The Minneapolis Police Department today unveiled the first of its newly designed and upgraded patrol cars to hit the streets.  MPD will gradually replace its fleet of approximately 200 squad cars with these redesigned Fords which feature black front and rear ends with a large police badge on a white midsection. If this design looks familiar, it’s because it is. The black and white design was last seen on Minneapolis streets in 1973 when MPD drove Dodge Coronets. In 1974, MPD went to the current all-white design on its Plymouth Furys.

DENVER—A local school principal has become a national role model because of her community engagement activities in Minneapolis. Her extraordinary efforts earned a $5,000 grant for her school. Dr. Beth Russell, principal of Anwatin Middle School, has won the 2008 MetLife Foundation Ambassadors In Education Award.

The national award program recognizes the most collaborative public school principals in 25 cities, including Minneapolis.

Congressmen Payne and Ellison Paid Tribute to Myriads of Political Chaos and Calm in the Horn of Africa at East African Community Forum

By Abdulahi Sheekh

“Too may people are dying and instead of agreeing not to go to war to stop the carnage in the Horn of Africa”, Congressman Donald Payne, the Chair of Subcommittee of Africa and Global Health said in his characteristic rich voice laced with passion and concern.

Addressing East African community forum at the UM campus on the Horn of Africa Congressmen Payne and Keith Ellison expressed their sorrow for the people of the Horn of Africa whom they said are squeezed between hard rocks and limited choices; African dictators and geo-political interests.

By Gilbert da Costa

The strike at ExxonMobil's Nigeria affiliate entered its fourth day Sunday with the shutdown of nearly all of the company's 800,000 barrels per day output.talks to resolve the dispute have been constrained by pre-conditions set by the company and union.
Mobil Producing Nigeria, a unit of U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil, says the workers should call off the strike to facilitate the resumption of negotiations.

The Petroleum and Gas Senior Staff Association, the union representing the aggrieved white-collar workers, says it is ready to resume talks, but without preconditions, which means the strike would continue.

National president of the oil workers union, Peter Esele, insists the company's intransigence could complicate efforts to resolve the dispute.

UN food agency chief Jacques Diouf on Friday warned of civil war in some countries because of global food shortages and called for a revamp of the international food system.

The head of the Food and Agriculture Organization said on France 24 television that international leaders had failed to act on warnings from his agency leading to what he called a "predictable catastrophe".

Diouf said that "elected governments" must take "primary responsibility" before their people.

Zimbabwean police have raided the Harare headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Police say they arrested people Friday they accuse of being responsible for post-election violence. It was not immediately clear how many people were arrested.

The MDC says many of the people arrested were supporters who had taken refuge at the party's headquarters after being injured in attacks by ruling party loyalists.

Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe concerning the delay in the release of results from the March 29th presidential vote, which MDC says it won.

By Sara Chute

Info provided by the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  This article was contributed by Sara Chute of the Refugee Health Program at the MN Department of Health as part of an ongoing series of health education articles for refugee communities.

MINNEAPOLIS --Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) and Restore Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: REST) today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Medtronic will pay $1.60 per share in cash for each share of Restore Medical stock.  The total value of the transaction, including payment of Restore Medical debt will be approximately $29 million.  The transaction, which is anticipated to close within 90 days, is expected to be accretive to Medtronic earnings in the first full fiscal year after closing.

Over the past few years, Bike Walk to Work Day successfully got more and more people to keep their cars and trucks at home and pedal or walk to their jobs in Minneapolis. Building on that success, the City now is taking part in the first-ever Twin Cities Bike Walk Week from May 12 to 18.

The centerpiece of this week is Twin Cities Bike Walk to Work Day, which will take place on Wednesday, May 14. That event will have people throughout Minneapolis getting to their jobs on their own power. Early in the week, educational clinics run by community volunteers and the City’s Bike Walk Ambassadors will offer tips on getting the right gear, materials and maps; route planning; multi-modal transportation; and many other topics involving biking and walking.

"45 billion dollar - in relative terms – will be the 6th largest African economy. African immigrants, as compared to other immigrants, tend to be younger, have higher educational attainment, have a greater participation in the workforce and are in the prime tax base and workforce in Minnesota "Recently released study says.

Top Ten States African Immigrant
1. California 143,882
2. New York 141,958
3. Texas 110,042
4. Maryland 109,751 

Ethiopians vote Sunday in a second round of elections for local government positions, despite an opposition boycott and criticism from a prominent international human rights group.

The first round of voting was last Sunday.

Opposition leaders claim that most of their candidates were disqualified from running or intimidated into dropping out.

The ruling EPRDF party has denied those allegations, saying the electoral board registered every candidate who had the proper credentials.

By Peta Thornycroft

For the first time in Zimbabwe's history, an election recount is taking place. The recounting of votes for 23 seats in the country's legislature began on Saturday, with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and most legal analysts calling it illegal.
The recount was called by the ruling ZANU-PF party after it narrowly lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence following elections on March 29.

According to the country's election law, a recount is only possible if a complaint is filed within 48 hours after the votes are tabulated.

(GIN) - A Burundi survivor of the Hutu/Tutsi civil upheaval of the 1980's and 90's, Gilbert Tuhabonye will be running this Sunday in the London Marathon. If the 33 year old is a winner, he’ll be on his way to Beijing for the Olympic games.
 
In 1993, Tuhabonye, then 19, and 100 of his fellow Tutsis were captured by rival Hutus, herded into a petrol station and set on fire.
 
He was the sole survivor of the massacre. Eventually he found safety in a hospital and began the slow recovery process. Miraculously, after having the flesh burnt off his right shin down to the bone, Tuhabonye is running again. He lives in Austin, Texas and coaches a running club. Their website is www.GilbertsGazelles.com.

 Libraries working to level playing field for non-English speakers 
 
Minneapolis - About 21 million people in the United States speak limited or no English, 50 percent more than a decade ago. As our country’s demographics continue to change, U.S. public libraries continue their efforts to meet the demand for service to non-English users. Today the American Library Association (ALA) released “Serving Non-English Speakers in U.S. Public Libraries,” an unprecedented study on the range of specialized library services for non-English speakers.  The announcement took place at the Hennepin County Library’s New American Center during the Public Library Association’s National Conference, March 25 – 29.

(St. Louis Park) – Hope For The City is teaming up with the ‘Friends of Africa’ organization to deliver gently used schools desks to Saint Margaret’s School in Tanzania, Africa.

The City of Belview, Minnesota donated over 200 desks to Hope For The City that were not being used after the Belview Public School merged with Red Wood Schools.  Hope For The City found a new home for the desks in Tanzania, Africa through the ‘Friends of Africa’ organization.  The desks will be cleaned by Hope For The City volunteers and then shipped to Saint Margaret’s school in Tanzania later this month.