Council endorses ‘Green New Deal’

Spurred on by students from Macalester College and other young people, the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday voted 6-0 to call on Congress to enact a “Green New Deal.”

The resolution, authored with the help of the Sunrise Movement Twin Cities — the Macalester-based chapter of a national youth-led environmental movement — was sponsored by Council Members Saura Jost, HwaJeong Kim and Nelsie Yang.

Progressive politicians from U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein have called without success for federal environmental policies aimed at simultaneously combatting economic inequality and rising global temperatures.

St. Paul in 2019 adopted a “Climate Action and Resiliency Plan” with the stated goals of carbon neutrality in city operations by 2030, a 50% reduction in citywide carbon emissions by 2030 and citywide carbon neutrality by 2050.

The resolution calls for the city to align its policies — including the 2050 Comprehensive Plan and a renewal of the existing Climate Action plan — with the values of a Green New Deal, in part by allocating future proceeds from utility-related franchise fees toward “making St. Paul a more climate-resilient city.”

— Frederick Melo

Comcast says Xfinity speeds have increased

Xfinity provider Comcast this week announced internet speed increases in Minnesota that include download boosts but, notably, place an emphasis on uploads.

One of home Internet users’ biggest complaints often is upload speed, when digital files flow from their computers to the world at large. On Xfinity hookups in the Twin Cities, for instance, uploads have traditionally been much slower than downloads.

Comcast says customers will see 50 to 100% faster upload speeds than before. “Download speeds will also increase for most Internet tiers.”

More than 20 million Xfinity customers qualify for the speed upgrades.

— Staff report