The wanted poster for the suspected Arden Hills gas station shooter is out. WCCO-TV says, “As the search for Ty Hoffman continues, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office released a new wanted poster Thursday seeking information leading to his arrest. … Hoffman is known to associate within the gay community, and authorities believe he may be using Grindr, Craigslist, Scruff or other applications to find shelter. He is identified as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and about 230 pounds with short brown hair, hazel eyes and a large build.”
Is there any worry they’ll have a hard time covering this? The AP says, “The Minnesota Vikings say they’re adding another $19.7 million to their contribution to a new stadium to make sure it has the features they want. The team said Friday that the new money will guarantee ‘crucial’ features such as five massive pivoting glass doors.” For those bad with math, $19 million is 5.9% of $319 million.
Or as Doug Belden at the PiPress puts it: “With costs for their new stadium rising, the Minnesota Vikings have agreed to kick in an additional $46.1 million. The amount locks in the team’s previous contingency guarantees of $26.4 million from last fall and includes an additional $19.7 million in cash. Added to the extra $2.5 million the team previously put in, the total additional money they’re putting in is $48.6 million. The move takes the total project budget up to $1.023 billion.”
Related: With the Park Board washing its hands of the so-called “yard” in front of the Taj MaVikes, the city has to find someone to take it on. Steve Brandt of the Strib is saying, “Minneapolis city officials are scrambling to figure out how to run and finance a massive downtown park after the park board pulled out of the project Wednesday night. … The park will likely be built in phases, starting with a basic grassy space before the larger vision is completed. City leaders already have money earmarked for the basic grass park as part of the larger stadium agreement.” Purple grass, I’m guessing.
Some folks need a little pressure to come around: The AP says, “The owners of a lodge in central Minnesota have agreed to pick up the tab for the wedding and reception of a same-sex couple they initially turned away. The Minnesota Human Rights Department says Cole Frey and his fiance have settled their discrimination case against the owners of Rice Creek Hunting and Recreation. The Rice Creek Lodge is a wedding venue in Little Falls. The Department of Human Rights investigated and determined there was probable cause of discrimination by the lodge owners due to sexual orientation.”
GOP Congressional candidate Torrey Westrom can’t quite get to a full disavowal of the fake Collin Peterson website that funnels donations to Republicans. On her Bluestem Prairie blog, Sally Jo Sorensen writes, “When it comes to disavowing the NRCC’s fake news or fake Collin Peterson website, Westrom says that’s none of his business. Westrom made the statement on Monday during an interview on Chris Berg’s Point of View show on Valley News Live in Fargo.”
Flipping is beginning to flop. Jim Buchta at the Strib says, “House flipping is fading fast. Across the country only 31,000 single family homes were flipped — purchased and resold within 12 months — during the second quarter, accounting for just 4.6 percent of all U.S. home sales, according to RealtyTrac. That’s down from 5.9 percent in the first quarter and 6.2 percent during the same period last. In Minnesota, 3.2 percent of all closings were flips, down from 4.3 percent during the previous quarter and 10.9 percent last. Those flips garnered an average $83,000 gross profit, an above average 51.9 percent return.”
Dean Barkley will get his car back. James Eli Shiffer of the Strib says, “On Thursday, Dean Barkley had his day in court, and he emerged with a victory. The former U.S. Senator successfully challenged the Golden Valley police’s effort to confiscate his 2005 GMC Envoy through forfeiture. The SUV has been parked since April in a towing company’s lot since it was seized by police from a relative of Barkley, who had borrowed the Envoy, got pulled over and charged with DWI. Back in May, I reported how Barkley filed a lawsuit to recover his car, and in the process become a critic of police forfeiture laws.”
The cops aren’t saying much (yet) about what caused a massive traffic snarl on 394 this morning. At MPR Jon Collins writes, “Parts of Interstate 394 in Minneapolis were closed for much of the morning due to police activity. The closure snarled traffic on Interstate 94 and Interstate 35W as motorists sought alternate routes. … For a time, westbound Interstate 394 was closed at Dunwoody Boulevard. … Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson John Elder said ‘it was an isolated incident that posed no threat to public safety.’”
