More threats at schools across Minnesota. WCCO has a roundup: “A school in northern Minnesota and another just over the Minnesota-Iowa border have closed due to threats Thursday. … Overnight, Hill City School announced classes will be canceled Thursday. … ‘Threats have been sent through social media directed at some Hill City students,’ the school said. … Hill City School says law enforcement is aware and is investigation.” Meanwhile, from Olivia, the West Central Tribune adds: “The BOLD School District is notifying district residents, students and staff that there was no threat to safety despite stories circulating that someone intended to bring a gun to school Tuesday.”
City Pages’ Jacob Steinberg photographed and spoke with some of the high schoolers protesting gun-violence in Minneapolis Wednesday: “About 150 students from South High School, led by Isra Hirsi, daughter of State Rep. Ilhan Omar, rendezvoused with students from Roosevelt High School at City Hall. They were eventually joined by students from Southwest and Washburn High Schools, who trudged five long miles through snow and ice from South Minneapolis, picking up Mayor Jacob Frey as they passed through Phillips. … Speaking to the cheering crowd outside City Hall, Frey promised to propose a statewide assault weapons ban at the next Intergovernmental Relations committee meeting.”
Not the kind of trend you want to see. MPR’s Mark Zdechlik reports: “Minnesota health officials say the number of cases of seriously flawed medical care in hospitals and surgery centers has been rising over the last four years. These errors are referred to ‘adverse events’ and state officials say they should occur rarely at most. … Care providers reported 341 ‘adverse events’ from October 2016 through September 2017. They included 12 deaths and more than 100 serious injuries. Two-thirds did not lead to death or serious injury. Still, Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm declared the findings a problem.”
Clean-water focus. The Forum News Service’s Don Davis reports in the PiPress: “A couple of businesses are moving to Windom, a 4,600-population community in southwest Minnesota, but the mayor there worries that the city cannot handle much more growth. … The limiting factor may be the city’s need for a new sewage treatment plant to meet state and federal guidelines. Mayor Dominic Jones, who in his private life is director of the Red Rock Rural Water District, said the mandated sewage plant would cost $15 million if it could be built now, but the city cannot afford it. … Even if Windom receives $7 million from the state, as Gov. Mark Dayton proposed in his $1.5 billion public works funding bill, the remaining $8 million would be a heavy lift for the city, the mayor said. … It is a story common among cities across the state, especially small ones in greater Minnesota. The Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities says clean water projects are at the top of its priority list.”
In other news…
Sold: “St. Paul’s Church on the Hill sold to developer who plans performing arts center” [Star Tribune]
Ahem, you mean “Live from Here”: “Former ‘Prairie Home’ returns for first time since Keillor scandal: ‘It’s been really hard’ ” [Star Tribune]
Congrats all, especially the team’s many Minnesotans: “U.S. Women Break Canada’s Grip on Hockey Gold” [New York Times]
Watch these guys too: “2018 Winter Olympics: U.S. men’s curlers beat Canada again, will play for gold medal” [Duluth News Tribune]
The Neighborhood Formerly Known As CARAG: “CARAG neighborhood hunts for a new name” [Southwest Journal]
RIP: “St. Paul’s rags-to-riches philanthropist John Nasseff dies hours before his 94th birthday” [Pioneer Press]
Something Wisconsin gets right: “Alas, the Minnesota State Capitol is the Anti-Madison” [streets.mn]
TAKE: “Why Hüsker Dü—Not Nirvana—Were the Real Kings of Punk’s Second Wave” [Paste]
