I don't know if anybody noticed, but Ramsey County's results came through a lot earlier than they have in the past, and the RCV results got counted fast. That's thanks to implementation of new software at Ramsey County. Thanks to the staff and election volunteers that made that possible

It's election season in St Paul. Every few years the whole town gets together to debate the pressing political questions of our time -- Is a small business an autonomous nation? Do garbage cans have rights? If I'm rich enough, do I own the street in front of my house?

It's worse than that. ChatGPT automatically assumes men are older than women (due to age disparities in online representation), associates older people as more qualified (due to more senior titles in online representation), and entangles all three factors. Unsurprising but awful.

Barf. Here's the "Team Mpls" plan to “address climate change.” No mention of getting off fossil fuels. Nothing on electrification. Nothing on renewable energy, transit or building housing near transit. Just trees and carbon capture(?). This fluff could have been written by the Koch Bros (1/2)

the most delightful version of logging on to see what news you've missed

I wrote an article about the Ward 7 race in Minneapolis—specifically about the forum last night. Check it out here: rudyfunkmeyer.medium.com/minneapolis-...

Grateful for all who attended our annual walking tour of the Highland Bridge Development (formerly the Ford Site)!🏙️🚶‍♀️🌳🐢 Special thank-you to Sustain Board Member @kcazllerraf.bsky.social for his tour-de-force presentation on the past, present, and future of both this site and Sustain's advocacy.

I'm going to be hosting a walking tour of the new Highland Bridge neighborhood - the Ford redevelopment site - tomorrow (Monday) at 6pm, come join to learn about the planning, geology, and history of the area!

Long route to Sioux Falls.

Last two planes trying to pull in to MSP ahead of the storm thought better of it at the last second

SHORT VERSION: If you haven’t heard, there is a special election on August 12th for the Ward 4 City Council seat in Saint Paul. I’m backing @mollycoleman.bsky.social as my first choice and it’s not particularly close. Please vote! (Long version threaded below) 1/ www.ramseycounty.us/residents/el...

There aren't many bespoke tailors in the US bc the cost of living is too high. To pay $3.5k rent, you need to make $10k/ month, which won't happen as a tailor, let alone an apprentice. If you move to a cheaper area, there will be fewer customers and shops. This is why we need affordable housing.

For background, Millie & I own @mischieftoy.com along with our daughter Abby. We also have an adult daughter who is trans. Back in Feb, we noticed that Klobuchar had been remarkably silent on a whole bunch of trans rights issues since the election. Abby & I wrote a letter calling her out.

America is a duality and the only cities therein upon which to make comparison are St Paul and Minneapolis

Topical book for the weekend: in 1995, three consecutive days in Chicago w/ a triple-digit heat index — peaking at 126 degrees! — caused 465 heat-related mortalities, and 739 excess deaths. Emergency services were completely overwhelmed, and many victims were older and died alone.

Saint Paul meetup on Rue Saint-Paul. @scoopsstp.bsky.social @kcazllerraf.bsky.social @ianrbuck.bsky.social

Spot the difference between these headlines theonion.com/trump-claims...

the latest we love mpls campaign finance report dropped, so i updated my post to contain the latest donors and spending - taylordahlin.com/f/who-is-beh...

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

Could have been worse, but should have been much better. Disappointed we are cutting transit. www.house.mn.gov/sessiondaily...

Unironically they should buy up the domains for about 60 defunct local newspapers in swing states. Hire two reporters to write almost exclusively about highschool sports and new restaurants opening with every 10th article about how the local GOP is screwing over people.

SPEAKING OF… while Frey uses his @startribune.com to take credit for our city government investing in the arts & dance in our beloved Minneapolis Public Schools it was IN FACT @katiecashman.bsky.social that made this happen!! thank u, councilwoman Cashman!! MFT & our amazing parents see u!!!!

Guys, I figured it out. The key to downtown St. Paul revitalization is a weekly anti-Trump rally. The few bars and restaurants that are left are all full. Everybody is friendly. The place is hoppin.

Why it matters: There's a bias towards telling stories that presume the council is driving the action; is initiating the controversy; is responsible for any bad news. But we have a strong mayor system! Sometimes it is the mayor's responsibility, even for stories where you don't have him on camera.

