STUDY: BMI NOT A HEALTH INDICATOR PAGE 3 PARTLY SUNNY HIGH 29° LOW 23° U OF M
MINNEAPOLIS
WEDNESDAY
ST PAUL
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
BUSINESS
Mpls. weighs city’s wage authority MINIMUM WAGE IN U.S. CITIES
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NEARLY 75 MILLION AMERICANS MAY BE IN THE WRONG CATEGORY.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM
ADMINISTRATION
Students call for U to divest More than 30 student groups this week demanded the U divest from four corporations. BY TIFFANY LUKK tlukk@mndaily.com
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1. Seattle: $15* 2. San Francisco: $12.25* 3. Austin: $13.03* 4. Boston: $10 5. Chicago: $10* 6. Los Angeles: $10 7. Minneapolis: $9 8. New York: $9 *higher than 9. Atlanta: $5.15 statewide SOURCE: MN DAILY REPORTING
The Minneapolis City Council has asked to explore the “legal gray area” of raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
*higher than
BY HANNAH WEIKEL AND ETHAN NELSON
he doesn’t think Minneapolis should have
hweikel@mndaily.com
ion, calling it a “legal gray area.”
directed the city attorney to deliver an opin-
enelson@mndaily.com
T
“The question is whether a municipality
he Minneapolis City Council request-
in the state of Minnesota has the authority
ed a legal opinion Friday on whether
to introduce a minimum wage,” Frey said.
the city has authority to raise the minimum wage to $15.
While the state hasn’t expressly prevented cities from enacting a minimum wage
In the same meeting, the council agreed
ordinance, he said other state laws could
to commission a study on the impacts of a
imply that cities aren’t allowed to raise the
potential minimum wage increase. Mean-
minimum wage.
while, frustrated advocates for a higher
Frey was the only council member who
minimum wage in the city say they will
voted against the motion at the meeting.
push for residents to vote on the issue in
He said he would prefer that the city make
November.
a decision without consulting Susan Segal,
Ward 3 Council member Jacob Frey said
u See DIVEST Page 3
ST. PAUL
St. Paul mulls regulations to ground AirBnB
the Minneapolis City Attorney.
u See WAGE Page 5
GREEK LIFE
SPORTS
Campus greek life continues inclusion efforts
The city wants to study rules that would ensure safety for guests of short-term rentals. BY TAYA BANJAC tbanjac@mndaily.com
A discussion last week focused on issues with the community embracing diverse members.
into a hockey rink since the Gophers’ men’s and women’s teams played there on Jan. 17, 2014. “There’s a lot of pressure, but you have to have fun with the guys,” said Dan Craig, senior director of facilities operations for the NHL, which handles all aspects of construction and setup for the Stadium Series instead of the University’s regular crew. “Just like a hockey team, we create a team of our guys.” Each venue poses its own challenges, but the setup process takes about the same amount of time everywhere, said Executive Vice President of Events for the NHL Don Renzulli, who has worked on ever y Stadium Series game so far.
St. Paul resident Laura Rice and her wife star ted hosting guests in their two spare bedrooms through AirBnB in July to make extra money for their wedding, but the couple has continued using the service ever since. “Last November, almost ever y single night was booked with someone,” Rice said, adding that the couple made more than $1,000 that month. But St. Paul residents like Rice, who open their homes to travelers, might eventually face tougher restrictions. Amid legal debate over home-sharing companies in cities nationwide, the St. Paul City Council voted last week to study shor t-ter m r ental pr operties such as AirBnB for possible regulations to make renters comply with city ordinances and ensure safety for guests. Ward 3 Council member Chris Tolbert said the resolution was in response to increased use of AirBnB and other shor tterm rental companies in St. Paul. “They are great things, and I think they are great for St. Paul … but they’re also completely unregulated business in the city,” Tolbert said, adding that AirBnB is an affordable travel option he’s used. He said he doesn’t want to make it harder for people to host and said he doesn’t think regulations will affect most hosts. “Most people who use AirBnB, there is no problem,” Tolbert said. “We’re not tr ying to stop that, but there is potential safety issues. There is also fairness issues.” Hotels and some AirBnB hosts pay occupancy taxes, but others do not, he said.
u See STADIUM Page 4
u See RENTAL Page 8
BY ISABELLA MURRAY imurray@mndaily.com
Because many participants in University of Minnesota greek life undergo a formal recruitment process and pay expensive membership dues, some believe it to be an exclusive community. But members say that while theirs is not an unwelcoming place for minority students, it could do more to be inclusive of students of all sexual orientations and races. At a public discussion held at the University last week, members of the greek community focused on the system’s issues with embracing diverse membership. At the University, 85 percent of the greek life is white, and 1 percent hails from outside the U.S., according to a 2015 demographic report. “Fraternity and sorority life has made some room for diversity in membership … [but] I think we have work to do on how inclusive the environments are for those diverse members,” said Keith Garcia, a coordinator for the Office for Fraternity and Sorority Life who identifies as a racial minority and a member of the LGBTQ community. At last week’s forum — called “Tongues Untied: The Intersection of LGBTQIA and Greek Life” — the discussion included issues of identity in fraternities and sororities as well as inclusivity for people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ. u See INCLUSION Page 8
A new movement to take tuition dollars out of companies active in Israel has drawn controversy from University of Minnesota student groups. Students for Justice in Palestine urged the University on Monday to divest from companies involved with certain Israeli interactions with Palestine. Now, other students have promised opposition to the plan. SJP members will present a resolution to the University’s undergraduate student government, the Minnesota Student Association, in March, said SJP officer Sara Halimah. MSA has no say in what the University invests in, MSA President Joelle Stangler said, but an endorsement from the student body would help if they proposed the plan to the University. The UMN Divest campaign specifically targets four major companies — Caterpillar, Elbit Systems, G4S and Raytheon. These companies provide equipment, supplies and weapons for the Israeli Defense Force, according to the campaign’s website. “Those are the types of things that we really, really don’t want our university to be invested in,” Halimah said. The campaign is a part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, Halimah said. Students participated in a similar divestment campaign at universities around the country in the ’70s and ’80s to protest South African apartheid, Humphrey School of Public Affairs professor Ragui Assaad said.
MADDY FOX, DAILY
Crew members work to set up the hockey rink that will be used for the upcoming NHL Stadium Series game between the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks inside TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.
TCF Bank Stadium turns to ice The football arena will host the state’s first outdoor professional hockey game Sunday afternoon. BY EMILY NICOLE POLGLAZE epolglaze@mndaily.com
After waiting eight years, 12 stadiums and 13 games, Minnesota will finally get its chance to host an outdoor NHL game on Sunday. The Minnesota Wild and the Chicago Blackhawks will play at 2:30 p.m. at TCF Bank Stadium, with an alumni game featuring former players from both teams taking place the day before. The two-day event will mark the first time the football stadium is transformed
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