Online Journalists Fight for Equal Status in House

This article was originally featured in the Augsburg Echo

A battle over access to the Minnesota House of Representatives has been waged by the Online Media community in the Twin Cities after finding that on Feb। 9 of this year, Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein was called on by President Obama at a White House press conference। This display angered many Minnesota online journalists who currently do not have the same privileges in the Minnesota House of Representatives that Stein was awarded in the White हाउसCurrent House policy in Minnesota prohibits online-only media from obtaining the same press credentials as their colleagues who work in television, print, or radio।

The current House Majority Leader, Rep। Tony Sertich, DFL, told the Minnesota Independent last week that the House doesn’t have a “fully defined policy of what online media is. If it’s somebody who designs their own Web site and comes down to the Capitol… we could be deluged with www.anybody.com walking through the door saying, ‘I’m the online media, let me have floor access.’ You think the House chamber is a ruckus … now, wait till all the bloggers get here and show up en masse.”

Despite opposition from House leaders, the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists released a formal statement in support of Online-only media equity, saying that “If the Legislature is concerned about the conduct of individual reporters, existing rules and procedures can be utilized। If the problem is one of space, then the criteria for distributing media passes should be equitable for all journalists, not arbitrarily discriminatory based on an outlet’s medium.”

Independent online journalist and producer of MyFreeRadioNation।com, Martin Ownings, shared his experience at the Minnesota House with KFAI Radio news this week. On two separate occasions, Rep. Sertich’s staff asked Owings leave events which did not require any press credentials for admittance. Owings says there are no current rules restricting cameras at these types of public meetings, but that the discomfort with the presence of his camera was palpable. When Owings resisted their request he said he was told,” if you don’t come with me, I’ll have you physically escorted out.”

“A representative from the Sergeant at Arms office approached me and said ‘You’re gonna have to come with me’,” said Owings। When asked if Owings thought the reason for his dismissal had to do with his well-known online video blog (or vlog), he replied with a resounding “yes.”

Last week, several members of the online media community gathered to lobby the Minnesota House of Representatives for equal access to press credentials for the House press conferences। Owings, who attended the hearing, said that the sponsor of H.R.A 007 (the rule amendment that would include online media in the House) was temporarily dismissed because the chief sponsor, Rep. Steve Smith, Rep., could not attend the proceedings that day. Owings has received no personal responses to his calls to Rep Sertich, but his legislative aide, Lisa Radick, told Owings “that they are trying to do everything they can to come up with some rules that would pertain to online journalists.”

Owings maintains that this issue “transcends political ideology and speaks to our first amendment rights to freedom of the press.” He added that “these are public institutions that, for better or worse, need to be transparent in their dealings,” and that the House members’ current policy is an “injustice to the people of Minnesota.”

Dr. Dale Taylor Talks Music and the Brain

Dr। Dale Taylor, the Interim Music Therapy Director at Augsburg College, will be holding a seminar on Music and the Brain on March 25 at 3pm on the Augsburg campus. While concrete location and format of the seminar are still being decided, the seminar will focus on explaining the biomedical theory behind music therapy. In addition to Dr. Taylor’s extensive research background in the area of music and the brain, he also ran his own practice for many years and taught music therapy at the University of Minnesota. In preparation for this event, Dr. Taylor spoke with The Echo about the fundamental components of why music therapy has proved successful.

Dr। Taylor first noted the advantages of using music, rather than simple speech commands, to engage the brain during speech therapy. He went on to explain how using music therapy for speech development works by using a complex stimulus (music) to activate more areas of the brain than only talking. “Any use of language symbols will activate certain specific parts of the brain such as the visual memory centers, the primary auditory cortex, and then the main language centers,” says Taylor, “but when you add music…it uses any and all of those structures plus a lot of [association and cognitive area] that is not activated when music is not there.” This fact, Dr. Taylor says, has been confirmed through the use of brain scanning technology.

Dr। Taylor also added that research shows a positive correlation between the total amount of brain activation during an exercise and the success of completing the goals of that particular therapeutic exercise effectively.

But how and why is music so effective at activating brain functions? Dr। Taylor says research shows that “when music is played, even if [the person is] just listening to music, but certainly when the person is actively involved in the music production, the auditory cortex in a sense broadcasts that information to the rest of the brain and the different parts of the brain respond according to their normal jobs.” In this way, Taylor explains, “music changes the neuro-impulse pattern of the brain,” like generating an external heartbeat for the body.

