Featured Stories

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?
Jonathan Kaminsky

When the dust cleared from the 2008 legislative session, Tim Pawlenty had vetoed an astonishing 34 bills. With the flourish of his pen, Pawlenty had killed everything from a raise in the minimum wage to state support for stem cell research and even a nonbinding resolution calling for greater openness toward Cuba. It was a tally unparalleled in Minnesota history. In the 1990s, Republican Gov. Arne Carlson overruled the Democratic-controlled legislature with such frequency that he earned the moniker "Governor Veto." But even he never killed more than 29 bills in a single session.

Starbucks baristas union drive comes at key time

The effort to organize local latte-slingers could hurt the ailing chain
Matt Snyders

It was a typical, busy Thursday afternoon at the Mall of America's first-floor Starbucks, and Erik Forman was four hours into his shift. The slight, 23-year-old barista was soon approached by a vaguely familiar face: Caroline Kaker, the chain's Bloomington-based district manager. She pulled him aside and led him to the adjacent Barnes & Noble. There, she broke the grim news: You're fired. A member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Forman had been in the process of organizing his co-workers under the IWW banner for nearly two years.

Minnesota Helps Solve Salmonella Mystery

State agriculture department traces strain that sickened 1,251 to jalapeños from Texas
Kevin Hoffman

A cluster of Salmonella saintpaul cases in Minnesota may have helped implicate jalapeño peppers grown in Mexico and distributed through Texas as the likely source of the illness that has sickened more than 1,251 and hospitalized at least 228 in 43 states and Canada. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention held a press conference Monday to announce what was described as "a significant break" in the investigation: the discovery of a jalapeño tainted with Salmonella saintpaul, a previously rare strain of the bacteria first identified in turkeys.

Smalley's Jamaican Barbeque: Jerked Around

A trip is sometimes like finding buried treasure, and sometimes like walking the plank
Rachel Hutton

I had anticipated that Smalley's would make an impression: It's the brainchild of Shawn Smalley, who spent the previous seven years as a grill cook at La Belle Vie, and his former boss, La Belle Vie chef/co-owner Tim McKee, who's been lauded with more national accolades—multiple James Beard award nominations, a Food & Wine magazine "Best New Chef" award—than perhaps any other chef in town. After joking about opening a barbecue place for years, Smalley and McKee got serious about the idea and booked a weeklong trip to Jamaica to collect recipes and learn cooking techniques from the locals.

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Daily Stories

The Blotter

Fake employee rights group attacks Al Franken in smear ad by Kevin Hoffman

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Is Al Franken Confused? No, but this ad in today's Star Tribune and Pioneer Press is trying to confuse you.

[Jul 24, 03:15 PM | Comments (1)]

Salmonella Saintpaul: National media & local dailies pick up on Minnesota angle by Kevin Hoffman

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Both dailes and the AP follow our lead. Now the national press is asking: How could Minnesota pinpoint hot peppers just days after discovering a cluster of sick residents, when federal investigators had spent weeks fruitlessly chasing tomatoes?

[Jul 24, 10:53 AM | Comments (0)]

Breakfast of Champions 7/24: I Want the Moon by Jeff Shaw

A view of the moon circumnavigating the Earth -- animated. And a bunch of hot people try out for a reality show in St. Paul. Someone make a stupid "heavenly bodies" joke, I can't bear to do it myself.

[Jul 24, 09:20 AM | Comments (2)]

Balls! Sports Blog

Track bike to Trick Bike: the fixie evolution by Bradley Campbell

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The fixie scene grows in MPLS. But will it ever reach the ultimate level of Eastern Europe?

[Jul 24, 03:32 PM | Comments (0)]

Bushwick Fred Smoot: Former Viking changes name again by Jeff Shaw

You can't call him Love Boat Fred anymore: now he's "Brother O'Dell, Pass the Biscuits, Pappy O'Daniels."

[Jul 22, 10:29 AM | Comments (0)]

Joystick Division

Comic-Con 2K8: Making a list, checking it twice... by Gary Hodges

Gary Hodges' first report from the front lines of Comic-Con 2008.

[Jul 24, 01:12 AM | Comments (0)]

Culture To Go

Fringe By Numbers: All for Fringe and Fringe-For-All by Christopher O. Kidder

The Good, the Bad, and the Odd from Fringe for All. Get a preview of what to expect and some advance reviews!

[Jul 24, 09:49 AM | Comments (0)]

The BIG Slam at the Parkway Theater by Ward Rubrecht

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A big crowd turned out for a four-team showdown pitting the grizzled veterans of the slam scene against the Cities' rising stars.

[Jul 24, 06:16 AM | Comments (0)]

Fringe by Numbers: An Introduction by Christopher O. Kidder

A local actor, director and blogger outlines his plot for frenzied Fringe Festival coverage. So what does a 20-sided die have to do with it?

[Jul 24, 04:26 AM | Comments (0)]

Twin Cities Eater

The Hot Dish Preview: 7/25/08 by James Norton

Hot Dish
A sneak preview of tomorrow's City Pages Hot Dish food newsletter.

[Jul 24, 01:58 AM | Comments (1)]

Jerk grilling at home by Rachel Hutton

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Here's how to bring Jamaican cooking to your own backyard.

[Jul 23, 02:11 PM | Comments (4)]

Elephants in the Room

PiPress outsources RNC coverage by Jeff Severns Guntzel

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The Pioneer Press has announced a handshake deal with news website Politico.com for RNC coverage. The Politico logo will be slapped onto the front page right next to that of the PiPress and Politico reporters will do the heavy lifting for somewhere in the neighborhood of several pages a day during convention week.

[Jul 24, 08:57 AM | Comments (0)]

News

Blotter

Keepin' it in the family

Keepin' it in the family

T-Paw puts the patronage back in the state government

News

Minnesota helps solve salmonella mystery

State agriculture department traces strain that sickened 1,251 to jalapeños from Texas

By Kevin Hoffman

Starbucks baristas union drive comes at key time

The effort to organize local latte-slingers could hurt the ailing chain

By Matt Snyders

Letters to the Editor

Readers respond to our Comix Issue

Feature

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?

By Jonathan Kaminsky

Special Reports

Music

Gimme Noise

Lucy Michelle breathes life into an old, eclectic sound

Lucy Michelle breathes life into an old, eclectic sound

With the Velvet Lapelles, Michelle brings heavenly ukelele music to the Twin Cities

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Music

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5ingles

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By Ray Cummings

Critics' Picks

Tom Petty and more

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