The July 26 edition of this newspaper led with a story about an English-only proposal advanced by a member of the Lino Lakes City Council. The director of Minnesota's chapter of American Civil Liberties Union was quoted saying, "When you want to create a cause célèbre, you go after immigrants." As Yogi Berra would say (in a foreign language!) this is "déjà vu all over again." The population of Minnesota and much of the Western world has been falling, while 90-plus percent of new population growth is occurring in the developing world. Poverty produces hopelessness and even violent conflict, but it also produces wonderfully creative and energetic...
J. Brian Atwood: Our state was (and is) made by immigrants
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C.J.: KSTP's Rebekah Wood heads south
KSTP-TV is losing potent bench strength with the departure of anchor Rebekah Wood. Wood is following her husband, Corey Miller, to Tampa, where he is being transferred by GE Healthcare IT, for which he does PR. They'll be moving there -- her last day with KSTP is Nov. 25 -- with their daughters, Hathaway, 7, and Delaney, 6. "We're going down there, and I'm looking for a job," said Wood, who has been at KSTP four years. That shouldn't be any problem for Joe Mauer's biggest married fan. Wood is great behind the anchor desk and hysterical on the radio after she finishes news cuts for FM107.1 and 1500 ESPN. She just lets it fly. "I think I might be done with TV," she said....
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KSTP/SurveyUSA poll: Minnesota is a battleground state
Related topics President ObamaMinnesotaMitt Romney Advertisement Last night, KSTP political reporter Tom Hauser dropped a bombshell on Minnesota's political environment when he reported the results of the latest KSTP/SurveyUSA poll. Here's the information that's got the Obama campaign worried: Asked of 552 likely voters Margin of Sampling Error for this question = ± 4.3% If the election for President were today, would you vote for ... (choices rotated) Republican Mitt Romney? Democrat Barack Obama? Or one of the other candidates? 40% Mitt Romney (R) 46% Barack Obama (D) 7% Other 7% Undecided According to KSTP's reporting, 38% of respondents identified themselves as Democrats, 32% identifying...
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KSTP poll shows Oberstar locked in a draw
In a sleeper race that’s turned into a cage match, the U.S. House race between veteran DFLer Jim Oberstar and GOP upstart Chip Cravaack appears to be a potential tossup. A new SurveyUSA poll in Minnesota’s 8th congressional district for KSTP TV, the first independent poll in the race, shows a 47-46 Oberstar lead, or, in other words, a dead heat. The poll was scheduled to be released on KSTP at 6 p.m. But poll numbers were made available to operatives on both sides earlier in the afternoon. Democrats question the accuracy of the KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, saying it consistently overestimates Republican strength. Another KSTP/SurveyUSA poll has the governor's race virtually...
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KSTP wins national Emmy
KSTP's piece, "Prisoners Ride the Bus," was honored for outstanding investigative reporting at Monday night's News & Documentary Emmys in New York. It tied with KHOU in Houston. The only other regional winner: KPIX in San Francisco for outstanding Spot News. Investigative reporter Bob McNaney worked on "Prisoners," along with producer Mike Maybay and assistant news director Sam Zeff. The piece deals with how the US government is using bus companies to transport unescorted prisoners. Maybay priased McNamey's investigatve work. "It's very exciting and humbling," Maybay said. "I'm glad to be able to do this kind of work." The big...
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Readers write for Monday, Jan. 24
LEGACY AMENDMENT It's important for DNR to keeping buying land A Jan. 11 Star Tribune article described an important report that quantified the large shortfall of money needed to manage the lands that Department of Natural Resources controls. A Jan. 16 letter writer stated that, in that article, I suggested putting a stop to any land purchases by the DNR. The writer is wrong. I have not, and would not, make that suggestion. I was one of the authors of the Legacy Amendment. We knew as we wrote the amendment and voted to put it on the ballot that we would protect additional wetlands, prairies, forests, and other habitat for fish, game and wildlife by buying them with new Legacy money. The...
