Star Tribune
What’s behind the stereotype that Minnesotans don’t like spicy food?
“But where do we start to change these patterns? Over time, it’s very often younger generations who start to engage, to experiment,” Ubbink said. “It gets very slowly ingrained in the local culture.”
The concept of “Minnesotan” food has been shifting since before Walz first moved here 30 years ago.
Taste’s staff in 1988, from left: Ann Burckhardt, Lee Svitak Dean and Mary Hart. (Tom Sweeney)
When Lee Svitak Dean, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s now-retired Taste editor, started at the paper in 1980, some recipes involved a journey. She would drive around to little ethnic grocery stores in search of ingredients now stocked in the spice aisle of Cub Foods: garam masala, sumac, Szechuan peppercorns.
A greater number of Southeast Asian families began to settle in Minnesota at the end of the Vietnam War. Chinese restaurant chains were expanding their empires in the Midwest, inventing fusion staples like Leeann Chin’s cream cheese wonton. The Strib printed the phonetic spelling of the Greek gyro so readers could pronounce this novel word.
Svitak Dean grew up eating salt and pepper meat and potatoes. But she’d be hard-pressed to think of anyone she knows whose tastes haven’t evolved in the intervening decades. Even her 93-year-old mother is weak for spicy Thai drunken noodles, a marked departure from the mac and cheese she used to make from scratch for the kids.
The job of a food writer enabled Svitak Dean to explore vast culinary frontiers, and today she loves dishes that are packed with flavor. Nevertheless, when she thinks of the ultimate comfort food, it’s the mashed potatoes of her childhood.
“It will still be pretty low, and it’ll set before the sky gets completely dark,” she said. “That’s the trade-off here. This weekend is when it’s going to be its brightest, but it’s also not in the sky when it’s dark,” Brummel said.
If you look to the west, you can probably see Venus, the really bright planet. Then scan to the right of Venus. If you have a pair of binoculars, just point them on Venus, and then slowly scan toward the right to see the comet, she said.
This comet is getting a lot of notice because it’s a rare comet that’s bright enough to see even through the light pollution of cities. A spot with a clear view of the western horizon, without trees or buildings in the way is good.
But the farther away from the city you get, with less light pollution, the better it will look.
Star Tribune
Minnesota Supreme Court rules that duty to retreat differs when someone else is under attack
The stepbrother told Gutierrez “calm down bro.” At which point, Gutierrez said, “I’m not your bro, bro,” and lunged at him. The stepbrother cracked him upside the head with his pool cue, swinging it “like a baseball bat.” Gutierrez stumbled, then continued attacking him. The stepbrother tripped over a pile of trash outside the garage and Gutierrez, a much larger man, climbed on top of him. He began strangling the stepbrother, smothering his face and punching him. Valdez testified that he knew Gutierrez was unarmed. His stepbrother was screaming in fear and begging Valdez, “Shoot him!”
Valdez came into the alley of the garage and shot Gutierrez once in the side.
Gutierrez screamed that he had been shot. Valdez told his brother to call 911 and Valdez called his mother. By the time paramedics arrived, Gutierrez had no pulse. A helicopter arrived to transport him but the flight crew declared him dead.
Valdez was charged in Renville County with second-degree intentional murder and second-degree unintentional murder. A jury found him guilty of unintentional murder.
At trial, the jury was instructed that Valdez, who was using a “defense-of-others” claim, had a “duty to retreat or avoid the danger if reasonably possible” before shooting Gutierrez.
Valdez appealed the verdict. The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and sent it back for a new trial. The State of Minnesota appealed that decision and it was sent to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
According to program details given to the City Council in September, 27% of St. Paul children live under the federal poverty level, $31,200 for a family of four. More than half live under 185% of the federal poverty level — a threshold used by the state to indicate the need for early learning scholarships. The committee formulating the St. Paul plan recommends covering the full cost of care for children under 185% of the poverty level.
In the program’s first year, the subsidies would likely help cover child care for 154 infants from some of St. Paul’s neediest families, according to estimates. By the 10th year, 650 infants, 1,169 toddlers and 1,096 preschoolers would be receiving child care subsidies, organizers said.
Noecker said 4,000-7,000 children up to age 5 will have been helped over the 10 years.
Fifty other cities across the country have voter-approved children’s funds, Noecker said, “And they’ve seen a lot of success.”
According to “Vote Yes” organizers, the average St. Paul home would pay an additional $16 in the first year, less than $2 extra per month. After the 10th year, when the program is fully funded, the average home would pay an extra $160 each year.
Records filed with Ramsey County show that, as of Sept. 10, the Vote Yes campaign has raised $65,380 and spent $26,880.20. The campaign had an account balance of $38,639.80.
