Star Tribune
St. Louis Park considers making tenant relocation benefits permanent
St. Louis Park may make permanent a requirement that property owners give tenants notice of major rent hikes after a building is sold or pay if the tenants have to leave on short notice.
The city is one of several in the Twin Cities to require new property owners to pay tenants relocation assistance if they plan to raise rents or enforce new requirements, such as income restrictions, within three months of buying a rental property.
An existing ordinance in St. Louis Park will sunset July 1, but the City Council may make notice and payment requirements permanent. The issue is taking on greater importance as development booms along the Green Line light rail extension.
Property owners in the city must give three months’ notice of rent increases or other new requirements after buying a building. But the owners can get tenants to move out on shorter notice if they provide relocation assistance. The required assistance now ranges from $2,600 for a tenant leaving a studio apartment to $4,100 for a three-bedroom apartment. Those amounts — set in 2018 — could increase to $3,200 for a studio and $5,000 for a three-bedroom.
The rules only apply to buildings where 18% of the apartments are affordable to moderate-income people. That translates to rents of just more than $1,200 for a studio apartment or just more than $2,000 for a four-bedroom home.
Since the ordinance took effect in 2018, it has affected 18 buildings in St. Louis Park. So far, none of those property owners has paid relocation assistance because they gave tenants three months’ notice of rent increases.
The medical center is owned by a local nonprofit, but operated by Duluth-based Essentia under an affiliation agreement that dates back to 2009.
With the ruling announced Wednesday, Essentia Health says it will continue to operate the hospital, clinic, assisted-living and long-term care facilities in Fosston, plus clinics in Bagley and Oklee.
“Now that the arbitration process is over, Essentia is focused on the opportunity to engage our patients, colleagues and the community in building a shared vision for the future of health care in Fosston,” said Dr. Stefanie Gefroh, interim president of Essentia Health’s West Market, in a statement.
Arbitrators were asked to rule on whether Essentia eliminated a “core” service by discontinuing deliveries, since the city of Fosston would then have the right to terminate the affiliation agreement. But the panel in a 2-1 vote concluded that labor and delivery is just one aspect of obstetrics (OB).
“OB is a ‘core’ service under the agreement, encompassing labor and delivery as part of comprehensive care for pregnant women,” the ruling states. “Simply put, while the delivery of the baby is an essential component, it is not the sole care provided to a pregnant woman.”
Fosston officials, including the town’s mayor, were involved in the arbitration because the city has a legal connection to the nonprofit owner of the medical center, which historically was a municipal hospital.
Star Tribune
Judge gives driver year in jail for being drunk, fatally hitting man in Minnesota street
A driver was given a year in jail Wednesday for being drunk when he fatally hit a man in the street near St. Cloud.
Tyler J. Nies, 26, of Sartell, Minn., was sentenced in Benton County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash shortly before 11 p.m. on July 28 in Sauk Rapids near the intersection of N. Benton Drive and N. 8th Street that killed Kevin D. Oehmen, 47, of Sauk Rapids.
Judge Robert Raupp opted for the year in jail while setting aside a 5¾-year term. Raupp also ordered Nies to serve 10 years’ probation, perform 80 hours of community work service, complete a chemical assessment attend a victim impact panel, abstain from mood-altering chemicals and stay away from bars.
According to the criminal complaint:
An officer at the scene noticed that Nies smelled of alcohol. Nies initially said he had one beer before driving his pickup. A preliminary breath test by the officer measured Nies’ blood alcohol content at 0.129%, more than 1 1⁄2 times the legal limit in Minnesota.
Upon further questioning, Nies said that before driving he drank three beers, which were about 16 ounces each.
Nies told police he was heading north on Benton Drive in the right-hand lane and suddenly saw a man walking in the grassy area next to the curb “like he was going to cross the road,” the complaint read. Police Chief Perry Beise added that Oehmen was on a street with no marked crosswalk.
Here’s a roundup of 55 claims that caught the interest of the Washington Post, in the order in which they were made
Read the original article
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings