Law

Mary Franson co-authors civil unions bill months after saying being gay isn't "normal"

We'll say this about Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria -- at least her views are evolving.SEE ALSO: Scott Walker says it's time GOP concedes defeat on gay marriage During a debate in September, Franson infamously said she "personally" doesn't believe homosexuality is "normal behavior." But barely ... More >>

Gay marriage advocates not happy about MNGOPer's last-minute civil unions bill

Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, will hold a press conference this afternoon to discuss his late-breaking plan to legalize civil unions instead of gay marriage this legislative session.SEE ALSO: Gay marriage opponents waved bizarre signs during yesterday's Capitol rally [PHOTOS]But the legislators who ar ... More >>

DFLers want to raise minimum wage 30 percent to $9.50

During his State of the Union speech last night, President Obama called for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $9 an hour. Two DFL lawmakers want to do him one better.SEE ALSO: Tom Emmer goes after food server wagesA bill introduced in the House by Rep. Melissa Hortman, D-Brooklyn Park, and in ... More >>

DRE drug scandal: Civil lawsuit against state seeks millions in damages

Today, St. Paul attorney Nathan Hansen and New Jersey attorney Alan Milstein filed a civil lawsuit against the state of Minnesota, State Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies seeking millions of dollars in damages for subjects who participated in the scandalized Drug Recognition Expert program. ... More >>

Thomas LaBlanc convicted of felony for having cybersex with 15-year-old he thought was 16

St. Paul resident Thomas LaBlanc, 66, is a Native American dancer who travels the country. While in Missouri in early 2009, he met a boy who later reached out to him on social media. The boy's Myspace profile said he was 16, but he was really 13 or 14 at the time.SEE ALSO:-- Rory Koch was busted for ... More >>

Zeus Jones releases free "Vote No" wedding bands

Zeus Jones, a Lyn-Lake-based marketing and branding agency, has devised a unique way to show solidarity with the "For All" rights cause -- free "Vote No" wedding bands.SEE ALSO: Guerrilla Girls' "Vote No" billboard features Michele Bachmann [PHOTO]"It's about applying the skills we have to stuff we' ... More >>

Hamline Wesley Award winners request honors be annulled over school's gay marriage stance

Colin Schumacher and Shona Ramchandani, two recipients of Hamline's prestigious John Wesley Award, have requested the annulment of their honors after school administration decided to remain neutral on the Minnesota marriage amendment.SEE ALSO: Hamline professor Stephen Kellert calls on university ad ... More >>

Rush Limbaugh has a crush on Chris Kluwe

SEE ALSO:-- Chris Kluwe to Emmett Burns: Gay marriage "won't magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster"-- Chris Kluwe says politician is "literally an asshole" for anti-gay marriage stance-- Chris Kluwe coins "turdsloth" while defending Crossfit on GawkerYesterday, Rush Limbaugh devoted a few mi ... More >>

Derrick Catchings charged as adult in shooting of north Minneapolis teen

Derrick Deangelo Catchings, a 16-year-old from Brooklyn Park, will be tried as an adult in the murder of a teenager slain on his bike last summer in north Minneapolis, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. Catchings has been in jail since last September on a separate case, and made hi ... More >>

Gay bullying must end

In wake of suicides, schools face federal scrutiny

Jimmy John's illegally fired union organizers, judge rules

Jimmy John's violated labor law when it fired six union organizers in March 2011, a judge ruled Friday.Administrative judge Arthur Amchan's ruling follows a February trial involving Miklin Enterprises, a local Jimmy John's franchisee, and the National Labor Relations Board. In 2010, several Jimmy Jo ... More >>

For Franken and Klobuchar, does money from big media mean support for PIPA? [UPDATE]

​It's a cliche, but true -- when trying to figure out the whys and wherefores of politics, you should follow the money. And in the case of Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken's support for the now-stalled PIPA legislation, the money trail appears to lead back to big media.Campaign finance records indicat ... More >>

Ronald Melius arrested after comparing Fergus Falls city officials to Moammar Gadhafi

Ronald Melius has some peculiar ideas of what a dictatorship looks like.​Moammar Qaddafi is the recently deposed Libyan autocrat accused of causing the deaths of thousands of his own citizens during the civil uprising against him. Hal Leland is the mayor of Fergus Falls and the manager of the West ... More >>

Bachmann: Obama would be a "dictator" to invoke 14th Amendment [VIDEO]

Pay no attention to the doomsday clock in the lower left.​In an interview with CNN this morning, Michele Bachmann reiterated her fringe position that it's no big deal if the U.S. hits its debt ceiling, which will happen midnight Aug. 2 unless Congress and Barack Obama can strike a last-minute deal ... More >>

Bachmann's comparison of Holocaust to taxes brings Anti-Defamation League scorn

​Incredibly, Rep. Michele Bachmann compared the Nazi Holocaust with the American tax code over the weekend. Today, the Anti-Defamation League scorned her twisted moral equivalency, as well as a similar statement by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Michele Bachmann compares taxes to Holocaust

Michele Bachmann: Time invoke the corollary to Godwin's Rule.​In New Hampshire over the weekend, Michele Bachmann declared that the American tax code creates "a similar death and a similar taking away" as Hitler's extermination of six million Jews during the Holocaust. To suggest that there i ... More >>

