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Jamar Clark Timeline

Tue, 29 Mar 2016 17:17:22 +0000

Auditor Rebecca Otto considering run for governor

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 21:42:57 +0000

State Auditor Rebecca Otto, her husband Shawn Otto, and their springer lab named “Lucy” on their property in Marine on St. Croix on Friday, January 8, 2016. (Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

On Sunday, the Pioneer Press profiled Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto, who’s run a low-profile office but found herself in the middle of a series of political controversies.

And in the course of her with the Pioneer Press interview, Otto dropped a piece of news about 2018:

“I’m considering running for governor,” she said.

Read the profile here for more on Otto’s background and her political battles.

In parts of her Pioneer Press interview that didn’t make it into the profile, Otto expanded on this interest.

Otto said she’s “been asked and urged by many people to at least consider it” and is taking those urgings seriously.

“My criteria is, can I get something done, would I be effective, do I have the right skillset and could I win?” she said.

She referenced Gov. Mark Dayton and former Gov. Arne Carlson, both former auditors who later became governor.

“The work that you do as the state auditor allows you to understand the finances of all levels of government, how they interact,” she said.

But she acknowledged that being governor is “a huge commitment” — and that there’s “a long line” of potential rivals for the job.

Former House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, told the Pioneer Press’s Rachel E. Stassen-Berger last year that she’s “thinking about running for governor.” Murphy’s doing more than thinking — she’s been traveling the state meeting with activists and raising her profile in advance of the contest.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2010. He told the Mesabi Daily News this week that he hasn’t “ruled out running for governor” but worries that “it’s very difficult for somebody from rural Minnesota to run for governor and win.”

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz also hasn’t ruled it out. Other speculated candidates include House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, former Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Attorney General Lori Swanson, Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Republican possibilities include U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, businessman and 2014 Senate candidate Mike McFadden, 2014 gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson, Republican Party Chair Keith Downey, Sens. Michelle Benson of Ham Lake and House Speaker Kurt Daudt.

This post has been updated to remove a candidate no longer in the running for governor.

The post Auditor Rebecca Otto considering run for governor appeared first on The Political Animal.

South St. Paul Sen. Metzen, one of Legislature’s longest serving, is retiring

Sat, 23 Jan 2016 15:49:07 +0000

After four decades of legislative service, two bouts with lung cancer and a myriad of successes and disappointments, Sen. Jim Metzen, a Democrat from South St. Paul, is calling it quits.

He announced Saturday morning that he would not run for a tenth term in the state Senate, bringing to an end a Capitol career that started with a term in the House in 1974.

“I have always been pragmatic in my approach at the Legislature. When my term is completed it is my hope that my constituents believe I represented them well and those that came in contact with me at the Capitol believe I was fair,” Metzen said in a statement. “No matter if you were a Democrat or Republican, I tried to form friendships and alliances with people.”

During his time in the Capitol, he became president of the Senate and second-in-line to the governership, and chair of a series of committees including banking, government operations, jobs, ethics, employee relations and commerce, which he currently leads.

With an easy laugh and a hail-fellow-well-met attitude, Metzen was an old school lawmaker with close ties to lobbyist, opponents and business.

He is currently in treatment for a recurrence of lung cancer, which has sapped his strength. In a hearing last week, he voted for something he intended to vote against. Republican members of the committee , who felt ill used by previous DFL shenanigans, denied him a chance to re-take the vote.

Despite that, Metzen said last week that he was “doing all right.” He said he started a second round of chemotherapy in December, after a first, stronger, round started in September. Metzen said he found the lower dose of therapy, “bearable.”

Metzen already had a DFL challenger for the seat. School board member Matt Klein said he planned to run for the spot regardless of whether Metzen attempted re-election.

The South St. Paul lawmaker is the fourth-longest-serving senator and the seventh-longest-serving lawmaker ever, according to the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library’s records.

The post South St. Paul Sen. Metzen, one of Legislature’s longest serving, is retiring appeared first on The Political Animal.

Dayton hopes to give his State of the State address on March 9

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 23:22:56 +0000

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton waves to the people sitting in the balcony, before starting his annual State of the State address in the House Chambers of the State Capitol in St. Paul on Thursday, April 9, 2015. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

Gov. Mark Dayton plans to address the Legislature — and the state of Minnesota — the day after this year’s session March 8 start.

The governor said on Friday that he hopes to give his annual State of the State address on March 9.

With some exceptions, governors tend to give their constitutionally required yearly addresses in the Minnesota House chamber, where chairs are set up in every spot for legislators and guests. But this year, the Capitol is under construction, making the chamber a less than appropriate locale.

“We are still looking for a suitable location,” Dayton said. He joked he would hold it in Pipestone or Alexandria, in out state Minnesota, but said, “it would be somewhere in the proximity of the Capitol.”

The constitution does not require governors to give State of the State speeches in St. Paul or even give speeches at all.

“The governor shall communicate by message to each session of the legislature information touching the state and country,” Article 5, Sec. 3 dictates. Governors can, and at least one has forgone giving the traditional public speech.

The post Dayton hopes to give his State of the State address on March 9 appeared first on The Political Animal.

Minnesota candidate’s ‘Planet 9’ claim is wrong, UMN physicist says

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 21:18:35 +0000

John Howe, a congressional candidate in Minnesota’s Second District, stands during his opening remarks at a debate on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. (Pioneer Press: David Montgomery)

Congressional candidate John Howe showed off his attention to the latest scientific developments in Thursday’s Second District GOP debate.

Unfortunately, Howe’s discussion of the possible new planet discovered in the outer reaches of the solar system got the science wrong.

“We just found another planet,” said Howe, one of six Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the south-suburban district. “It’s going to take that planet 10,000 to 20,000 years to orbit the sun. We don’t know the gravitational effect that’s going to have on the Earth. The jury’s still out.”

But Howe’s claim about the jury being out on the gravitational effect of “Planet Nine” is massively wrong, a University of Minnesota astrophysics professor said.

Terry Jones, a professor at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, said scientists do know the gravitational effect the hypothesized Planet Nine would have on Earth: “None.”

(More precisely, Jones said, it’s a number so small as to be effectively none, because “nothing’s exactly zero.”)

In fact, figuring out Planet Nine’s gravitational impact isn’t rocket science. The math is pretty straightforward: gravitational impact is determined by mass and distance, and both of those are roughly known for the hypothesized ninth planet.

For a given mass, the gravitational impact is decreased by one divided by the distance squared.

“You go twice as far away, the gravity’s a quarter,” Jones said. “This thing’s 10 to 20 times the mass of the Earth, and something like hundreds of times further away from the Sun than the Earth is. It’s way out there.”

Prediction of hypothetical Planet Nine’s orbit based on unique cluster of objects beyond Neptune’s orbit. (Creative Commons: Public domain.)

