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Three finalists selected for independent monitor overseeing Minneapolis’ consent decrees

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The city of Minneapolis has winnowed the pool of applicants vying to serve as independent monitor of its state and federal consent decrees on policing to three finalists, all of which are out-of-state groups.

A monitor wields considerable power in enforcing consent decrees — one of the federal government’s most aggressive tools for intervening in police departments with histories of systemic misconduct. Minneapolis is thought to be the first American city subject to simultaneous court-ordered reforms by separate jurisdictions.

After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, both the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the Minneapolis Police Department’s patterns and practices, found extensive violations of state and federal civil rights and prescribed sweeping reforms that will take the city years to achieve.

Minneapolis entered into a court-approved settlement agreement, laying out a timetable of reforms, with the state in July. It has not yet reached a formal agreement with the feds.

One court-appointed monitor will oversee both consent decrees, evaluate the police department’s compliance, report the city’s progress to the public and mediate disputes. The role of the evaluator is crucial because only when the court agrees that the reforms have been fully met will the consent decrees lift. Some cities have remained under federal oversight for decades.

The finalists are:

Effective Law Enforcement for All: Created by David L. Douglass, the former deputy monitor for the city of New Orleans, this team combines expertise from a group of retired police chiefs, civil rights attorneys, data analysts and racial equity researchers to help “reinvent law enforcement” in the communities they serve. The nonprofit conducted an audit of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland, issuing recommendations for how to reshape organizational culture and reduce use of force incidents.

Jensen Hughes Inc.: A global engineering, consulting and technology firm with 90 offices — one in Minnetonka. In 2021, one of their law firms conducted a sweeping assessment of the Louisville Metro Police Department amid the fallout from Breonna Taylor’s death during a no-knock raid. They analyzed Louisville police datasets, including traffic stops and arrests, to determine disparate outcomes based on race and reviewed training procedures, which led to implemented reforms. The U.S Attorney’s Office also hired them to evaluate the Seattle Police Department’s training unit, while that city was under a federal consent decree.

Relman Colfax: A Washington D.C.-based civil rights law firm whose cases deal with discrimination in education, housing and lending. It has conducted civil rights audits of the policies of Facebook, Airbnb and State Street Bank, and it is currently helping an 11-year-old transgender girl who was denied access to girls’ restrooms sue a small Wisconsin school district.

The state consent decree initially stated that independent monitor needed to be in place by Nov. 10. Six local and national groups applied for the job in time for that deadline. None made the final round.

The deadline was extended and another call for applications was issued in September. Fourteen additional groups — including firms already monitoring other cities’ court-ordered policing reforms — submitted bids, according to records obtained through a data practices request.

They were:

  • ADP Consulting
  • Aegis Collaborative Solutions
  • Effective Law Enforcement for All
  • Guidepost Solutions
  • Hughes Hubbard Reed
  • Jensen Hughes
  • Jones Walker
  • Mitchell Stein Carey Chapman
  • Pivot Consulting Group
  • Relman Colfax
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Squire Patton Boggs
  • Tiffany Lacy Clark
  • Womble Bond Dickinson

While other cities under consent decrees like Baltimore and Springfield, Mass. made compliance monitor applications available for public review from the start of the process, these are not public. Minneapolis, MDHR and U.S. DOJ reviewed the applications, interviewed teams and agreed on the three finalists.

Because the group ultimately chosen is expected to conduct meaningful engagement with the community in addition to providing technical assistance to the city, the finalists will appear at two public forums to present who is on their teams, how they’ll monitor the police department’s compliance and approve trainings and policies.

The forums are scheduled for:

Jan. 9 at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, (Cowles Auditorium), 301 19th Ave. S., from 6-8 p.m.

Jan. 10 at Plymouth Congregational Church, 1919 LaSalle Ave., from 6-8 p.m.

Afterward, one team will be chosen for the job. Their contract is subject to approval by the Minneapolis City Council, with an anticipated start date of March 9, 2024.



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Biden calls out Musk over a published report that the Tesla CEO once worked in the US illegally

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NEW YORK — President Joe Biden slammed Elon Musk for hypocrisy on immigration after a published report that the Tesla CEO once worked illegally in the United States. The South Africa-born Musk denies the allegation.

”That wealthiest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here. No, I’m serious. He was supposed to be in school when he came on a student visa. He wasn’t in school. He was violating the law. And he’s talking about all these illegals coming our way?” Biden said while campaigning on Saturday in Pittsburgh at a union hall.

