St. Paul

The new Indian Scout spent little time deciding on a December destiny on the most winter-like weekend of the season. MORE »

Two opportunities to speak out on budgets, local and state:

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Toy-makers from China to Snelling Avenue will feel the effects of new child safety legislation. Here in Minnesota, makers of hand-crafted toys say the new law may put them out of business. MORE »

To be honest, I’ve never been an avid reader of poetry. I have nothing against poems, but for some reason my mind wants words on a page to present themselves as prose, and balks at taking them seriously when they’re organized in rhymed couplets, sonnet form, or—God forbid—free verse. When verse is set to music, I can generally handle it better. One reason I found Minneapolis poet Dobby Gibson’s new collection, Skirmish, so enjoyable is that his combination of mordant wit and bittersweet longing so recalls the lyrics of my favorite songwriter, Bob Dylan. MORE »

It’s been quite a year in the Twin Cities, and the Daily Planet has been on the scene. With the help of our media partners and our tireless citizen journalists, in 2008 we published over 10,000 articles, blog entries, photos, and event listings. When we saw that the Minnesota Independent had tallied their top ten most-read articles for the year, we were inspired to check the stats and see what articles Daily Planet readers found most fascinating in 2008. MORE »

This week’s picks

Thursday, January 1
Swing by your local video store to rent a copy of Wall-E, the animated film that’s shaping up to be the surprise critical favorite of 2008.

Friday, January 2
“While some bands find Rock ‘N’ Roll after taking the most circuitous path possible,” writes Jon Behm, “Nightinghales take a straight path from A to B minor.” Catch them tonight at the 331 Club, where Dwight Hobbes praises the courteous barstaff—who don’t “saunter over with a kiss-my-grits disposition like they’re doing you a favor to let you spend your bread.” MORE »

By now, your New Year’s hangover ought to have scabbed over, leaving only the residual memories of the festive fool-making you most likely participated in. This weekend feel free to take it easy with some cool art exhibits or a burlesque show; or keep partying with plenty of rockin’ live music. Whatever you do, we wish you a wonderful beginning to a wonderful new year! MORE »

On Monday, Senator Amy Klobuchar held a hearing at the Minnesota State Capital on access to high-speed data networks (referred to as broadband) yesterday. It was standing room only in one of the smaller hearing rooms. The audience included representatives from a number of industry groups, a couple members of the Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Taskforce, at least one librarian and a few people who work on the Blandin Foundation Rural Broadband Initiative. MORE »