A scary scene. The Star Tribune’s Kelly Smith and Libor Jany report: “A man was shot and killed Friday morning near the Cub Foods store in north Minneapolis, marking the city’s 84th homicide of the year and equaling the number of homicides in the city for all of 2020. … Witnesses said the suspect crashed into a car off Lyndale Avenue N. and W. Broadway Avenue and then tried to flee the scene, said Trenton Pollard, chief operating officer of We Push for Peace, a community outreach group that has been stationed at the Cub store for a year to help deter crime. … When another man tried to intervene, the suspect shot him, Pollard said. … The suspect then fled to the Cub store and tried to carjack a woman who works for the Twin Cities Salvation Army and was headed to the store for a news conference announcing the kickoff of the nonprofit’s annual Red Kettle campaign.”
Interesting report from FiveThirtyEight about the challenges facing bus drivers, set in Minnesota. Maggie Koerth writes: “Even [last year] there was already a shortage of bus drivers in the district. [Driver Roberta] Steele said that had been the case for years, though district representatives were quick to point out that there had never been a shortage of this magnitude. This fall, the shortage became dire enough that Steele’s old route — the one where she knew all the kids well enough to take them to their doorsteps when needed — was consolidated out of existence. In October, the district told parents that 12 routes probably wouldn’t be staffed this year. Steele was transferred to a different route with new kids, and sometimes the chaos of route changes and late buses meant she also had to drive kids home from other, equally unfamiliar routes.”
Winter driving season is here. KSTP reports: “Thursday into Friday marked the first snowfall of the season for many Minnesotans. … Friday morning, snowfall in parts of the state made driving conditions difficult. … Parts of the state were experiencing a mix of freezing rain and snow which, combined with dropping temperatures, pushed drivers to be more cautious on the roads. … In an update Friday, the Minnesota State Patrol reported troopers responded to several crashes and instances of vehicles sliding off roads due to icy conditions.”
Another entry in the Spokesman-Recorder’s series of interviews with Minneapolis council members — this time with Ward 5’s Jeremiah Ellison. Here’s one of the exchanges:
MSR: How do you plan to hold the police accountable?
Ellison: The strong mayor amendment passed, and so the people of Minneapolis have said that they don’t really want the council to have a say when it comes to police. So I think that that question really rests exclusively with the mayor. I will continue to advocate for accountability, but I also have to recognize that I have no legal authority. The people of Minneapolis said they want the mayor to solve this problem.”
In other news…
Blame the delta variant: “Stillwater is Going After CBD Shops, for Some Reason” [Racket]
Sounds expensive: “Lake Minnetonka mansion, nearly completed, could be forced to relocate” [Star Tribune]
Large scales crime: “DNR officers seize 72 fish in Lake of the Woods walleye and sauger bust” [West Central Tribune]
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