May 16th, 2013
ST. PAUL -- Hours before one of the most important votes he will ever cast, Rep. Ben Lien pointed out a statue of former vice president Hubert H. Humphrey as he walked to his office through the light rain falling on the capital city Thursday morning.
For Lien, DFL-Moorhead, and other legislators, legalizing same-sex marriage in Minnesota was a natural extension of the state’s pioneering civil rights tradition. At about 3 p.m., the House passed the bill 75-59. The Senate followed suit…
December 13th, 2012
This time last year, Moorhead’s Main Avenue corridor was a regional mecca for those seeking glass pipes, one-hitters, bongs, grinders and other smoking fare. Now two prominent storefronts at the doorstep of the city sit empty, a visible sign of the drug paraphernalia ban the city council passed just over one year ago.
Only one of five stores has weathered the pipe ban with relative ease. Mother’s Music found a niche selling traditional tobacco pipes, which were exempt from the…
March 29th, 2012
The petition is dead, but Moorhead’s nine-month saga over what police and prosecutors deem drug paraphernalia is not over yet.
At its Feb.13 meeting, the city council rejected a petition with nearly 3,000 signatures that would have forced leaders to repeal the divisive ordinance or send the question to voters in the 2013 city election. After a review process threw out about 1,800 names for a variety of reasons – most for not being registered voters – petitioners had 30 days to file…
April 1st, 2010
They couldn’t stay here legally. They couldn’t go back safely. Mercilessly exploited, profoundly ashamed and maddeningly frustrated, they waited, waited and waited some more.
The promise of permanent residency for their families in America and high pay seemed like a perfect opportunity for hundreds of skilled workers from northern India, many of whom had spent years working alone abroad. They obtained loans, sold ancestral farmland and jewelry…