AltWeeklies Wire
My Worm Compost Bin Produces a Great Garden ... and a Clear Consciencenew

Why would anyone willingly keep hundreds of worms in her kitchen? Because the United States produces more than 30 million tons of organic waste each year, and when that material ends up in either the incinerator or the landfill, it creates far more problems than benefits.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Rachel Hutton |
07-08-2009 |
Gardening
City on the Make Keep Pushing With Latest Albumnew
There's something irresistible about how difficult it is to label City on the Make's music, and it's part of what makes their latest album, Keep This on Fire, so intoxicating.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Andrea Swensson |
07-01-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Michael Jackson: A Eulogynew

Why and how Jackson became the most famous person the century ever knew is a matter for the anthropologists. For us, here and now, Jackson was elemental and impossible to ever fully understand; fearsome and heartbreakingly beautiful; at once mortal and deathless.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
07-01-2009 |
Music
Bowfishing: Catching Carp With a Bow and Arrownew
As partisan bickering over Minnesota's budget bubbled over in the Legislature this season, a little-known bill sailed through without controversy. It amended laws crafted during WWII and opened up pretty much all lakes and rivers to nighttime bowfishing.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Bradley Campbell |
07-01-2009 |
Recreation
Minnesota's Legislators Didn't Get Obama's Mideast Memonew
The state's push for divestment from Iran came on the heels of President Obama's call for diplomacy. Just last week, Obama reiterated that Iran has some right to nuclear energy, provided it can prove it's for peaceful purposes.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Matt Snyders |
06-10-2009 |
Politics
Minnesota Governor Cuts Healthcare for the Poornew

For over 30 years, General Assistance Medical Care has protected patients living far beneath the poverty line in Minnesota. But in the twilight of the legislative session, it became the victim of a line item veto from Gov. Tim Pawlenty's budget.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
06-05-2009 |
Policy Issues
Rare Hib Disease Increases in Minnesotanew

Is the anti-vaccine movement to blame for a rise in the number of cases of a rare, life-threatening infectious disease?
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Erin Carlyle |
06-05-2009 |
Science
Amateur Sociologist Uses Social Experiment to Expose Mullet Bigotrynew
Just as John Howard Griffin attempted to expose racism,Jake Nyberg hopes to expose "mulletism"—the mistreatment of mulleted Americans. He's been documenting his experiment at www.mulletlikeme.com.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Erin Carlyle |
05-22-2009 |
Culture
Tags: Jake Nyberg, mulletlikeme.com
How a Minnesota Mental Health Patient Was Forced into Electro-Shock Therapynew

There were 41 cases of the controversial practice of forced, court-ordered electroconvulsive treatment in Hennepin County last year. Ray Sandford was one of them.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Matt Snyders |
05-22-2009 |
Civil Liberties
The Twins' Mike Redmond is Minnesota's Catcher in the Rawnew
A cutup and a flake, a gritty player seemingly impervious to injury, Redmond has survived on talent spiked with determinism. And while no one was looking, he emerged as one of the greatest backup catchers ever to play the game.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
David Hansen |
05-14-2009 |
Sports
A New School of Microbreweries Crops Up in Minnesotanew

Brau Brothers, Flat Earth, and Lift Bridge try their hand at estate beers, fruit-infused concoctions, and ... the "Facemeltor"?
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Rachel Hutton |
05-14-2009 |
Food+Drink
Craig Newmark Finds an Unlikely Ally: A Victim's Familynew

In the wake of the murder of Katherine Olson, who was killed after responding to a babysitting ad on Craigslist, creator Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster are weathering a storm of criticism.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Bradley Campbell and Matt Snyders |
05-04-2009 |
Crime & Justice
The Monks' Beat Goes on with a Pair of Unsettling but Fascinating Reissuesnew
For many years, the Monks and their music have been barely more than legends. But this month the Monks' first and only studio album, Black Monk Time, along with an additional album of demos and singles, has been resurrected and reissued for mass consumption.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Andrea Swensson |
04-30-2009 |
Music
Dan Lacey's Bizarre Pancake Paintings Land Him Fame Beyond Gawkernew
A cartoonist's flapjack-topped noggins target everyone from McCain to Franken to Harry Potter.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Bradley Campbell |
04-30-2009 |
Art
Westlaw Rises to Legal Publishing Fame by Selling Free Informationnew
West makes its money by selling free, public information—specifically, court documents—to lawyers. On this simple model, the company rakes in a whopping 32.1 percent operating profit margin.
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Erin Carlyle |
04-30-2009 |
Media
Tags: legal publishing, Westlaw