Libor Jany and Randy Furst of the Strib say, “Minneapolis police abruptly ended the practice of targeting small-scale marijuana sellers downtown after revelations that nearly everyone arrested was black. In a series of rushed announcements Thursday, authorities said that police would no longer conduct sting operations targeting low-level marijuana sales, and charges against 47 people arrested in the first five months of 2018 would be dismissed. The extraordinary turnaround came after Hennepin County’s chief public defender contacted Mayor Jacob Frey to complain about what looked like blatant racial profiling.”
An AP story says, “New figures show Minnesota’s suicide rate has jumped in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released figures Thursday on suicide rates across the U.S. According to the report, the suicide rate in Minnesota jumped 40.6 percent over 18 years. Between 1999 and 2016, suicide rates in Minnesota increased across age, sex and racial groups.”
But in other statistics, Jeremy Olson of the Strib says, “Teen pregnancy and birth rates might have reached historic lows in Minnesota in 2016, but sexual abuse and relationship violence could undermine further progress. Nearly one in five 11th-graders reported some form of relationship violence in 2016, and nearly one in 10 specifically reported sexual violence, according to the annual adolescent sexual health report released Thursday by the University of Minnesota.”
And while you’re at it, throw your sister under the bus. In a follow-up to the story about the obit-from-hell, Stribber Paul Walsh reports, “The son, who changed his name to Jay Dehmalo to distance himself from his past, told the London Daily Mail that he wrote the stinging send-off to help himself and his sister. ‘We wanted to finally get the last word.’ The 58-year-old Dehmalo, who lives in a Cleveland suburb, told the Daily Mail that the tone was [his sister] Gina’s idea. … Jay Dehmalo said most people ‘have no idea what we went through, and back then … nobody talked about anything.’” Unlike today when everybody talks about everything.
Among the many reasons the insurance industry generates so much goodwill. The Strib’s John Reinan writes, “In a ruling that clarified the state’s law on public access for hunting, the Supreme Court this week held that Corey Ouradnik can sue his father, Robert Ouradnik, for more than $150,000 in medical bills …. You might expect a three-year court battle to generate ill will in the family. But father and son get along just great.… Then why fight dad all the way to the state’s highest court? ‘Insurance,’ said Matt Barber, a Minneapolis attorney who represented the son. ‘Minnesota requires people who are injured to sue the person who injured them,’ if they hope to recover a payment, Barber said.”
Can we handle another invasion of ugly slacks? Tad Reeve at the PiPress reports, “Things seem to be falling into place for a PGA Tour event in the Twin Cities next summer. … Hollis Cavner of Pro Link Sports has vigorously pursued a PGA Tour date for the TPC Twin Cities course in Blaine that currently plays host to the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship. Cavner wants to play a PGA Tour event there as soon as next summer. A couple of possible tournament dates are the week before two 2019 majors: June 6-9, leading into the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, or July 11-14, preceding the British Open at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.”
Get ’em while you can. In the Star Tribune, Mara Klecker writes: “Three years ago, when Alhasan Alajmi found out he’d be heading to the University of Minnesota from his home in Suwaiq, Oman, the hobbyist photographer Googled images of his new city. The search turned up photos of the Minneapolis skyline, many of which he later learned were taken from the 24th Street pedestrian bridge over Interstate 35W. Now only a handful of days remain to frame a similar photo, through holes that rogue photographers have cut into the bridge’s chain-link fence. The footbridge is set to come down June 15 as part of the $239 million reconstruction of I-35W between 43rd Street and downtown Minneapolis.”
What? No “Black Mirror”? William Bornhoft of Patch says, “ … have you ever wondered what the most popular show [on Netflix] is in Minnesota? Well, the good folks over at HighSpeedInternet.com set out to answer that very question. And their findings may surprise you. The company used data from Google Trends to find out what Netflix show people searched for most last year in each state. In Minnesota, it seems people really, really wanted to watch ‘American Vandal.’”
About that father/son thing.
The Strib article offered nothing other than the thoughts of a man who stands to make a good deal of money off the case in question. Yes, the lawyer. We’re told little about the background of the case and nothing to indicate the father was at fault for the son’s injury.
I’m not here to defend insurance companies. I’ve worked with too many of them to even consider doing that. However, there is a tendency in intra-family claims for the accused family member to admit to anything in order to ensure an injured relative recovers from an insurance company. (In this case, the father hired the lawyer to sue him.) So long as we operate in a fault-based insurance system, we need to guard against collusive claims. They simply increase the costs for all of us.
Collusive?
According to the Supreme Court’s opinion, the father built several deer stands on his property, but used nails instead of screws. When the son tried to climb into one of the stands, it gave way and he broke both his legs and his left foot.
Here’s the more important question about “collusion:” Would the insurance company have paid up if it weren’t for the lawsuit?