Dr। Taylor refers to the common foot-tapping reaction people have when music is played. He points out that many people respond this way without even being aware of it and without trying to consciously control it. This foot-tapping is an example of how the auditory cortex, which is responsible for creating the concept of sound in our minds, can activate other parts of the brain which then respond through their respective functions. In this case, the foot-tapping would be attributed to a response from a signal sent to the motor cortex.

Essentially, the richness of most musical stimuli (as opposed to more common simple stimuli) causes a chain reaction initiated from the auditory cortex in the brain that increases total brain activity। The effects of this increased brain activity allow easier access to important brain functions, like critical cognition, and in turn help patients access their brain’s full operating potential. In this case, one can see why the brain/muscle metaphor is so appropriate in explaining brain functioning; the more you work out your brain, the stronger it gets.

There are a wide range of treatment areas where music is utilized for therapy and rehabilitation including cognitive therapy is the case of memory loss, speech therapy, physical therapy and chemical dependency treatment।

Dr। Taylor explained that “in working with people who have cognitive disabilities or learning disabilities, or neurological disorders…without music they may be calling upon certain parts of the brain that may be damaged or may be decreased in function…but when we involve them in music, the brain can re-learn those tasks using much more brain tissue than it would normally be using without the music.”

He also mentioned the issue of functional neuro-plasticity, which basically translates to your brain’s degree of flexibility in handling tasks। Some therapeutic methods are designed to increase this flexibility of the brain among the different cognitive structures. By increasing this flexibility, Dr. Taylor says we can “transfer jobs that are normally done in damaged parts of [the brain] to undamaged parts…[shifting] jobs to parts of the brain that are functioning normally, even though those parts would not normally be involved in that task.”

Chemical dependency treatment differs slightly from other music therapy treatments in that the activities are directed more towards distracting the brain from damaging thoughts and redirecting the source through which the brain receives gratification for certain cravings।

“With chemical dependency, our goals and objectives primarily are to get the person to realize that they can function well without the reliance on the chemical dependency without needing to escape to the altered state that chemical dependency give them,” says Taylor।

Another technique Dr। Taylor mentions is used by some music therapists is encouraging patients to use “music to enhance the brain’s own production neurotransmitters which stimulate parts of the brain that generate feelings of pleasure…and those neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin will do somewhat the same thing as the illegal drugs or pharmaceuticals that people take.”

Another tactical variation a music therapy involves the type of music a therapists uses to achieve a particular result। Dr. Taylor says, “For instance if we’re working with someone with a gate disorder, all we need is [a click] to help organize the rhythm and tempo of the patient’s responses. However, when we hear and entire symphony or an entire orchestra playing symphonic progressions of chords, that will not only involve the parts of the brain that have to do with music, but it will also activate long and short term memory and the limbic system of the brain.”

The limbic system controls the brain’s conscious and unconscious emotional responses to outward stimuli through changes in chemical production। In this way, music directly affects an individual’s emotions because these chemicals change when music stimulates a change in our outward neuro-impulse cues.

In addition to an apple a day, Dr. Taylor advises the use of music as a preventative measure to control stress and to promote good emotional health. For more information on this music therapy research, visit musictherapy.org or other resources are available in the Lindell Library.

Private Review, Silenced Protest

On Saturday, October 4, the Board of Regents held a private meeting in which they voted ‘yes’ to extend President Paul Pribbenow’s contract for another six years। This decision took place after the faculty had voiced concerns about the Board’s lack of consideration for faculty input in the decision-making process.

In an interview with President Pribbenow just after the decision was made, Pribbenow was asked to comment on the review process which led to his contract renewal and his thoughts about the faculty and students’ roles in such decisions।

“It’s not my process,” Pribbenow said “[The Board’s] contract with me is not a public deal…we have to draw some lines of governance, it’s about how we deal with authority।” Pribbenow’s understanding is that the board’s job is to act in Augsburg’s best interest and that they must review “all aspects of the college, not just faculty concerns.”

He also mentioned that faculty had more input in his review than other presidential review proceedings in the past। This was the first year that the Faculty Senate Chair was asked to give input for the review and two other faculty members, Robert Groven and Matthew Rumpza were also consulted.

