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Augsburg University students protest living conditions
Augsburg University students are calling for the Mortensen and Urness towers to be rebuilt with safer living conditions.
MINNEAPOLIS — Dozens of Augsburg University students, staff and alumni spent Tuesday afternoon protesting against what they call unsanitary living conditions in campus residence halls, particularly the Mortensen and Urness towers.
Students claim they have dealt with issues that include mold, pest infestations, lack of air conditioning and unclean water. Augsburg tells KARE 11 the university is addressing these concerns, but students say the towers should be replaced.
“Our tuition goes up and up every single year, but the quality of our housing goes down,” said senior social work major Madisyn Gowans.
Gowans said she spent two years dealing with multiple roach infestations while living in Mortensen Hall with no support from the university.
“I tried to tell people and it wasn’t getting solved. It didn’t get solved until January of the next year because I didn’t know I had to fill out a work order … it was never communicated to me that that was the procedure,” said Gowans.
During that time, Gowans said she began suffering from emotional and psychological distress once the roaches moved from her kitchen into her living spaces, including her bedroom.
“[Roaches] would be on my sheets and in my clothes. It’s just so horrible to feel that way. I can’t even describe how that feels. Unless you have been there, you don’t know,” said Gowans.
Gowans said it wasn’t until she threatened to call the Minnesota Department of Health that the university moved her to a new building.
“This is disgusting behavior. And the university wonders why we don’t submit more work orders or do more. It’s because they have fostered a horrible relationship between residence life and its students,” Gowans said to the gathered crowd.
Demonstration organizers Ali Olanda Oliva and Manu Kannare are both Augsburg University students, and say the university has turned a blind eye on their concerns.
“[Students] should not be doing a tug of war just to have our needs met. Augsburg is responsible for meeting our needs however best they can get there,” said Kannare.
Oliva agreed, citing a lack of communication and accountability.
“My intention with this [protest] is to not point fingers and put the blame on anyone. I just want a clean space and I want students to feel safe and to not have to worry about ‘oh there’s a roach in my dorm,” said Oliva.
The two say although they do not know what will happen next, they are still open to working with Augsburg’s administration to make changes.
“They (administrators) are so important to the students. They are the ones who can create the change we are asking for. Without their help, we can’t get anywhere,” said Kannare. “I am looking forward to hearing from them and seeing how we as a collective can join our ideas and make better solutions possible.”
In a statement to KARE11, Augsburg University officials said efforts are underway to improve the situation.
“We know that pest concerns can be upsetting to students even if only a small number of residence hall units are directly affected. Campus leaders have met with student government as well as individual students in recent weeks to discuss concerns around the residence halls and solicit feedback to improve processes going forward.
As a proactive measure, a comprehensive assessment of all units in Mortensen Hall was completed on September 7–9 by an external pest control company. Efforts have also been underway for several months to ensure that students are familiar and comfortable with the online facilities work order request system. In prior years we did not have a comprehensive approach to ensuring all students were informed about how and when to use it, so this may be a new process for some students. Residence Life has prioritized communication about facilities requests at floor meetings already this semester, and will continue to do so throughout the year. Our facilities department closely tracks all open pest complaints and prioritizes those work orders.
Going forward, we’re creating a residence life committee to continue to address and solve concerns in the residence halls. This committee will be led by student government members and will include the dean of students, residence life staff, facilities staff, and public safety staff. All interested students are welcome to join.
Augsburg is committed to providing safe and comfortable accommodations for our residential students, and where there are issues, we’ll work diligently to address them.”
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Most agree that pharmacy benefit managers entered the market in the 1980s as Americans started using more drugs than ever before.
MINNEAPOLIS — Editor’s Note: The above video was first published on 6/7/2024.
As the election draws nearer both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — the Republican and Democratic nominees for president, respectively — are speaking up about their respective plans for making health care more affordable for Americans.
