Final Exit fined $30k in Apple Valley assisted-suicide case

by MinnPost staff 08/24/201508/24/2015

The maximum fine. For the Star Tribune, Jessie Van Berkel reports, “A Dakota County judge on Monday ordered Final Exit Network, a national right-to-die group, to pay a $30,000 fine and nearly $3,000 in funeral costs for assisting an Apple Valley woman’s 2007 suicide. … The sentence was the maximum Judge Christian S. Wilton could impose on the corporation for assisting a suicide. … A jury found the Final Exit Network guilty in May of criminal charges of assisting a suicide and interfering with a death scene. It was the first time the national group had been convicted of a felony for assisting a suicide.”

Nicollet Mall redo — a good idea? In the New York Times, David W. Dunlap considers the pros and cons: “Many malls date to the 1960s and ’70s, when suburban shopping centers were draining the life out of downtowns large and small. The prevailing wisdom held that if you took the cars off Main Street and replaced them with wide, inviting pedestrian promenades — and bus service, in some cases — shoppers and visitors would return. … Some cities still embrace their malls. Minneapolis, for instance, has begun a $50 million renovation of the 47-year-old Nicollet Mall, a landscaped 12-block stretch of Nicollet Avenue set aside for pedestrians, bicyclists and buses.”

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Minneapolis’ Kingfield neighborhood celebrates the dedication of a new civil-rights themed park in Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park. In the Southwest Journal, Margin O’Loughlin describes the scene: “Festivities began with a rally 10:30 a.m. at Sabathani Community Center and then people marched to the park for a dedication ceremony and to share stories about ongoing struggles in the civil rights movement. The event was co-sponsored by the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park Legacy Council. … It was significant because it ushered in a new era for the neighborhood park, and for the neighborhood residents who worked so hard to bring about positive change. According to Sandra Richardson, co-chair of the Legacy Council, ‘getting here has not been easy.’ ”