Former Orono swim coach barred by USA Swimming over misconduct allegations

by MinnPost staff 05/17/201805/17/2018

Uh oh. KSTP’s Eric Chaloux and Joe Augustine report: “A west metro swim coach has been suspended from USA Swimming due to allegations of misconduct, according to disciplinary records posted Wednesday by SafeSport, a national organization tasked with preventing emotional, physical and sexual abuse of amateur athletes. … Pete Buecher of St. Louis Park is ‘prohibited from participating in any capacity in any activity or competition’ organized by USA Swimming until an investigation is complete, according to the organization. … Buecher was the head coach of the Metro Marlins Swim Team in Orono, which is affiliated with USA Swimming.

Related. WCCO’s Christiane Cordero reports: “More than 300 sexual abuse victims settled with Michigan State University for a record-breaking $500 million Tuesday, over allegations that it did not do enough to discipline its former doctor Lawrence Nassar. … Among those survivors was 2017 NCAA Champion gymnast Maggie Nichols, from Little Canada. … Nichols is not just a hometown hero, she is also one of 332 international heroes who shared their experience with the disgraced doctor. … In her victim impact statement from January 2018, Nichols said Nassar’s abuse started when she was 15 years old.”

We’re getting soaked. For FiveThirtyEight, Ella Koeze reports: “Minnesota is getting wetter. Over the last 100 years, the state has seen more storms that produce heavy rainfall, and its strongest storms have grown more intense. One of the more dramatic changes is the increasing number of ‘mega-rain’ events — rainstorms during which at least 6 inches of rain falls over at least 1,000 square miles and the center of the storm drops more than 8 inches of rain. Minnesota has had 11 mega-rains since 1973, and eight of them have come since 2000. Two mega-rains swept through in 2016, which is only the third time the state experienced more than one mega-rain in a year. (It also happened in 1975 and 2002.) … Experts suspect climate change is behind this and other shifts in precipitation patterns. But knowing what’s causing an increase in precipitation and knowing what to do about it are two different issues. Minnesota and states across the Midwest are confronting an uncertain, flood-prone future, one where changes in precipitation patterns could get even more dramatic. The precipitation estimates that city planners have relied on in making preparations for flooding are based on historical weather trends, not predictions of future trends, and the estimates themselves were sometimes decades old. New estimates have been released for Minnesota, but they only show how much has already changed. They have nothing to say about what change is coming next.”

So it’s not just your house. The Southwest Journal’s Michelle Bruch reports: “Property in Minneapolis is averaging annual 8-10 percent increases in value since 2014.* In Linden Hills, single-family home valuations went up 11.5 percent in the past year, according to city data. In Lynnhurst, valuations went up 14.7 percent. Jordan: 13 percent. Seward: 19 percent. Phillips West: 24 percent. … Appeals contesting property valuations, meanwhile, shot up to about 1,400 this year, an increase of 85 percent over 2017 — and the City Assessor said he has no problem with that. In fact, he said he relies on appeals to ensure valuations are correct.”