The idea that planets in general could have a gravitational impact on Earth is solid enough. Jupiter in particular has a stabilizing effect on the orbits of Earth and Mars, keeping them from wandering more in their trips around the Sun.

But Uranus and Neptune, well-established outer planets, are so far away they have effectively no gravitational impact on the Earth, Jones said.

“Neptune controls the outer solar system: planets like — excuse me, former planets — like Pluto,” Jones said.

Planet Nine’s predicted orbit is 20 times further out than Neptune, and likely has about the same mass as Neptune or smaller. That means its impact on Earth would be around 400 times smaller than that of Neptune, which already has effectively no impact.

There are lots of things people still don’t know about Planet Nine — including whether it actually exists, and where it is right now. But the gravitational effect the planet would have is known. In fact, that’s how the possible planet was discovered.

Caltech researchers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown found evidence of its existence by measuring the gravitational dynamics of objects in the “Kuiper Belt” region that starts 2.5 billion miles from Earth.

“People are very interested, excited about it,” Jones said. “The problem is we have to find it to know if it’s there, and that’s going to be hard, because it’s faint and far away. It’s going take years probably.”

The post Minnesota candidate’s ‘Planet 9’ claim is wrong, UMN physicist says appeared first on The Political Animal.

Dayton appoints Appeals Court Judge Chutich to Supreme Court

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 15:40:32 +0000

Gov. Mark Dayton on Friday appointed Margaret Chutich, an state Appeals Court judge, to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Chutich, who Dayton had considered for previous Supreme Court openings, will replace Supreme Court Justice Mimi Wright. Wright, a Dayton appointee to the court, this week was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to join the federal bench.

She won election to the court in 2014 with 99 percent of the vote, running unopposed.

Before joining the Appeals Court, she had worked in both the state attorney general’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office. She will be the first openly gay member of the Supreme Court and the third female justice on the current bench.

In Minnesota, Supreme Court justices to not need legislative confirmation but do have to stand for election before voters.

To replace Chutich on the Appeals Court, Dayton appointed Fourth District Judge Diane Bratvold.

The post Dayton appoints Appeals Court Judge Chutich to Supreme Court appeared first on The Political Animal.

Bernie Sanders to visit Duluth, St. Paul next week

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 15:36:16 +0000

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks during a campaign stop, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Peterborough, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will hold two rallies in Minnesota on Tuesday, as he and other candidates jockey for support ahead of the March 1 caucuses.

Sanders will appear at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26. That evening, at 7 p.m., he’ll hold another rally at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

Doors for both free rallies open one hour before the events begin. Advance tickets aren’t required, but admission is first-come, first-serve.

The Sanders campaign says the Vermont senator will discuss “a wide range of issues” including “getting big money out of politics, combatting climate change and making college affordable.”

Sanders is running for the Democratic presidential nomination against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.

All three Democratic candidates are scheduled to be in Minnesota in February for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s annual Humphrey-Mondale fundraising dinner. That Feb. 12 event will be at the St. Paul RiverCentre.

The post Bernie Sanders to visit Duluth, St. Paul next week appeared first on The Political Animal.

After high-level meeting, House speaker still unsure about special session

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:56:28 +0000

Gov. Mark Dayton, House Speaker Kurt Daudt (left) and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk speak to the media on Jan. 21, 2016/Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

After Gov. Mark Dayton, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and House Speaker Kurt Daudt met Thursday morning to reach a final answer on whether the Legislature should meet soon to dispatch with potentially pressing needs, Daudt said he is still unsure if a special session is needed.

“I have come to the point…we feel at this point we probably shouldn’t have a special session,” Daudt, R-Crown, said. “The issues that we have talked about, we believe, or at least I believe, can and probably should wait for regular session.”

For months, the leaders have been discussing the possible need for the Legislature to convene before their scheduled March session to: approve an extension of unemployment benefits for laid off steel workers; take some action to deal with Minnesota’s long-embedded racial disparities, and begin the process of adopting federal Real ID requirement. The DFL governor and DFL Senate leaders have agreed on those need. The Republican House leaders have been less sure.

On Thursday, Daudt said he still remains willing to work toward an agreement, adding “we certainly may have a special session.” The speaker said that he is “certain” the Republican-controled House would pass legislation to deal with all three issues, if they were brought to the floor.

Bakk, DFL-Cook, and Dayton said the situation, particularly among idled Iron Range workers who are running out of employment benefits, is urgent.

“I continue to believe that we need a special session,” Dayton said, after the closed door meeting with the leaders at his official residence. “The unemployment extension (of) 26 weeks, I think, is imperative for people who are suffering on the Range. That’s why we have special sessions…When people are really pushed the the brink of total disaster, that’s when they need government, when they need the government that they depend upon.”

Daudt said that while he is sympathetic to those needs, he believes the unemployment benefit extension can wait until early March when the Legislature will reconvene and would be willing to support retroactive benefit payments for the hundreds of steel workers who are out of work.

The post After high-level meeting, House speaker still unsure about special session appeared first on The Political Animal.

Live coverage of Jan. 21 GOP Second District debate

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 17:51:20 +0000

The Pioneer Press is covering the Second District GOP debate today at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. You can watch the debate above, or follow along with live updates from reporter David Montgomery at the link below.
Republican 2nd Congressional District debate

The post Live coverage of Jan. 21 GOP Second District debate appeared first on The Political Animal.

Democratic House leader proposes new rules to avoid legislative mess, increase openness

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:44:03 +0000

Legislative sessions often end in a deadline-driven mess, when regular rules of transparency fall prey to the quest to get things done.

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, says that last year’s end-of-session chaos was so messy that constituents are demanding change.

Thissen, a former speaker who hopes this year’s election will give Democrats the power to make him speaker in 2017, is proposing rules to control the chaos and force more openness.

Among his proposals for openness:

Ban lawmakers, judges and executive branch members from becoming lobbyist for one year after they leave public employ. The House has a rule with such a ban for House members but it is unenforced. A Pioneer Press analysis in 2015 found dozens of lawmakers had made the leap from the Legislature to lobbying, some within days of their legislative service.
Study the possibility of bringing the House under open records laws. Currently the House and Senate are exempt from open records laws and set their own rules for open meetings, data they release and other transparency issues.

Thissen would also change the rules for House business, to avoid end-of-session darkness:

Require at least 24 hours public availability of joint House-Senate bills before floor votes.
Ban policy language from massive budget bills.
Enforce the constitutionally required “single subject rule.”

The Democratic leader said he would propose the changes this year but, since his party is in the minority, he may have little success in forcing them in action. But, Thissen said, he plans to continue the push next year when, if Democrats win back the House, he stands a good chance of becoming speaker again.

The post Democratic House leader proposes new rules to avoid legislative mess, increase openness appeared first on The Political Animal.