Jeffrey Anderson announces St. John's clergy abuse settlement

St. Paul attorney Jeffrey Anderson.​St. John's Abbey in Collegeville has settled lawsuits filed by nine men who say they suffered sexual abuse at the hands of some of the order's monks and priests since the 1960s. St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson announced the settlements, without detailing t ... More >>

Bachmann raises cash off Obama's call to abandon Defense Of Marriage Act

Bachmann finds another way to make a buck.​When the Obama administration announced that it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, Michele Bachmann didn't take to her microphone at Fox News, and she didn't rant on the House floor. She asked supporters for ... More >>

Michael Swanson wants murder trials in juvenile court

Swanson isn't smiling now.​Michael Richard Swanson, the St. Louis Park 17-year-old charged with killing two Iowa convenience store employees for little more than cash and cigarettes, says he's too young to face the music as an adult. Maybe he's rethinking that happy perp routine outside the K ... More >>

Jason Andersen is not guilty and wants his cop job back

Mug shot Ex-cop Jason Andersen wants his job back ​The cop who shot Fong Lee was found not guilty yesterday of violating a teenager's civil rights by kicking him in the head.Now Jason Andersen, who has been fired twice by the Minneapolis Police Department, after a domestic dispute allegation and t ... More >>

Rev. Brad Brandon wants his GOP endorsements to be tax exempt

God: Now in the endorsement business via Brad Brandon.​Despite what the Rev. Brad Brandon says, his First Amendment rights are not in jeopardy. Without anyone stifling his speech, he's used his Berean Bible Baptist Church pulpit in Hastings to endorse a slate of conservative politicians. And ... More >>

Target says it will only back Tom Emmer for governor

Target won't balance it's contribution to Tom Emmer's campaign for governor.​Target Corp. feels really, really bad about upsetting GLBT folks by backing an anti-gay man for governor of Minnesota. But yesterday it officially said it has no intention of actually putting its money where its mouth ... More >>

Judge upholds Cannons' discrimination lawsuit in case of impounded car

James and Lois Cannon​A three judge panel has ruled that Minneapolis police officers discriminated against an African American judge and his wife in 2006 when they showed up to get their son's car out the impound lot. But the Minnesota Court of Appeals also found that the Minneapolis Commiss ... More >>

Brandon Iams kills three in crash and gets six weekends in jail

Photo: Tomy Webster​Shirley Iverson, 71, her daughter, Debra Buhmann, 34, and her granddaughter, Alexis Iverson-Ferkul, 8, are all dead because of a teenage driver named Brandon Iams. The charge against him? Misdemeanor careless driving. The punishment? Six weekends in juvie, 100 hours of ... More >>

Minnesota corporations' free speech released from bondage

​Today a federal judge struck down a state law banning corporations from spending on political advertising, endorsements, and other campaign activities, on the grounds that the law violated the First Amendment rights... of corporations.The decision, by Judge Paul Magnuson, relies on the U.S. Supre ... More >>

Brandon Michael Iams charged in deadly December crash

Brandon Michael Iams, 17, has been charged with careless driving inthe crash that killed three people two weeks before Christmas.

Lynne Torgerson denies attacking Keith Ellison's Muslim faith

In an interview, the Minneapolis lawyer defends her comments about Islam and Keith Ellison.

White Castle Slider-craving ex-stripper loses disability complaint

And with that, the Rosa Parks of the scooter community rests her case.

Bob Dylan's toilet stench is blowing in the Malibu wind

Bob Dylan's Malibu, Calif. neighbors sure aren't proud to call the Minnesota superstar their neighbor. You probably wouldn't brag either if his toilet stank was wafting into your home and making your family ill.

Crazed ex-husband who wants kidney back says he is justified because wife cheated

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Two Green Females Vying for Presidency

Readers respond to "In Plain Sight"

Plagiarists: Literal Scene

Minnesota's first adoption malpractice case devastates parents

They cut her umbilical cord. Now, she's cut off from them forever.

Don't Tase Me or St. Paul, Bro

Organizers: beef-processing plant is using recent immigration raids to bust union

Slaughterhouse Rules: Is South St. Paul's Dakota Premium Foods plant "in open-warfare mode" against labor?

Take this job and build a database around it!

9/15: Morning Communique

Fixing a Leak

What happens when a reporter doesn't keep his word to an anonymous source?

Quoteworthy

Gov: Like Those Renters' Rebates? Too Bad

Do You Rent Your Living Space? In His Never-Ending Quest to Find Revenue Without Raising Taxes, Governor Pawlenty Wants to Screw You

Will "Justifying Torture" Be On The Final Exam? St. Thomas's New Law School Hire

The Walls of Red Wing

The remarkable 114-year story of Minnesota's last juvenile detention home

The Borrowers

Seven years after their last tour, Negativland continue to fight the industry claim that Fair Use is foul, and foul use is fair

URL the Pearl

While some business owners fight for their names in court, David Unowsky surrenders Hungry Mind the easy way

Wrestling With Immunity

Minnesota has a code of ethics for its executive branch. It just doesn't apply to the governor.

Sparks: Plagiarism

Let There Be Light

A Minneapolis church and city leaders square off over windows

As We Know It