Minneapolis City Council expected to pass single-use bag fee

MPR’s Matt Sepic reports: “Paper or plastic? If Minneapolis city leaders get their way, either one will cost you. Council members are expected to vote Friday on a plan to require grocery stores and other retailers to charge customers 5 cents for every bag they take. The measure has its supporters in the community. At a public hearing this week, Minneapolis resident Josie Winship said plastic bags are a big driver of the city’s litter problem. She brought a sample to show council members.”

Says Nick Woltman for the Pioneer Press, “A new public security checkpoint between Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the MSP Intercontinental Hotel will reopen Friday after being closed this week by the Transportation Security Administration, which said the checkpoint was underused. The checkpoint, which debuted last year, will now be open from 4:30 to 10 a.m. daily, according to a news release issued by the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which had expressed its displeasure with the TSA’s decision to close the checkpoint.”

This from Dan Gunderson at MPR, “Many farmers who grow wheat thought that might be the one crop to turn a profit this year. It had all the markings of the kind of harvest they’d hoped for, with good yields and high protein levels. But when they hauled the crop to sell it at elevators around the state, instead of big payouts, they were hit with deep per-bushel price reductions. …  Weather conditions late in the summer were so consistently cool and damp that the wheat started to germinate, or sprout, before it was harvested. When that happens, the starch in the kernels turns into sugar. That’s a problem because starch is critical for quality bread flour.”

From the AP: “Former Minnesota Vikings kicker Fred Cox, one of the last of the straight-on placekickers and a standout on several conference championship teams, has died. He was 80. … Cox, who also co-created the Nerf football, scored a Minnesota-record 1,365 points in his 15 seasons, often kicking in nasty conditions because the Vikings played outdoors during his career from 1963-77. … Cox was one of 11 Vikings to play in all four of the team’s Super Bowls, all defeats.”

Says Kristen Leigh Painter for the Star Tribune, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture said thousands of pounds of salad products possibly contaminated with E. coli are being recalled in 22 states, including Minnesota. New Jersey-based Missa Bay LLC is clawing back more than 75,000 pounds of salad products as the lettuce might be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. All of the affected salads contain meat or poultry. The products were sold at a number of stores, including Aldi, Target and Walmart between Oct. 14 and 16.”

An MPR story says, “Minnesota officials are telling consumers not to eat non-organic blackberries purchased Sept. 9-13 from Fresh Thyme Farmers Market grocery stores following a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A traced to the berries. People in Indiana, Nebraska and Wisconsin have reported becoming ill, and traceback information shows these berries came from a distribution center that ships to Fresh Thyme Farmers Market stores in 11 states, including Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said Thursday.”

The Star Tribune’s Paul Walsh reports, “Police believe a man’s body discovered Thursday in Woodbury is that of a missing 29-year-old, while a woman and two men are jailed on suspicion of homicide. William C. Albrecht, of Minneapolis, was last seen alive early in the day on Nov. 15 at a Bloomington home in the 1500 block of E. 87th Street. … The body was located about 3 p.m. outside in an ‘open area’ southwest of where Interstates 94 and 494 intersect, said Hartley, who declined to describe the condition of the body.”

Also in the Star Tribune, Kelly Smith writes, “St. Stephen’s Human Services is boosting the number of staff who help homeless families after scoring a new $5 million grant from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ charitable fund — the largest foundation grant the Minneapolis nonprofit has ever received in its nearly 50-year history. St. Stephen’s is the only Minnesota organization and one of 32 nonprofits in the U.S. to receive the one-time grant from the $2 billion fund Bezos launched last year to benefit the opening of preschools in low-income neighborhoods and nonprofits that help homeless families. St. Stephen’s will use the money to hire six staff members to help nearly 200 more families per year find housing over the next five years.”