A $15 minimum wage in St. Paul? Facebook-focused ballot initiative fizzles in 5 days as campaign evolves

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 21:24:49 +0000

The "15 in 16" ballot initiative -- the latest effort to raise St. Paul's minimum wage to $15 per hour -- was born on Facebook at 4:16 p.m. Jan. 1, 2016.

It died less than five days later at 8:10 a.m. Jan. 6. What happened during the course of those five days? The answer is: a lot.

Is that ballot initiative dead-dead, or just dead?

St. Paul resident and DFL campaign volunteer Quinn Doheny, the lead organizer and public face of the "15 in 16" Facebook page, had hoped to obtain more than 2,425 signatures to get a minimum wage ordinance and charter amendment on the city ballot in November. The Facebook page included links to a handful of prototype documents -- samples of what the ordinance and ballot language might look like. Some 600 folks were added to the group page (though not all by their own doing).

"I would say the rationale would be the cost of living in St. Paul is such that this type of wage is necessary in order keep people out of poverty," said Doheny on Monday. "The reason for putting it forward at the city level is that the cost of living in the metro area is higher than in the rest of the state."

"We are a high poverty city," he added. "We do have a lot of single parent families. That's one of the impacts this would have, hopefully raising the wage of single-parent families."

The short-lived "15 in 16" campaign proposed exemptions for small businesses, which would be expected to pay workers at least $1 more than the state minimum wage. It also proposed exemptions for employees under age 18 and businesses with tipped employees, such as restaurants, provided that employee wages added up to at least $15 per hour after tips.

Doheny said on Monday that the effort was still rather preliminary, and his campaign partners ("our group is kind of a loose affiliation at this point") had yet to meet with relevant parties in anti-poverty circles, labor organizers or members of the St. Paul City Council.

Nevertheless, the Facebook page made it clear that the "15 in 16" campaign was ready to get signatures for their ballot language:

The purpose of this group is to obtain those signatures (and more), and deliver them to the City Clerk. We are also interested in obtaining support for the initiative from labor, political figures, neighborhood organizations, and businesses.
Under the Files tab above, you can download the ordinance, a signature page, as well as documents explaining the need for a higher minimum wage and the current cost of living for family types in Ramsey County. When collecting signatures, the ordinance document in its entirety must be attached to the signature page for signatories to read.

Given the breakneck speed at which the "15 in 16" campaign was operating, minimum wage proponents on both sides of the Mississippi River stood up to take notice, and not in a happy way. On Tuesday night, key members of a more-established effort in Minneapolis -- 15 Now -- had a heart-to-heart with the "15 in 16" crowd. And after some discussion, both groups have decided to work together.

The ballot initiative is dead, and the Facebook campaign "15 in 16" is now known as 15NowSTP. Green Party activists Jesse Mortenson and Brandon Long have been added as page administrators.

Here's how Doheny's announcement read on the Facebook page Wednesday morning:

1. After meeting with leaders from 15Now Minnesota, the 15 in 16 leadership has decided to become part of a Saint Paul Chapter of 15Now and adopt a new name. The transition of this page will take place soon.
2. With the merger, 15 in 16 will halt collecting signatures of our current initiative.
3. If you have already collected signatures, please send those in to the PO Box previously listed, as we will use the information to expand our volunteer base for an upcoming initiative.

Long added the following in a brief online exchange with the Scoop: "The ordinance that was put out by that group will be strengthened to better match the eventual language of the Minneapolis Ballot Initiative."

Longtime DFL, labor and minimum wage activists had said they had a number of concerns with the "15 in 16" approach, not the least of which was the fact that key campaign partners such as SEIU, the labor organization, and ISAIAH, an interfaith coalition of housing and anti-poverty activists, had yet to sign on. Shoving legal language at the city council without giving each member a chance to peruse the particulars and suggest tweaks seemed heavy-handed. And why make unnecessary enemies of potential allies?

They also noted recent history: statewide efforts to ban gay marriage and institute voter I.D. restrictions both failed when they went to ballot referendum in recent years.

"Legislating by referendum isn't the best way to do it," said an organizer, who asked not to be identified, shortly before the fateful meeting on Tuesday.

"In some ways, this effort is kind of going backwards," she said. "Talk to the city council. Let's organize, and let's organize the right way. I think the ballot should be the last option."

Here's another reason to get organized: the competition is equally galvanized. Efforts to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour have gathered steam across the country, but have also faced stiff opposition, even in left-leaning cities like Minneapolis.

Critics and even some supporters of wage hikes fear that implementing them city by city will leave high-poverty areas like St. Paul at a competitive disadvantage for jobs, which St. Paul remains sorely in need of.

"We have a statewide minimum wage set in law," said St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce President Matt Kramer, in a brief email exchange. "If you want to change the law, go to the legislature."

If you want to raise the minimum wage in St. Paul, touch base with the interfaith anti-poverty group ISAIAH first, ok?

More than a year ago, Seattle chose to phase in a minimum wage increase that will reach $15 per hour for many (but not all) employers in 2017. The minimum went to $11 per hour last April, at the same time that the city's restaurant industry began shedding jobs. Coincidence? Experts are saying it's too soon to tell, but interested parties across the country are monitoring the Seattle experience closely for clues.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to institute a $15 minimum wage for public employees by the end of 2018.

After months of discussion, Minneapolis is studying a $12 or $15 minimum wage, which could be implemented citywide or countywide, though nothing appears imminent.

As for the state of Minnesota, large employers are currently expected to pay regular employees (adults not in training) $9 per hour until Aug. 1, when the minimum increases to $9.50. Small employers currently pay $7.25 per hour until Aug. 1, when the minimum increases to $7.75. Youth and trainees are paid less.

An inflation index takes effect Jan. 1, 2018.

The post A $15 minimum wage in St. Paul? Facebook-focused ballot initiative fizzles in 5 days as campaign evolves appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

UPDATED: St. Paul’s neighborhood restaurants will learn the fate of their gin and tonics on Dec. 16

Wed, 09 Dec 2015 22:53:22 +0000

Big changes could be coming to St. Paul’s restaurant industry — but one key step remains before new neighborhood establishments can serve up gin and tonics.

The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday voted to lift the citywide cap on liquor licenses for neighborhood restaurants, but a final decision on adjusting the county charter accordingly won’t happen until Dec. 16.

Changes to the city charter require a “yes” vote from all seven city council members, and it looks like there’s a possible hold-out: Dan Bostrom. (ADDENDUM 5:24 PM 12/10/15: Scroll down for Bostrom’s latest comments, below.)

“If they had forced a vote on it yesterday, I would have absolutely voted ‘no,'” Bostrom said on Thursday.

The changes will impact new restaurants outside of downtown and other major commercial development districts that are already exempt from the cap.

