Video shows aftermath of fatal police shooting in Falcon Heights

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In the Pioneer Press, Frederick Melo and Mara H. Gottfried write: A police officer fatally shot a 32-year-old man during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights on Wednesday night and his girlfriend live-streamed the immediate aftermath. She said in the graphic Facebook video that he had a legal license to carry a firearm and had been reaching for his ID when the officer fired several times.

She probably won’t take questions about e-mail. MPR’s story on Hillary Clinton’s next visit to town, reported by Tim Pugmire, says, “Hillary Clinton will be in Minneapolis later this month to address the American Federation of Teachers convention. Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is scheduled to address more than 3,000 AFT delegates on July 18 at their national convention. That’s the same day that the Republican National Convention opens in Cleveland. The AFT was the first national labor union to endorse Clinton for the Democratic nomination.” 

No light on the horizon for Minnesota State. Says Strib columnist Lee Schafer, “One financial model put together by Minnesota State colleges and universities projected an annual budget deficit of $66 million in nine years unless the system fundamentally changes how it does business. The biggest problem with this forecast isn’t its dismal conclusion for Minnesota State (formerly called MnSCU). It’s that it seems far too optimistic.” What would Wisconsin do? 

Sorry. I’m sticking with the moose. MPR’s story on the license plate competition says, “After casting more than 30,000 online votes, Minnesotans chose an image of a canoe amid the seasons to represent Minnesota parks and trails on a new license plate. The new license plate will be available from the Department of Motor Vehicles this fall as part of the ongoing celebration of the 125th anniversary of Minnesota state parks and trails.” 

Are you getting tired of this act?  MPR’s Dan Kraker says, “Essar Steel Minnesota, which has already missed several deadlines in its decade-long quest to build a new taconite mine and pellet plant on the Iron Range, is asking Minnesota for a nine-month extension of the state’s right to terminate mineral leases at the mine site.” 

Okay, enough with the rain. For the Strib, Tim Harlow says, “Bad news, storm-weary Minnesotans: Swift on the heels of Tuesday night’s battering weather, two more rounds of severe weather are expected Thursday.” 

For People, Aurelie Corinthios writes about fomer Fox News personality Gretchen Carlson’s harassment lawsuit: “In 2015, Carlson published a book, Getting Real, in which she detailed the sexually predatory men she encountered in the workplace. Carlson has also been open about the sexual harassment she experienced as Miss America. ‘I wasn’t naïve, but at the end of my Miss America year, when two different executives attacked me during what I thought were informational interviews about jobs, I was shocked,’ she wrote in a Q&A on her website. ‘I didn’t see it coming, and the worst thing about it was the shame I felt, as if I’d done something wrong.’ ‘Later, on my first television job, it happened again when I was sexually harassed by a cameraman.’”   

Needs better glue. Says Tim Nelson at MPR: “More than a dozen zinc exterior panels on the new U.S. Bank Stadium appear to have come loose during a wind storm that swept through Minneapolis Tuesday night. Panels had come loose on the building during construction, but the latest incident was clearly weather related, Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority chair Michele Kelm-Helgen said. ‘We are looking at understanding why it is they came loose. Obviously there was a storm, but there will be more storms that come,’ Kelm-Helgen said.” For our half billion bucks we at least got an extended warranty on that thing, right?

Date night may become a regular thing. Says Mara Klecker in the Strib, “As the couple watched the morning news on Sunday, the winning Powerball numbers flashed across the TV screen. That’s when Emily looked at the ticket and got excited. ‘We got all of them except the Powerball. We won a couple hundred bucks!’ she recalled in the news release. Luke thought the prize was higher and went online to check. He started texting family members: he and Emily had a ticket worth $1 million.”

$99 million. Also in the Strib, this from Maura Lerner. “Since the Great Depression, tens of thousands of students have lived in Pioneer Hall, one of the oldest and most historic dorms on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus. But after almost 90 years, ‘it’s really at the end of its useful life,’ said Vice President Pamela Wheelock. Rather than tear it down, the U wants to give Pioneer Hall a $99 million face-lift to bring the red brick landmark up to 21st-century standards.” And how much would a modern facsimile cost?

The glory days are ending. In the PiPress, Frederick Melo reports, “More than 250 St. Paul homes are advertised as short-term rentals on Airbnb and similar websites, and with an eye on the Super Bowl coming to Minnesota in 2018, city officials want a handle on how to tax and regulate them. ‘They’re kind of out there in an unregulated place,’ St. Paul City Council Member Chris Tolbert told the council Wednesday. ‘They are growing and continuing to grow.’ Eager to get ahead of a growing trend, the council voted 4-1 on Wednesday to assemble a task force to propose new zoning rules surrounding short-term vacation rentals.” 

And about that FBI-Hillary business? Step back a few feet and behold the Power Line’s Scott Johnson: “Watergate gave us the Saturday night massacre when Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox let himself be fired rather than follow orders from President Nixon. The orders were lawful but Cox disagreed with them in principle. To my knowledge no intelligence officer or defense official or law enforcement officer has resigned in principle in the course of Obama’s presidency. Hillary becomes Evita. Welcome to Banana Republic City. The Clinton email scandal has given us the Tuesday morning massacre. The renowned pillar of virtue James Comey massacred the rule of law. The rule of law in the United States has withstood many ups and downs in our history. It has not withstood Obama or Clinton.” If only Dick Cheney were still in the house to maintain a little respect for the Constitution.