This from Ryan Faircloth of the Strib, “Nearly two dozen Minnesota county sheriffs are backing Republican Jim Schultz in his closely watched race to unseat Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison. The 22 sheriffs who endorsed Schultz on Tuesday include Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie, Anoka County Sheriff James Stuart and Washington County Sheriff Dan Starry. Fletcher said his endorsement of Schultz marks the first time he’s backed an attorney general candidate in his law enforcement career, which has spanned almost 50 years. Schultz, who has also been endorsed by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, said he will announce more law enforcement endorsements in the coming weeks.”
The Feeding Our Future indictments in Minnesota are getting national attention from Rolling Stone and The New York Times.
And Amy Forliti of the AP writes, “Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, called it ‘an astonishing display of deceit’. Luger said the government was billed for more than 125m fake meals, with some defendants making up names for children by using an online random name generator. He displayed one form for reimbursement that claimed a site served exactly 2,500 meals each day Monday through Friday – with no children ever getting sick or otherwise missing from the program. … Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice made prosecuting pandemic-related fraud a priority. The department has already taken enforcement actions related to more than $8 billion in suspected pandemic fraud, including bringing charges in more than 1,000 criminal cases involving losses in excess of $1.1 billion.”
Here are some more details from the Sahan Journal’s Joey Peters and Andrew Hazzard: “Some examples of property subject to forfeiture in one indictment include:
- eight pieces of property in Minnesota, Kentucky, and Ohio
- seven cars, including a Porsche Macan and Tesla Model Y
- bank accounts holding millions of dollars
- miscellaneous electrical devices, jewelry, clothing, and accessories
- a Louis Vuitton duffle bag seized from a 2021 Dodge Ram 1500.
- The indictments announced Tuesday have ensnared influential political players, nonprofit executives, and education leaders. Among those charged today include:
- Aimee Bock, founder and former executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future
- Abdi Salah, former senior policy aide to Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey
- Sharmarke Issa, former board chair of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority
- Abdiaziz Farah, a south metro businessman and the founder and former executive director of a charter school in Burnsville
- Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff, chief executive officer of Afrique Hospitality Group
- Mahad Ibrahim, entrepreneur, president and owner of ThinkTechAct Foundation
- Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed, also known as “Chef Abcos,” owner and operator of Safari Restaurant
Sahan Journal has compiled a full list of people charged in Tuesday’s indictments.”
Stribber Gita Sitamariah reports, “Restless and buoyed by the strong dollar, Americans were everywhere in Europe over the summer. And they’re still filling planes headed there this fall, Ed Bastian, the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, said in Minneapolis on Tuesday. ‘We’re flying more to Europe this fall than we’ve ever flown in any fall in our history,’ Bastian said in an appearance at the Airports Council International annual conference. Delta extended its summer transatlantic schedules into the rest of the year, he said.”
Hannah Yang of MPR News says, “‘Rainbow’ fentanyl was found for the first time in southern Minnesota during an execution of a search warrant last week. Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force agents seized three multicolored M30 pills on Sept. 16. Agents conducted a field test on the pills and found they contained fentanyl. Friday’s seizure was the first time task force agents encountered the brightly colored pills that Drug Enforcement Administration officials say can be mistaken for candy. All the fentanyl pills that were seized before were blue. The DEA warned the public in late August of multi-colored fentanyl pills that are being targeted for younger demographics because of the coloring.”
Another MPR News story by Dana Ferguson says, “Most Minnesotans believe that crime in their community increased in recent years, according to the latest MPR News/Star Tribune/KARE 11 poll. In all, 54 percent said they thought crime had increased, while 45 percent said it stayed flat. Another 1 percent said it declined. But despite that perceived increase in crime, 83 percent said they did not fear being attacked or threatened in their own neighborhood. That’s compared to about 17 percent who said they were worried about threats or attacks close to home.”
For KARE-TV Diane Sandberg says, “A 60-year-old man from Minneapolis was killed early Tuesday morning after his Harley Davidson collided with a Ford Truck on I-35W. Minnesota State Troopers were alerted to a crash just after midnight on Tuesday in the area of I-35W and 28th Street in Minneapolis. Officials said a 1988 Harley Davidson Softail, ridden by 60-year-old Larry Dean Lewis of Minneapolis collided with a Ford F750 driven by a 48-year-old man from Des Moines. Both were headed north, troopers said. At the time of the crash Lewis was not wearing a helmet.”
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