Neighborhood restaurants serving martinis.

For decades, the city has allowed neighborhood restaurants to share 200 licenses to serve hard liquor, such as martinis and Bloody Marys. Some neighborhoods, such as Highland Park, constantly operate at or near their share of the cap.

In addition to eliminating the cap entirely, the latest vote also redefines what a restaurant is, no longer requiring that a specific percentage of sales come from food while adding other restrictions on serving times.

The St. Paul Charter Commission has already supported the changes, which were widely embraced by restaurant owners and are expected to make opening new establishments easier. Under the new rules, neighborhood restaurants must stop serving food and alcohol at midnight, except for existing establishments like Mancini’s Char House and Lounge, which will be “grandfathered in.”

Still, the changes are not quite a done deal. On Wednesday, Bostrom asked the council to hold off on voting on a necessary amendment to the city charter. Council President Russ Stark told him that he could lay the issue over for a week, but no more than a week.

If the amendment passes the council on Dec. 16, the new rules will be implemented in early 2016. If the vote isn’t a unanimous 7-0, expect a lengthy, possibly contentious discussion in the New Year. And there’s also the option of putting the question to public referendum in November 2016, nearly a year from now.

In other words, the city council meeting of Dec. 16 could bring out the fireworks, indeed…

ADDENDUM 12/10/15:

In an interview Thursday, Bostrom raised three key concerns about the liquor license proposal. He said the cap, which offers a certain number of liquor licenses by ward, helps distribute restaurants throughout the city. Ward 6 on East Side has five or six extra licenses available for the taking, while Highland Park runs at capacity.

The possibility of serving hard alcohol gives the East Side at least a small advantage in drawing new eateries, and several have opened on Payne Avenue.

Under the new rules, however, restaurants could locate wherever they choose and still serve hard alcohol, which is little help to neighborhoods like his that are struggling to attract new businesses. “There’s no restriction on where they can go,” Bostrom said. “They’ll cluster.”

Citywide, “we’ve got about 12 or 14 liquor licenses that aren’t in use now anyway,” Bostrom said. “Now, they’re in various wards, and I’ve got several of them over here, which I’m more than happy to trade with someone on.”

His second hang-up is that the new rules drop existing language that requires eateries to obtain 60 percent of their revenue from food sales. The new language simply states that a “substantial amount” of sales must come from food.

“A substantial amount from food? What’s that? Nobody knows,” Bostrom said. “What are the guidelines that you use to monitor this stuff?”

His third concern is that restaurants that must close at midnight under the new rules will come back to the table a few years down the line and complain they can’t compete with downtown restaurants and restaurants that have been grandfathered in. They’ll ask for 2 a.m. closing times, leaving residential neighborhoods overwhelmed with intoxicated patrons looking for their cars.

Macalester students in Paris for COP21 climate change talks

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 20:03:04 +0000

Don't tell the Donald, but as many as 70 Minnesotans will be in Paris this week for COP21, an international climate change conference of world leaders. Macalester College professor Roopali Phadke is attending the talks as an observer alongside 10 students from her class on climate negotiations.

Polar ice.

Through Dec. 4, the students are blogging about their trip online at macalester.edu/cop21.

"Minnesota is an important place to look at how climate change will impact the U.S.," Phadke told the Pioneer Press last week. "We're already seeing demonstrated changes in the weather -- warmer weather, 500-year floods. It's important that places like Minnesota are talked about, because so much of the focus is on the coasts."

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is attending the conference, as are Mississippi River city mayors from St. Cloud, Minn.; Dubuque, Iowa; and Natchez, Miss. St. Paul Environmental Policy Director Anne Hunt is accompanying the mayor. Their portion of the trip is largely covered by the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has his own feelings about the White House getting involved in international talks on climate change, and he let them be known again on Tuesday.

The post Macalester students in Paris for COP21 climate change talks appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

St. Paul Strong sounds alarm over neighborhood restaurant liquor licenses

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 22:07:50 +0000

An effort to allow more neighborhood restaurants to serve hard alcohol came and went before the St. Paul Charter Commission with little visible objection, at least on the surface. The commission voted 12-1 on Tuesday to waive its own second public hearing and allow the proposal to proceed to public hearing before the St. Paul City Council.

In other words, this one could be wrapped up by December and new liquor rules for St. Paul restaurants outside of downtown could be in place in January.

That's not to say everyone is happy with the plan, or the process. While noting that she wasn't necessarily against the intent of the rules changes, attorney Jane Prince, council member-elect in Ward 7, told the charter commission Tuesday that she felt the amendments to the city charter were being rushed through with insufficient public notice. And she has company.

"I feel that this meeting was not sufficiently noticed," Prince told the charter commission.

And her objection is a big deal, at least potentially. Changes to the city charter require a unanimous vote of the seven-member council. If she were to vote "no" on the liquor license proposal, that would delay implementation for months and force the city to decide the issue by public referendum, a potentially pricey and time-consuming exercise.

But it looks like Prince -- who will not be seated until January -- won't get her to chance to weigh in as a council member. At the urging of City Council Member Chris Tolbert and charter commission members Chuck Repke and Brian Alton, the commission forwarded the proposal to the city council for a public hearing and a public vote, both of which are likely to happen in early December.

St. Paul Strong founding member Ruby Hunt served on the St. Paul City Council from 1972 to 1982, and as a Ramsey County Commissioner from 1983 to 1995. She's not happy with waiving a second public hearing on changes to the city charter regarding neighborhood liquor licenses.

Tolbert and Ricardo Cervantes, director of the city's Department of Safety and Inspections, told the charter commission that the proposed liquor rules were developed from the ground up, at the urging of the Highland Park District Council, and have already been vetted with the various city district councils.

"It's good for the evolution of St. Paul," Tolbert said. The cap on neighborhood liquor licenses hasn't changed in decades, even though the city looks far different than it did when those numbers were first drawn up.

Currently, the city allows for 200 "on-sale" licenses for establishments that serve hard liquor, as opposed to those that serve just beer and wine. Bars are also included in that total -- and as of September, 187 of those licenses had been issued, according to this Nov. 2 piece in the Pioneer Press.

Calling the process rushed, a coalition of critics of St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's administration nonetheless maintains that the timeline amounts to further evidence of heavy-handedness from the mayor's office. The group, dubbed St. Paul Strong, has been sending out email missives to supporters claiming a general lack of transparency at City Hall.

Here's a selection from the media advisory shared with 11 news outlets by John Mannillo, a founding member of St. Paul Strong:

The amendment would lift the city’s cap on liquor licenses for restaurant establishments. While city staff state that they have met with district council leaders and the city’s business review council regarding the proposed change, there has been no public hearing or published opportunity for broad public input.

