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Dementia care costs high — and getting far higherBy Pam BelluckNew York Times

The most rigorous study to date of how much it costs to care for Americans with dementia found that the financial burden is at least as high as that for either heart disease or cancer, and is probably higher.

And both the costs and the number of people with dementia

will more than double in 25 years, skyrocketing at a rate that rarely, if ever, occurs with a chronic dis-ease.

The research, led by an econo-mist at the RAND Corp., financed by the federal government, and published Wednesday, April 3, in The New England Journal of Medicine, provides the most reli-able basis yet for measuring the scale of this devastating problem.

Until now, the most-cited esti-mates of the cost and prevalence of the condition came from an advocacy group, the Alzheimer’s Association.

Although some of the figures from the new research are lower than the association’s projections, they are nonetheless staggering and carry new gravity because they come from a dispassionate, academic research effort. Behind

the numbers is the striking sense that the country, facing the aging of the baby boomer generation, is unprepared for the coming surge in the cost and cases of demen-tia.

“It’s going to swamp the sys-tem,” said Dr. Ronald Petersen, who is chairman of the advisory panel to the federal government’s

DEMENTIA COSTS, 18A >

By Bob Shawbshaw@pioneerpress.com

The million-dollar ideas are in, and they are doozies.

They include a Twin Cities water-trolley system, a fishing museum and a treehouse resort. Or, how about a St. Paul version of New York’s High Line Park?

The ideas came rolling in for the St. Paul Forever Challenge,

which will spend $1 million on a project to improve the city.

As the deadline approached on Wednesday, April 3, more than 900 ideas had flooded into the contest website.

“We are thrilled,” said Naomi Pesky, spokeswoman for the St. Paul Foundation, which is spon-soring the challenge.

For three years, the foundation offered to spend $15,000 on the

winning idea. But jacking up the amount to $1 million this year created an avalanche of entries and attention.

“This has captured the imagi-nation of the public, the media and the state,” Pesky said. “We really want to have transforma-tional ideas.”

When the winning idea is picked in September, the per-son who nominated it will get

$1,000. Two runners-up will get $500 each, and as many as 30 semifinalists will get $100.

The task of using the $1 mil-lion to make the idea a reality will be undertaken by a non-profit agency to be selected by the foundation.

The judges will need to pick through ideas ranging from the

MILLION-DOLLAR IDEAS, 16A >

The St. Paul Forever Challenge asked for suggestions on how to improve the city, and they came rolling in. One will be worth $1 million.

By Andy Rathbunarathbun@pioneerpress.com

A jury saw a glimpse of Jessica Schaff-hausen’s unimaginable grief on Wednes-day, April 3, when she took the stand for the first time in her former husband’s insanity trial.

When shown a photo of her three young daughters when they were still alive, she immediately broke down.

“My babies,” she said through tears, her mouth quivering. It was the begin-ning of Schaffhausen’s testimony, and the 33-year-old River Falls, Wis., woman quickly composed herself and continued as the man who killed her children sat facing her just feet away.

If the prosecution is to be believed, it was the infliction of that horrible pain upon Jessica Schaffhausen that motivat-ed Aaron Schaffhausen, 35, to kill their three girls in their home on the afternoon of July 10. While he has pleaded guilty to the crimes, Aaron Schaffhausen main-tains that he was legally insane at the time of the killings, and his defense is attempting to prove that in what is expected to be a three-week trial in St.

INSANITY TRIAL, 16A >

By Doug Beldendbelden@pioneerpress.com

As the Minnesota Legislature enters the second half of its session and heads toward an expected vote on gay mar-riage, a group of mostly House Republi-cans has proposed a compromise they say could avoid a bitter statewide fight: civil unions.

Gay-marriage advocates panned the idea, and the plan faces big hurdles:

l It has missed committee deadlines, which means it would be difficult to get a hearing.

l It has no sponsor in the Senate.l The House speaker opposes it.Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Red Wing, said

Wednesday, April 3, that he knows some people view his bill as a political ploy to muddy the waters on the gay marriage bill, which he opposes. But he said it’s a sincere attempt to secure rights for gay and lesbian individuals without further enmeshing government in the marriage issue.

If the push to legalize gay marriage fails, “there’s no fallback plan,” Kelly said.

He said civil unions would easily pass and that he’s surprised the Democratic majority hasn’t proposed them yet.

CIVIL UNIONS, 18A >

Jessica Schaffhausen details a husband in crisis during his insanity trial

But the plan pitched by House Republicans faces a steep uphill climb

A mourning mother takes the stand: ‘My babies’

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Volume No. 164, No. 342, 4 sections, 40 pages© 2013 St. Paul Pioneer Press (Northwest Publications)

THURSDAYA NEWSPAPERaPRIL 4, 2013

ST. PAUL

Homemade ricotta rich, delicious — and easy

EAT, 1C

QuiTe The catch

> CLaSSIFIED, SECTION D

GOPHERS LAND PITINO ... RICHARD PITINOThe 30-year-old son of Louisville’s Rick Pitino to replace Tubby Smith, 1B

Bob Sansevere: No big-name hire — but a hire with a big-name dad, 4B

Tom Powers: Good luck, Coach Pitino, you’re going to need it, 1B

GOP offers gay marriage alternative: civil unions

Minnesota Walk of Stars

Park ‘n’ Paddle

Fish House for the

Homeless

World’s largest model

railroad

Now, there’s an idea

Twin Cities water trolley

Chamber of Conscience

Museum of Fishing

Treehouse resort

Wild trade for Buffalo all-star Jason Pominville >> Sports, 1B