Since 2011, Minnesota has been doing quite well for itself. The state has created more than 170,000 jobs, according to the Huffington Post. Its unemployment rate stands at 3.6% — the fifth-lowest in the country, and far below the nationwide rate of 5.7% — and the state government boasts a budget surplus of $1 billion. Forbes considers Minnesota one of the top 10 in the country for business.

Given that Minnesota's governor is a well-connected millionaire whose family controls the Target fortune, one could be forgiven for thinking this was the result of embracing the corporate world. But in fact, over the past four years, the state has undergone a series of policy reforms that most of the corporate world decries: It has imposed higher taxes on the wealthy and raised the minimum wage.

When each of these progressive policies was initially proposed, Minnesota Republicans made dire predictions about their effects on the economy, and argued that bleeding-heart concerns about economic fairness would stifle growth. Despite all the warnings, Minnesota's economy hasn't tanked. Instead, it's sailing with greater force than it has in years.

How Minnesota did it

The progressive economic policies in the North Star State came into being after the election of Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton. In 2010, Dayton surprised many political observers in Minnesota when he managed to win the governor's mansion, the first Democrat to seize it in more than two decades. His political career up until that point was mainly defined by failure, despite the fact that he was a billionaire heir with countless resources.

Dayton's margin of victory wasn't impressive, but he was eventually able to make a dramatic mark on the direction of the state's public policies. He instituted a wide variety of progressive policies that rendered him the "most liberal governor in the country in terms of his willingness to raise taxes and to spend," University of Minnesota political scientist Larry Jacobs told Mother Jones.

In the last few years, Minnesota took a number of measures to make its taxation and wages more progressive. Mother Jones reports that Dayton targeted the top 2% with a tax raise — "one of the largest hikes in state history." Corporate taxes increased. The state income tax on the highest earners increased to 9.85% in 2013, making it the fourth highest in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.

The otherwise quiet Arizona town of Paradise Valley recently attained the kind of surveillance you would expect to find in the city, albeit with a design that is made to blend in with the desert. The townspeople have been shocked to find that the city has been installing cameras hidden in fake cacti along the roadways of the city limits. A local Fox affiliate was sent to investigate the cameras and found that the town leaders and police were initially reluctant to explain themselves.

Fans of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle have threatened to rape and kill former RT anchor Abby Martin for criticizing the deceased Navy SEAL and creating a T-shirt they find offensive.

"Some psychotic Chris Kyle fan just doxxed me & my family's personal information on a bunch of sniper forums. If anything happens to me or them you know who to blame. These are the real f*cking terrorists," she wrote on her Facebook page.

Martin had criticized Kyle in the past for describing Iraqis as "savages" in his book. She also described the American Sniper movie as "dangerous propaganda that sanitizes a mass murdering psycho." But it was her shirt that appears to have set off a campaign of harassment against her.

This week, conservative websites posted a picture of Martin wearing a "F*ck Chris Kyle" shirt. She had uploaded a photo of the shirt to her Instagram account last week. One website, which incorrectly identified her as a "liberal artist," called on readers to "publicly shame" her for her "treasonous actions."

Another such website complained: "Chris Kyle is an American hero who is an easy target because he is no longer alive. Abbey Martin [sic], is just a coward hiding behind the freedoms that our military has granted her when she was born on this great land that we call the United States of America."

The reaction on social media was even more visceral. Users of Twitter and Facebook have mentioned raping and beheading her, threatened to murder her, told her to kill herself, and bombarded her with misogynistic insults. Addicting Info reported that one person called on American Sniper fans to "put on our raping shoes and find this b*tch."

"F*cking c*nt. How dare you disgrace his name like that. He gave his life so you can have yours. F*cking b*tch. Don't worry I know where you live thanks to your ip address. And don't worry I'm a Marine," said Jamie Lugo in a message shared by Martin. "So u won't see me coming. I'm going to cause you pain beyond your imagination." He later added: "Tic toc times running out."

Other journalists, including Rania Khalek and Max Blumenthal, have been subjected to death threats and online harassment for their criticism the film American Sniper.

"Very telling that the #ChrisKyle fans who tell me he 'died for my freedom' to wear clothes are threatening to rape & kill me for free speech," Martin wrote on Twitter.

Liu was sent to Ivanovo, about 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow, in 1939, in the midst of Japan's war of aggression against China, which began in 1937. Her mother, a revolutionary, had died earlier in a Kuomintang prison, and her father, an officer fighting in the Chinese Red Army against the Japanese, had no time to take care of her and her two brothers.

"One day he told us that on the northern border of China there is a very big country, and you will go there. And so my brother and I went to the Soviet Union. I was 12 years old. With us were three other kids," Liu recalled.

