Hearing on Minneapolis police ballot question set for Monday morning

With early voting set to begin on Friday. KARE’s Miranda Manier reports: “A new hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. on Monday to consider the future of a ballot question that would ask Minneapolis residents to vote on replacing the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. … A group of city residents, including former city council member Don Samuels, are asking Hennepin County Judge Jamie Anderson to block the latest approved version of the question.”

Not-masking feelings. KSTP’s Tommy Wiita reports: “A Minnesota [legislator] tweeted about an incident where a parent stormed into a Richfield elementary school to complain about masks. The incident happened on the first day of school Wednesday. … The incident, which Rep. Mike Howard from District 50A tweeted about, involved a man who refused to wear a facemask and attempted to get staff members to remove theirs during student drop-off Wednesday morning at Richfield STEM Elementary School. Howard said his son was in the class when it happened. … ‘This madness has to stop, as does the anti-science/anti-govt rhetoric fueling the rage,’ Howard said in the tweet.”

Line 3 protest arrests. KARE’s Dana Thiede reports: “ Nearly two dozen people from out of state face criminal charges after a large protest targeting the Line 3 oil pipeline project shut down a busy road in Clearwater County. … The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office says squads were dispatched shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday to a location along 470th Street near Bagley, where between 75 and 100 people were blocking the roadway. Arriving deputies found protesters setting up a teepee, and items ranging from an overturned car and large cement-filled barrels to a boat filled with cement and rock spread out over approximately one mile.”

Trial will go on for Kraus. The Star Tribune’s Rochelle Olson reports: “A 35-year-old St. Paul man charged with murder after driving into an Uptown protest in Minneapolis last June has been found competent to stand trial in Hennepin County District Court. … Judge Paul Scoggin entered the finding Friday morning regarding the mental state of Nicholas D. Kraus, based on a report by a court-appointed mental health expert. Neither the prosecution nor the defense objected to the determination. … Kraus is charged with second-degree intentional murder and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon in connection with the crash that injured three protesters and killed 31-year-old Deona M. Knajdek, of Minneapolis.”