KSTP-TV’s Callan Grey reports: “A chaotic end to the Fourth of July holiday weekend in Minneapolis has city leaders and residents calling for order. Minneapolis Park Police say seven people were wounded Tuesday morning after a shooting late Monday evening at Boom Island. Meanwhile, downtown Minneapolis was a scene of chaos throughout the evening, with fireworks being launched from cars, endangering pedestrians and drivers in the vicinity. Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman said the city received over 1,300 911 calls from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., noting Minneapolis typically fields that many emergency calls in an entire day. She said some officers had fireworks aimed at them while responding to various complaints.”
Related: Paul Walsh writes in the Star Tribune: “City and police administration first acknowledged the violence at a news conference late Tuesday afternoon, when Mayor Jacob Frey said: ‘This is conduct that should not be acceptable in any city. The kind of violence, the recklessness — and in some cases idiot behavior — that we saw shouldn’t be tolerated. And let me be clear, it will not be tolerated.’ …Interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman said, ‘This was an extremely challenging situation with a very large and hostile crowd [downtown]. People were shooting commercial-grade fireworks at first responders.’”
Also in the Star Tribune, Ryan Faircloth writes: “Democrats in the Minnesota House stayed quiet about their bill to legalize edibles containing certain amounts of THC — the cannabis ingredient that gets people high — to give it a better chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said Tuesday. The strategy paid off — the bill was approved by the Legislature, signed by Gov. Tim Walz and became law Friday. Minnesotans 21 or older can now buy edibles and beverages that contain no more than 5 milligrams of THC per serving and 50 milligrams per package. … ‘It was done publicly. We just didn’t promote it because sometimes having more public attention amps up the level of political pressure that certain people in the other party may feel.’”
FOX 9 reports: “Search efforts for a missing 6-year-old Minnesota girl continued on Tuesday, with investigators now searching areas along the Mississippi River in Stearns County, two hours away from her Northfield home. In a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, police say crews are searching Mississippi River County Park near Rice, Minnesota after items belonging to six-year-old Elle Ragin and her mother Lisa Wade were discovered. Ragin was reported missing over the weekend after her mother was found dead inside their home on Maple Brook Court in Northfield from a suspected suicide. Since the discovery of her mother’s body, police have searched the home and areas nearby without any luck. Elle remains missing as of Tuesday afternoon.”
Also in the Star Tribune, Chris Hewitt writes: “The Guthrie Theater, which performed ‘Emma’ last weekend with at least two of 10 roles acted by understudies, canceled four shows scheduled Tuesday through Thursday ‘as a result of multiple COVID-19 cases within members of the cast and crew.’ Illusion Theater, which had planned to open Carlyle Brown’s ‘The History of Religion’ Friday, has canceled this weekend’s shows, delaying opening night to July 15.”
KARE 11’s Alexandra Simon reports: “Local restaurateur and chef Justin Sutherland is recovering after a boating accident, according to a post on his Instagram page. The accident happened on July 3, but Sutherland is reportedly in ‘good spirits.’ ‘At this time his family asks for privacy, but please send him positive thoughts and prayers,’ the post said. A representative for Sutherland declined to add any more details Tuesday but said they hope to provide more information in the coming days.”
FOX 9 reports: “After some dark skies and storms moved through Minnesota on Tuesday, you might have noticed an orangish tint in the sky. Multiple viewers sent FOX 9 photos of the orange sky and we saw it ourselves as the skies outside our station in Eden Prairie turned an unusual color. FOX 9’s Ian Leonard explained the phenomenon during our newscast: ‘As scattered showers came through, we had an awful lot of moisture particulate matter suspended in the atmosphere. So, as the sun’s angle begins to drop, instead of coming straight through the clouds, it’s coming across the clouds. So you end up with the yellow, the orange, and, for a spell, an entire sky that was almost entirely bright gold. It was a very cool effect but has nothing to do with storms.’”
For Sports Illustrated, Jelani Scott writes, “Monday was anything but a routine day in the ballpark for the Twins, thanks to a one-of-a-kind triple play never before seen in MLB history. With runners on first and second base in the bottom of the seventh inning against the White Sox, outfielder Byron Buxton recorded the first out on a A.J. Pollock fly ball with an impressive catch at the wall. The Minnesota standout quickly threw the ball to third baseman Gio Urshela, who tagged Yoan Moncada out as he retreated to second before stepping on the bag to retire Adam Engel; Moncada and Engel started the play on first and second, respectively, and found themselves in a precarious position after misjudging Pollock’s fly ball. Once the chaos finally settled, the wild, inning-ending sequence was officially recognized as the first 8-5 triple play recorded in the league’s 146-year history … .”
Ha, sure Jake, people have been shooting fireworks in my NE Neighborhood since I moved here 23 years ago. I stopped calling 2o years ago because, even though the entire neighborhood knew who was doing it, nothing was ever done. Now that its gotten a little out of hand and a few first responders have been targeted, rather than us lowly tax payers, they want to do something? Color me unimpressed. The ahole across the street moved away and low and behold, no window rattling fireworks this year. Weird.
Henk, we just need to accept this level of lawlessness when we live in an era where Presidents encourage violent, heavily armed mobs to attack the nation’s Capitol in an attempt to overthrow our republican democracy and assassinate the sitting VP, the Speaker of the House, and the Senate Minority Leader.
The difference is that people were shooting AT First Responders, not just around.
As a sidenote, I was downtown yesterday and in the middle of the day people were shooting off fireworks and bottle rockets on Nicollet Mall. Best to just avoid places where people know there aren’t any consequences for their actions.
Ah yes, send in those interrupters, or perhaps some more re-imagine policing sessions, or some mental health folks with fire proof suits, or put more handcuffs on the police and less on the hooligans and violators. That defunder idiocy is bearing fruit, those ultra leftie council members got to be celebrating, soon they will have the entire city in total turmoil and under mob control, but hey don’t pull anyone over for a minor violation, like hot rodding, speeding, shooting fireworks at other folks or buildings etc. etc. no problem with that imbecilic behavior, or for that matter any behavior.
And just which specific law enforcement agencies have been defunded?
Because I can tell you for certain MPD’d budget has no shrunk so much as a dime.
Well Frank, de-moralizing is just the same as de-funding, they aren’t lining up to become cops, down over 300, we are smart enough to see there is more than 1 way to de-fund aren’t we? Near every article high lights the boys in blue, all the talk coming out of city hall is boys in blue issues, criminals not hardly a peep!
The thing that struck me about the police response was a comment made by the acting police chief to the effect that they were taken off guard… typically a Monday after a holiday weekend is relatively quiet. Except THIS Monday was THE 4TH OF JULY! Seriously? No one in City Hall predicted spontaneous public celebrations when they cancelled their own fireworks?
I wouldn’t call shooting fireworks at people, police and lofts a spontaneous celebration. It was lawless thugs taking advantage of a lack of law enforcement to create mayhem. And I’m sure the police have been warned not to traumatize people by enforcing laws.