Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association

Nice Ride adds 24 new stations for 2013 season

The weather might be cartwheeling between sunny 60-degrees and forecasts of flurries, but a more consistent sign of spring started showing its reassuring face last week: Nice Ride's lime green bikes, back on the street for their fourth season. Along with the seasonal re-launch comes some upgrades fo ... More >>

Carly Christenson, 14, died of influenza despite receiving flu shot

Getting a flu shot is no guarantee you won't get sick, perhaps even deathly so, from influenza.SEE ALSO:-- MN Blue Cross' new anti-obesity ads spark controversy: Do they shame fat people? [VIDEO] -- KARE 11 criticized for hosting "potentially harmful" health screenings at State Fair Just consider th ... More >>

Debate over autism coverage continues as mom sues providers for discrimination

Tracy Reid's seven-year-old son, Max, was diagnosed as severely autistic in 2008. Over the next two years, he experienced huge gains through a type of treatment known as Intensive Early Intervention Behavioral Therapy, or IEIBT. Advocates say it's the closest thing to a cure for autistic children, a ... More >>

St. Luke's becomes first hospital in state to follow NYC's lead, ban sale of sugary drinks

A month after New York City approved a ban on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces, Duluth-based St. Luke's Hospital has taken the next step and is banning the sale of all sugary drinks on hospital premises. SEE ALSO:-- MN Blue Cross' new anti-obesity ads spark controversy: Do they shame fat people? ... More >>

Haberman employees harvest the vegetables of their labor in corporate garden

It's 9:30 a.m., and a rooster is bellowing as Liz Otto and her daughter Kate make their way down the gravel road to the garden. Decked out in red rubber boots, Kate steps into a labyrinth of pepper plants, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes. And with the keen eye of a junior horticulturist, she immedi ... More >>

Jennifer Livingston, La Crosse TV anchor, responds on air to man who called her obese [VIDEO]

Jennifer Livingston, a TV anchor/reporter for the CBS affiliate in La Crosse, Wisconsin, is comfortable in her own skin. But an infrequent male viewer of her morning show is uncomfortable about her skin and what's directly underneath it.SEE ALSO:-- MN Blue Cross' new anti-obesity ads spark controver ... More >>

MN Blue Cross' new anti-obesity ads spark controversy: Do they shame fat people? [VIDEO]

Earlier this month, a study concluded that half of Minnesota will be obese by 2030. In hopes of preventing that from happening, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota recently released two new anti-obesity ads.SEE ALSO: Minnesota obesity epidemic? New study says half of us on track to be really ... More >>

Nice Ride hits 500,000 trips

SEE ALSO:- NiceRide's biggest-in-the-nation bike sharing starts tomorrow [Map]- North Minneapolis may see some Nice Ride action- Blue Cross drops $1.5 million money bomb on Nice Ride- Nice Ride Minnesota secures major funding for expansionEarlier this week, not long after noon, an anonymous cyclist ... More >>

U.S. healthcare is too costly for Kevin Steinman, so he's moving to Norway

See Also:Kevin Steinman talks songwriting and the power of performingKevin Steinman checks in from Norway to talk about the aftermath of the Oslo tragedyKevin Steinman will be a Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter until later this summer. After a farewell show at Bryant Lake Bowl on July 23, he's mo ... More >>

Twin Cities life expectancy: Wealth matters [MAP]

Your zip code could be a measure of how long you're going to live. Last week, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation released a report with good health news for Twin Cities residents with some zip codes, and shakier news for others. The good: Twin Cities-dwellers are living longer t ... More >>

Death Cab For Cutie, Avett Brothers highlight Des Moines' 80/35 Fest line-up

Des Moines' eclectic 80/35 Festival is now in it's fifth year, and continues to bring talented, compelling national and local acts to the two-day Iowa music fest. And while the outdoor music festival competition in the Twin Cities this summer will be greater than it's ever been, this year's stron ... More >>

Mill City Museum kicks off farmers market exhibit tonight

With its idyllic location next to one of the best farmers markets in the Twin Cities, perhaps no museum is better suited to hosting an exhibit on "the unique confluence of community aspiration, cultural exchange, and economic activity popularly known as farmers markets" than the Mill City Museum. T ... More >>

Gastro Non Grata and CSA selections this Week in Food

We're inching toward farmer's market season, and the proof is in this week's events: from a CSA fair at Seward Co-op to the opening of Mill City Museum's new "Growing Strong: How Farmers Markets Nourish People, Communities and the Planet" exhibit, the veggies are in the air this Week in Food. 4/17 ... More >>

The most gay-friendly Twin Cities employers

The Human Rights Campaign assessed companies' GLBT-friendliness​The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has released a study measuring hundreds of companies' friendliness to gay employees. If their survey is any indication, Minnesota companies tend to do well by their GLBT employees. Thirteen Mi ... More >>

Minnesotans support taxing smokers to close budget gap

More than half the survey respondents would support increased cigarette prices.​If the stress from thinking about Minnesota's budget deficit makes you think about lighting up a smoke, think again. Nearly 60 percent of Minnesotans would support increasing cigarette state taxes on tobacco to help so ... More >>