In past reviews, Pribbenow said the review was conducted solely by the Board of Regents using a rubric-style evaluation where the President would be rated on specific areas of performance on a scale of 1-5।

When asked if Pribbenow thought there should be further consultation of the faculty and student body in the review process he responded that he agreed their opinions should be heard, but that was why they included the Faculty Senate Chair as a representative of those opinions। Faculty Senate Chair Vicki Olson confirmed that she was never explicitly asked to consult her fellow senators for their input.

“Opening up [the process] more generally is turning the review of the President into a public opinion poll,” said Pribbenow।

Faculty member, Kathy Swanson, in an earlier interview with Echo said “[she wished] there had been opportunities for extensive conversation among representatives of many constituencies…[Faculty] Senators did not seem to know of the evaluation by the Senate President until [Olson’s] response to the Board had been written and the process was nearly completed।” The President responded that this was “not something that gets announced.”

There was, however, and e-mail sent out by Board Member Mike Good on October 1, three days before the vote to renew Pribbenow’s contract। Good stated that “Although the Board understands that some may differ about who should participate in the process, it has no reason at this time to consider any changes in this year’s process.”

According to Article IX of the Augsburg Faculty Handbook which states that “The Faculty will consult with the Board of Regents, at the discretion of the Board of Regents,” there has been no apparent violation of Augsburg’s officially observed policies। Despite this careful observance of the verbiage, Good still prefaced his e-mail by saying there had been “some apparent confusion among some faculty members about the recent performance review process.”

Though several members of the faculty told the Echo that they had concerns about the amount of say they were given in the review, they asked that their concerns remain anonymous.
In an e-mail from Faculty Senator, Christina Erickson, Erickson noted that the faculty had two ways by which they could express their comments and concerns about the review of the President to the Board। They could either send their comments to their division chairs who would then forward them on to Chief of Staff, Christine Szaj, or they could send their comments to Szaj directly. Szaj would then report these concerns to the Board.

Faculty Senator, Mark Engebretson, when asked what the faculty’s specific concerns and comments were, replied, “We haven’t seen those letters [or] a summary of them.”
According to Engebretson, the channels that were set up through Szaj for reporting faculty concerns during the review process were not linked to the Faculty Senate। “No one came up and volunteered to me any of their concerns,” said Engebretson, and “I didn’t go knock on doors asking ‘are you concerned?’”

Engebretson express his confusion when asked whether he thought Augsburg faculty felt comfortable expressing their opinions on these presidential matters Engebretson replied, “That puzzles me, something is causing some fear। Augsburg speaks out much more than other places and that’s our strength. We want to be the kind of place where people can express their frustrations.”

But Engebretson offered his best guess concerning the current stifled discourse on campus। “Whenever there’s a president change, there’s a change in the comfort zone… the perception is that things are broken, but the structure hasn’t changed a bit.” Engebretson also added, however, that “the perception matters, [we] can’t just say there’s no problem…but how are we going to find out things if you don’t talk to [the Senators]?”

In an e-mail response to this same issue Professor Kathryn Swanson responded, “While it is true that there have been many colleagues who have disappeared from campus in the past few years, responses of "I prefer not to" and "I dare not" (respond) remind me of Bartleby in Melville's story and the compact majority in Ibsen's, Enemy of the People. These responses are worrisome because they indicate a chilly climate rather than an open environment, inviting to varying and differing responses. Indeed, this questioning of process and assumptions underlies the very model of critical thinking we work to inspire in our classrooms. Instead, we are reminded of Senator Bachman's recent (and regrettable) call to "make a list" of colleagues who seem out of sync. I argue that, in fact, these colleagues who do dare to ask questions and request authentic transparency represent the spirit of free inquiry that is at the heart of all academic work.”
The concerns that were reported to the Echo anonymously were from tenured and non-tenured faculty and addressed the President’s managing style, ability to raise funds for the college, a $400,000 renovation of the President’s house and a budget deficit between six and seven hundred thousand dollars for the 2007-2008 fiscal year।

Financial Services Director, Tom Haglund, commented that “[Augsburg] is basically a break-even institution” and that President Pribbenow was hired specifically for his fund-raising abilities। When asked about the budget deficit for 2007-2008, Haglund responded that under President Frame there was a perceived surplus. Haglund was hired in October 2006, three months after President Pribbenow. Haglund said that over time the new accounting team under Pribbenow “chipped away” at the perceived million dollar surplus which “evaporated under different scrutiny.”

