October 30, 2014

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HOLIDAY AND NFL PROTEST WILL MAKE FOR A BUSY WEEKEND. COPS PREP FOR HALLOWEEN, PROTEST PAGE 5 THE

SUNNY HIGH 41° LOW 26°

POLITICS

Green plans often left off campaigns Experts say voters often mark their ballots based on issues other than the environment. BY MOLLY MICHALETZ mmichaletz@mndaily.com

Protecting the environment may be a priority for many Minnesotans, but that likely won’t be a main factor in who they vote for on Tuesday. While policymakers and exper ts say the environment is becoming increasingly important to the public, voters still tend to mark their ballots based on candidates’ stances on traditional issues, like taxes and the economy. To make environmental policies a priority, experts say candidates need to argue both the ecological and financial benefits. “People are not voting for someone because of their stance on environment but rather on health care or other issues,” said Steve Kelley, a senior fellow in the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. “When decision time comes, voters tend to weigh these issues more highly.” Former state Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and former Hennepin County Commissioner Mark Andrew discussed the role environment plays in this year’s election and the struggles it brings to both

U OF M

MINNEAPOLIS

ST PAUL

THURSDAY

OCTOBER 30, 2014

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT MNDAILY.COM

FINANCIAL AID

Many students avoid loans

A report found that students often fund their college education without loans. BY TAYLOR NACHTIGAL tnachtigal@mndaily.com

Rather than owing the government or a private bank thousands of dollars, University of Minnesota sophomore Ashley Kellen is borrowing money to cover her tuition fees from her parents. “I can pay them back a few years after I have gotten out of college — without

interest,” she said. Kellen, like many college students and their families nationwide, is turning to a wider range of options to finance her postsecondary education and is relying less on federal loans that come with high interest rates. Sallie Mae, a leading student lender, released a report earlier this year that shows how college students and their parents have paid for college since 2008. The study found that the number of people financing college through borrowed funds dropped to 22 percent in 2013-14, a 5 percent decrease from the prior year and

the lowest rate in the last five years. Parent income and savings, along with grants and scholarships, covered the largest amount of college expenses, sitting at 30 and 31 percent, respectively. Kellen said her younger sister is also entering college soon, and her family has discussed the burden of covering both of their expenses. She said her parents are considering taking out a mortgage on their home to avoid borrowing student loans, saying the interest rates on the mortgage would be lower. u See REPORT Page 5

NEIGHBORHOODS

Local legend documents Dinky

u See POLICY Page 18

CITY COUNCIL

Neighborhood groups decry Hodges’ plan Mayor Hodges’ proposal would divert a traditional source of funding from neighborhoods. BY ETHAN NELSON enelson@mndaily.com

Neighborhood groups in the University of Minnesota community are up in arms over Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges’ proposal to put a traditional source of their funding to different uses. For years, revenue from special taxing districts in downtown Minneapolis has been split between the Target Center debt and the city’s 70 neighborhoods. But Hodges’ proposed budget sets aside some of the funds for new endeavors, like redeveloping a barge terminal in north Minneapolis and hiring a neighborhood specialist and two communications specialists. City leaders say the new projects would draw on funding from an increase in taxing district revenue — finance officials expect an additional $1 million in each of the next few years because of increasing property values downtown. Neighborhood groups already have about $16 million that hasn’t been allocated to projects, and city officials expect this pool to grow as more money from neighborhood investments pours in.

ELIZABETH BRUMLEY, DAILY

Al Milgrom, long-time Minneapolis film director and University graduate, sits in his editing room at his home in the Como neighborhood on Monday. Milgrom has been part of the Minneapolis film scene for half a century and recently completed the first cut on his feature film “The Dinkytown Uprising.”

Minnesota-born Al Milgrom, a cinema icon, is wrapping up his first feature-length film on the University neighborhood. many hats he’s worn over the years.

BY BARRY LY TTON blytton@mndaily.com

W

Milgrom has been a University of Min-

hen Al Milgrom arrived in Dinky-

nesota student, a soldier, and an indepen-

town in 1940, Simms Hardware

dent film director, and he founded the Film

was only halfway through its 115-year stint. Now, the building that once housed Simms is the site of Espresso Royale,

Society of Minneapolis St. Paul. “I’m ver y Minnesota-loyal,” he said of his half-century as a Minneapolitan.

whose windows Milgrom, 92, faced Mon-

The local cinema icon is putting to-

day afternoon as he thumbed a scribbled-in

gether the final cut of his feature film, “The

legal pad and sipped a small McDonald’s

Dinkytown Uprising,” which condenses 40

coffee.

years of footage into a 103-minute docu-

Before recounting his lifelong love for

mentary about the Red Barn protests that

Minnesota and cinema, Milgrom unwound

took place in Dinkytown more than four de-

a red woolen scarf from his neck, but he

cades ago.

kept his navy conductor cap on — one of

u See FUNDS Page 18

He said he hopes to premiere the film

u See MILGROM Page 5

RESEARCH

Covering fresh ground A University initiative to help state agriculture is underway with $1M from the Legislature. BY PARKER LEMKE plemke@mndaily.com

LIAM JAMES DOYLE, DAILY

University professor Don Wyse, co-director of the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management, talks in the agricultural fields on St. Paul’s campus Friday morning.

In his office, Jim Anderson lifted up a dried pennycress stem, pulled off a pod and sprinkled its small black seeds onto his desk. “We’ve been working on tr ying to kill this thing for over 100 years, probably,” said Anderson, an agronomy and plant genetics professor at the University of Minnesota. The common weed could soon become an actual crop in Minnesota thanks to a University effort to keep more of the state’s 27 million acres of farmland covered during the winter using perennial plants and other crops.

The initiative, called “Forever Green,” seeks to diversify agricultural output, help of fset soil erosion and water pollution, and develop economically viable and ecosystem-friendly crops, said agronomy and plant genetics professor Don Wyse. A $1 million grant from the Legislature to the Forever Green program last spring was parceled out earlier this semester among seven of the initiative’s projects. A decade of work by researchers led up to the state allocation, which will be spent over the next three years, said Wyse, who is a co-director of the Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management. All of Forever Green’s projects are designed to have tangible results, he said. Anderson heads a wheatgrass breeding project funded by the state grant that involves using genetic markers to select u See FOREVER GREEN Page 6

VOLUME 116 ISSUE 35


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