Some of those concerns were echoed by charter commission member Jeff Maas, who cast the sole dissenting vote on Tuesday. "I'm missing the citizen part of the process here," said Maas, who wondered if the outdated section of the charter dealing with liquor licenses shouldn't be removed altogether.

Former Ramsey County Commissioner Ruby Hunt said that forcing the proposal into the hands of the city council before the new council is seated in January felt underhanded.

"This proposal would go without any kind of study and without the required readings," said Hunt, a founding member of St. Paul Strong, in a voicemail. "I'm not opposed to doing away with liquor licenses, but I think this is a rampant disregard of transparency and openness in government."

Neighborhood restaurants serving martinis.

Attorney Tom Goldstein, who ran for city council against Council President Russ Stark on Nov. 3, added the following via email:

So they’re pushing through this measure with no public engagement, no marketing data, and no evidence that restaurants can’t succeed in St. Paul unless they have a liquor license. The city has no plan for job creation, but they’re apparently so desperate for revenue that they’re willing to get it through more liquor sales and liquor license fees. What’s next, a casino in the Midway to go with the proposed soccer stadium?

The restaurateurs in attendance at Tuesday's charter commission meeting felt differently.

Pat Mancini of Mancini's Char House said he had been assured by Cervantes that his bar and restaurant would be grandfathered into the new rules and could remain open until 2 a.m., as opposed to midnight. He felt comfortable with the rule changes.

A few other proprietors of neighborhood eateries also weighed in to support the new liquor rules. "I would love to serve a Bloody Mary at the Highland Grill," said restaurateur David Burley, addressing the charter commission. "I would love to serve a martini at Scusi."

Addressing Prince's concerns, Alton said there will be sufficient opportunity for public input at the upcoming city council hearing.

Added Matt Anfang, executive director of the Minnesota Commercial Association of Real Estate, "my neighborhood restaurant deserves to grow."

The post St. Paul Strong sounds alarm over neighborhood restaurant liquor licenses appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

Did the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s negative campaigning cost Darren Tobolt some votes in Ward 2?

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 21:57:18 +0000

In St. Paul’s Ward 2 city council race, the results are in! And the loser is… negative campaigning?

In the final weeks of the Ward 2 campaign, glossy mailers sent out by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation questioned Rebecca Noecker’s credibility as a candidate, and mailers sent out by the St. Paul Police Federation were equally critical of Darren Tobolt. Yet another set of mailers criticized Bill Hosko.

Ranked-choice elections.

Organizers with FairVote have questioned whether the mailers backfired and cost Tobolt some important second-choice votes in the six-way race, which was decided by ranked-choice ballot.

Just take a look at the math. Four candidates — Hosko, Pat Fearing, Sharon Anderson and Michael C. Johnson — did not get enough votes on Nov. 3 to be considered potential winners, splitting about 20 percent of first-choice ballots between them.

Ramsey County elections officials spent Monday morning tabulating the number of votes for Noecker and Tobolt from the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth choices on ballots cast for those four.

The ballot redistribution helped Noecker nearly double her 183-vote lead over Tobolt. At the end of counting, Noecker had reached 2,782 votes, with Tobolt at 2,444.

As of Monday morning’s initial hand count, Noecker held 2,391 first-choice votes, and Tobolt had 2,208. So second-choice votes gave her a big boost.

In particular, Noecker picked up roughly 170 second-choice votes from the ballots cast for Hosko, while the four other candidates split about 130 Hosko ballots, said Chuck Repke, a Noecker volunteer. Some 300 Hosko ballots had no second-choice selection on them.

It would be difficult to prove outright that Hosko’s fans were so turned off by the anti-Hosko or anti-Noecker mailers that they pulled their second-choice votes from Tobolt, but the possibility certainly exists.

“I have no hard feelings about the attack pieces against me,” said Noecker, noting that mailers were sent out by political action committees and not sent out by candidates themselves. “They’re going to go in my scrap book as a reminder that negativity doesn’t have to get you down.”

St. Paul City Council candidate campaign finance reports are IN!

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 22:18:05 +0000

Voters interested in the St. Paul City Council races may be titillated to know the two-week pre-election campaign finance reports are in.

Political money.

There's fascinating nuggets to be gleaned there, such as the relatively heavy amounts of fundraising in Ward 2, where front-runners Darren Tobolt and Rebecca Noecker have spent about $40,000 - $52,000 apiece.

Since his last filing on Sept. 11, Bill Hosko, who has run for the office twice before, reports a $3,500 contribution from himself to his campaign, on top of nine donations from others, each under $50.

What other fascinating tidbits can be found therein? Feel free to sound off in the comments section, below.

The post St. Paul City Council candidate campaign finance reports are IN! appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

The Loon Army advances, and St. Paul forms a Midway advisory committee

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 22:22:13 +0000

Psst! Hey, you! Have you joined the Loon Army? It's only $50 down and $1,120 - $195 per season to rally around the home team, with the home team being professional soccer.

Minnesota United FC has yet to be officially accepted into Major League Soccer, but that isn’t stopping the team from advertising priority seating at a possible new professional soccer stadium, and it isn't stopping the city of St. Paul from forming a citizen's advisory committee.

Soccer.

The team itching to join MLS is telling fans how to be first in line for tickets if and when they move into their own Twin Cities facility.

The second-tier pro-soccer team, which currently leases 8,500 seats at the National Sports Center in Blaine, began advertising 2016 season tickets on Wednesday with a bold promise: “The first 10,000 United season ticket holders have the chance to be part of Minnesota history.”

Minnesota United hopes to relocate to an 18,500-20,000 seat stadium in St.
Paul’s Midway or the Minneapolis North Loop by 2018, and the team is offering die-hard season ticket holders priority MLS seating numbers.

Fans must purchase season tickets each year Minnesota United FC remains in the North American Soccer League in order to maintain priority at the possible future stadium: “Seating obligations must be paid each year until Minnesota United FC enters Major League Soccer.”

Meanwhile, the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday formalized a new citizen's advisory committee for the 34.5-acre Midway site where a stadium might land. The acreage in question includes RK Midway's privately-owned Midway Shopping Center, five vacant acres next door owned by RK Midway, and 10 acres controlled by the Metropolitan Council.

Should the new stadium have bike paths? Ask the advisory committee!

St. Paul City Council President Russ Stark on Wednesday told the council that applications are already coming in at a steady clip. The formation of a 15-to-20 member committee was announced last week by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman's office.

Here's the latest council resolution, which was sponsored by Council Members Chris Tolbert and Dai Thao:

Title
Requesting the Mayor to establish a Midway Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

Body
WHEREAS, opportunity has arisen for the redevelopment of the 34.5 acre site bounded by Snelling Avenue North, University Avenue West, Pascal Street North, and Saint Anthony Avenue in the City of Saint Paul (the “Midway Site”) with a mix of uses including the potential development of a Major League Soccer stadium; and

WHEREAS, the redevelopment of the Midway Site, should it occur, will affect not only the Midway Site, but adjacent properties, the neighborhood, the City, and the region; and

WHEREAS, the Midway Site and the adjacent properties have been the subject of intense community conversation and focus for many years; and

WHEREAS, the City desires to engage the community in conversation to advise and guide the City and developers as they work on the redevelopment of the Midway Site.