The funds allocated for the $400,000 renovation of the President’s mansion were approved in early 2006 when the million-dollar surplus was still perceived to be real.
Engebretson does not directly blame Pribbenow for the current financial concerns. “Whenever the messenger delivers bad news, he [has] to beg not to be beheaded…Pribbenow has been the bearer of bad financial news.”

Back to the Basics

Hello all, again it has been far too long.

I think that my return to blogging will consist of the traditional online-diary-vent-about-my-emotions-like-everyone-else-cares type entries. I am going in this direction because I'm getting a little burnt out on politics and I could use a visit back to the time when I thought that everyone else agreed with my sensible ideals (let me dream, ok?).

So I've taken a long break from blogging because I've been diligently showing up to my internship 3 and sometimes 4 times a week at KFAI Radio (you can listen to us at kfai.org). I absolutely love working in radio. It's the first time I've felt like I'm learning any immediately applicable skills, like how to use ProTools, how to write scripts for radio, etc. You know, stuff you can actually put on a resume. I enjoy the diverse group of people that volunteer here at the station. It's a great way to meet non-Augsburgians of all ages and demographics (however liberal they may be). Plus, I've always been one for behind-the-scenes type community service and this internship is about as far in that direction as I can get. I have been approached by a few people who recognize my name from the radio, but I'm just another anonymous voice to most listeners.

As of today, I have exactly one month until graduation. This has been a very formative year for me, or at least I hope the crap I went through this year is going to benefit me in the long run. The biggest academic news I got this year was that I was eligible to apply for Summa Cum Laude, which for those of you who don't know is some high-brow Latin honors label that goes on your final transcript. There are a few other formal ceremonies they make you sit through as well. Initially, I was ecstatic to hear this news, but now it's become just one more thing to stress me out in my final days of undergraduate studies. Now I'm back to stressing about my GPA and worrying what my family will say if I fail. This was something I assure you I did not miss for the past year or so when I let my academic over-achieving mind loose for a while. I'm thinking I'll probably still receive the honor, I'm not thinking that it is well-deserved. I realize now that making good grades has more to do with work ethic than intelligence, and that really unnerves me. I just want to be done with school. I'm tired of the constant knowledge checks. I just want to get out there and see what I'm capable of in the real world. That's the only proof that brings me real satisfaction anymore.

But thinking that way just bring about more stress. I read in the Star Tribune this morning that the job gap in Minnesota is 10 to 1. Meaning for every 10 people looking for work, there is one job available. This is not a good time to be graduating. Lucky for me though, if I go to grad school I can get my loans deferred, but I haven't even started looking at schools and who knows if there will be any financial aid left by the time I do. I'm hoping to keep my sales job at the Ordway for a while, but they are cutting hours and positions, so my hopes of working there full time are withering.

There is always the option of leaving Minneapolis and chasing the jobs wherever they go, but I feel that picking up and moving now would only end up costing me more money in the long run; and one thing I don't have a lot of right now, is money. Though the thought of leaving the Minneapolis climate is enticing. I've always wanted to go to New York City (who doesn't right?) and that idea is starting to creep back into my head. We'll see how that develops.

In my personal life, I'm headed towards some closure with Adam. He recently informed me that he was de-friending me on facebook, I guess I can take that as progress. I have mixed feelings about it. He couldn't seem to accept that I needed a break from talking to him for a while, his only options were to be friends right now or break off all communication forever I guess. I'm sad that someone I've invested so many emotions and so much of my time over the past few years can't give me a little time to heal, but I'm not willing to let myself get thrown back into the relationship again. Which was what I feared would happen if I started speaking to him again so soon after the break up. It took me a very long time to realize that I too, would fall victim to stupid young love. I thought I knew everything and that we would end up together forever, blah blah blah. But hey, at least I won't have to do that twice. The sad thing is that in another life, if Adam and I had met under different circumstances, I think we would have made great business partners. I have a tremendous amount of respect for his intelligence and work ethic, but emotionally we are polar opposites.

