Wilmot Wake-up
S.D.
The managing editor for Argus Leader Media wants a light rail for Sioux Falls. Driving is cool, he says, but cars just aren’t sustainable. Some snippets: “Transportation planners locked away in the dingy corners of City Hall spend hours studying these very issues. They look at growth trends and roads and traffic counts in an effort to figure out where we need new roads. They focus on roads, however, because that’s what people want. Any urban planner these days is fully familiar with the benefits and hurdles of mass transit. It’s the actual citizens who hold them back.” Yes, and those citizens’ pocketbooks—and wishes. Why can’t “public intellectuals,” as much as a newspaper columnist in 2012 fits that bill, call for a massive donation-driven effort to build a new transportation project, one that is not designed by city planners, but the population? One that would emerge as a response to citizen/resident demand, not sideline suggestion? Another: “We need to let city planners start the process of thinking about light rail rather than widen our existing roadways to get more cars through.” Wider roads or a light rail—those are not the only two options. If transportation services were not so dependent upon and interconnected with the State (federal, state and local levels), perhaps solutions to traffic problems would arise. Instead, we have proposals to get city planners to begin thinking about one particular solution that has proven to be a boondoggle in other metropolitan areas. Even if it would be a seemingly successful project, how would residents know? Other possibilities would be extinguished by decisions made in “dingy corners of City Hall” before entrepreneurs could provide a light. One last quote: “As much as we love to drive, it’s not the only way.” A reply: As much as some people love to propose grandiose, planned solutions to society’s problems, beaucratic planning is not the only way. In fact, it’s the worst way. | Argus Leader
Senator Tim Johnson helped fund a Pentagon project employing his wife. She made more than $400,000 in six years working to teach math, science and engineering to children. Wait—the Pentagon is funding youth education? RADMERICA. Bonus: Gov’t funds are fun. “‘Senator Johnson is an advocate for earmarks because he is able to direct spending to South Dakota that is for the benefit of South Dakotans in a variety of cases, whether it’s for the National Guard, to move the railroad tracks in downtown Sioux Falls or a wide variety of other occasions,’ [Johnson's communications director, Perry] Plumart said.” | Mitchell Daily Republic
Video lottery providers may soon be able to offer 14 machines to customers in one establishment instead of the current 10. This story has it all: vice, state arbitrariness, addiction, lobbying, strange governmental agencies, digital screens and winnings. | Mitchell Daily Republic
Beer sellers in Whiteclay, Nebraska, sell more than 13,000 cans of beer a day. Now their customers—members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe—are suing the beer industry for $500 million “to help repair damage done to the reservation.” | KELOLAND
Minn.
The lede says enough: “Banks in the US state of Minnesota – home to a large ethnic Somali community – have stopped money transfer services to Somalia, fearful of prosecution under US anti-terror laws.” | BBC
The state of Minnesota says a 68-percent minority population at a St. Cloud elementary school is too high. They are not explicitly calling for more white kids at Talahi, but my goodness, the public school system in this country is convoluted. | St. Cloud Times
Are you a high schooler that makes movies, or do you know one? The 2012 .EDU Film Festival is looking for entries. | AP / WCCO
Teachers in the area are grateful for exemptions from No Child Left Behind requirements this year. From this story in West Central Minnesota: “‘We all know that No Child Left Behind, while well-intentioned, has often been an impediment to the great work you are doing to help children in your districts,’ [Minn. Education Commissioner Brenda] Cassellius said in an email to school superintendents. ‘Under this waiver, we have a great opportunity to transition to an accountability system made in Minnesota that works for Minnesota.’” Let’s hope someday soon, children and families have the opportunity to transition to an accountability system made in their local community and family that works for their local community and family. | West Central Tribune
World
Researchers at Delft University of Technology continue work on Tribler, a torrent client that disregards websites for searching or downloading. From the story: “… the main goal is to come up with a robust implementation of BitTorrent that doesn’t rely on central servers. Instead, Tribler is designed to keep BitTorrent alive, even when all torrent search engines, indexes and trackers are pulled offline.” | TorrentFreak
The Malaysian government arrested a Saudi blogger Thursday. He had fled Saudi Arabia after Twitter comments he made resulted in state threats of imprisonment. The end result of his innocuous statements might be death by government. | Al Jazeera
The New Youth Normal – About the only easy thing for young people these days is keeping in touch. Other than that, it’s rough-going, says Durden. From the piece: “As these increasingly disenfranchised young adults make some of life’s biggest transitions (or not as the case seems to be), we wonder just how long it will be before Al-Jazeera is reporting on the Yankee-Spring and showing video of young hoody-wearing Americans throwing their ‘Vans’ at 80 inch plasma TVs; or maybe the BLS will decide to redefine basement-dwelling (or rioting) as a full-time job.” | ZeroHedge
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