From WCCO-TV:
Rachel Moran, a professor of law and director of clinical education at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, says this case is unusual and disturbing.

“It’s a really troubling and in some ways startling case,” Moran said. “I absolutely think Anoka County Attorney’s Office has an obligation to look at everything she was involved in.”

Moran says considering Sampson’s position, justice and accountability are of upmost importance.

“If someone in a position of power is involved in criminal activity, whether they’re using their position of power or not, then certainly they should be held accountable,” she said.

From KSTP:
“I think we should expect some form of review, yes,” said University of St. Thomas Law Professor Rachel Moran.

Moran said what that review looks like depends on the specific types of cases Sampson was involved in. Though even if her work was entirely limited to civil, not criminal, cases, Moran said a review should start right away when a government official in a position of authority is suspected of a serious crime while working for that office.

“The charges she’s facing are serious, and they certainly raise questions about her trustworthiness, about her truthfulness, and her reliability as a representative of the government, and so you want to look into what kind of power was she given? How did she use it?” Moran said.

“So, I think certainly taxpayers have a right to expect a careful investigation. And Anoka County should be able to say what they’re doing to look into her cases.”

From the article:
"So, it is not a positive match, and that is all it does," said Dr. Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas. "It generates a lead."

Lawyers say that Perryman was not near the crime scene. A home surveillance image shows Perryman at a party while two other men carjacked someone, robbed some women and then used those stolen cards at Walmart.

Surveillance from Walmart showed the suspect does not have tattoos. Perryman does have tattoos.

"I think it becomes a great benefit if it is utilized properly in sync with other regular law enforcement tools," Rege said. "It may become a risk if there are flaws in the process in which it is implemented."

An associate professor in the department of Modern and Classical Languages, Jane devoted her life to teaching, inspiring students and sharing her love of language and culture. Those who had the privilege of working alongside her will remember her warmth, generosity, intelligence and wonderful sense of humor.

"Jane’s impact on her students, colleagues and friends will continue to live on in the many lives she touched," said Chair of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Juli Kroll. "She will be deeply missed and fondly remembered."

Jane was preceded in death by her husband Gabor, her parents and grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She is survived by her sister, Karen (Steven), nieces, nephews and special friends. A Celebration of Life will be held from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22 in the Chapel room of Grace Lutheran Church, 202 W. Grand Avenue, Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

From one of the commentaries:

In Minnesota, the unemployment rate for Black workers climbed to 7.7% in August 2025, up from 5.2% the year before, which is more than twice the rate for white Minnesotans, according to Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development.  … Even in times of growth, Black women in Minnesota face greater job insecurity and lower pay. They earn about 62 cents for every dollar earned by white men, according to the 2024 Status of Women and Girls+ in Minnesota report.

Curry also won a second award for a feature story she wrote for USA Today’s Black History Month special edition about Black missing and murdered women, recounting the story of Minnesotan Brittany Clardy.

From the story:
Maybe you’ve experienced the “Sunday scaries,” which is when you worry about the looming workweek or wish you could have accomplished more over the weekend. The “August blues” create similar feelings, one being regret.

“At the beginning of summer there’s all this possibility, right? And then August arrives and we start asking ourselves, did we take that trip? Did we spend enough time together? Did the kids have enough fun?” Nuru said.

Another feeling can be anxiety. The thought of the school year beginning, schedules changing and colder days ahead can create anxiousness – all while summer is still there to be enjoyed in August. 

“That affects how we feel about the time that we have left,” Nuru said.

For those struggling with the “August blues,” what can they do to manage it? Nuru says the first step is to simply savor the present moment. The weather’s still warm, and while we’re losing daylight, there’s still plenty of it compared to fall and winter.

From the article:
Lana Medina, an assistant professor of emerging media at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, noted that paying for the combination of streaming services required to watch all the sports games can cost as much or more than a cable subscription was.

“It’s tough because we come to this point that instead of just paying for one cable subscription, what we end up paying for is Netflix and Disney+, Hulu and all of these other different services to get this amalgamation of what we want,” she said.

However, streaming and new viewing models have given fans more accessibility, she said. 

“We’ve gotten to this mentality where we want to watch what we want to watch anywhere, anytime. We can watch on multiple devices. We can cancel anytime. And for audiences, streaming is really flexible,” she said. “You can watch just as easily on a phone as you do on a computer or TV, so it’s nice you can access it where you want to access it.”