I'm now trying to move on in that aspect of my personal life, but I fear that I might have dug myself into a small hole for the time being. I'm not sure what to do about it. There's that part of me that doesn't want to be too cynical, because that brought me no satisfaction in the past. But on the other hand what good has blind optimism ever done me? I'm trying to stay away from the fact that I'm doomed either way. The biggest problem I face is that I don't trust myself to make good decisions right now. That is the worst feeling I've had in a really long time, particularly in this situation. I suppose I will have to deal with that situation as it develops.

Another new addition in my life is my yet to be named baby kitten that I recently picked up from an Elvis impersonator in front of Rainbow Foods. The little kitty is small enough to fit in one hand and therefore, I do not know yet if it is male or female, but I'll keep you posted. Last night it slept curled up under my chin for most of the night (though I kept waking up to tiny little claws on my eyelids every now and then...) It gets separation anxiety pretty badly because I think it was taken away from its mommy a little too early, but it's eating soggy cat food and drinking milk regularly, so it's probably ok. Next big obstacle of course is the litter box training. The little stinker has already pooped on me and my roommate and seems to think that the litter box is just a big food dish. I keep finding chewed up pieces of litter in its water dish. What fun little baby animals are.

Well that's a long enough update for now I suppose. Hope you enjoyed a more light-hearted entry this time. Hasta Leugo.

Being a woman in the 21st Century

Because I'm the one that started that whole blogging group and have since taken a two or three month sabbatical from blogging, I feel the need to come out of my recess. Especially after the news headlines I read today. 

Last Thursday, the 36th anniversary or the Roe vs. Wade decision a pro-life activist drove his SUV into the side of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The man told authorities that "Jesus told him to do it." I am aware that this particular location is known simply as the "abortion clinic" because it is a designated PP clinic that actually performs abortions procedures. 

I find this utterly heartbreaking. Planned Parenthood of Minnesota has a reputation of promoting awareness about Minnesota Family Planning Health Care Services, a state-funded program that helps women with low incomes afford family planning services such as access to yearly exams, birth control, HIV/AIDS testing, HPV vaccines and yes, abortions for little to no cost. Planned Parenthood has often been a sanctuary for young women who need confidential, low cost services and consultations about their bodies and their sexual and reproductive health.

Aside from the fact that I am very much a pro-choice advocate, the rest of these services are needed in the community and for someone to lose sight of that and take their self-perceived justice into their own hands in this manner is disgraceful to others who are supporting their cause in a peaceful, legal manner. So to that man, I hope you consider yourself subject to the same judgment you inflict upon others. 

We should not strive for a government that protects our personal morals and ideals, that it not what this country is about. This country was founded upon the value that our government should promote tolerance and freedom of thought. 

Women have fought for many things including the right to initiate actions for divorce, to press charges for rape, to vote, to have careers and one battle that we THOUGHT we had already won, was the right to choose whether or not to have a child. 

There is a prevailing idea in our society that women who get pregnant unexpectedly are irresponsible. Though I take offense to that opinion, I would also say that it doesn't matter. People who smoke cigarettes all their life and get lung cancer as a result are irresponsible, but we still allow them seek a way to return to the life they once had. People who become addicted to drugs or alcohol can escape guilt for circumstantial reasons and they still receive treatment to recapture the life they once had. But when a woman becomes pregnant, even in the case of rape or incest or by perhaps by being "irresponsible," they should not be allowed the same opportunity? It is anatomical discrimination towards women to deny them that opportunity simply because they have the potential to become pregnant. They should be allowed to seek to regain the life they once had after they engage in "irresponsible" acts.

The fact is, there are too many situations out there that are a lot more complex than we could possibly begin to describe that cause women to seek abortions, and it is no one else's business to interfere with that decision. Especially when most of the time, when a mother does give birth to a child that they were not prepared for, the one that often suffers most, is the child. We should strive to bring children into the world under the best possible circumstances, not to say that any child that is born under any circumstance is a bad thing, but IDEALLY we would want them to have a stable, secure upbringing. 

Bear in mind that I am not saying that abortion is ideal. It is not. Babies are not a disease or a problem. We need them and most people want them. But for those who don't, for whatever reason, making abortions illegal will certainly not stop them from seeking an abortion. Those in favor of anti-abortion laws are naive to think that such legislation would protect babies. If anything, it will harm mothers who will continue to seek abortions anyway. If you really want to save babies, it doesn't come from capitol hill, it's comes from social interaction, education and promotion of responsible behaviors. If you believe that God dictates these decisions and that humans should not interfere, save it for the pulpit, because our constitution allows for people to legally disagree with you. 

