Elizabeth Mohr, in the PiPress, reports: “A third lawsuit claiming child sex abuse has been filed against the Children’s Theatre Company and one of its former acting coaches. The suit, filed Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court, claims Doe 116, a former student at the theater’s school, was sexually abused by Jason McLean for four years, beginning in 1981 when she was about 13 years old.”
A judge has signed off on an archdiocese sell-off. From the Pioneer Press: “A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of a St. Paul building owned by the Twin Cities archdiocese. Judge Robert Kressel on Thursday approved the sale of the Hayden Center to the Minnesota Historical Society for $4.5 million. It’s the first of four real estate holdings expected to be sold by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis this year.” The Cathedral ought to bring at least twice that.
We’re up to six GOP candidates in the CD2 race. MPR tells us: “Darlene Miller, the CEO of Permac Industries, a precision parts manufacturing company in Burnsville, stressed her business experience in announcing her campaign. ‘A growing economy with more and better paying jobs will ease the daily pressures on people’s lives. Economic growth will also allow us to get the federal deficit under control if we hold the line on spending.’ Miller said … . Miller blamed government for blocking job growth. ‘ObamaCare, taxes, over-regulation, and deficit spending are crushing our country and killing the jobs that help the middle class. Working families and small businesses need Washington to get out of the way, and I look forward to fighting for them in Congress,’ she said.” Now that there is some mighty original messagin’.
Wanna hang with Seahawks fans before the game? Seahawks.com is pointing Seattle fans to the 8th Street Grill in downtown Minneapolis. “James Erickson, 40, has been a Midwest-based Seahawks fan since the mid-1990s and has traveled to Green Bay, Chicago and New Orleans to cheer on the team. He’ll be hosting this Saturday’s playoff rally at the 8th Street Grill in Minneapolis, where he bartended and managed for a decade before moving to Wisconsin last year. ‘It’s technically a Packers bar, because the owner is from Wisconsin,’ said Erickson, who now owns a bar called the Silver Dollar in Menomonie, Wis., ‘but it’s a Seahawks-friendly bar.’”
Allison Sherry of the Strib has a list of “dates” the state’s congressional delegation is taking to the State of the Union speech. “Sen. Al Franken: Abdirahman Kahin, the owner of Afro Deli restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul and a prominent member of the Twin Cities’ Muslim community. … Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison: Elijah Ellison, a Muslim-American and combat medic in the U.S. Army, and Rep. Ellison’s son.”
Mukhtar Ibrahim at MPR has a bit more on Franken’s choice. “Kahin, 38, owner of Afro Deli & Grill restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul, was chosen by Franken to attend President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address next Tuesday in Washington, D.C. ‘As a small business owner and leader in our community, Abdirahman Kahin is an excellent example of how integral people of diverse faiths and backgrounds are to the prosperity of our state,’ Franken said in a statement. ‘For over five years, Afro Deli has introduced Minnesotans to delicious African and Mediterranean cuisine with an American twist, and its success is a testament to Abdirahman’s entrepreneurship.'”
Trending … in Wisconsin. Says Jesse Garza in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, “A Milwaukee man is accused of stabbing an unwanted cocker spaniel to death after the dog repeatedly returned to its owners’ home, once after having already been stabbed and left for dead, according to a criminal complaint. Zachary George Senner, 38, is charged with felony mistreatment of an animal/use of a dangerous weapon in the stabbing and bludgeoning of the dog … . When he could not find someone willing to take the animal Senner tried leaving Brandy at a location away from the couple’s residence, but the dog found its way back home.” The rest is too gruesome for words.
But then we’ve got this guy. Jaime DeLage of the PiPress says, “A Minnetonka Beach man who accidentally ran over and killed his wife in the driveway while drunk has been sentenced to 8 months in jail and 10 years probation. David Meder, 59, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.12 when arrested after the fatal July 24, 2014, accident, according to the Hennepin County attorney’s office. His wife, Diane, 57, was still alive when paramedics arrived and told them her husband struck her by accident. She died at the hospital shortly afterward. Meder told police he and his wife were coming home from a restaurant when the accident happened. He said he stopped at the mailbox and, while he was looking at the mail, his wife got out of their SUV. He ran over her as he pulled into the driveway.”
DeLage has another story. This one is about the High Bridge neighborhood trying to deal with suicides. “A High Bridge makeover, of its design and its reputation, could help reduce the number of people who use the St. Paul span as a means to end their lives. Neighborhood advocates hope physical barriers will be included when the Smith Avenue bridge over the Mississippi River is redecked in 2018, but they aren’t waiting until then to take measures of their own. About 60 of them gathered Wednesday night at Bad Weather Brewing Co., near the north end of the bridge, to discuss steps they could take in the short term.”