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor is requested to establish a Midway Redevelopment Advisory Committee;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that said advisory committee shall

1. Advise city staff, consultants, and developers on the overall design and development of the Midway Site, as more precisely specified by the Mayor.

2. Have a membership of 15-20 individuals from as broad a range of interests as possible, including the neighborhoods, the district councils, neighboring property owners, labor, the Metropolitan Council, the business community, and other interested parties.

3. Continue in existence until such time as the Mayor determines that the work of the advisory committee should be concluded.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that pursuant to Charter § 3.01.8, the Mayor shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Council, the members of said advisory committee.

Applications are due by Nov. 4.

The post The Loon Army advances, and St. Paul forms a Midway advisory committee appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

An updated list of St. Paul school board, city council candidate forums and survey responses

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 20:48:37 +0000

What do the candidates for St. Paul City Council think about locally-grown veggies and healthy eating? How about landlords' rights and real estate ordinances? What would the St. Paul school board candidates say to questions from kids?

This man is also seeking election this Nov., but to what office, no one knows...

Find out all that and more below.

All seven seats on the St. Paul City Council are up for election on the Nov. 3 ballot, as are four of the seven seats on the St. Paul school board. Here's a list of the remaining candidate forums, and keep scrolling down for hotlinks to candidate surveys.

SCHOOL BOARD
--The East Side Freedom Library will host a candidate forum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 19th. The library is located at 1105 Greenbrier St.

--The Capitol Hill parent-teacher organization is hosting a St. Paul School Board candidate forum from 5:45 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Oct. 22. The school is located at 560 Concordia Ave.

--Students will ask candidates questions at a youth forum, which will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Sun Ray Library, 2105 Wilson Ave. The forum is sponsored by St. Paul Youth Services and Students for Education Reform/Minnesota.

WARD 6
--Hmong American Partnership and Hope Lutheran Church will host a town hall forum for the Ward 6 candidates at 7 p.m. on Oct. 20. The topics will include transportation, youth opportunity and security on St. Paul’s East Side. The location is 1075 Arcade St.

--A forum from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Hayden Heights Library will be managed by East Side residents. The library is located at 1456 White Bear Ave.

The ward spans Frost Lake, Hayden Heights, Hazel Park, Payne/Phalen, Phalen Village, and Prosperity.

DFL FUNdraiser
The St. Paul DFL is hosting a “candidate karaoke” night. The party “FUNdraiser” takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 23 at the TinCup Bar, 1220 Rice St., led by two emcees -- former City Council Member Melvin Carter III and performer Tou Ger Bennett Xiong, who “challenge all comers to a duet contest!”

Suggested contributions for co-hosts are $100, and guests are $25, though the invite indicates that “contributions of any amount are graciously accepted.”

LINKS TO CANDIDATE SURVEYS
-- St. Paul Pioneer Press Voter's Guide and Elections website
-- St. Paul Area Association of Realtors Political Action Committee Supported Candidates
-- St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce East Metro Voter Guide
--Ramsey County Food and Nutrition Commission surveys on Gardening Matters
--David Rasmussen's city council candidate interviews (podcast blog with audio recordings) at ThisScene.Blogspot.com Rasmussen is always looking for candidates to add to his podcast. Contact him at bertrecords(at)gmail.com.

The post An updated list of St. Paul school board, city council candidate forums and survey responses appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

A lawsuit of Biblical proportions? St. Paul responds to Rock of Ages

Tue, 13 Oct 2015 22:18:16 +0000

The city of St. Paul gets sued from time to time (ok, ok, who are we kidding? A LOT) but how often does the city get sued by a church that no longer exists, at least not in physical form?

The walls of this Frogtown church may have come crashing down, but the spirit of the Rock of Ages lives on. In another context, a story about the Rock of Ages wrestling with St. Paul might be the start of a Biblical parable, or even a new religious denomination. Here, it's just another lawsuit.

Lo, there will come a day when all lawsuits are appealed or kicked over to federal court...

Or is it? Dorothy Peterson, age 86, of Roseville, recalls the demolished Frogtown church with as much fondness as her childhood home. She's pretty happy to see her old church -- once known as St. Matthews -- reach out for a reckoning from beyond the grave.

"I'm 86-years-old and I started at that church when I was 5-years-old. When I heard they were thinking of redoing it, I thought 'good.' ... I belong to a church in Roseville, but St. Matthews is still my church. I was sorry when they took it down."

"We lived at the church when we were growing up. It was our second home. All our confirmation pictures were on the walls, and the basement. It was home to all of us. I lost my home. That's how I feel."

City officials are standing by their decision to order the Rock of Ages torn down. City Attorney Samuel Clark issued the following statement on the Rock of Ages lawsuit Tuesday, Oct. 13:

"We have reviewed the complaint and we’re working on our response. At this early point in the litigation process, it’s important to keep in mind that the building was demolished because it was a public nuisance due to its dangerously dilapidated condition. The building did not meet the criteria for historic preservation and it was not demolished for the Green Line rail project."

The Rev. Sylvester Davis said his church continues to meet at 11:30 a.m. Sundays in the sanctuary at Christ Lutheran Church at 105 University Ave. Attendance at Rock of Ages was well over 100 parishioners at one time, but has fallen "tremendously," he said.

"Right now, on average, it's probably about 30 to 40 people," Davis said.

So why did his church wait until 2015 to sue the city, when the demolition occurred in 2009? Part of the reason: disbelief. Hoping the city would come around on ownership rights, property taxes and assessments, the church held off on suing until shortly before the land was set to be sold with other tax-forfeited properties at auction by Ramsey County, which would have happened Oct. 9. The auction is currently on hold.

"I was in a state of shock," Davis said. "I called it 'putting us in a deep freeze,' when they won't let you fix your property, and they force it to sit through winter after winter. ... We waited until the very last minute. Nobody wants to be in the newspaper suing nobody."

He said a Hmong funeral home that used to operate in the neighborhood was offered financial incentives to relocate, but "this small group of black people, the city wouldn't buy it and wouldn't let anybody else buy it. I just couldn't believe this was going to happen."

Despite his anger and hurt, Davis said he forgives St. Paul, continues to live in St. Paul and he serves St. Paul. He's led funerals for young people who have been killed by gun violence and are not affiliated with a church of their own.