The Washington Post reported that Musk worked illegally in the country while on a student visa. The newspaper, citing company documents, former business associates and court documents, said Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California in 1995 for a graduate program at Stanford University “but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his startup. ”

Musk wrote on X in reply to a video post of Biden’s comments: ”I was in fact allowed to work in the US.” Musk added, ”The Biden puppet is lying.”

Investors in Musk’s company, Zip2, were concerned about the possibility of their founder being deported, according to the report, and gave him a deadline for obtaining a work visa. The newspaper also cited a 2005 email from Musk to his Tesla co-founders acknowledging that he did not have authorization to be in the U.S. when he started Zip2.

According to the account, that email was submitted as evidence in a now-closed California defamation lawsuit and said that Musk had apllied to Stanford so he could stay in the country legally.

Musk is today the world’s richest man. He has committed more than $70 million to help Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and other GOP candidates win on Nov. 5, and is one of the party’s biggest donors this campaign season. He has been headlining events in the White House race’s final stretch, often echoing Trump’s dark rhetoric against immigration.

Trump has pledged to give Musk a role in his administration if he wins next month.



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Klobuchar criticizes White for saying ‘bad guys won in World War II’

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The only debate between DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and GOP challenger Royce White started Sunday on the street outside WCCO Radio.

As White approached the building, he loudly called some two dozen flag-waving and cheering Klobuchar supporters a “whole lot of commies.” The 33-year-old provocateur and podcaster also told them to thank Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney — who endorsed Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris — because there was “no chance in hell” that Harris would defeat Republican former President Donald Trump on Nov. 5.

Klobuchar, 64, had arrived moments earlier, smiling and wishing “good morning” to her supporters. Once inside, the two took questions for an hour from moderator Blois Olson. Their tone was generally polite with White often interrupting a Klobuchar response with, “rebuttal,” indicated he wanted to respond.

The senator repeatedly raised White’s claims on X, formerly Twitter, that “The bad guys won in World War II” and that there were “no good guys in that war.” She called that stance offensive to veterans.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar arrives at WCCO Radio for a debate with Royce White in Minneapolis on Sunday, Oct. 27. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii)

Klobuchar, who is seeking a fourth six-year term, portrayed herself as a pragmatist. She opened by saying that we live in “incredibly divisive times politically” but that she has listened and worked with Republicans to bring down shipping costs, drug prices for seniors and to help veterans and push for more housing and child care.

“Courage in this next few years is not going to be standing by yourself yelling at people,” she said, her opening allusion to White’s rhetoric, which she said is often vulgar.

White, a former NBA player, is a political novice, but a close ally of Steve Bannon, the jailed former chief strategist for Trump and right wing media executive. Last summer, White won the state GOP endorsement to run against Klobuchar.

“Our country’s coming undone at the seams. I think we can change that,” White said in his opening statement. He said he threatens the status quo, decried the “permanent political class” and referred to the two major parties as the “uniparty.”



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Satellite images show damage from Israeli attack at 2 secretive Iranian military bases

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Other buildings destroyed at Khojir and Parchin likely included buildings where Iran used industrial mixers to create the solid fuel needed for its extensive ballistic missile arsenal, Eveleth said.

In a statement issued immediately after the attack Saturday, the Israeli military said it targeted ”missile manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.”

Destroying such sites could greatly disrupt Iran’s ability to manufacture new ballistic missiles to replenish its arsenal after the two attacks on Israel. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees the country’s ballistic missile program, has been silent since Saturday’s attack.

Iran’s overall ballistic missile arsenal, which includes shorter-range missiles unable to reach Israel, was estimated to be ”over 3,000” by Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, then-commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, in testimony to the U.S. Senate in 2022. In the time since, Iran has fired hundreds of the missiles in a series of attacks.

There have been no videos or photos posted to social media of missile parts or damage in civilian neighborhoods following the recent attack — suggesting that the Israeli strikes were far more accurate that Iran’s ballistic missile barrages targeting Israel in April and October. Israel relied on aircraft-fired missiles during its attack.

However, one factory appeared to have been hit in Shamsabad Industrial City, just south of Tehran near Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main gateway to the outside world. Online videos of the damaged building corresponded to an address for a firm known as TIECO, which advertises itself as building advanced machinery used in Iran’s oil and gas industry.



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