Utsav Manandhar, spatial computer developer, guided the students inside the 3D studio through the simulations developed for Hennessey’s course.

Watch Utsav Manandhar walk a class through several simulations designed for a 300-level dynamics course in the College of Engineering.

"The data visualization studio allows us to have an immersive experience for our students and researchers as they're trying to understand three-dimensional data and discover insights they might not be able to see on a two-dimensional screen," said Kundan Nepal, an electrical and computer engineering professor in the College of Engineering.

The space, funded through a $1 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Lab, features motion-tracking sensors, stereoscopic 3D technology that allows users to interact with virtual models and simulations, as well as the 36-foot semicircular LED display. The grant strengthens the research infrastructure at St. Thomas and allows faculty to support partnerships with industry and government collaborators.

"One advantage we have is that up to 28 people can experience the immersive 3D environment at the same time, which makes it ideal for presentations and classes," said Manandhar, who collaborated with Hennessey and student designers to develop experiences for the space.

Unlike traditional virtual reality systems that often isolate users inside individual headsets, the visualization wall allows an entire class to share the same immersive experience simultaneously. Plus, the glasses allow the user to maintain their peripheral vision to avoid bumping into another user as opposed to a set of goggles that completely blocks a user's field of vision.

"Everybody sees the same thing, but they can also see each other," Hennessey said. "It's more like virtual reality for everybody."

Hennessey, who joined St. Thomas in 2000 and specializes in simulating and visualizing dynamic systems, can attest to how far technology has come to enhance the teaching experience.

“In the old days, it was making animations on a 2D screen,” Hennessey said. “Recent advances in visualization technology … make it possible to bring content into a VR scenario, and people can be immersed in virtual reality looking at content that you created.”

Technological advances will continue to play a larger role in engineering education at St. Thomas as immersive tools become more common in engineering industries, Hennessey said. 

He added: “Our students will be prepared.”

From the op-ed:
Minnesota companies operate far beyond Minnesota. They manage global supply chains, employ people across borders, and make decisions that affect communities they may never see directly. Yet many of the ideas we use to judge those decisions still come from a relatively narrow set of Western conceptions of business, responsibility, and individualism. But the way we think about those decisions has not kept pace with the reach of the companies making them.

We were reminded of this recently at the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics World Congress in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The conference brought together scholars, business leaders, artists and storytellers from around the world, with particular attention to perspectives that have often been left out of global conversations about business and society.

More than half of the participants came from countries in the “Global South,” a term the opening session challenged because of its association with a downward direction. Holding the conference in Cameroon, central Africa, made it possible for more scholars and business leaders from the region to participate and created space for ideas that are too often missing from conversations shaped by Western institutions.

One of those ideas was Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a philosophy prevalent in parts of Africa that understands the individual not as self-contained, but as part of a web of relationships. ...

Nathaniel graduated this past spring from Elk River High School and planned to major in finance and economics at the Opus College of Business. In his obituary, Nathaniel’s family describes him as “very dedicated to his faith,” polite, adventurous and “wise beyond his years.”

“There was no doubt that he would have grown into a successful, caring family man,” they wrote.

The St. Thomas community offers prayers and condolences to Nathaniel’s parents Bob and Tara; siblings, Zoey and Wes; grandparents, Ron and Judy; and to all his family, friends and loves ones.

A funeral service will be held Aug. 19 at St. Andrew Catholic Church in Elk River, Minnesota.

“I actually became passionate about media literacy far before I ever decided that I wanted to go into journalism,” said Brennan, who wrote about her experiences growing up with social media when she was a teen columnist for Rochester's Post Bulletin. Now, set to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in December, she strives to help the next generation better understand the digital content competing for their attention.

Nearly all U.S. teens use the internet daily, and 40% say they are online almost constantly, according to Pew Research Center. Nearly half say social media sites have a mostly negative effect on people their age, while more than a third say they have been misled by fake information online, according to research from Common Sense Media.

“What I didn't realize going into a journalism major is that you're not just learning how to write and how to take good photos, you're also learning about the ethics behind everything,” Brennan said. “I take a lot of pieces that I've learned from the amazing professors here at St. Thomas and make it more digestible for younger audiences so they can start to think like media creators, not just consume media.”

