For the Strib, Katie Galioto writes, “St. Paul will soon appoint members to a new commission that will recommend ways for the city to make reparations to Black residents whose ancestors were enslaved. On Wednesday, the City Council unanimously voted to create the St. Paul Recovery Act Community Reparations Commission, a permanent advisory body with powers and duties laid out in the city code. … The 11-person commission will advise Mayor Melvin Carter and the council on policy and budget decisions ‘to specifically address the creation and sustainment of generational wealth for the American Descendants of Chattel Slavery and to boost economic mobility and opportunity in the American Descendants of Chattel Slavery community,’ according to the ordinance.
At MPR News Feven Gerezgiher tells us, “Family and colleagues shuffled through the winding halls of the Minnesota State Capitol on a snowy January morning to watch Zaynab Mohamed sign a Quran ahead of her official swearing-in ceremony. This book holds the names of almost every Muslim elected official in Minnesota. Now, it would include Mohamed’s. … State legislatures nationwide typically don’t represent the diversity of their state, according to the latest available data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. In 2020, 90 percent of Minnesota lawmakers were white, but 83 percent of the state is white, according to Census data. Mohamed stood out among the sea of blue and gray suits on the chamber floor. She pairs a sharp-shouldered, coral red dress with a cream-colored hijab and matching heels. She wears a Somali cloth — hidhi iyo dhaqan — draped over one shoulder.”
For trains.com Bill Stephens writes, “Union Pacific, citing ongoing harsh winter weather, is continuing an embargo it placed last week on all traffic to and from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. … UP said in a Dec. 29 customer advisory that it expected the embargo to remain in effect for at least 14 days. ‘In response to the recent severe weather events and arctic temperatures that have impacted our operations across Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, as well as the additional snow and ice accumulation forecast to hit the region over the next week, Union Pacific is implementing catastrophic embargo #UP130022 for all traffic in and out of the region,’ UP said in its Dec. 29 customer advisory. ‘The embargo will allow us to maintain fluidity as this segment of the network works to move volumes impacted by the weather event’. UP had to contend with snow drifts as high as 15 feet that blocked tracks in Iowa and Minnesota last month, as well as frozen switches, according to a customer advisory.”
For KELO-TV in Sioux Falls Rae Yost says, “This week’s storm should be one for the historical records in several communities across South Dakota and southwestern Minnesota. Total snowfall reported snowfall as of noon today (Jan. 3) include 12 inches and 16 inches in Humboldt and even 20 inches in Armour. Armour had 26.5 inches as of 4 p.m., according to KELOLAND meteorologist Jay Trobec. The snow from Monday (Jan. 2) into Tuesday (Jan. 3) may not surpass the 26 inches that fell in Sioux Falls on Feb. 17 and 18, 1962, but it’s likely going to reach the top 10. The city received 16.6 inches of snow on Dec. 21 and Dec. 22, 1968. That ranks third in heaviest 24-hour snowfall, according to the National Weather Service.”
A Minnesota Monthly story by Frank Lien says, “In the past few years, health-boosting beverages have stepped into the lemon and limelight. People are seeking more benefits in the drinks they consume, and they want to feel good about what they put in their bodies. After all, you are what you eat — or in this case, what you drink. … St. Paul-based Panache creates juices and ciders that are unprocessed. The science behind Panache’s shelf-stable beverages dates back more than 3,000 years, long before the concept of refrigeration. According to Panache CEO and co-founder Ameeta Jaiswal-Dale, Panache’s juices are made using Ayurvedic recipes inspired by South Asian philosophies found in yoga.”
At WCCO-TV Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield says, “Some people living in the south metro are without heat and lights Wednesday night. The storm hit power lines in Eagan, Burnsville and Farmington. About 1,000 people were out of power after the storm. Eric Gehrke is a lineman with Dakota Electric. ‘You’re walking up to your waist in snow and it’s tiring. It’s a long day. It is what it is, but we try to get our members on as fast as we can,’ Gehrke said. He’s got 28 years experience working these lines, but this one was a doozy. ‘Been up since 3 a.m., first call out. Still got a thousand people out of power,’ he said. ‘I think they’re pulling us off the road at about 11 p.m.’”
In the Strib, Chris Riemenschneider reports, “Among the many questions that veteran Twin Cities rapper Maria Isa heard last year during her successful campaign to become a state legislator, the one that always baffled her was, ‘Are you going to quit your music career?’ The proud native of St. Paul’s West Side answered that query resoundingly Tuesday, when she issued a new EP on the same day she was sworn into office at the State Capitol. ‘Of course I’m going to keep making my music — that’s where I get my energy,’ said the artist now formally known in the Legislature as Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul.”
For Patch William Bornhoft reports, “A Lakeville man has been charged in the theft of more than $35,000 from his employees, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday. Frederick Leon Newell, 57, faces one count of wage theft and one count of theft by swindle. According to Freeman, Newell’s case is one of the first prosecuted under Minnesota’s wage theft law, which was passed in 2019. … Newell owns and operates a commercial painting company called Integrated Painting Solutions (IPS), according to authorities.”
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