Connect with us

Star Tribune

Minneapolis police union seeks state mediation for contract talks

Avatar

Published

on


The Minneapolis police union is seeking the intervention of a state mediator to help resolve its ongoing contract talks with the city after public negotiations stalled last month.

Officer wages have remained a sticking point since collective bargaining began in September. Since then, three-hour biweekly meetings have been “ineffective,” said Sgt. Sherral Schmidt, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. The union opted to file for mediation on Dec. 1.

The move comes one month after the City Council rejected a $15 million incentives package aimed at replenishing MPD’s depleted ranks.

City leaders and Federation officials had reached a tentative agreement on hiring and retention that would pay $18,000 to eligible police officers in three installments over the next two and a half years, as well as $15,000 in incentive bonuses for new hires.

As of October, the Minneapolis Police Department employed 573 officers — with 28 on long-term leave — down from about 900 in 2020, said spokesman Sgt. Garrett Parten. Frey and O’Hara say replenishing the ranks is critical to maintaining the downward trends in violent crime the city has seen this year, a respite from a sharp rise in homicides and record gun violence over the past three years.

But in an 8-5 vote last month, City Council rejected the package following a contentious hourslong meeting. Critics objected to the estimated $15 million price tag — drawing from $19 million one-time infusion of state funds — and questioned whether the incentives would work.

Moving forward, the police union says that mediation offers the “most efficient path forward” to settling their contract.

“We spent weeks negotiating recruitment and retention bonuses that the City Council rejected,” Schmidt said in a statement to the media. “We believe that any negotiated agreement will meet the same fate.”

“We look forward to negotiating a fair contract that includes the competitive wages and benefits many of the City Council members mentioned in their testimony, as important to pieces to recruiting and retaining officers.”

A public bargaining session originally slated for Dec. 20 has been cancelled as the city awaits a decision by the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS).

“If BMS determines mediation would be useful, it will schedule a meeting with the City and the union to begin the mediation process,” a city spokesman said in a statement. “The City looks forward to continuing the bargaining process with the Police Federation during mediation.”

The city’s current police labor agreement was adopted in March 2022 in an 8-5 City Council vote and expired Dec. 31. That contract included raises and $7,000 retention bonuses for officers, but lacked many of the disciplinary changes activists demanded to rein in misconduct on the force.

This is a breaking news story. Come back to startribune.com for updates.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Star Tribune

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

Avatar

Published

on


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.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Star Tribune

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

Avatar

Published

on


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.”



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Star Tribune

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

Avatar

Published

on


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.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024 Breaking MN

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.