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C.J.: Ex-KSTP anchor Mark Suppelsa checks into rehab
The classy candor of former KSTP-TV anchor Mark Suppelsa was again on display Friday when he announced that he was entering Hazelden to begin treatment for alcohol. In a note to his colleagues at Chicago's WGN-TV, Suppelsa wrote: "I'm going to be blunt here because that's my nature and because we're in a business where we seek the truth and it would be wrong of me not to be frank at this moment. I'm driving soon with my family to Hazelden in Minnesota where they'll drop me off for a month-long alcohol recovery program. I have felt for some time that this would become necessary and I've now crossed a bridge in my life where I want and need to do this. It's my choice. No one is forcing me...
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C.J.: Madson gets ready to strut his stuff in charity dance-off
Brad Madson's hips don't lie -- or apparently move that much at all. We have video -- www.startribune.com/a1075 -- of the Vikings community relations guy practicing for Saturday's "Dancing With the Twin Cities Celebrities" charity event at the Minneapolis Hilton. Madson's dance partner is Arthur Murray Dance Studios professional Kelly Lyke, who was punished at this event last year when assigned to teach KSTP-TV's sports anchor Joe Schmit how to dance. Schmit memorably demonstrated his impressive walnut-smashing footwork while dressed like a "Matador": see www.startribune.com/a1076. When Madson's attention was called to his lack of hip action in the video posted on...
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Cyndy Brucato to leave KSTP
Cyndy Brucato Here we go again. Just weeks after Robyne Robinson left the air and short months before Don Shelby departs, KSTP's lead anchor has announced her departure. Here's the press release from the station. Minneapolis/Saint Paul, MN – 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS anchor Cyndy Brucato has announced plans to leave the anchor desk at the end of the summer, but will continue to anchor the 6:30 p.m. newscast through the Minnesota State Fair. "It's been a blast and now it's time to turn my attention to my own communications company," Brucato said. Brucato will continue to work with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on special projects. Brucato has worked with KSTP-TV...
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Tough hours - not Dave - drove Chikage away
KSTP-TV weekend meteorologist Chikage Windler has taken her prognosticating skills to Indianapolis' WTHR-TV for "a better quality of life." That's actually not a swipe at KSTP, which has a reputation for having a disposable attitude toward talent. "Rob [Hubbard, the GM] called me on Saturday to wish me well, and I told him I had three of the best years in my career here at KSTP," said Windler. But "in the last year and a half now that my schedule has gone to what it is, it's been a rough time. I have been like a yo-yo. My shift has been doing Friday nights, Saturday mornings, Saturday nights, Sunday mornings. Back-to-back short turnarounds," she told me Tuesday...
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Beth McDonough returns to TV news as KSTP producer
Former FOX 9 crime reporter Beth McDonough has returned to TV news as an investigative producer at KSTP-TV. "She is smarter than a whip," KSTP news director Lindsay Radford said Monday. "I'm telling you, in the two weeks I've had her on staff, she's uncovered more stories than reporters I've had in a year." McDonough will be in charge of developing the station's investigative unit and producing stories for it. In 2008 McDonough was dismissed by FOX 9 after her second drunken-driving arrest. She said the dismissal by FOX 9 news director Bill Dallman saved her life. In an emotional interview with me in 2009, McDonough said, "When I got my first DUI, my boss at the time...
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C.J.: Beth McDonough returns to TV news as KSTP producer
Former FOX 9 crime reporter Beth McDonough has returned to TV news as an investigative producer at KSTP-TV. "She is smarter than a whip," KSTP news director Lindsay Radford said Monday. "I'm telling you, in the two weeks I've had her on staff, she's uncovered more stories than reporters I've had in a year." McDonough will be in charge of developing the station's investigative unit and producing stories for it. In 2008 McDonough was dismissed by FOX 9 after her second drunken-driving arrest. She said the dismissal by FOX 9 news director Bill Dallman saved her life. In an emotional interview with me in 2009, McDonough said, "When I got my first DUI, my boss at the time...
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C.J.: The fifth Mrs. Hecker has lots of juicy stuff to share
"A beautiful mess" is the phrase the current and fifth Mrs. Denny Hecker uses to describe her time with the disgraced and incarcerated auto magnate in June's "as told to interview" in Minnesota Monthly. Christi Rowan-Hecker talked to senior editor Tim Gihring, who's been working on this since before she began serving her 14-month sentence in a prison camp for bank and bankruptcy fraud convictions. In November she was released from a halfway house and is now on five years' probation. The man she married over the phone is serving time for bankruptcy fraud and defrauding auto lenders and is looking at a 2019 release, although if anybody can get out earlier for good behavior,...
