Minneapolis cop writes more than 2,000 tickets in three years

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Meet Minneapolis’ most ticket-writing cop. For MPR, Curtis Gilbert reports, “The vast majority of Minneapolis cops issued fewer than 200 misdemeanor citations during the nearly three-year period the ACLU studied. Only 14 officers handed out more than 1,000. [Michael] Killebrew stood far above even that elite group. He cited or arrested more than 2,000 people. … Steve Gallagher, who runs the Stevens Square Community Organization, said Killebrew is one of the best and most diligent cops he’s ever worked with. Gallagher used to jokingly warn his neighborhood watch volunteers not to jaywalk on patrol, because Killebrew would write them up for it. … ‘He was very consistent,’ Gallagher said. ‘If you broke the law, then you would get a ticket. He didn’t care what race or creed or sex you were. He was very fair to everyone. He would give everyone a ticket or let them know they were doing wrong.’ ”

Mille Lacs ain’t the only Minnesota body of water with fish problems. “Thousands of brown and rainbow trout, suckers, chubs, dace and other fish were found dead in and near the South Branch Whitewater River Thursday,” writes John Weiss in the Post Bulletin. “The DNR collected 235 dead fish in two small areas, and there were thousands of others in other parts of the stream, he said. Because of the seriousness of the kill, the departments of agriculture and pollution control were also there to collect water samples and dead fish for testing, he said.”

The Twin Cities’ most popular park? The Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis. That’s according to new estimates released by the Met Council and reported on by the Pioneer Press’ Andy Rathbun: “Annual visits hit an estimated 48.7 million in 2014 — up about 1.5 million from the previous year and up more than 15 million from 2005. … More than half of the estimated visits were in Minneapolis and St. Paul, with the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes Regional Park — which includes Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet — attracting the highest number: about 5.5 million visits. … That was followed by Como Regional Park, Zoo and Conservatory, which had about 4.3 million visits.”

Bernie Sanders is working really hard for the Minnesota vote. In the Atlantic, David A. Graham writes, “On ABC’s This Week in May, George Stephanopoulos asked Sanders about this sort of rhetoric. ‘I can hear the Republican attack ad right now: “He wants America to look more like Scandinavia,”’ the host said. Sanders didn’t flinch:

That’s right. That’s right. And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong when you have more income and wealth equality? What’s wrong when they have a stronger middle class in many ways than we do, higher minimum wage than we do, and they are stronger on the environment than we do? Look, the fact of the matter is, we do a lot in our country, which is good, but we can learn from other countries.”

In other news…

Northeast Nazi found unfit to stand trial for war crimes. [MPR]

“Trump ‘A Disaster’ Says Former Gov. Quie” [The UpTake]

“Can High Bridge stencils prevent suicides?” [Pioneer Press] 

 General Mills closing facilities in Taiwan and South Africa. [Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal]

Who could say no to a kitten? “Fargo man accused of using kitten as ploy in cuffed escape from police cruiser” [Inforum]

Light at the end of the tunnel? “Officials Lift Quarantine On Minnesota Poultry Farms” [WCCO]

New F. Scott Fitzgerald story. [Pioneer Press]