Boxed Out

All eyes were on B.J. "The Beast" Lacy.

At the "Downtown Throwdown" at the Target Center two weeks ago, Lacy's mixed martial arts match went the distance, and it fell to the three judges at ringside to render a decision.

At first, Lacy was declared the winner. Then the call was abruptly reversed and the contest was ruled a draw—two of the judges had it a tie, with only one scoring it for Lacy.

Moments later, a gunshot rang out. In Section 133, a man tumbled down the steps, got up, and ran off. The gunman had apparently already escaped.

The lights came on, revealing blood on the concourse—apparently from a fight that had preceded the shooting.

Twenty minutes later, the "Downtown Throwdown" continued.

Now critics are questioning Minnesota Boxing Commissioner Scott Ledoux's handling of the event. A local heavyweight legend, Ledoux boxed 11 champions in his day, including Ali, Foreman, Holmes, and Spinks. But these days, "The Fighting Frenchman" is battling for the future of state-sanctioned combat sports in Minnesota.

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Timeline for a Timebomb: Rachel Paulose

Eric Black has been doing his homework...as usual. His post on the investigation of U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose provides a folly of a footnote to a story that ties Minnesota to the national scandal that led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales--but that's not what the investigation is about.

Of the investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, underway since June, Black writes:

"The conflicts enumerated in this matter are not explicitly political or ideological, except for one instance in which Paulose allegedly made false statements about a job candidate who had liberal associations.

"But the pattern of the matters under investigation by the special counsel may shed some light on the gray area between issue of 'management style' and issues of politics.

"When Paulose took over the office, she told several of the career officials there that she demanded total personal loyalty. At least one replied that loyalty was owed to the Constitution, not to her. Many of the allegations raise the possibility that Paulose crossed the line while seeking to punish personal disloyalty."

In the spirit of homework, here's an abridged timeline of the entire Paulose debacle. It begins with a choir and a color guard. Where it ends...well, stay tuned.

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Tools of the Trade

How far can a cop go when he's trying to catch a prostitute? Last week, an officer pulled out a weapon not registered with the Minneapolis Police Department and allowed a hooker to fondle it before he made the arrest.

"It's sad conduct on both sides," says Steve Simon, a clinical law professor at the University of Minnesota. "I never see police reports where an officer smoked crack or injected heroin before making a drug bust."

The bust raises all kinds of questions. The police are reluctant to reveal just how far they'll go "undercover" because they don't want sex workers getting wise. The courts, Simon says, are reluctant to interfere with police tactics that have thus far evaded entrapment rulings or court classification as extreme.

As a special Hennepin County public defender, Simon has tried to curtail these kinds of intimate police tactics using a decades-old California ruling, which bars evidence obtained through "conduct that shocks the conscience." He's not been successful—not terribly surprising given the full spectrum of cop-as-john behavior nationwide. This offering of a Minneapolis Police Department penis, it turns out, is notable but not remarkable.

You'll find the original here.

The Doughnut and Cigarette Swindle

The U.S. Senate begins debate on the 2007 Farm Bill this month, which should be of interest not just to lobbyists, farmers, and food-industry types, but also to small urban grocers working food-stamp scams.

The Farm Bill re-authorizes the USDA's Food Stamp Program. Advocates hoping to bolster the vital $29 billion-a-year social service are hoping to build in extra money to fight fraudsters like Twins Market and Meats of St. Paul.

The owner and three employees of Twins were indicted this summer for conspiracy to defraud the USDA by swapping food-stamp credit for pastries, cigarettes, and cash. On one occasion, for example, a Twins employee swiped a food-stamp debit card for $323.58. In exchange, the cardholder received $150 cash, a bottle of pop, a pack of doughnuts, and three packs of smokes. What the government sees is the $323.58, and, when the scam works, a check for that amount comes back to the grocer, who is now skimming more than 50 cents on the dollar from the USDA.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, small stores redeemed less than 15 percent of food-stamp benefits in 2005 but were responsible for $190 million of the roughly $241 million in stolen benefits. The indictment against Twins Market and Meats doesn't say exactly how much was made off the smokes-and-doughnuts scam, but recent nationwide convictions quantify the potential. Last year, a Michigan man admitted to scamming $380,000 in just 20 months. That's a whole lot of smokes and doughnuts.

You'll find the original here.

I'm Not the Milk You're Looking For

On the heels of our story about Target's attempts to add legitimacy to its organic product line, Archer Farms ("The Farm That Doesn't Exist," 8/29/07) comes a not-so-surprising postscript.

Last week, the USDA declared that the country's largest certified organic dairy, which supplies organic milk sold under the Archer Farms label, is in "willful" violation of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.

The USDA counted 14 violations and has put Aurora on notice: Start acting like an organic dairy or stop calling yourself one.

The USDA requires any dairy calling itself organic to give plenty of pasture time to its herd. Instead, Aurora cows get cage time—except for photo shoots.

"These violations are no accident—these are very sophisticated corporate players," says Mark Kastel, of the corporate watchdog group the Cornucopia Institute, which first brought Aurora's violations to the USDA's attention.

So if you're paying more for organic at Target, don't bother: It may just be the same PETA-baiting milk in a slightly more expensive package.

You'll find the original post here.