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Fire destroys home in Syracuse

Jean Hopfensperger

Renee Jones Schneider/Minneapolis Star Tribune
Dan Olson is an apprentice carpenter and is 1,000 hours short of the 7,000 hours of on-the-job experience he needs to complete his four-year training program. Here, Olson works on breaking down a structure at L.J. Shosten Union Training Center on the last day of his training course through the carpenter’s union recently in St. Paul, Minn.

Young generation's difficulties finding work could have lifelong wage repercussions

Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Last updated Saturday, May 26, 2012 - 8:03am

MINNEAPOLIS — Alyssa Kjellberg still can’t believe it. Two years beyond college, her career path has led only to jobs at a greenhouse, a hotel front desk, an aunt’s office and a seasonal landscaping company — all paying less than $12 an hour.

After applying for about 100 jobs, the environmental science major even offered “one week of free labor” last summer to get a foot in the door at the landscaping company. But that job ended with the season, as will the one she’s in now. Her dream of becoming a park ranger or environmental educator is drifting away.

“There are so many people looking for work, you feel lost in the shuffle,” said Kjellberg, 23. “I see my grandpa, who lived through World War II, and all he had to go through. Sometimes I feel like I’m living through something like that, too.”

Business, Employment, Jobs, Recession Read more Comments

Public rises to shoe world's tallest man

Jean Hopfensperger Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Last updated Sunday, May 6, 2012 - 7:17am

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Igor Vovkovinskiy, the tallest man in America, just wanted a pair of shoes that didn't cause him crippling pain.

The modern-day giant was astounded that the cost of making shoes for a man with no existing shoe size was about $16,000. So he posted a plea on Facebook last month.

Features, Igor Vovkovinskiy, Shoemakers, Shoes, World's tallest man Read more Comments

Critics say breast cancer awareness turns October too pink

Jean Hopfensperger Minneapolis Star Tribune

Last updated Monday, October 17, 2011 - 3:55pm

Rochelle Eastman is seeing red from all the pink. She's all for breast cancer awareness in October. But the avalanche of pink ribbon products -- from dog toys to hair gel to Smith and Wesson handguns -- has left her thinking, "It's now over the top."

Features, Breast Cancer, Cancer, Marketing Read more Comments

Kathy Zeman owns and operates Simple Harvest Farms, where she raises goats, pigs, sheep, fowl and hens and grows grain and other crops. She considers herself a steward of the soil. "We like to raise good food," she said. (David Joles/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT)

More female farmers are taking root

Jean Hopfensperger Minneapolis Star Tribune

Last updated Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 9:52am

Across southern Minnesota, women fill about half the chairs in workshops on sustainable farming.

Outside North Branch, a new "Girls Farm" project just graduated its first batch of would-be teen farmers.

Near Rochester, women such as Kathy Zeman have joined one of the fastest-growing areas of agriculture, namely women-owned farms.

Features, Agriculture, Farming, Women Read more Comments

Nonprofits grapple with trademark disputes

Jean Hopfensperger, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Last updated Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 2:50pm

Sue Prom helped organize the "Mush for a Cure" sled-dog race to raise money to fight breast cancer five years ago. The fundraiser was humming along nicely until it received a letter from an attorney for the organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Komen, best known for its pink ribbons and mega-fundraisers for breast cancer research, asked Prom to stop using the phrase "for a cure" and to halt its request for a Mush for a Cure trademark.

"It was like, 'You've got to be kidding,"' said Prom, whose all-volunteer fundraiser outside Grand Marais, Minn., raised about $30,000 last year.

"People are donating money to this organization (Komen) to fight cancer -- not to fight another organization fighting breast cancer."

The dispute points to the growing concerns over branding and trademark issues among nonprofits. The pink ribbons, logos and catchy phrases linked to charities are being fiercely protected as competition for donations grows, especially on the Internet.

Business, Lawsuits, Non-profits, Trademarks Read more Comments