WE DON'T NEED TO MAKE LAWS AGAINST EVERYTHING WE DON'T MORALLY AGREE WITH, that is not what democracy is about and it is certainly not effective. If you want change of the social nature, you address the people. You council young women about sexual responsibility. You educate them on the alternatives. You truly do what Jesus says to do in the gospels. You approach them with compassion and understanding (you could follow Planned Parenthood's example on that one). And most of all, you accept that sex does happen. It will continue to happen and you have to deal with that. Avoiding that fact and promoting intolerance will only make you a bitter person.

So please don't' drive your SUVs into clinics. Instead, tell a scared pregnant woman that you care and want to help them, perhaps then, they will be more perceptive and perhaps then we will all begin to understand each other. Also bear in mind, that they have the legal right to disagree with you, but the moment you convince once woman non-coercively to have her baby instead of aborting it, it is my belief that you will receive satisfaction that is far greater than passing a law. 

Reponse to Father Johnson

The following is my response to Father Johnson's Fox News post found at:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/27/frj_1027/#respond


Excuse me Father,

I thought it was a common conservative belief that truth is black and white. There are no SIDES to truth, Father Johnson. If you and your platform Fox News actually believed that I think that real journalism would still exist. Just to introduce you to some new lingo, Liberals refer to these alleged ’sides of truth’ as ‘personal perspectives’ and we generally expect everyone to have their own.

The TRUTH that conservatives seem to be avoiding is that what is most consistent is not always the best choice. There is no one way to cure all of our problems at all times. We are in the middle of an economic crisis. Continuing to wait for the current system to correct itself has proved ineffective and now the problem is too grave to ignore. I’m not saying that I like what Obama wants to do, I’m saying that it’s the only plan that is any different than what is already going on. I’m willing to give it a shot. Living in a democracy requires a degree of flexibility that you sir seem to lack. If we have to drift towards what you call ’socialism’ for a few years where we rely more heavily on the government (as we did during the Great Depression) in order to survive the failings of our current president, then so be it. We’ll let the rich have their money back when the rest of the country can afford to put gas in their cars to get to work.

I keep hearing the argument from conservatives that rich people work hard for their money. So do poor people! And I would argue that poor people probably work even harder. Fiscal conservatives seem to think that everyone starts off on the same level of opportunity for success. The TRUTH is that we don’t. Some people are born on welfare and have to work twice as hard and twice as long to ever be presented with the same opportunities that the rich receive. Some of those people will NEVER get those opportunities for the same reason that some people will never vote for a candidate who is black or muslim. You may not believe me, but based on the upward numbers for Senator Obama in the polls right now, it seems to me that you and others who agree with you are becoming the minority in the this country. Though I may never be able to change your mind, Father Johnson, I hope someday that the voice of the hard working poor people out there will ring much louder than yours.

I hope that your ideals bring you peace of mind as mine do,
Love,
Michelle

Metro Transit Raises Fares

If the high prices of gas or the threats of global warming drive you to take the bus, you may find yourself paying more than you remember to “go green.” The Metro Transit Council officially instated a fare increase of 25 cents per ride that went into effect on October 1. This brings the regular local adult fare up to $1.75, rush-hour fares to $2.25 and express fares to three dollars.
College students taking advantage of discount rate bus passes will also see a fare increase. U-pass holders at the University of Minnesota saw a twenty-dollar price increase for fall bus passes bringing the grand total up to eighty-four dollars for one semester.
There are several factors that caused this increase. The first one being the rise in fuel costs. “The rising cost of fuel affects transit in a couple of ways,” said Metro Transit Council Chair Peter Bell in an interview with Minnesota Daily in late June of this year. “It increases the cost of doing business. And it increases ridership, which is good for transit, but also increases our operating costs. We need to be able to respond in the shorter term as well as have the flexibility to adjust fares again next year in the event our costs continue to escalate.”
Another reason for the increase is a $15 million dollar Metro Transit budget deficit Associated Press reports. The Council hopes the increase will help offset the deficit caused by rising health care and labor costs.
The Associated Press also reports that there may be an additional 50 cent increase in fares early next year. Augsburg students can still take advantage of college-student discount passes and stored-value passes available in the Enrollment Center.