The Star Tribune has the story: “Five protesters were shot late Monday night near the Black Lives Matter encampment at the Fourth Precinct police station in north Minneapolis, according to police. Those who were shot sustained non-life-threatening injuries, said police spokesman John Elder in a statement. Miski Noor, a media contact for Black Lives Matter, said ‘a group of white supremacists showed up at the protest, as they have done most nights.’ … When about a dozen protesters attempted to herd the group away from the area, Noor said, they ‘opened fire on about six protesters,’ hitting five of them. Jaehnert said she heard four gunshots.”
On the question of staying his order on sex offenders, the judge says, “No.” Says the AP: “A judge has rejected a motion by the state of Minnesota to stay his order requiring changes to the state’s program for confining sex offenders after their prison sentences. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank declared the program unconstitutional in June. Last month he ordered changes including risk assessments for all offenders in the program to determine which can be put on a path toward release. The state asked him to suspend that order pending an appeal.”
Well, in fairness, he wasn’t the one who played like a turkey. Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press gets tradition duty. “Even before Gov. Mark Dayton petted this year’s ceremonial turkey-at-the-Capitol, he gave the previously unnamed 18-month-old tom a name. Dayton picked the name Aaron—‘after what happened yesterday on the field.’ What happened Sunday on the field was a 30-13 demolition of the Minnesota Vikings football team by the Green Bay Packers and their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. So was Dayton, a Vikings fan, exacting a measure of revenge in giving Rodgers’ name to a turkey who will soon be butchered and his meat donated? Dayton said he didn’t want bad things to happen to Aaron the quarterback — or at least, nothing bad outside of his stat line.”
Yet another shrewd dude done in by Twitter. The AP says, “A Minnesota man who admitted sending an angry tweet threatening U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch was sentenced Monday to four years of probation with a long list of conditions meant to keep him out of trouble. Mahamed Abukar Said, 20, was charged in April with two felonies after posting a message on Twitter saying ‘ima whack that us attorney general.’ He has said he was angry because prosecutors had just charged six of his friends with conspiring to join the Islamic State group. Said also admitted being high on marijuana and Xanax when he sent the tweet.” Even though he was low on caps and punctuation.
Also in the realm of stuff you don’t put out for everyone to see, Linda Vanderwerf of the Grand Forks Herald reports, “A fight stemming from a derogatory Facebook page escalated into an incident that led to a brief lockdown at Willmar Senior High School Friday afternoon. Students and staff went into lockdown as a safety precaution, according to a statement from the school district. At least two police reports were filed earlier in the week about students who said they were being harassed and were targets of vulgar comments on Facebook.”
Homemade whiskey in Canal Park. The Duluth News Tribune alerts locals and tourists, “Vikre Distillery in Duluth, which began distributing its handcrafted gins in 2013, has added whiskey to its lineup. On Friday, the startup released its first whiskey — Sugarbush Whiskey — which the company says is the first whiskey to be legally distilled and sold in Duluth. The distillery also produces several gins, aquavits and a vodka. Sugarbush Whiskey is the first in a series of experimental whiskeys the small Canal Park distillery owned by Emily and Joel Vikre is developing. The whiskey is largely made out of corn mash, like a traditional bourbon, but aged in a nontraditional sequence of barrels. It is made with local touches, using Lake Superior water, Minnesota and Wisconsin grains and locally sourced barrels. It’s aged with Minnesota soft maple wood and local maple syrup.”
An Edina swindler is heading to the clink. Bill Hudson at WCCO-TV says, “A Twin Cities options trader was sentenced to prison time for swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors he found on Craigslist. Earlier in 2015, 56-year-old Jeffrey Petersen of Edina pleaded guilty to nearly two dozen counts of securities fraud and theft. … Petersen sought out his clients on Craigslist, promising big returns in trading stock options. Those investors lost $330,000 to an unlicensed broker with a fabricated track record.” Do I smell a lack of financial literacy in this story?
A couple items from Paul Huttner at MPR. First on snow trends: “Snow may be hard to come by at times this winter. The early patterns emerging as we inevitably slide toward the northern winter include a milder than average temperature profile in inbound storms. That has produced a November snowfall drought so far.
Exhibit A.
3.99 inches: rainfall this November in the Twin Cities
7th wettest November on record
0.0 inches of measurable snowfall at MSP Airport so far in November
9.3 inches: average November snowfall in the Twin Cities.
Then this: “ … we’re looking for the next great forecaster, communicator and voice to join me in the MPR Weather Lab. If you know someone who may fit the bill, please feel free to pass this job posting for an MPR Meteorologist along.”
It’s holding up a lot better than some of the glitzier stuff. MPR’s Tracy Mumford writes, “FX announced today that the network has renewed the television show ‘Fargo’ for a third season. The show is a small-screen adaptation of Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1996 film ‘Fargo’— though it’s more of a thematic adaptation than a literal one. … The second season has earned critical praise so far, with NPR’s Eric Deggans calling it ‘a quirky, creative reinvention that improves on an already stellar show.’ Midwesterners watching at home may recognize the accents, but not many of the landmarks. ‘Fargo’ is filmed in Canada.”
An update on that bizarre Lakeville case. Says Brandon Stahl in the Strib, “[Sandra] Grazzini-Rucki, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail, did an interview with ABC-TV’s ‘20/20,’ her attorney, Michelle MacDonald, said Monday. Grazzini-Rucki has declined to speak with the Star Tribune since she was arrested, though in an April interview she denied any involvement with hiding the girls. The other woman referenced in the criminal account was not named. Lakeville police Lt. Jason Polinski said that several more people will be charged in connection with the girls’ disappearance and that details about the girls’ time at the horse ranch will be provided.”
And it’s been too long since we checked up on our old friend, Scott Walker, formerly our favorite GOP candidate for president from a neighboring state. Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports, “Federal appeals judges on Monday agreed with a lower court that a politically polarizing 2013 abortion law is unconstitutional, finding it endangered the health of women. The provision of the law at issue — blocked by a court ruling immediately after GOP Gov. Scott Walker approved it 21/2 years ago — would have required doctors who provide abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of where they perform the procedure. In its 2-1 ruling Monday, a panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago concluded the medical benefit to the requirement was ‘nonexistent’ and ‘cannot be taken seriously as a measure to improve women’s health.'” Not that it ever had anything to do with women’s health, you understand.
Also, this is good. Milwaukee’s FOX6-TV reports, “Gov. Scott Walker spent an average of less than one hour per day doing state business during his short-lived presidential campaign, according to records released to FOX6 News. Over his 71-day campaign, Walker’s official monthly calendars include 57 hours of state business, or an average of 48 minutes per day. Many days, the governor’s only Wisconsin-related agenda item was a brief morning teleconference with his staff. Walker’s office released the records to news outlets late Friday afternoon, when few people would be paying attention to them. In contrast, Walker blocked off 809 hours over the same time period for other purposes, an average of 11 hours and 24 minutes per day.” Personally, if I was trying to make a living in Wisconsin, I’d feel more comfortable if he stuck to that 48 minutes-a-day schedule.
