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News
Animal activists target puppy mills across the state
Attempts at state regulation fail, so activists try something new
By Beth Walton
Published: January 14, 2009
For over 25 years, Twin Cities veterinarian Linda Wolf has been summoned to rural northern Minnesota to investigate cases of animal cruelty. She has gone to farms tucked back...
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St. Paul deploys effective weapon against frisky felines
Is the reign of feral cats over in the Twin Cities?
By Beth Walton
Published: December 17, 2008
Roland Weber loves animals. So in 2006, when a big tomcat jumped on the outside windowsill of his brick duplex in northwest St. Paul, he couldn't resist giving the cat some...
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Midwest oil mining a crude idea to many
Are we now scraping the bottom of the barrel?
By Beth Walton
Published: December 3, 2008
Some 1,500 miles northwest of Minneapolis, the luscious green boreal forests that once lined the banks of the Athabasca River have been flattened. All that's left is an empty,...
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Local couples fight for gay rights in wake of Proposition 8
GLBT community continues to stare down obstacle
By Beth Walton
Published: November 26, 2008
Doug Benson and Duane Gajewski are marriage junkies. Like many gay couples, they have multiple anniversaries. Since they met in the 1990s—Doug was vacuuming at the DFL...
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Feature
The Green Institute faces possible foreclosure after 15 years
It was ahead of its time, but now the nonprofit has a looming debt problem
By Beth Walton
Published: November 19, 2008
ANNIE YOUNG WENT to bed exhausted. For more than 12 years, the large, outspoken woman had been rallying the troops in Minneapolis's poorest neighborhood, fighting a proposed...
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News
Dan Griffith fights for your right to elect judges
Lawyer seeks to uphold state constitution
By Beth Walton
Published: October 29, 2008
Dan Griffith is not the sort of candidate to run on his experience. He barely mentions his 15 years as a lawyer, the time he spent as assistant city and county attorney in the...
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News
Holly Ann Collins faces new custody dispute
After returning from 14 years of hiding in Amsterdam and resolving her kidnapping case, the expat mother faces a new legal challenge
By Beth Walton
Published: October 15, 2008
Just a few weeks after Holly Collins returned to the Netherlands, thinking that she would never have to set foot in Minnesota again, her son, nicknamed "Chip," opened the door...
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Feature
Skate or die: Life with the MN Roller Girls
The rough-and-tumble Roller Girls punch, smack, and kick their way to victory at the rink
By Beth Walton
Published: October 8, 2008
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, there's something you need to know about me: I'm a klutz. I'm about as athletic as a wall. I stumbled into writing after being cut...
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Holly Collins returns after 14 years in hiding
The battered woman fled to Amsterdam with her children in defiance of a court order
Beth Walton
Published: September 24, 2008
Last Sunday, Holly Ann Collins walked off a plane and stood on Minnesota ground for the first time in 14 years. Her friends cheered, waving signs in celebration. "Holly, a...
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Feature
Minnesota's largest shelter killed more than 14,000 animals last year. How many were unnecessary?
Animal welfare advocates say the shelter could dramatically reduce euthanasia rates
By Beth Walton
Published: August 20, 2008
When Amber was a little girl she would save her allowance to buy cat food for the strays roaming her neighborhood behind the Animal Humane Society's St. Paul location, a place...
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Feature
Battered woman becomes American refugee in Amsterdam
Her husband beat her, so she couldn't let him take custody of their kids
By Beth Walton
Published: July 30, 2008
It was the first week of the New Year when Holly Collins showed her identification card to the clerk at City Hall in a small township in western Holland. "Asylum for an...
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News
No More Pencils, No More Books
Rural schools say chronic underfunding is leading them to desperate measures
By Beth Walton
Published: July 2, 2008
It wasn't until mid-June that state Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL-Roseville) really understood the impact of underfunding state school districts. For years she has been lobbying for...
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Feature
Pregnant Pause
Governor Tim Pawlenty may have vetoed the legislation, but that hasn't stopped women from being surrogates
By Beth Walton
Published: June 18, 2008
Nestled away in Minnesota farm country, Mazeppa resident Stacey Suess sits on her back porch in a red plaid blouse and denim capris and recalls the heartbreak of infertility....
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News
"So my boyfriend and I went speed dating..."
Our intrepid reporter enters the modern world of attention deficit dates
By Beth Walton
Published: June 18, 2008
Last Wednesday I called my boyfriend and asked if I could go speed dating. "It's for work," I pleaded. "I'm going to go undercover. PUH-leeeze.""Um," he said."It will be fun....
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News
Minnesota becomes second state to offer treatment to veterans who commit crimes
Legislators say it makes more sense to rehabilitate
By Beth Walton
Published: May 21, 2008
Last week, Minnesota became the second state in the nation to pass a sentence-mitigation bill for veterans facing criminal prosecution who suffer from combat related mental...
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Features
Mystery illness fells young man
But to get her son's mysterious malady diagnosed, a mother must battle some of the area's top hospitals
By Beth Walton
Published: May 14, 2008
School had just started for the year and Cole Haakana could hardly sit still in his fifth-grade classroom. Today, he was going to a friend's house and they were going to walk...
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Features
Minnesota ranks second-lowest in the nation for total disciplinary actions against doctors
Senior advisor to WHO’s patient safety program: Frivolous lawsuits have created a high level of fear of litigation within the medical community
By Beth Walton
Published: May 14, 2008
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Minnesota is one of the worst states when it comes to punishing doctors for malpractice. Using data from the Public Citizen...
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News
Madia tops Bonoff
Does our state contest mirror Clinton and Obama nationally?
By Beth Walton
Published: April 16, 2008
An accomplished sitting female senator, a mother, well established in political circles, seemed a shoo-in. The money and endorsements were lined up. Nothing was going to keep...
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Features
Soldier Suicides: veterans are killing themselves in record numbers
But at the VA, not much has changed
By Beth Walton
Published: March 26, 2008
On February 19, 2004, Private Jonathan Schulze's life changed forever. The stone-faced, blue-eyed Marine got word he was going to war in Iraq, an environment completely...
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Features
Crime and PTSD
Pending legislation would help veterans get treatment instead of prison time
By Beth Walton
Published: March 26, 2008
In 2000, four years after graduating high school in Shoreview, Tony Klecker enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as an engineer. After 9/11, his unit was put on high...
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