"Everybody is somebody. That's what we do -- we serve," he said. "After all that we've been through, we never stopped feeding the homeless, we never stopped doing clothing drives. I don't feel there's a giant conspiracy. It just so happens, the people that did this work for the city. Somebody made a bad decision."

"Some people seem to think that small churches are not important," he continued. "(Legislative hearing officer) Marcia Moermond said, 'You and your 12 members...' She was making reference to how small our church was. It was made several times, like 'why don't you guys just shut your doors?' That's not unusual. They insulted us down there (at City Hall) a lot. ... Rock of Ages has not ceased to be a church. Every Sunday, the church has been open somewhere. They put us in this situation."

The post A lawsuit of Biblical proportions? St. Paul responds to Rock of Ages appeared first on City Hall Scoop.

Who will you support for St. Paul School Board and City Council? The 2015 Voter’s Guide is HERE

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 22:49:08 +0000

The 2015 Voter’s Guide is here. The St. Paul School District and City Council candidates are all listed, complete with pictures and links to their campaign websites.

Voting.

Bon apetit!

Chris Lollie case: A look at Taser policy

Thu, 11 Sep 2014 01:54:29 +0000

With the Chris Lollie case in the news, we took a look at what the St. Paul police department's policy manual says about officers using force. It states, “Any physical force used by an officer must be necessary and reasonable under the circumstances.”

Officers are trained in a “Use of force continuum” — on one end is “Simple directions and commands;” the other end is “Any force that can result in death or great bodily harm.” The continuum “does not mandate step-by-step graduation by officer,” according to the department manual.

A Taser is in the middle of the St. Paul police continuum. The police policy manual calls a Taser “a non-lethal weapon used as a means to control potentially violent or assaultive subjects.”

Mike Miller, an associate professor of criminal justice at South College in Knoxville, Tenn., has studied police officers’ use of Tasers. He thinks there’s been a national trend of police agencies adjusting policy from allowing Taser use for “passive resistance” to “active resistance.”

The St. Paul officers described Lollie as “actively resisting,” Miller said of his review of the police reports, which he did at the Pioneer Press’ request.

“Officers have to act on the information available to them at the time of the encounter,” said Miller, who retired as a captain from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Orlando, Fla. “I can understand the young man’s perspective: he felt he was being confronted about something he was not guilty of. Subsequent officers arrived and it tended to escalate the situation, and you see that a lot, unfortunately. From a purely policy perspective, officers have to counter the resistance they encounter.”

Miller, said he hopes the Lollie case will result in a review of policy about the public nature of skyways and perhaps more education for security guards about what areas are public and private, and when someone would be considered trespassing.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has also weighed in about Tasers after conducting a report, saying in 2011 that there is "no standard policy for Taser use in Minnesota."

The post Chris Lollie case: A look at Taser policy appeared first on The Usual Suspects.

Alleged Mendota Heights cop killer to be in court Friday

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 16:45:00 +0000

The man charged in the slaying of a Mendota Heights police officer
will make his first court appearance Friday, after delays while he recovered from gunshot wounds during his arrest.

Brian Fitch Sr. (Courtesy photo)

Brian Fitch Sr., 39, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the death of officer Scott Patrick, 47. Prosecutors say the 19-year veteran of the force was fatally shot by Fitch during a routine traffic stop July 30.

First appearances in court cases typically come within a few days of a suspect’s arrest. But Fitch was shot eight times during an exchange of fire with police when they tracked him down in St. Paul the night of Patrick’s death, and has been hospitalized ever since.

He required at least once surgery, for his stomach, according to court documents.
Fitch also faces a number of attempted murder, assault and gun charges. Ramsey and Dakota County prosecutors are convening a rare multi-county grand jury to consolidate the cases against him.

A repeat criminal offender, Fitch was wanted on a number of warrants when Patrick pulled him over. Fitch faced years in prison if apprehended.
The day before Patrick’s death, Fitch told an ex-girlfriend he’d shoot an officer if pulled over, according to court documents.

The post Alleged Mendota Heights cop killer to be in court Friday appeared first on The Usual Suspects.

Man shows up to court with a 0.509 percent blood-alcohol level

Sat, 08 Feb 2014 00:05:26 +0000

A 44-year-old man scheduled to go before a Dakota County judge one morning last week was sent to detox instead after showing up to his court hearing with a blood-alcohol level that registered 0.509 percent, the sheriff’s office said.

The man, from Frontenac, Minn., caught the attention of deputies about 10 a.m. after “shuffling slowly” through the walk-through metal detector at the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings and smelling of booze, Sgt. Chris Melton said.

He was “doing the stir-stick — swaying back and forth,” Melton said, and had bloodshot-eyes and snow on his pants and jackets from falling. The man’s girlfriend said she drove him to the courthouse, where he was to appear on a gross-misdemeanor driving after cancellation charge stemming from a prior alcohol offense, he said.

Photo courtesy of the Dakota County sheriff’s office

“He was walking and talking,” Melton said. “I asked him how much he had to drink and he said, ‘enough.’ ”

Once he was in the courtroom, the judge asked him to submit to a breath test. The first test, taken at about 10:15 a.m., revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.499 percent, Melton said. Fifteen minutes later, a second breath test showed the 0.509 percent reading, Melton said.

The man admitted to drinking a liter of vodka earlier in the morning, he said.

“I thought he was probably a 0.15 or somewhere around there,” Melton said, adding the highest reading he saw before then was around 0.40.

West Side community meeting Wed night about shots-fired cases

Wed, 04 Dec 2013 19:56:34 +0000

St. Paul police will be hosting a West Side community meeting Wednesday (tonight) at 6:30 p.m. at the Neighborhood House to talk “about some of the things happening on the West Side,” said Senior Cmdr. David Mathison, who oversees the police department’s Central District.

They’ll be discussing “shootings with houses getting struck and discuss some strategies to combat this,” Mathison said.

No one has been injured in these shots-fired cases, and police don’t believe they’re random, Mathison said. The cases may be gang related — “some of the players we’re looking at have ties to gang,” he said.

The incidents have primarily been in the 600 block of Stryker Avenue and 600 block of Hall Avenue over the past several weeks, Mathison said.

An active investigation is underway, Mathison said.

Here’s the Central District’s Facebook post about the meeting:

Post by St. Paul Police Department – Central District.

Update — dog found: Gummy Bear, a pup, stolen in St. Paul

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 17:09:50 +0000

Update on Wednesday — Dog found. See below for the latest.

From today’s St. Paul police reports: A woman reported to police that she tied up her dog named Gummy Bear, a white Shih-poo, outside the SuperAmerica at 399 N. Lexington Parkway on Sunday at about 7:10 p.m. She went in the station, came out about 10 minutes later and the dog was gone.

Surveillance video showed an older, silver car pulled up next to the dog. A male got out, took the dog off the leash and put the pup the backseat, said Sgt. Paul Paulos, a police spokesman.