At City Pages, Aaron Rupar had no better luck getting an explanation for why a Lac Qui Parle prosecutor is going to spend public time and money prosecuting a mom giving cannabis oil to her kid. “On Wednesday and Thursday, we called Richard Stulz, Lac Qui Parle county attorney, in hopes of speaking with him about why he decided to press charges against Angela Brown, the Madison, Minnesota woman who gave her ailing teenage son medical marijuana oil to (effectively) treat symptoms stemming from a traumatic brain injury. But Stulz, unfortunately, isn’t in the mood to talk about it.”
394
Word on the street (sorry) is that 394 was closed due to a jumper on the Penn Avenue bridge.
That’s afirm
My wife saw the guy. Apparently there’s some kind of media agreement NOT to publicize attempted suicide attempts so as to not encourage more of them.
The odds are 19 to 1…
that the new Vikes contribution to the stadium had nothing to do with bird-friendly glass, glass that they still can’t afford.
Worse
They actually went further the wrong way – more bird killing glass for the giant pivoting glass doors. They don’t get it, and don’t care either.
Who “owns” the so-called “Yard”, and who’s gonna pay for it ??
Years ago in a real estate class, the lecturer talked about the ordinary concept of “ownership” of real estate that most people have, and how misguided it is. In fact, what title to the property gives you, he maintained, is certain limited rights of USE and certain limited rights to CONTROL the property, with emphasis on the “limited” part.
You might say that he who has the substantial rights of use and control has the substantial benefits of ownership.
The Vikings and its lapdog handmaiden, the MSFA, are getting a huge share of the rights of use and control of this space, yet the City of Minneapolis, by yet another example of rotten negotiating, seems to feel IT is stuck with the problem of paying the bill for the Vikings’ use of this asset.
It can no longer be called a public asset with a straight face, unless of course you work for the MSFA. It is another privatized asset which is proposed to be paid for by the public, through one mechanism or another of chicanery.
Our Parks people took a look at it, and walked away, holding their noses, but not their contempt.
From the Strib article: “Park officials estimate they could rent only on 82 of the 214 days, including four weekends, during the prime period of April 1 to Oct. 31, with priority given to the Vikings, a potential major league soccer franchise and the stadium authority.”
Also, regarding the financial obligations:
“Park officials estimate it will cost $6 million to build the bare-bones park and up to $20 million once amenities are added.”
and
“The cost of maintaining a basic park — mowing, hauling trash and cleaning bathrooms — comes to $419,424 a year, the analysis found. But park officials say the costs for operating the park would easily push $500,000, and a more complex park could cost $2 million to $3 million a year just to maintain.”
then further, the Park estimates on operation and maintenance:
“…the cost of maintaining and operating the park would far outstrip the rent from the few prime days it is not being used by the Vikings or stadium authority.”
I am no math genius, but applying a few basic skills in arithmetic tells me the following, assuming the numbers quoted above are accurate:
1. The so-called “Yard” will cost $6 million to $20 million to build.
2. It will cost between $500k and $3 million annually for operations and maintenance.
3. Over 30 years, the operations and maintenance alone will come to somewhere between $15 million and $90 million.
4. Total summed costs, from building to maintenance and operations, comes to between $21 million and $110 million.
Given the history of this whole mess, it seems reasonable to assume the higher costs are the most likely.
The Vikings can pony up another $46 million ?? Because costs are going up and they want the finest ??
Well, they can d*amn well pony up the costs denoted above, too, if they want to own a “Yard” !!!
WHO IS IT in the City of Minneapolis government who thinks WE should pay for this ??
Smokey & the Bandit?
Confiscated property, in the form of Dean Barkley’s car
simply for being loaned to someone else.
Taken, as though the property had been magically transferred to that other person?
This sounds like one of those distant states & evokes Jackie Gleason’s role in the film Smokey & the Bandit!
People with a chronic drinking problem (if that even fits the borrowing driver this case) should be removed from the roads, but simply “confiscating” property has a strange feel to it. doesn’t it?