MPR’s Jon Collins reports: “Prosecutors have rested their case against the three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights. Jurors listened to more than three weeks of testimony in the case. Darnella Frazier, who was a teenager when she recorded Floyd’s death while in police custody in May 2020, was the last witness for the government. … The three defendants — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — will now have their opportunity to present their cases.”
The AP’s Mohamed Ibrahim writes: “Minnesota Senate Republicans introduced a ‘Parents Bill of Rights’ legislative package on Monday they say would empower parents by giving them more access to curriculum at their children’s schools, mirroring a nationwide GOP push for curriculum transparency. The package consists of bills that would require schools to have a system for notifying parents of activities at school and prevent schools from withholding information about their child’s well-being or education, require access to class syllabi for parents within the first two weeks of the start of classes and provide all instruction materials without cost to parents who request them for review.”
Dana Ferguson of the Forum News Service writes: “Minnesota senators on Monday pushed forward a plan to spend $2.7 billion to repay the federal government and replenish the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund to avoid a tax increase for business owners. The GOP-controlled Senate on a 55-11 vote advanced the plan to pay back the federal government more than $1 billion for unemployment funds and to bring the fund’s total up to $1.3 billion. Lawmakers face a March 15 deadline to pass a policy resolving the issue if they want to prevent tax assessments from taking effect in April.” Read more about the issue here.
Also from MPR, Tim Pugmire reports: “The Minnesota Senate passed a bill Monday that would fund a $1 million advertising campaign to help recruit more law enforcement officers to the profession. The vote was 51-15. It’s unclear when or if the DFL-controlled House might take up the bill.…The Department of Public Safety would direct the campaign to lure more applicants.” Read more about the issue here.
Also from FOX 9: “A search warrant filed on Monday in the shooting of a Minneapolis bus driver indicates that the driver was hit by a stray bullet. …According to a search warrant filed on Monday, the bus driver told officers he was shot after he stopped behind two vehicles parked in the street along 37th Avenue and there was an exchange of gunfire. The search warrant states, using witness interviews and video evidence, officers were able to track down a man involved in the shooting, who spoke with officers.”
In the Pioneer Press, Deanna Weniger writes: “A former St. Paul police officer and Ramsey County chief sheriff’s deputy has been named the director of the state’s newly formed Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Juliet Rudie, who also is a tribal member of the Lower Sioux Indian Community and a lifelong Minnesota resident, will lead the first office of its kind in the nation. She starts Feb. 28. … The office will be housed in the DPS Office of Justice Programs.”
FOX 9 reports: “After a series of shootings last week left three people dead and a bus driver hurt in three separate incidents, a group of anti-violence advocates were calling for an end to the violence on Monday. The car caravan rally gathered Monday afternoon at Zion Baptist before going on a tour of Penn Avenue and Golden Valley Road, the site where North High football star Deshaun Hill was gunned down last week. From there, they visited 36th and Penn, where Aniya Allen was shot and killed last year before heading south for a memorial outside South Education Center in Richfield to honor Jahmari Rice, who was gunned down outside of his school two weeks ago.”
At Bring Me The News, Shaymus McLaughlin says, “A Twin Cities man accused of hounding an on-air personality at 89.3 The Current faces new stalking charges in the case. Ramsey County prosecutors added two felony stalking charges earlier this month to the existing case against Patrick H. Kelly. The 62-year-old had originally been charged in October with multiple counts of violating a restraining order, following accusations he obsessively targeted The Current’s DJ Jade.”
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