"We were on the road for three months, and came to Ivanovo shortly after the beginning of the winter holidays. I was worried that I would have to start my studies from the beginning. After all, I didn't understand anything in Russian...A year later my younger brother also came to Ivanovo. We were happy to be together, and I was very happy knowing that I had the opportunity to study. In China too I had wanted to learn, but there was no opportunity. The staff at the children's home was very good. Everyone was friends. Chinese or not, we did not discriminate. We were all the same, and we lived as a family."

A record number of Americans gave up their US citizenship in the first quarter of 2015, according to IRS data. This is blamed on the taxation of income earned outside the US, along with laws expanding offshore bank account and asset reporting.

A total of 1,335 people renounced US citizenship during the first three months of the year, topping the previous record by 18 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The new figure puts 2015 on track to exceed last year's 3,415 renunciations, which is an all-time record.

The data released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) includes the names of those who renounced their citizenship, but not their reasons for doing so. However, it comes as the US government is becoming more aggressive when it comes to the assets of the estimated 6 million Americans who live abroad.

The United States is the only country within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that taxes citizens wherever they reside.

American citizens who live abroad can exclude as much as $100,800 in earned income and can receive tax credits for payments to foreign governments. However, US tax liabilities can apply to children born to Americans abroad. In many cases, there are only partial offsets available for double taxation.

The paperwork involved for US citizens living abroad can be so complex that it requires professional help from accountants and lawyers - resulting in incredibly high fees for a relatively simple tax return.

Child Protective Services (CPS) are investigating the death of a 6-month-old girl who was placed in foster care in Texas.

According to a spokesperson from CPS, the baby, Aaliyah Rodriguez, was living in a foster home with her 2 older brothers, a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old.

The foster family was certified by Therapeutic Family Life, a private foster care agency.

According to FOX, the children were in the custody of CPS after marks appeared on the youngest boy's body.

CPS filed cases against the mother, Anastasia Hernandez, in 2014. However, they only convicted the youngest boy's father of abuse and did not suspect her of harming her children.

The baby was unresponsive on Monday and was rushed to the hospital from foster care. There she was placed on life support.

However, it was too late as she died yesterday.

A Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed on Friday killing seven people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was traveling to the mountainous northern region of Gilgit on a separate aircraft when the accident happened. He returned to Islamabad, his office said.

Norwegian Ambassador Leif Larsen, Philippine Ambassador Domingo Lucenario and the wives of the ambassadors of Malaysia and Indonesia were killed, along with two pilots and a crew member, military spokesman Asim Bajwa said in Twitter posts.

He said initial information indicated the cause was a technical fault.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed they shot down the aircraft but witnesses on the ground, and in other helicopters on the trip, reported nothing to indicate any firing.

Malaysian state media identified the wife of the ambassador as Habibah Mahmud, while Indonesia said its ambassador Burhan Muhammad was injured and his wife, Heri Listyawati Burhan Muhammad, was killed.

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced a federal civil rights investigation into the legality of the Baltimore police department's use of force and whether there are "systemic violations" as well as any pattern of discriminatory policing.


The announcement came less than one month after the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man injured in police custody, sparked outrage in Maryland's largest city, although the department's wider investigation is not specifically tied to his case.

"This investigation will begin immediately and will focus on allegations that Baltimore Police Department officers use excessive force, including deadly force, conduct unlawful searches, seizures and arrests, and engage in discriminatory policing," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.

A 72-year-old Dutch citizen has written a letter to Vladimir Putin asking for a Russian passport. He explained his intentions by saying he loves Russia, admires Peter the Great and is tired of anti-Russian propaganda in Europe.

"When I served in the army of the Netherlands, I was brainwashed with the words 'the Russians are coming!'" Gerhard Reyndsen wrote in a letter to Putin, as cited by TASS.

"I said Russia will not come, because they saw a lot of grief and war, they want peace, and Americans are much more dangerous," said Reyndsen, adding that right after that he was dubbed "a communist" by his commander.

"I have always irritated my family, because I thought there was a lot of anti-Soviet propaganda [in Europe]," says the Russian fan.

Reyndsen says he's always taken an interest in Russian history. He knows a lot about the House of Romanov, the imperial dynasty which ruled until the 1917 October Revolution, and Peter the Great, the tsar who reigned at the turn of the 18th century.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned this week about the potential humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, where renewed outbreaks of fighting have caused over two hundred thousand people to flee across the border into Ethiopia.

The fighting broke out in South Sudan at the end of 2013 in December, and since then over two hundred thousand people have been forced to flee their homes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned that the number is set to increase.

The UNHCR representative in Gambella, Ethiopia, Alexander Kishara, has stated that registration processes have indicated increasing numbers of refugees crossing the border into Ethiopia, adding that "UNHCR is also working with partners to provide water, sanitation and shelter".

The UNHCR has observed the arrival of around one thousand new refugees per month during the first few months of 2015, increasing sharply to four thousand in the month of April. There are around 190,000 in the area around Gambella and a further 3,000 in Benishangul-Gumuz. Now in early May, the entries at various checkpoints into Gambella region number some ten thousand.