Chris Uggen

Tolkkinen: Minnesota’s Constitution allows $1-an-hour labor for inmates. Should it? In two rural counties, that labor is being used to build affordable housing.

Prison Labor and Affordable Housing

“At minimum, incarcerated workers housed in county jails deserve a pay increase to cover the higher cost of living in a county jail… [and] Minnesotans need to wrestle with the language in our own state constitution.” www.startribune.com/tolkkinen-mi...

New! 2 assistant research professor positions now open with Jordan Hyatt & team at Drexel to help lead, manage, coordinate & support projects on prison conditions, Scandinavian justice, legal financial obligations, sentencing, autism, & housing.

Details: careers.drexel.edu/cw/en-us/job...

YouTube video by WCCO - CBS Minnesota Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith launches new U of M music scholarship

New UofMN music scholarship is a fine way for RHCP drummer to honor his parents, music teachers, & fellow musicians. Can't wait for the halftime show (& marching band drum-off?) on Oct. 11. And his enthusiasm here reminds me how HS music ed changed my life too. youtu.be/Aauv2yii78w?... via @YouTube

U of M crowns most ‘performative male,’ bringing TikTok trend to life Contestants held tote bags, drank matcha and poked fun at the new Gen Z archetype.

“It was sometimes a tricky needle to thread … And some of Friday’s contestants couldn’t help slipping into sincerity.” www.startribune.com/university-m...

New! How time since conviction and exposure to "redemption research" on risk of reoffense affect employers' willingness to call back job applicants with criminal records. -Chae Jaynes, Mateus Rennó Santos, Danielle Thomas & Katelyn Smith in J. of Crim Justice www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Anderson and @nclc4consumers.bsky.social call to:
* Eliminate medical fees; mandate free, adequate care
* Stop collection & discharge outstanding medical debt
* Bar contractors from profiting off carceral medical services/devices
* Increase Medicaid and Medicare access in prisons and jails

Medical Debt Behind Bars - Anna Anderson - Inquest Incarcerated people accrue debt for nearly all of their medical care. This makes a mockery of their right to health care—and saddles them with devastating debt upon release.

New! Anna Anderson on Medical Debt Behind Bars

Incarcerated people have a constitutional right to care but often lack access to insurance and must bear the costs (and debt) of copays, fees, medications, emergency charges, and ambulance & hospital bills. inquest.org/medical-debt...

Father of Annunciation victim Fletcher Merkel calls into KDWB radio Jesse Merkel asked Falen & Colt to replay his son’s on-air segment.

Sharing a victim’s cherished memory brings a moment of comfort to the survivors — and the community. And reminds us that “the small interactions we have, that maybe we don’t even think twice about, can have a totally different impact on someone else.” www.startribune.com/annunciation...

How one European manufacturer is adjusting to US import tariffs in the vital (for me, at least) custom guitar pick industry:

65,000 Pennsylvania kids have a parent in prison or jail − here’s what research says about the value of in-person visits In-person visits in prisons and jails can strengthen family relationships and reduce recidivism.

"Video visits are good as it fits into their schedule, but they are not the same. … Giving your child a hug is worth a hundred video visits.” theconversation.com/65-000-penns...

Active Shooter Drills in Schools: Protecting Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health Active Shooter Drills in Schools: Protecting Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health

New National Academies report on school active shooter drills (free download) calls for:
-trauma-informed drills
-ban high-sensorial, hyper-realistic, deceptive drills
-national guidance
-staff & police training
-accessibility & equity
-research & funding nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/291...

Headline: Carlson School of Management announces rebrand

Love the B-school's new name but I'll miss the old logo...
mndaily.com/294866/campu...

Why not both? :) The election was a local referendum on a water bond bill but it seemed to garner national attention as well.

“Oh, yes. I’m a good suffragist. I’m enthusiastic over the ratification. I’m going to study politics and be progressive.”
-Marguerite Newburgh of South St. Paul MN (that's her at right), the first US woman to vote after enactment of the 19th Amendment, 105 years ago. mnhs.gitlab.io/archive/vote...

Live: Neighbors describe volley of gunfire in attack that killed two children, wounded 17 Sources identified Robin Westman, 23, as the shooter, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. One source told the Star Tribune Westman’s mother once worked at Annunciation.

As we mourn today's Annunciation Church shooting, the reporting and photojournalism are almost too much to take in; sharing this gift link for those seeking good local coverage from Minneapolis. www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

Live Fish Cam from the State Fair YouTube video by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Good Morning! Rather than doomscrolling on your next work break, you might take a calming visit to the Minnesota State Fair’s live @mndnrewr.bsky.social Fish Cam (daylight hours, now through 9/2). www.youtube.com/live/2XCCl9j...

Opinion | Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis.

"Now that most mental effort tied to writing is optional, we need new [old] ways to require the work necessary for learning," moving away from take-home tests and toward real-time assessment via blue books & oral exams.
-Clay Shirky on the "medieval turn" in higher ed
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

mixed signals

Navigating the Labor Market among People Who Use Drugs: Qualitative Evidence from a Justice-Involved Sample - Mike Vuolo, Anneliese Ward, Lesley E. Schneider, 2025 Given substantially higher substance use rates among justice-involved people and that employers are largely protected from disqualifying people who use drugs, t...

For folks in recovery, some "felon friendly" industries (eg, bars/restaurants) can be triggering, narrowing job options.

Navigating the Labor Market among People Who Use Drugs
-Mike Vuolo Anneliese Ward @leschneider.bsky.social new in @sociusjournal.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

It definitely makes a statement…

Today’s economic news: it’s not censorship, it’s *shred*sorship.

Opinion | Crime Keeps Falling. Here’s Why.

The Times' Durkheimian vision of anomie and crime is more Hirschi than Merton, emphasizing the ”subtle standards that allow communities to function...[relying] not just on written laws and policies but also on less formal norms and values to bind us together." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/o...

Youth incarceration has dropped since 2000 but disparities have risen. Josh Rovner's @sentencingproject.bsky.social
report shows that tribal youth are at least 10 times as likely to be held in placement as white youth in Minnesota, the Dakotas & Wisconsin. www.sentencingproject.org/press-releas...

The candy in my conference gift bag seemed oddly personalized, though not wholly inaccurate.

Looking forward to it!

Hearing and seeing the other side: close ties or even brief contact with "out-partisan acquaintances" can reduce distorted views and inter-partisan hostility.
[US survey,exptl. data]
-Delia Baldassarri & @jonadejong.bsky.social in @sociologicalsci.bsky.social sociologicalscience.com/articles-v12...

As US social scientists we should do all we can to protect the integrity of the federal statistics we rely upon in our teaching and research — on labor, crime, health, demography, education, climate, and pretty much everything else we study.

Friday Frogfest 🐸

The glitch: You want to compensate student-athletes but your athletics department is already running a $9 million deficit.

The fix: Simply charge all 40,000 of your undergraduates a $200 annual athletics fee.

gift article: www.startribune.com/new-u-studen...

We can’t afford to lose TRIO — and the students it lifts up Thousands of TRIO alumni just like me would never have had the chance without this federal investment, a cancer researcher writes

I’m proud and honored to work with TRIO at the U of Minnesota, where first-generation and lower-income students “take their first steps toward higher education — and toward meaningful careers as teachers, nurses, engineers, doctors, researchers and public servants.” www.minnpost.com/community-vo...