Vice President Harris has specifically named PBMs or Pharmacy Benefit Managers as a target for more oversight and transparency and Trump issued an executive order calling out PBMs back in 2020.
PBMs primarily run prescription drug coverage for insurers, large employers and other clients. They also set up formularies, or lists of covered drugs, and negotiate rebates off drug prices.
Most agree that pharmacy benefit managers entered the market in the 1980s as Americans started using more drugs than ever before. The presence of the PBMs initially let pharmacists focus more on their businesses by handling backend tasks and saved insurers money through bargaining with drug manufacturers.
The heightened scrutiny comes as the Federal Trade Commission announced a lawsuit against the three largest PBMs in the country, Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum Rx. Those three companies process roughly 80% of prescriptions nationwide, according to the FTC.
The FTC said the rebating practices of the three companies have led to artificially inflated list prices for people. List prices are what a drugmaker initially sets for a product and what people who have high deductible plans or no insurance are sometimes stuck paying for prescriptions.
Harris’ campaign promises that, if elected, Harris “will increase competition and demand transparency in the health care industry, starting by cracking down on pharmaceutical companies who block competition and abusive practices by pharmaceutical middlemen who squeeze small pharmacies’ profits and raise costs for consumers.”
The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which lobbies for PBMs nationwide has long argued that their work is imperative in saving consumers money on drugs.
“PBMs support transparency that empowers prescribers, plan sponsors, policymakers, and, most importantly, patients, with the information they need to lower costs while improving access to needed medications. What we don’t support are measures that would empower drug companies to raise costs.” Greg Lopes, vice president of public affairs., for the PCMA.
Lawyers are preparing opening statements in the trial of Adam Fravel, who is accused of killing the mother of his children, Madaline Kingsbury.
MANKATO, Minn. — After a week and a half of selection, jurors have been chosen for the trial of Adam Fravel, and opening statements could potentially begin this week.
Fravel is accused of killing his longtime partner and mother of his children, Madeline Kingsbury.
While the alleged murder took place in Winona County, the trial will unfold in Mankato, the seat of Blue Earth County. A judge supported a defense motion to change the venue for the trial, saying it would be difficult to select an impartial jury in Winona County due to extensive pre-trial publicity.
Kingsbury went missing on March 31, 2023. Authorities say she was last seen dropping her kids off at daycare. For weeks, a massive search effort was conducted, with hundreds helping in the search. Her remains were found on June 7 in a remote location close to where Fravel admitted to being on the day she disappeared.
Fravel was the last known person to see her. He said he had nothing to do with her disappearance and fought for custody of the children while Kingsbury was missing.
Fravel is charged with two counts of first-degree murder – one for murder while committing domestic abuse and one for premeditated murder – along with two additional counts of second-degree murder.
The jury consists of 12 jurors and five alternates. A court spokesperson told KARE 11 they seated 11 men and six women, with opening statements starting this Thursday morning at the earliest.
Financial advisor Ayo Idowu visited KARE 11 News at Noon to talk about an emergency nest egg and how much you should consider putting away.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — It’s no secret that Americans are increasingly challenged when it comes to making financial ends meet. With the rising cost of food, housing and other necessities – combined with the impact of inflation – many are living from paycheck to paycheck, without a cushion if something were to happen.
According to financial planner Ayo Idowu, that underlines the importance of establishing an emergency fund. Just how much that is depends on whether you are single with few financial responsibilities, or someone with a family, kids, a mortgage and car payment.
- Those who are younger with fewer responsibilities should aim for having enough to cover three months of living expenses (not income)
- Folks with homes, cars, kids and other obligations should shoot for an emergency fund that can cover six months of living expenses
If you’re wondering where to find money to fill that fund, Idowu suggests being creative. He is currently in the midst of an “October Fast” with fewer social outings, eating at home instead of out, putting travel on hold and putting all the money saved into his emergency fund.
If you have questions, check out Ayo Idowu’s web page at Integrate Wealth Management.
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