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Are Douda's days numbered at WCCO-TV?
Word has it that WCCO-TV weekend anchor Dennis Douda was seen Friday at Edina's Interlachen CC in the company of KARE 11 GM John Remes. "No comment," said Douda when reached Monday. I'll take that as a yes. "Douda parting ways with WCCO?" asked my tipster Sara. "What's going on at WCCO?" Just another newcomer, GM Brien Kennedy, who doesn't get it. Kennedy came from West Palm Beach, Fla., which is a cornier part of the country than I realized if he's used one of the motivational tactics I've heard he's deployed at WCCO: Reportedly he takes off running through the newsroom clapping his hands like he's motivating car sales staffers. Sales is his background, and...
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Ex-KSTP exec thriving in L.A.
LOS ANGELES - Mendes Napoli, the former KSTP-TV veep and news director turned on-air talent agency owner, is living large in California. Know how you can tell? By the building he owns, which also leases space to two other businesses. It's across the street from O'Gara Coach -- the Beverly Hills dealer of Rolls-Royce, Bugatti and other brands with starting prices in the $200,000 range. His previous offices were prime real estate, too, until the landlord booted Napoli for some "little guy's" new production company. That "little guy" Napoli didn't recognize when he came in to chat about the location was Tobey Maguire, aka "Spider-Man." I caught up with Napoli...
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C.J.
Columnist | The Dish Phone: 612-332-TIPS Email: cj@startribune.com C.J. is a columnist in the Star Tribune's Twin Cities section. Her column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays....
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C.J.: Diller was a dilly in her day
It's all right with Joan LaBelle if her late husband is being chased around heaven by Phyllis Diller. LaBelle was telling me about her recent lunch with Lisa Kudrow when I asked if she thought Diller, the barrier-busting comic who died this week, was in the after-life pursuing Lorney LaBelle, who died in 2010. "Oh definitely, no question about it," said LaBelle, who summers in Minnesota and spends the rest of the year in California. "I don't mean to be bad because I miss him so much." Lorney worked with Diller a couple of times during his illustrious advertising career. He played a major role in developing the Minnegasco...
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KSTP-TV's Art Barron has been demoted
Morning and midday anchor Art Barron is being kicked off KSTP-TV but not out of the building. "He will do midday up until the May book starts and then he will transition fully into a Web position," KSTP-TV news director Lindsay Radford told me today. "He will be a Web producer for us. We are launching a whole bunch of community sites and have hired a whole bunch of people for that. God bless Art. He's got the best attitude in the world." As a producer, Barron's face won't be seen anymore, which means that he'll probably experience a cut in pay, broadcast insiders tell me. "It depends on a lot of variables," Barron begged to differ. "Obviously, it's not...
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KSTP to join the early-morning fray
Vineeta Sawkar, part of KSTP's morning team In June, KSTP news director Lindsay Radford told us that her station had no plans in the immediate future to join WCCO and KSMP and start their morning news broadcasts at 4:30 a.m. Turns out "immediate future" is less than two months. The station announced today that they will start at 4:30 a.m. beginning Aug. 30. “This is a reflection of changing lifestyles as people are going to bed earlier and getting up earlier," Radford said. "A few years ago no one would have thought there was an audience at 5:30 a.m. but now there is." ...
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Ponder this: Can Vikings QB be as hot on the field as off?
Vikings rookie QB Christian Ponder is bringing much-needed sizzle to Winter Park. Belatedly, while watching KSTP-TV's "Sports Wrap with Joe Schmit," I got the memo: PONDER IS HOT! Dressed casually in expensive-looking loafers, golf shorts and a dress shirt, while speaking in complete sentences to Schmit, there was something Joe Willie Namath-charming about Ponder, a Florida State grad who earned his undergraduate finance degree in 2 1/2 years and in 2010 received his MBA. The QB drips sex appeal, a little of which I thought was glistening from his chin dimple. If Ponder can play football ... Lord Have Mercy! "Yes, you are right," said Schmit. "Christian Ponder had...
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