MPD reviewing video showing two officers standing by as a bouncer punches handcuffed man

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Libor Jany of the Strib reports, “Minneapolis police say they are looking into a video that appears to show two uniformed Minneapolis police officers standing by as a bouncer repeatedly punches a handcuffed man lying facedown outside a downtown strip club. A bystander made a cellphone video of part of the incident, which is said to have occurred Saturday night outside Augie’s Cabaret and posted it to social media on Sunday. … The 10-second video shows a man on the ground with his arms cuffed behind his back as a bouncer punches him three times before being pulled away by someone in the crowd.”

Hate is trending. At MPR, Cody Nelson culls our local hate statistics from the Southern Poverty Law Center’s updated “Hate Map.” After this weekend’s deadly clashes at a rally for white supremacists and white nationalists, it seems only proper that we take a look at hate in Minnesota. Per the SPLC, Minneapolis has a Ku Klux Klan chapter, two black separatist groups and an anti-Muslim group, ACT for America. Step out into the suburbs and there’s a radical, anti-Semitic Catholic organization called The Remnant, based in Forest Lake. In Plymouth, there’s a ‘hate music’ company called Behold Barbarity Records.” 

Speaking of radio stars, Mary Divine of the PiPress tells us, “Former Twin Cities sports-radio personality Jeff Dubay, who has previously run afoul of the law for methamphetamine possession, has been charged with felony assault in Washington County. Dubay, 49, was arrested earlier this month and charged with third-degree assault after he allegedly assaulted a woman in the basement of a Cottage Grove house. Dubay denied any wrongdoing Tuesday.”

A new boss at Wells Fargo. James Koren of the Los Angeles Times reports, “Stephen Sanger, the chairman of Wells Fargo & Co., will step down from the board of the embattled bank effective Jan. 1 and will be replaced by former Federal Reserve official Elizabeth A. ‘Betsy’ Duke, the bank announced Tuesday. Two other long-serving directors, Cynthia H. Milligan and Susan G. Swenson, also will retire at the end of this year. They’re the latest casualties in the bank’s long-running scandal over sham accounts, which has spurred a wide-ranging shake-up at the San Francisco financial giant. … the number of potential sham accounts has grown and the bank has acknowledged or been investigated for a wide array of other bad practices, including forcing unneeded auto insurance policies on auto loan customers and charging improper fees on mortgage borrowers for bank-caused delays.”

What would Wisconsin do? Says the AP, “Members of Minnesota’s two massive public employee unions have ratified a new, two-year contract for the state’s 30,000-plus workers. Minnesota Public Radio News reported that the contracts for the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and AFSCME Council 5 call for a 2 percent raise this year and a 2.5 percent raise in 2018. … Mazeppa Republican Rep. Steve Drazkowski, a member of a key subcommittee that approves union contracts, said he’s concerned about whether the state can afford to cover the raises.”

The always entertaining Drew Magary at Deadspin assesses his/our Minnesota Vikings, circa 2017. In short: “As always, this is the part where I disclose that I’m a Vikings fan. A stupid, gullible, worthless Vikings fan. Have a seat. This’ll take a while. I have a lot of problems with these people. … Every year, the Vikings do everything in their power to humiliate anyone stupid enough to cheer for them. There are mob wives with more dignity than I’ve got. The Super Bowl takes place in Minneapolis this February and I already know the Packers are winning it. It’s cosmic law.”

A way to finance world peace, perhaps? For the Strib, Pat Pheifer writes, “A former Mrs. Minnesota, Jennifer Kline, of Wayzata, was convicted of felony theft by swindle for switching price tags on clothing she bought at the Southdale Macy’s store, authorities said. The trial in Hennepin County District Court lasted a week. The jury determined that the amount of the theft was more than $1,000 but less than $5,000. The scheme, according to court documents, involved Kline buying expensive clothes, then taking them home and attaching the price tags from the new clothes onto clothing she already owned. She would then return the old clothes to a different Macy’s store for a large refund on her credit card.”

And now … killer earthworms. John Myers, with the Forum News Service says, “Invasive earthworms from Europe that came over with early settlers and have been moving across North America ever since are causing sugar maple trees to decline in northern Minnesota forests. That was the conclusion of a research project published in the latest issue of the journal Biological Invasions — the second major project in as many years pointing to earthworms as the culprit in northern Minnesota forest problems.”

And how often does something like this not produce a suspect? The Bismarck Tribune says, “A man accused of dumping radioactive oilfield waste at an abandoned gas station in northwest North Dakota more than three years ago has been placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of criminal fugitives. James Kenneth Ward, 55, faces federal fraud charges connected with illegally disposing waste known as filter socks in the small town of Noonan. Hundreds of filter socks, which contain radioactive oilfield waste, were stockpiled in the former gas station in Divide County.” Don’t worry, the Trump EPA will crack down on this sort of thing.