their economic status. Minorities are about 20% of the population in Minnesota, while blacks are about 5%. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports blacks have the worst disparities and they are widening -- median black family incomes are less than half of whites, and poverty and unemployment among blacks is roughly five times whites. There is no real agreement about causes or solutions. The most commonly mentioned difficulties are two related conditions: Over 50% of black families have a single parent and black men make up well over a third of Minnesota’s prison population.
NOW, IT’S AN ECONOMIC ISSUE “All of our well-being is wrapped up, more and more, in how populations of color are faring in Minnesota,” -- Susan Brower, Minnesota state demographer.“ She said, “In the past, when populations of people of color were smaller relative to the whole, economic disparities were an issue for moral reasons, for issues of equity. But now, she notes, as racial and ethnic minorities approach 20 percent of the state’s population, all Minnesotans’ economic futures will be influenced by how well those residents succeed.
MINNESOTA lost $1 billion in annual income tax revenues from residents who have moved to states with lower taxes. They were first thought to be snowbirds staying longer in states such as Arizona, but further analysis indicates 71% of those who left are under 65, people in their prime earning years. Author Tom Steward writing in MinnPost, a non-profit news source, said this is the bottom line: Minnesota is gaining individuals whose income levels often result in the need for public services, while losing high income earners whose taxes fund public services.
DAKTOIDS: Williston’s sales tax revenue bonds were downgraded to negative by Standard & Poors -- unless sales tax revenues improve, the city may have to find other ways of servicing the debt . . . A South Dakota farm management center says SD farmers each spend close to $1.1 million each year, most of which stays in the state.
UND’S MALAISE is the result of ”the forced removal of the beloved Fighting Sioux name and the botched nickname vote.” In a letter to ND newspapers, William Brotherton attributed much of UND’s recent problems to the process that denied the school it famed nickname and logo. He has a prescription: Dump the Fighting Hawks and make a deal with the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux. The resulting partnership could restore the glory of the Fighting Sioux. Brotherton is a Texas attorney who was lead counsel in a lawsuit to stop the nickname vote and says “it's not too late to try and fix this mess and save UND.”
TWO CLOSELY RELATED BAD NEWS ITEMS ND Gov. Jack Dalrymple announced that state agencies will need to make additional 6% budget cuts in the 2017-2019 biennium -- this follows a 4% cut in February. Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms told an oil industry group in Williston that he expects to see a “severe” drop that will take March oil production below 1.1 million barrels per day for the first time since June 2014.
GETTING ON BOARD Leading Republicans in ND are getting on the Donald Trump presidential band wagon saying they either endorse or support the Trump candidacy. Burgum and Cramer have endorsed Trump; Hoeven, Dalrymple and Stenejhem will support Trump if nominated.
A HUGE PRINCE “LOVE SYMBOL” has been carved in a field near Edgeley, ND. The culprit is 75-year-old farmer who used his tractor and a disc to make an elaborate symbol the size of a football field. Gene Hanson then hopped into his airplane and took an aerial photo of the results “which almost made him delirious.”
HEIDI HEITKAMP won a U.S. Senate race with a razor thin margin, but her constant media presence would lead you to think her public estimation is rising. Not so, a survey by Morning Consult indicates her approval rating is only 50%, while her disapproval rating is 35%. She is ranked 61st among 100 senators. Sen. Hoeven has a 74% approval rating, 10% disapproval and is ranked 3rd among all senators.
BADLANDS-INSPIRED Use your imagination for a moment -- pretend you are driving near the university campus in Dickinson where a large butte-like structure looms in front of you. The building is the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. The $100 million project is in the planning stage.
DANIELLE TA’SHEENA FINN (25) of Porcupine was crowned Miss Indian World in Albuquerque. It’s the most prominent Native American pow wow in the world according to its organizers. She was the first enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the only member of ND's five tribes to win the title. She graduated from Century H.S. in Bismarck and is attending the Arizona State Univ. College of Law.
F-M SCHOOLS educate many students who speak foreign languages at home -- Fargo students speak 71 languages. In the three area school districts the most common language, after English, spoken at home is Somali (675 students). The next most common language is Nepali (374).
ARE YOU SURPRISED? Only 26% of Minnesotans have a favorable opinion of Black Lives Matter, the group which protested the Jamar Clark shooting. The Hennepin County Attorney’s decision not to prosecute the officers involved was supported by 66% of white Minneapolis residents (only 11% disagreed), while 68% of black residents disagreed.
WIDENING DISPARITIES among minorities are one of the most well-covered subjects in Minnesota newspapers. Actually, the reports are mostly about blacks, other minorities generally do better and are improving their economic status. Minorities are about 20% of the population in Minnesota, while blacks are about 5%. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports blacks have the worst disparities and they are widening -- median black family incomes are less than half of whites, and poverty and unemployment among blacks is roughly five times whites. There is no real agreement about causes or solutions. The most commonly mentioned difficulties are two related conditions: Over 50% of black families have a single parent and black men make up well over a third of Minnesota’s prison population.
NOW, IT’S AN ECONOMIC ISSUE “All of our well-being is wrapped up, more and more, in how populations of color are faring in Minnesota,” -- Susan Brower, Minnesota state demographer.“ She said, “In the past, when populations of people of color were smaller relative to the whole, economic disparities were an issue for moral reasons, for issues of equity. But now, she notes, as racial and ethnic minorities approach 20 percent of the state’s population, all Minnesotans’ economic futures will be influenced by how well those residents succeed.
MINNESOTA lost $1 billion in annual income tax revenues from residents who have moved to states with lower taxes. They were first thought to be snowbirds staying longer in states such as Arizona, but further analysis indicates 71% of those who left are under 65, people in their prime earning years. Author Tom Steward writing in MinnPost, a non-profit news source, said this is the bottom line: Minnesota is gaining individuals whose income levels often result in the need for public services, while losing high income earners whose taxes fund public services.
DAKTOIDS: Williston’s sales tax revenue bonds were downgraded to negative by Standard & Poors -- unless sales tax revenues improve, the city may have to find other ways of servicing the debt . . . A South Dakota farm management center says SD farmers each spend close to $1.1 million each year, most of which stays in the state.
DakotaBeacon