From FOX 9: “Minnesota Department of Health officials say they have confirmed the second case of COVID-19 coronavirus in the state. The patient is a Carver County resident in their 50s who was likely exposed to the virus while in Europe in late February, health officials say. According to MDH, the patient developed symptoms on March 2 and sought treatment on Saturday. Tests by MDH came back positive Sunday, officials say, but they are waiting on results from the CDC for official confirmation. The patient is in isolation at home and is recovering.”
For the Star Tribune, Kim Hyatt says, “Drifting in circles for days off the coast of California, 42 passengers of the Grand Princess cruise ship hit by a coronavirus outbreak are wondering when they can return to Minnesota. The latest information from the captain is the ship would be docking in Oakland sometime Monday, Lynn Fuchs, 64, of Big Lake said in a phone interview Sunday. ‘People are getting frustrated and upset,’ she said, calling the situation ridiculous. She and her husband, Steve, are among 3,500 passengers stranded aboard the mammoth cruise ship, which had been forbidden to dock in San Francisco amid evidence that the vessel was the breeding ground for a cluster of nearly 20 cases that resulted in at least one death after a previous voyage.”
At MPR, Mike Moen reports, “Talks resumed Sunday afternoon between St. Paul Public Schools and the union representing its educators, less than two days ahead of a possible strike. Nick Faber, president of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, told MPR News on Sunday that while the two sides have made some progress, there hasn’t been much movement on bigger contract issues. The two sides met for nearly 14 hours Saturday. Faber said another lengthy session might not be in cards if they remain at a standstill.”
Says Paul Walsh in the Star Tribune, “A record 301,268 Minnesota civilians have permits to carry a firearm in public, a number that has nearly doubled over the past six years. Minnesota sheriffs issued 51,404 new five-year permits in 2019, with residents from Hennepin, Anoka and Dakota counties applying in the highest numbers. Minnesota’s growing number of firearm carriers comes as some gun owners across the state are concerned about new proposals at the State Capitol that could make it harder to buy firearms.”
From MPR: “Snowmelt and ice jams have caused flooding along some rivers across southern Minnesota this weekend, forcing the closure of two state highways. The Minnesota Department of Transportation said early Sunday that State Highway 93 south of Henderson is closed near the Rush River due to water flowing over the roadway. That stretch of highway is frequently closed by flooding along the Rush and Minnesota rivers.”
In the Pioneer Press, Mary Divine says, “Before he was fatally shot by a Washington County sheriff’s deputy in 2018, Benjamin Evans scrawled out a note apologizing to the medics he knew would come to his aid. … Jurors will hear that note and another Evans wrote to his parents during the trial of the officer who shot him. A judge has ruled that they are admissible as evidence in the trial of Brian Krook, which begins Monday in Washington County District Court in Stillwater. Krook shot and killed the 23-year-old Evans shortly after midnight on April 12, 2018, while responding to a 911 call for a suicidal man with a gun in Lake Elmo. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Evans, dressed in his formal firefighter uniform, kneeling in the intersection of Lake Elmo Avenue and 34th Street and holding a handgun to his head.”
Says Dave Wahlberg in the Wisconsin State Journal, “A $10 million, five-year effort at UW-Madison to curb obesity in Wisconsin, which ended in December, met a stark reality: The state’s obesity rate, which is slightly higher than the national average, continued to go up. … Some 32% of Wisconsin adults were obese in 2018, up from 27.7% in 2011, according to a national survey that relies on self-reported height and weight.”
In Axios, JacobKnutson writes: “Sen. Bernie Sanders said on ABC’s ‘This Week’ Sunday that he believes ‘the establishment’ forced Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg out of the 2020 presidential race to ensure that voters ‘coalesced’ around Joe Biden in order to defeat him. … House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement of Biden helped the former vice president surge in South Carolina, said last week that he finds it ‘very interesting that someone is referring to African American voters in South Carolina as the establishment.’”
At BringMeTheNews, Joe Nelson says, “Thought to be retired, the guy who makes the annual hockey hair video following the boys’ hockey state tournament has risen from the ashes and stunned the world with another viral production. After saying 2019 would be his last year, a $25,000 donation from Great Clips to the Hendrickson Foundation persuaded Minnesota native John King to bring it back. Once again he did not disappoint as he unveiled some of the best lettuce atop hockey player heads.”
SPPS should consider whether it really needs 4 assistant supervisors, a “chief of schools,” five more “chief” level positions, and another 31 (!) “director” level positions, with however many other high-paid BS jobs flow down from there.
The short answer: schools can operate perfectly well without all that administrative bloat. They can operate without the millions going to Apple, or the millions being spent on developing a “strategic plan” or other management-centric plans that mean nothing except job security for expensive contractors. Schools can operate without funding dozens of make-work research and analysis positions, and the make-work supervisory positions that oversee them, and so on and on.
What schools need is mental health and other professionals to help teachers directly. The good news is these positions are cheap relative to C-suite executives and other paper-pushers.
There are tons of students in SPPS dealing with homelessness, poverty, mental health, general health, and other problems. It only takes a couple of students to throw off a whole classroom, and only a couple classrooms to overwhelm the support staff at a typical school.
A typo above: 4 assistant superintendents, not “supervisors.” You wouldn’t think that after paying Valeria Silva the last of her buyout in October and paying Joe Gothard his $300k you would need to pay 4 more six figure salaries plus whatever ridiculous sum the “chief of schools” is paid. It’s insane. What is Gothard chief of if he’s not the “chief of schools?”
The oncoming coronavirus adds considerable weight to Gov. Walz’s wish for an ample rainy day fund.