KDWB's private meeting to atone for Hmong parody song gets boycotted

KDWB apologizes on their own terms, got it?​As a part of their ongoing apology for the "Hmong parody" debacle, KDWB managers are holding a meeting with members of the Hmong community at their offices in St. Louis Park this morning for a "dialog." However, some of the invitees are refusing to go. ... More >>

Dave Ryan apologizes for KDWB Hmong parody song AGAIN

KDWB apologies: now with extra sincerity.​KDWB's Dave Ryan has issued yet another apology for the so-called "Hmong parody song" that has incensed listeners and driven away important advertisers. "Some may feel that our previous apologies about this have been inadequate or insincere," said Ryan in ... More >>

KDWB Hmong parody song brings protesters to station's front door

Saying sorry, again.​KDWB has been forced to apologize again for that tasteless Hmong parody song aired by the "Dave Ryan in the Morning Show" crew a few weeks ago. The latest mea culpa came as a crowd of protesters showed up outside the station's front doors on Friday morning carrying signs ... More >>

KDWB loses Blue Cross ads over Hmong parody

Not as funny as they think they are.​KDWB has lost another advertiser over that tasteless "Dave Ryan in the Morning" show parody that recently portrayed Hmong Americans in a far less than flattering light Blue Cross Minnesota found the song, sung to the tune of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven ... More >>

Nice Ride 2011 rolls out with mechanical and billing snafu

Nice Ride MNThe snafu is over, Nice Ride reports.​Season No. 2 for our nifty bike share program Nice Ride rolled out in a less than spectacular fashion over the weekend: Some customers wanted to return their bikes, but they couldn't. We hear that riders were treated to nasty grinding noises ... More >>

Nice Ride rolling out North Minneapolis bike rental stations first

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.​The snow is melting, and potholes are multiplying faster than bunnies, so it's time for Nice Ride's lime green cruiser bikes to hit the streets again. And this spring, stations are being opened in North Minneapolis for the first time, after activists in neigh ... More >>

"Scott" will call glass box at Mall of America home for a month

Facebook"Scott" sets a good example.​We don't know who "Scott" is, but we're going to learn a lot about him in the next 30 days because he's going to live in a glass box at the Mall of America. We do know he's 45 years old, and lives somewhere in the Twin Cities. But his name is being kept se ... More >>

Nice Ride Minnesota secures major funding for expansion

More lime green bikes coming to a neighborhood near you.​Nice Ride Minnesota, the bike share program that launched last June, is about to get a lot bigger. Thanks to a just-announced major infusion of cash, the program is ready to start implementing its Phase 2 expansion.

Intensive Early Intervention Behavioral Therapy could cure autism

But HealthPartners and other insurance companies won't pay for it

Blue Cross drops $1.5 million money bomb on Nice Ride

Rybak and the Do Groove guy.​Imagine if you will the mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak, riding a lime green bicycle around City Hall, followed on same by Blue Cross CEO Pat Geraghty and the Do Groove TV commercial guy -- the dude in the sweater vest bustin' out his hip hop moves in a doctor's w ... More >>

10/14 Morning Must Reads

Tim Pawlenty: Governor No

Tim Pawlenty racked up more vetoes this year than any governor in Minnesota's history. Is this the man we want to be vice president?

Chris Georgacas

The Whiz Kid

The 10 most powerful Minnesota Republicans

These GOPfathers are the power brokers you've never heard of

Michael Moore's Preexisting Condition

The Oscar-winning filmmaker weighs in on America's health care system

Michael Moore's Pre-Existing Condition

United He Stands

In the past seven years the Minnesota attorney general's office has earned a rep as one of the country's toughest HMO watchdogs. So does it matter that Matt Entenza, the DFL's heir apparent to the job, is married to one of the most powerful executives in

"Value-Based" Healthcare

Voices and Silence

It was no secret that Jason Molacek heard voices telling him to murder. Cops, counselors, his parents--they all knew. So why didn't anyone stop him before he shot his mom to death?

We Smoked 'Em

Court of appeals agrees: City Pages can examine tobacco settlement records

We Shoot, We Score

Smoke and Mirrors

Two years after picking billions of dollars out of Big Tobacco's pocket, state officials are still having trouble polishing their next trick: Figuring out how to spend it

See You In Court

Five years ago Mike Hatch was just another failed politician. Then a dying woman walked into his office, and a crusade was born.

Nicotine Fit

He's been thrown out of court on his ear, but Roger Conant is still railing about the legal fees from the tobacco settlement

Sue 'Em if You Got 'Em

Hennepin County leads the next round of tobacco litigation

Click and Learn

A new model for AIDS treatment activism

Trial by Paper

Millions of tobacco-industry documents find a home in the crammed back rooms of the Depot

Talking Blues

Sure, they're in court fighting the tobacco companies. But just try to get them to pay for a nicotine patch.

Urban Violins

Bad Medicine