Jeffrey Meitrodt writes in the Star Tribune: “The small, powerful state agency that polices the conduct of Minnesota lawyers has been roiled for several years by internal strife, leading to an exodus of key employees and an extraordinary intrusion into its inner workings by Supreme Court justices. The agency, called the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR), for five years has been led by Susan Humiston, a veteran corporate attorney. Since she took charge in 2016, 14 prosecutors have quit their jobs, with most of them citing a toxic work environment. Her leadership practices led a 23-member oversight board to recommend against a two-year extension of her contract in 2020. … However, in an unusual rebuke, the Minnesota Supreme Court disregarded the board’s recommendation and renewed her contract last year.”
Josh Verges writes in the Pioneer Press: “The founder and superintendent of St. Paul’s largest charter school has offered to resign after losing $4.3 million of the school’s money with an illegal investment. The school board told Hmong College Prep Academy families on Thursday that it had received a letter from Christianna Hang ‘communicating her intent to step down from the role of superintendent.’ That message came three days after the Office of the State Auditor released an investigative report finding that the school’s $5 million investment with a hedge fund violated both state law and the school’s own investment policy. The board will consider accepting Hang’s resignation during a special meeting Monday.
At KSTP-TV Gracie Stockton says, “Southwestern Twin Cities suburbs with a 952 area code, 218 numbers in northern Minnesota and all of Wisconsin must switch from 7-digit to 10-digit dialing due to a growing population and to provide easier access to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Across the country, 82 area codes are included in the mandatory switch. Callers with the affected area codes used to be able to omit the first three digits for local calls and use 988 as their local exchange number. Beginning Sunday, 10-digit dialing is required for both landlines and cell phones.”
The AP reports: “Authorities say two people died when a single-engine plane crashed into a home in northeastern Wisconsin. The Ashland County Sheriff’s Office received numerous 911 calls about 2:40 p.m. Saturday with reports of the crash in the town of Marengo. No one on the ground was hurt. The sheriff’s department says the victims are a 29-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman from Marengo, which is about 80 miles from Duluth, Minnesota.”
In the St. Cloud Times, Nora G. Hertel writes: “Minnesota agronomist Amy Robak describes budding carbon markets as the wild west. And she’s not the only one who sees it that way. … She helps farmers change some practices and measure the impact on their soils as they join a new carbon marketplace backed by corporate partners including Land O’Lakes and General Mills. Agricultural carbon markets pay farmers to draw greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide, from the air and keep it locked in the soil to fight climate change. Plants do this naturally through photosynthesis; farmers encourage it by limiting their tilling, grazing livestock in crop fields and planting cover crops in the off season or between row crops. Corporations pay for those credits through brokers to offset their carbon pollution. ”
Jennifer Bjorhus writes in the Star Tribune: “Minnesota’s grasslands continue to disappear to the plow, despite ongoing rescue efforts on multiple fronts. … Minnesota lost nearly 2 million acres of grassland to crops from 2012 to 2019, according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Northern Great Plains program. That’s more than the state of Delaware. More is lost each year, though the rate has slowed in the past decade, said lead scientist Patrick Lendrum.”
Andy Greder writes in the Pioneer Press: “Megan Rapinoe was honored as royalty at a St. Paul bar on Sunday. Rapinoe, a star on the U.S. women’s national soccer team, visited the 15-foot mural of herself on an exterior wall on The Black Hart of St. Paul, a Midway neighborhood bar which caters to the LGBTQ+ and soccer communities. … Rapinoe is in town for a friendly match two blocks away from the bar at Allianz Field on Tuesday against South Korea. … ‘This is so very special,’ Rapinoe wrote about the mural on Instagram on Sunday. “… This outrageously beautiful mural from the outrageously talented @cyfione to commemorate when The Gays (TM) took over the world. … I am truly honored, thank you with all my gay little heart. Spaces like these can be sacred ground for us, and this is a special one.'”
An AP story by Stephen Groves says, “South Dakota lawmakers will be taking a look at a state agency that has been at the center of questions about whether Gov. Kristi Noem used her influence to aid her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license. … The governor hasn’t answered detailed questions about the meeting. … Noem has said she didn’t ask for special treatment for her daughter. She has cast the episode as yet another way she has ‘cut the red tape’ to solve a shortage of appraisers and smooth the homebuying process.”
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