Brennan also put those skills into practice reporting for The Crest, the student-run publication overseen by Emerging Media faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. She brings that experience together with her passion for media literacy through Media WELL, an initiative she founded focused on four pillars: literacy, wellness, ethics and legislation.

Winning Miss Minnesota in June has given her a larger platform for that work, including a national stage. She will represent Minnesota at the Miss America 2027 competition in Palm Beach County, Florida, starting Aug. 28 and culminating with the final competition Sept. 6.

Brennan spoke to the St. Thomas Newsroom about her path to journalism and how she hopes to use the Miss Minnesota crown to make an impact beyond the pageant stage.

Miss Minnesota Anna Brennan '26 shares how she will incorporate what she's learned as an Emerging Media student at the University of St. Thomas into her platform as Miss Minnesota.

Media literacy is basically the idea that we understand how media works so that we can harness the powers of it without harming our quality of life. It's learning how to engage intelligently and intentionally and understanding the inner workings of how media creators create content. When we're consuming everyday content and news media, we can identify biases, understand false information and how to cite sources, and generally just be literate in the information that we consume online and enjoy the benefits of technology without letting it negatively affect our lives.

I grew up without social media until I was about 12 years old. Once I finally entered it, I realized that it was a very scary place because I was highly addicted to my device, falling into the manipulation of things like body image issues. I became completely invested in the media and the news when COVID came around and I had a realization that I was letting it run my life. I decided to take steps to try and break away from this addiction. Then, I turned to writing and realized that I really enjoyed sharing my experience and found that a lot of people could relate to my story. That started this rolling ball effect for me. Now, being in journalism, studying the media and beginning to understand the systems that run everything, it all makes sense to me.

Ethics is the number one thing we focus on. We focus on transparency and getting the facts right. We focus on how to find good sources and make sure you’re proofreading. People really appreciate it when creators take the time to make quality content. They feel that they can trust me as a person and as a journalist, and that’s our number one thing: to build trust and minimize harm. That’s exactly what I strive to do through my own social media.

I think the number one thing to understand is that it’s a severely unregulated industry, and it’s simply because it’s so new. I’ve only ever known the internet and technology, but I’ve had conversations with people who have watched this happen in their professional lives and seen how it’s affecting them. The biggest challenge is that we need to figure out the safest way to control it because it can and could grow to some pretty scary places.

Some level of regulation is inevitable because social media is never going to disappear. The priority should be protecting children. Minnesota recently passed legislation, (Minnesota House File 4138 – the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act, takes effect on July 1, 2027). The bill targets placing some regulations on social media users under the age of 16 in Minnesota. It allows for the implementation of parental controls that will take away targeted advertising and infinite scrolling, along with some other features that cause addiction in these apps. It’s just scratching the surface, but it’s also a good step in the right direction. Minnesota was one of the first in the nation to pass legislation like this. One of my goals as Miss Minnesota and going on to Miss America is to help other states adopt similar regulations.

Well, when I was younger, I was always a dancer. I was always performing and dressing up, so pageantry just made sense. But I’m realizing that it’s not the clothes, it’s not the fancy shoes, it’s not the title or the crown that really made this year fulfilling. I’ve realized that the reason I enjoy all of this is because of how I’m able to make people feel in these public positions. I always loved performing because I was impacting the audience. So, if I could just go out and do the actions of Miss Minnesota without all of the accolades and shiny things, I would be just as happy. It’s the fact that I’m getting to impact people along the way, and that has been really special.

I’m really excited to seek a master’s degree through St. Thomas. I’ve become really interested in the AI leadership graduate program that recently launched, and I would absolutely love to dive into that program and be a part of the growing AI industry. I think there’s a lot that we have yet to understand. I would love to be able to bring that into the Media WELL program and go out to organizations and businesses to serve as an ethical AI liaison or consultant to help people understand these ethical challenges of new technology.

Brennan spoke with KAAL-TV about winning Miss Minnesota, applying her education to her career ambitions and setting her sights on competing for Miss America 2027.

From the story:

“I feel like I didn’t just win this title for myself, but I won this title for so many people, she said. “I come from small town, rural Minnesota, and things like this don’t happen every day, so I feel like it’s really exciting and special to bring this title home to my community.”