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The death of Rehtaeh Parsons, why we can't get enough of winter, using state money to boost business, 'slaves' and sandbags, and judging Minnesotans.

Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old high school student from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was taken off life support on Sunday,  a few days after she tried to hang herself.  Canadian justice officials didn't file charges against the men who gang raped her and then took a picture to send to all of their friends.

So her mother created the Facebook page, 

"She wanted to be heard, she wanted someone to believe her and nobody did," she told the CBC.

But people in high places, who wouldn't listen to a kid who'd been raped, listened to the voices of social media, and

the similarity to the Steubenville, Ohio gang rape story.

"The anguish in these stories and the fact that they are so similar and seem to keep happening, in this country and over the border, should leave us with this pressing question: The malicious sexting and the slut-shaming causes serious damage and has to stop--how can we make that happen?"

Funny you should ask. BuzzFeed has some ideas today in "

Awesome ways students are fighting bullying at their school

We got all worked up about the idea of snow, and it was 

There are delays at the Minneapolis St. Paul airport,  more than 100 flights have been canceled, cars are in the ditches, light-rail is closed in favor of buses, and power is still out for thousands of people. In some sections of the state it could be days before power is restored, whole industries 

, the National Guard has been called out, and turkey vultures are 

By the way, that page, and four other weather-related stories and pictures were the four most visited page on the MPR website yesterday. The takeaway? We're sick of winter. And we can't enough of it.

But at least it's doing some good... somewhere:

If you're keeping score on state aid to businesses, it's Minnesota Vikings 1 Mayo Clinic 0.  Some lawmakers at the Capitol 

by Mayo CEO's observation that 49 other states wouldn't mind having Mayo Clinic build a destination hospital in their states, even though they probably know it's true.  Mayo provides thousands of jobs and creates buzz for Minnesota, but the $585 million it wants for infrastructure improvements in Rochester over the next 30 years appears to be too big a pill for many legislators to swallow.

"I know it's hard to come in here and you can't say this about your CEO. But I'll say it, it was a dumb thing to say. It was dumb, dumb, dumb," Rep. John Lesch said. "This is not our first rodeo. We've had to weigh these kinds of considerations in the past and we look at it critically. These are taxpayer dollars."

Ironically, last year's legislative debate on giving the Vikings millions for a new stadium was very much pinned on the assumption -- a false one, but an assumption nonetheless -- that the Vikings would move to Los Angeles if the state didn't pay. For the record, Rep. Lesch voted for that bill.

But the Mayo Clinic isn't the only big business that's looking for a break at the Capitol this year.

The state airplane industry -- mostly Cirrus in Duluth --  could get a boost from

 a bill that passed a House committee yesterday

, by trying to get more people to fly the planes they have, or buy the ones they don't. It would slash registration fees on aircraft -  currently it's 1 percent of the manufacturer's list price. The tax is reduced each year over a six year period until it is 25% of the original tax or $50 - and exempt maintenance parts and labor from sales taxes. (h/t: Lisa Radzak)

That would boost the business at Cirrus and some of the state's smaller airports.

And, it's true that the expense of keeping an airplane -- even if you don't fly it -- is prohibitive, but the committee favors another bill to replace the $3.8 million the state loses by increasing the tax on aviation fuel. The price of fuel is another of the reasons people don't fly. Currently, a gallon of aviation gasoline is about $5.50.

All three stories today reveal a fundamental question in state policy: When does Minnesota fiscal policy boost business and how do lawmakers decide? Discuss.

Way back in 2009, I was pretty impressed by 

 who were chipping in to help homeowners along the Red River sandbag against the flood. If they had a "C" or better average in some cases, they got out of class to help. 

 reports a syndicated radio host has chided Fargo for using kids to help make sandbags.

"Broadcasting from the city that has no bones about asking eighth-graders to come down to the facility and start making sandbags so the wealthy people don't have to pay for a dike," Ed Schultz said on his show. Schultz sees himself as the left's Rush Limbaugh.

"Good ol' Fargo, Nort' Dakota. That's how they flood fight. It's called slave labor. Make 'em think they're really building character. In fact, they have to build character every spring. The college kids, I think, have figured it out. Screw you! So now they're picking on the eighth- graders,"  he said.

"Consider the source," Fargo's mayor responded.

Here we go with another round of "what's the matter with you, Minnesota?"

Today's Star Tribune letter to the editor -- written by a 

 -- takes on the always-hot topic of whether Minnesota is welcoming. It's not,  Robert Frazier of Chaska 

I was driving through a blinding blizzard just north of Canby on Tuesday morning. Not being able to see more than a few feet in front of the car, I stopped at the intersection of highway 67 and U.S. 75 to try to get the ice off the windshield wipers. The wind was blowing at least 40 miles per hour and there I was beating the heck out of the wipers, while sleet beat the heck out of me.

I could have done it fairly quickly if I hadn't had to stop for two separate people -- the only other people on the road -- who stopped to ask, "are you OK?"

I met some nice people in Hendrix and then when I got back home Tuesday evening, there was an e-mail from one of them who had arranged for me to use a private airstrip in town to land my plane in, a car to get where I needed to go, and a lake cabin to use if I ever wanted to return. "We do this for everyone, to repay the kindnesses we get elsewhere," he said.

I'm sure Georgia is a nice place, too, bless their heart,  but as far as I know, nobody here 

, and teachers don't erase students wrong answers on tests 

Of course, that's unfair. You can't really judge people from a couple of anecdotes,and you certainly can't do it from a thousand miles away. You can't even do it within a year of moving here. 

 You know who's got a lot of class? Mariano Rivera has a lot of class. (

) By mere accident, by the way, Rivera is the last baseball player to wear number 42 -- Jackie Robinson's number. The honor couldn't have fallen on a better person.

How concerned are you about North Korean military threats?

 - First hour: The Supreme Court case over weather human genes can be patented.

Third hour: Global architecture and health.

 (12-1 pm): A live broadcast of a special edition of "The Takeaway," about guns. John Hockenberry hosts a national discussion about the controversy over gun laws.

-   A green rock found in Morocco is unlike anything scientists have ever seen. It fell from space  but its origin is a matter of debate and controversy. Could the rock be a piece of planet Mercury? At least one expert thinks so. NPR will investigate.

MPR's Dan Olson profiles master falconer Frank Taylor of White Bear Lake.

Minneapolis Public Schools has lowered its overall suspension rate over the past few years. But district officials remain troubled about the racial imbalance seen in terms of who is being sent home for behavior problems. African Americans, for example, are more than six times more likely as whites to be suspended, and the rates for American Indians are not much better, according to data obtained by MPR News. Laura Yuen will have the story.

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

The death of Rehtaeh Parsons, why we can't get enough of winter, using state money to boost business, 'slaves' and sandbags, and judging Minnesotans.


The girl who wanted someone to listen to her (5×8 – 4/11/13)

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