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Public safety aid checks heading to Minnesota communities
Cities, counties, tribal nations all set to receive a share of the one-time aid that can be tailored to each community’s needs.
LINO LAKES, Minn. — For the first time ever, the state of Minnesota is sending direct public safety aid to every city, county, and tribal nation in the state.
The $300 million package has been divvied up based on population, with checks set to arrive next week. It will be up to each local community to decide how to spend their piece of the pie.
“What’s nice about this model is that local governments are in control of the funds, and local governments are also elected by their communities,” Sen. Heather Gustafson, the Vadnais Heights Democrat who carried the bill in the 2023 Session, told reporters Thursday.
Gustafson appeared at a roundtable event at a Lino Lakes fire station to highlight a piece of legislation that was overshadowed by other major headlines coming out of the legislature last spring. She said her bill also included townships with populations over 10,000 on the list of recipients so that White Bear Township in the North Metro wouldn’t be excluded.
“We wanted to make sure that counties were getting a certain amount of it, cities were getting it, tribal nations were getting it, and that’s because they all have different needs, especially in Greater Minnesota.”
At Lino Lakes City Hall they’re expecting a $930,000 check to arrive next week.
“The local control part of this, that’s vital,” Lino Lakes Public Safety Director John Swenson told KARE. “Because what we need in Lino Lakes is very different from what Bloomington or White Bear Lake needs for example.”
Swenson said the city will spend $200,000 replacing the police department’s body-worn cameras and in-squad cameras. It’s an expense they were expecting to take on in future years, but now they will be able to move that up on the calendar.
“Within the last year, we’ve seen more failures of our cameras and repair costs have gone up, so this is an opportunity for us to kind of get ahead of that.”
The city will use $230, to buy down the loan payments on two new fire trucks, to save local taxpayers on $20,000 per year on interest costs for the next 10 years. Another $156,000 will go to fire suppression gear needed to outfit those two fire rigs.
“We’re going to be having some discussions with our city council about the remaining in our public safety aid to see how we’re going to be using those for things like retention and recruitment of police and fire staff.”
At the press conference, other area public safety leaders described a wide variety of uses for the funds.
This aid package is on top of historic levels of local government aid to Minnesota cities and counties.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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