The victim told police that Gummy Bear is her service dog, helping her cope with seizures. Gummy Bear was last seen wearing a green vest.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 651-266-5632.

————————————————————————————-

Paulos said Wednesday that Gummy Bear has been found and returned to its owner. A woman called police on Tuesday, saying she had the dog, Paulos said. Police are not pursuing charges against the woman because she explained that she thought the dog was abandoned when she saw it outside and was going to turn the dog into the Animal Humane Society, said Paulos, adding that she was very apologetic.

He was ‘drunk, not wasted’

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 20:56:25 +0000

About 1:20 a.m. Sept. 29, Mendota Heights police officer Michael Shepard saw a car pass him at a high rate of speed — 100 mph, at that. According to the police department’s weekly newsletter, “Just the Facts,” Shepard approached the car to find a juvenile who said he was “drunk, not wasted.” After searching the juvenile and car, the officer found a jar of pot, a half-full bottle of Crown Royal whisky, a bag of wine that had been removed from its box, and a double-edged knife. “The vehicle was towed and the juvenile was driven home with his citations to deal with parent... Read more..

Appeals court judge elected to national law commission

Wed, 17 Jul 2013 22:47:33 +0000

Judge Harriet Lansing, the senior judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, was elected to a two-year term as president of the Uniform Law Commission during its recent annual meeting in Boston. The commission consists of more that 350 lawyers, judges, law school professors, legislators and other state officials -- all attorneys -- from every state who draft and promote enactment of uniform laws designed to solve problems common to all states. Lansing, of St. Paul, has served on the commission since 1993. She was first appointed to the appeals court in 1983 after serving as a Ramsey County... Read more..

Judge Harriet Lansing, the senior judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, was elected to a two-year term as president of the Uniform Law Commission during its recent annual meeting in Boston.

The commission consists of more that 350 lawyers, judges, law school professors, legislators and other state officials — all attorneys — from every state who draft and promote enactment of uniform laws designed to solve problems common to all states.

Lansing, of St. Paul, has served on the commission since 1993. She was first appointed to the appeals court in 1983 after serving as a Ramsey County District Court judge and as St. Paul city attorney.

–Bill Salisbury

She was taking the ashtray and nobody was going to stop her

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:18:24 +0000

Betsy Noel wanted a keepsake. The Ramsey County District Court assignment division chief retired Wednesday, May 1, after 34 years on the job. She started as a temporary clerk-typist in the violations bureau and worked her way up, ditching plans for law school. As assignment chief, “It was her pleasure every day to tell judges where to go,” said Chief Judge Teresa Warner. From her windowless basement office in the downtown St.Paul courthouse, Noel pointed to a piece of the building’s history: One of the ashtrays that used to stand near every elevator and in every judge’s chambe... Read more..

Betsy Noel wanted a keepsake.

The Ramsey County District Court assignment division chief retired Wednesday, May 1, after 34 years on the job. She started as a temporary clerk-typist in the violations bureau and worked her way up, ditching plans for law school.

As assignment chief, “It was her pleasure every day to tell judges where to go,” said Chief Judge Teresa Warner.

From her windowless basement office in the downtown St.Paul courthouse, Noel pointed to a piece of the building’s history: One of the ashtrays that used to stand near every elevator and in every judge’s chambers back in the day.

“I’m taking it,” the longtime smoker said.

We’re guessing that sheriff’s deputies just waved as she left the building.

Ramsey County judge blasts defense attorney

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:18:19 +0000

Update on this: Mateer won her case on behalf of Sims. He was acquitted. After watching Ramsey County public defender Mary Mateer shuffle around for misplaced documents, repeat questions and ask about a topic that had been prohibited, Judge Leonardo Castro gave the jury a 2.5 hour break Tuesday, March 19. "Ms. Mateer, I'm gonna give you this time to get organized," Castro said after he had sent the jury out of the courtroom. "Frankly, you're doing a disservice to your client at this time." "May I respond at this point?" Mateer replied. "No, you may not," Castro said. "... Read more..

Update on this: Mateer won her case on behalf of Sims. He was acquitted.

After watching Ramsey County public defender Mary Mateer shuffle around for misplaced documents, repeat questions and ask about a topic that had been prohibited, Judge Leonardo Castro gave the jury a 2.5 hour break Tuesday, March 19.

“Ms. Mateer, I’m gonna give you this time to get organized,” Castro said after he had sent the jury out of the courtroom. “Frankly, you’re doing a disservice to your client at this time.”

“May I respond at this point?” Mateer replied.

“No, you may not,” Castro said.

“Can I respond — ”

“No, you may not.”

“Can I at least make a record — ?”

“No you may not,” Castro said.

The judge walked back into his chambers. Mateer told an associate that she believed Castro was incorrect about the topic that had been disallowed.

Mateer is representing Ronald Sims in an Oct. 21, 2012, aggravated robbery case involving a Craigslist transaction. On Tuesday morning, she was cross-examining the alleged victim. Some of the questions focused on his criminal background. Mateer brought up a case that was not to have been discussed, the judge said.

Spilled milk prank in St. Paul brings citation

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:00:49 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJZmpBTyelI The “gallon smashing” prank might not have people crying over spilled milk, but it’s probably not making store managers happy. Here’s some background about the prank, which involves young people smashing a gallon of milk onto a store’s floor and sliding through it. Video of it has gone viral. It apparently came to St. Paul’s Midway Target on Saturday, March 9 about 11 p.m., when police say a 16-year-old girl carried out the prank and... Read more..

The “gallon smashing” prank might not have people crying over spilled milk, but it’s probably not making store managers happy.

Here’s some background about the prank, which involves young people smashing a gallon of milk onto a store’s floor and sliding through it. Video of it has gone viral.

It apparently came to St. Paul’s Midway Target on Saturday, March 9 about 11 p.m., when police say a 16-year-old girl carried out the prank and an officer cited her.

An off-duty officer working at the University Avenue Target was called to the dairy aisle, where a manager was standing with an empty gallon of milk, said St. Paul police spokesman Sgt. Paul Paulos. The officer asked the manager what was going on and he said it was a “gallon smash incident,” Paulos said.

The teen admitted to doing it, and the off-duty officer cited her for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, and released her, Paulos said. The teen was at the store with two friends; a police report didn’t say whether anyone had recorded it.

Paulos said the case was his first time hearing about it.

“In today’s social media world, kids are picking things up faster and faster,” Paulos said. “Stores should be on the lookout for this behavior. The kids should know it doesn’t just cost property, but jeopardizes the safety of themselves and other customers.”

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said in an email that the company is aware of such incidents.

“At Target the safety and security of our guests and team members is a top priority,” she wrote. “We are taking these safety incidents very seriously and are partnering with our team and with law enforcement.”