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Metro Transit fined 193 riders for not paying in week of enforcement

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Metro Transit community service officers issued citations to 193 people caught riding light-rail trains without paying during the first week of a new fare enforcement effort.

The team of 12 non-sworn officers, members of the Metro Transit police who are on a path to law enforcement careers, checked nearly 2,000 riders on Green and Blue line trains to increase fare compliance and increase visibility of transit officials.

On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Council, which oversees Metro Transit, is expected to amend its contract with Allied Universal to allow unarmed security guards that patrol six bus stations and light-rail platforms to also issue the fare dodgers tickets that come with a $35 fine.

The fare crackdown is one of several elements that agency officials unveiled in June as part of a so-called Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) to address concerns about crime, make riding buses and trains safe, and win back riders lost when the pandemic hit.

“Our No. 1 goal is the customer experience,” said Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras. “We are well on our way to meet those goals.”

Kandaras and Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III gave an update on progress and upcoming initiatives during Tuesday’s House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee meeting.

Overall, serious crime is down 33% from January to last week when compared to the same 12 months of last year. At the same time, ridership is up 15%, agency data shows.

By February, the agency plans to finish posting its newly revised Code of Conduct to give riders a clear expectation of what is expected when riding transit, Kandaras said.

Added Morales, “We are committed to cleaning up the perception of our light-rail system.”

Morales also said the Metro Transit Police Department is continuing to hire staff. The department has 109 licensed officers but is allocated to have 171. The agency also has 12 community resource officers, but are allotted to have 70.



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Two killed in second Minneapolis encampment shooting of weekend

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Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.

At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.

A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.

Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”

Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.

“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.



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Walz plays Madden video game with AOC on Twitch

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During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.

After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.

Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.

Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.

Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”

Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.



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Trump’s Madison Square Garden event turns into a rally with crude and racist insults

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”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”

Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”

Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”

The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.

In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”

”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.



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