Buzz

La Belle Vie gets high marks nationally

Men's Fitness Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Minneapolis's La Belle Vie recently was named one of the top 25 bars in America by Men's Fitness Magazine.

La Bellie Vie is one of the Twin Cities' most award-winning restaurants, the story states.

Its executive chef, Tim McKee, is a 2009 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef Midwest.

"Fittingly you can expect this posh eatery, outfitted with high ceilings and crystal chandeliers, boasts a meticulously chosen wine list, but don’t let an evening go by without sampling a drink from their French-influenced cocktail menu," the story reads.

The Parlez-Vous made with raspberry vodka, pineapple juice, cava, and topped with orange-passion fruit foam is a must-get, it says.

NYTimes highlights architecture of University Grove

Star Tribune Wednesday, June 06, 2012

A recent Star Tribune story highlights University Grove, which it calls the state's "own mid-century architecture laboratory."

The New York Times has dubbed it "an architectural time capsule of modern America."

University Grove is a part of a new history crawl of sorts next month.

"University Grove, tucked into a corner next to the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus, was sort of an early version of a planned community," the Star Tribune story states.

More recently, there's been rising interest in building from this time period.

Business Journal notes return of summer jobs for teens

The Business Journal Wednesday, June 06, 2012

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal recently noted a positive trend in the economy: summer jobs for teenagers.

This particular economic indicator has been ailing throughout the recession, and it's been reported that 2010 was the worst summer for teen jobs since 1949.

But analyzing data from Chicago-based outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, local reporter Jim Hammerand saw that almost 160,000 teens found summer jobs last month. That's more than twice the number of jobs added in May of last year.

Bike Walk Week events highlighted

Downtown Journal Wednesday, June 06, 2012

The Twin Cities is already well known for its bike-friendly environment, and this week and weekend we're showing off that reputation.

As highlighted in Downtown Journal, the metro is hosting Bike Walk Week June 2 - 10, an annual cavalcade of events and activities promoting walking and bicycling. The week drew nearly 10,000 residents last year, and promoters expect a similar or better turnout this year.

One highly anticipated event is the Midtown Greenway Coalition's Greenway Glow, scheduled to start at 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 9th. The Greenway Glow features local food and beer, and a tour of Northern Spark art installations.

Seven Minnesota schools make the grade in Best High School rankings

U.S. News and World Report Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Seven schools in Minnesota were recognized in the U.S. News and World Report's annual Best High School rankings, receiving the magazine's highest rating, a "gold medal."

The highest-ranked was Southwest High School in Minneapolis, and others in the top category included Edina High School, St. Louis Park High School, and Minnetonka High School.

The state also had 42 schools that received silver medals, and 96 that garnered bronze.

In selecting the schools, the magazine looked at teacher-to-student ratios, proficiency in math and reading, and college readiness.

Bon Appetit names Masu as one of the nation's best new sushi spots

Bon Appetit Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Local sushi lovers, rejoice: one of the country's top new sushi restaurants is in Northeast Minneapolis.

Masu Sushi and Robata was recognized by gourmet magazine Bon Appetit, in its debut of the BA Top 10, a monthly roundup of the best new restaurants and bars nationwide.

The magazine highlighted the restaurant's silky scallop sashimi, as well as a Firecracker roll that's packed with shrimp tempura, snow crab, cucumber, avocado, and spicy tuna. Also notable is the "tasty bowl of ramen" on the menu.

Other new sushi spots on the list included restaurants in Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York.

Doomtree gets international attention

KSTP Wednesday, May 23, 2012

KSTP reports in a recent story that the state’s music scene is “experiencing a groundswell of national attention.”

The hip-hop collective Doomtree, which just got back from a national and European tour, is getting quite a bit of traction, the story states. (See this week's interview with Doomtree member Dessa here.)

Kevin Beacham, who is a marketing specialist at Fifth Element and Rhymesayers Entertainment, states in the story that Doomtree was a favorite at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, this time around.

"Last year their presence was strong, but this year they were everywhere. People from all over the world were packing these Doomtree shows to see Doomtree,” he says in the story.

Nieman Lab spotlights Minnpost app

Nieman Journalism Lab Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A recent post from the Nieman Journalism Lab, which is a project of the national Nieman Foundation at Harvard, features a new app that Minnpost developed.

The new Bill Explorer tool allows “readers to visualize and dive into the issues that were big at the state capitol,” it states.

It’s a spinoff of other “bill-tracker applications that a number of news organizations, watchdog groups--not to mention state legislatures and Congress--have developed to give people a sense of what their elected officials are up to.”

Director of news technology Kaeti Hinck is quoted, saying that the program needs to show value for both experts and laymen. “Our primary audience is civic-minded people who care about state politics in Minnesota. A majority of our readers come to MinnPost for our politics and policy coverage--it’s our bread and butter," she says in the piece.

Business Journal names healthiest employers of the Twin Cities

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Fifteen companies have been named as the Healthiest Employers of the Twin Cities for 2012, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

The results come from extensive surveys about workplace wellness programs, and include factors such as access to fitness facilities, communication about wellness topics, and disease-management programs.

Companies that made the list include Target, StoneArch Creative, Syngenta, Minnesota Elevator, Great River Energy, and Accenture. The Business Journal will hold a special recognition event for the companies in mid-June.

Trio of Minnesota firms on Fortune's list of fastest-growing urban companies

Fortune Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Three Twin Cities companies have made Fortune's "Inner City 100" list of the fastest-growing urban firms in the nation.

The magazine singled out data infrastructure provider Atomic Data, bike-rack design firm Dero, and IT consultancy On-Demand Group (see The Line's coverage of On-Demand here).

The fastest-growing inner-city company in the nation, according to Fortune, is Coyote Logistics, a Chicago-based transportation firm.

Companies were ranked by compound annual growth rate based on their revenue over a five-year period between 2006 and 2010. The survey was part of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a project designed to examine urban economies and spur economic development in cities.

Minneapolis gets top rating for bikeability

Walk Score Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Walk Score, which rates U.S. cities for bikeability via its Bike Score rubric, recently gave Minneapolis top billing for its bicycle infrastructure.

Next in the lineup are Portland, San Francisco, Boston, and Madison, according to Bike Score.

“Bike Score is based on bike infrastructure (lanes and trails), hills, destinations and road connectivity, and the number of bike commuters,” the website states.

Scores are tallied “based on thousands of votes on hundreds of ideas from the Walk Score community,” it states.

Twin Cities food truck scene taking off

Pioneer Press Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Pioneer Press reports that the food truck scene in the Twin Cities “shows no sign of petering out.”

It cites the Orange County Register, which used information from the Roaming Hunger website to assert that the fastest-growing food truck cities are Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

At this time, 2,300 gourmet food trucks and carts can be found across the country, it states.

Ross Resnick, who is behind Roaming Hunger, is quoted, saying, "We're adding over 150 trucks to the site every month.”

Colorado newspaper highlights Minneapolis as a model city for biking

Valley Courier Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Minneapolis joins Hangzhou, China and Amsterdam as cities that could serve as models for better bicycling policies, believes a columnist for Valley Courier, a newspaper in Colorado.

The article notes that in addition to the extensive bikeway system in Minneapolis, the area is also home to the founders of Bike Fixtation (see previous coverage in The Line here), a new kind of vending machine that dispenses bike accessories and patch kits.

"We could learn something from these models," the article notes. "[W]e'd save a lot of money and a lot of gas, while dropping the pounds that weigh us down."

Twin Cities named one of the best cities for women

Measure for America Wednesday, May 09, 2012

A new study puts Minneapolis-St. Paul into a list of the five top cities for women residents.

The research was done as part of a project, "Measure of America," from the Social Science Research Council. The study compared factors such as differences in women's education levels, marital status, life expectancy, and earnings.

Washington, D.C., earned the highest ranking, with San Francisco, Boston, and New York City rounding out the top five.

MN and Twin Cities among country's 'most peaceful' locations

Realtor Magazine Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Realtor Magazine recently named Minnesota, and specifically the Twin Cities, as among the country’s most peaceful settings.

Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Utah were the other top states, while Louisiana was at the bottom of the list.

It cited information from the 2012 U.S. Peace Index, a study that the Australia-headquartered Institute for Economics & Peace does every year.

For each place, researchers studied the homicide and violent crime rates, police response, incarceration rates, and how easy it is to get a hold of small arms, it states.

The piece quotes Steve Killelea, the Institute for Economics & Peace executive chairman: “What is absolutely clear from the Index is that peaceful states perform better across a range of economic, health, education and community factors.

"They have higher high school graduation rates, lower poverty, better access to basic services, higher labor force participation rates, higher life expectancy, and less single-parented families. Even social capital--like volunteerism, civic engagement, trust, and group membership--is higher in more peaceful states.”