Soon to be major league: St. Paul. Says Peter Cox for MPR, “The St. Paul City Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday supporting a potential Major League Soccer stadium on a 10-acre site in the Midway neighborhood. ‘This doesn’t guarantee anything; there’s no deal here,’ said Council Member Chris Tolbert, who co-sponsored the resolution [along with Council Member Dai Thao]. He said the resolution was meant to communicate to the league that the site would be ‘a great location.’ The resolution’s wish list includes a stadium that can accommodate public events; planning for infrastructure upgrades, and assurances that the development would spur investment in the adjoining 25-acre Midway Shopping Center site.”
Now this is one where you want the body cam footage. In the PiPress, Mara Gottfried writes, “A man stole a bicycle in St. Paul from exactly the wrong person, according to charges. It was a police officer’s patrol bike, though it wasn’t labeled with ‘police,’ the Ramsey County attorney’s office said. Prosecutors charged Devin Lamont Fitzgerald, 18, of St. Paul, on Wednesday with two counts of felony theft. A St. Paul officer had been conducting surveillance from the security office at St. Joseph’s Hospital downtown Tuesday and left his patrol bicycle unlocked outside the security window, the criminal complaint said. He glanced out the office about 11:20 a.m. and saw the bike was missing. The officer checked surveillance video and saw a male take the bike minutes earlier. The suspect’s description was broadcast to law enforcement, and a Ramsey County sheriff’s sergeant saw a man who fit the description on a bike in the area of West Seventh Street and St. Clair Avenue. The man, identified as Fitzgerald, said he’d borrowed the bike.”
The Fair is off to a great start. WCCO-TV says, “The Minnesota DFL is questioning the timing of a post from the Republican Party of Minnesota’s Facebook page Wednesday morning. The post, which has since been deleted, showed a picture of a shirt the party is presumably making available for purchase at the Minnesota State Fair. The shirt reads ‘Obama can’t ban these guns,’ with two arrows pointing out toward the sleeves of the shirt, indicating the slang term ‘guns’ meaning exposed arms.” No truth to the rumor the GOP is giving away deep-fried bullets.
Yeah, I’d be “dismayed,” too. Catharine Ross and Barry Amundson of the Forum News Service say, “Accusations, rumors and mystery are surrounding a Wadena farm this week after investigators issued a search warrant looking for human remains. Unexpectedly Monday morning, Dan Hansen says his farm about two miles north of Wadena was swarming with investigators. His wife took photos when dozens of squad cars pulled onto the couple’s property. ‘It was unbelievable,’ Hansen said of the sight. … The sheriff’s office in the north-central Minnesota county won’t say who tipped off authorities about the possibility of human remains, but Hansen said his estranged brother, a police chief in a town 50 miles north of Wadena, may be the one making the accusations.” Fun family.
It’s called, “The Full San Francisco.” Says John Reinan in the Strib, “Minnesota cities are declaring war on flushable wipes, fighting damage awards to homeowners victimized by a rising tide of sewer line backups. State law has long held that cities aren’t responsible for foreign objects in the sewer system. But the popularity of flushable wipes has forced cities to defend themselves aggressively against homeowners who seek payment for damages from sewer backups caused by wipes and other ‘rags,’ as they’re called in industry lingo.” And anything from the lobbyist for the American Association of Flushable Wipers?
From Tom Pellisero of USA Today: “The federal judge who long has presided over NFL labor matters is as interested as everyone else to see how things play out in the Tom Brady Deflategate case. And he apparently doesn’t have much regard for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s understanding of the collective bargaining agreement. … ‘I’m not sure the commissioner understands there is a CBA,’ [Minnesota Judge David] Doty said, citing Goodell’s actions and quotes in newspaper articles he has read.”
Just like we all think it’s all the other Congressmen/women who are the problem, Jeremy Olson of the Strib says, “Doctors might not be able to turn on the charm overnight, but new Minnesota patient survey data show it is entirely possible for them to become better at seeing and talking with patients. The second release of patient satisfaction data by MN Community Measurement on Wednesday showed little change overall — 79 percent of patients gave top marks to their doctors in 2014, compared to 78 percent in 2012. But some clinics made substantial progress.”
The allure is pretty strong. For the AP, Amy Forliti says, “The high-profile arrests of six Minneapolis-area men charged with plotting to join the Islamic State group haven’t stopped others from aspiring to do the same, and some are planning trips ‘as we speak,’ the head of the FBI in Minnesota said Wednesday. In an interview with The Associated Press, FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Thornton spoke about the ongoing investigation.”
Now here is a San Francisco tech upgrade worth having. Says Peter Cox (again) at MPR: “The city of Minneapolis is rolling out a new meterless parking payment option: the smartphone. Customers can use the MPLS Parking app to plug in their parking-spot number and pay through their phone. They can also add more time to their meter while they’re away from the parking spot. The city is testing the app out in 975 spots in the North Loop and Downtown West.”
What’s your Congressman done for you lately? The Duluth News Tribune reports, “U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan is offering residents of Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District the chance to receive a pair of tickets to watch a live broadcast of Pope Francis’ address to Congress next month. The tickets will be to watch the address on video screens on the West Lawn of the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 24. Members of Congress were allotted tickets for the event, and Nolan is raffling off his 50 tickets in pairs. The free tickets are standing room only, and an unobstructed view is not guaranteed, Nolan’s office said.” Did he ever consider Papal Seat Licenses?
Wait a minute
I thought the light rail was supposed to “spur development” in Midway.
Bones are Bones?
In re the Wadena searched farm — an aspect of this case makes me bristle how reporting on stories like this is conducted.
Early reporting noted how the owner said, plainly and forthrightly, that searchers will probably find bones as the family at one time ran a zoo on the property. Yet headlines the next day were breathless in their exclaiming that “bones found on searched property!” Some even outrageously claimed they were human bones. Never mind that: 1 – Said bones were being sent in for testing to determine exactly what they were, and; 2 – The owner of the property said they would probably find bones. Why then was it such a surprise that, gasp!, bones were found?
It sounds like there are many layers to this story and I hope the property owners will be compensated for the disruption of their lives and land.