Using the CP Rail Spur for a portion of the corridor is a great idea that allows the bus to get closer to apartments in the area, and allow a significantly more walkable station without having to navigate a road that drivers are often speeding on.

not to pull the "i wrote a book about online activism" card but i did in fact write a book about online activism and biographical impact--making people feel like political activism is a thing they can do--is really important and a key purpose served by otherwise "low impact" actions

Drivers like to claim that gas taxes & public parking pay for roads. In reality, the government runs a mass deficit at the federal, state, and municipal levels subsidizing private cars - and I still know people who can't get work because they can't afford a car. But Ford killed public transit, so..

Whenever I write it out in the form of a timeline it makes me wonder if Jacob Frey is better at winning mayoral elections than he is at being mayor.

It has been 60 years since Minnesota experienced as little crime as it did in 2024. For the vast majority of people alive in Minnesota last year was the safest of their lives. Keep this in mind when politicians in upcoming elections attempt to use fear to get you to vote for them!

Today, the Saint Paul City Council votes on a charter change that would hold landlords and employers accountable when they break the law. This would protect renters, workers, and neighborhoods across our city. Let's pass this and help make St. Paul a better place to live!

“New York City’s congestion pricing, which began this month, might already be one of the most effective climate policies ever enacted in the United States.”

A very frustrating thread about how we got here.

If you live in this area you have an election tomorrow! I'm very excited that Peter Wagenius is running to represent Senate District 60. He's been an impressive driving force for Sierra Club's work at the capital and really understands the connections between climate, land use, and transportation.

Now I’m going to have a stroke because Monica also emailed out a photo collage with Robin Wonsley supporting her. OMAR AND FREY WONSLEY AND RAINVILLE WHAT DO ENDORSEMENTS MEAAAAANNNN

them: why do you care so much about building abundant housing and wanting everyone to have affordable options for transportation? us:

For a paper that often blames the Council for stuff that’s the mayor’s responsibility, it’s telling that they credit the mayor for a tax cut the Council initiated. (They should ask why Frey was so unprepared to respond to Council’s push.) Story itself could’ve been a lot clearer on who led here.

A dry Christmas tree can burn faster than newspaper. * *Before the internet, you were able to receive a collection of news articles printed on paper. These papers were delivered to your door either by professionals or kids on bikes struggling to balance while carrying the Sunday edition.

1. The conventional explanation for food deserts—that these places are too poor or too rural to generate enough spending on groceries, or too Black to overcome racist corporate redlining — fail to grapple with a key fact: food deserts didn’t used to exist. My new piece in The Atlantic.

What a quote… On the one hand: kids’ freedom, independent mobility and health.. On the other hand: air and noise pollution, transport poverty, tolerance of pedestrian and cyclist deaths

“To win, Democrats must inspire the public in a fractured information age, engage meaningfully with the cultural shifts around race, gender, family, and migration, make democracy work…and—most critically—deliver tangible results that improve people’s lives.”

Folks have to move their mind further than a slogan And actually consider how, if they had power, they would actually physically, in the material world achieve their objectives and actually pull apart and understand all the dependencies involved in any kind of social or material change

It’s not too late. If you live in: California Colorado Connecticut D.C. Hawaii Idaho Illinois Iowa Maine Maryland Michigan Minnesota Montana Nevada New Hampshire Rhode Island Utah Vermont Washington Wisconsin Wyoming YOU can register AND vote on #ElectionDay

We won best costume

These kind of charts comparing rates of fatality from X – homicides, kids playing football, etc. – to fatality rates from transportation are usually to show how safe X is. But I really can't see much more than how brutally dangerous auto dependent communities are in the short, medium, and long term.

You can use "sea level rise" simulators to get a rough idea of what 10ft of storm surge in Tampa looks like and it's real bad folks coast.noaa.gov/slr/

“Mr. Trump has it backwards. Outside his cat-eating fantasy world, undocumented immigrants spend large portions of their income subsidizing healthcare for the rest of us, and certainly for elderly and disabled Americans.” www.texasobserver.org/undocumented...