Star Tribune
Hennepin County approves $16 million for updates to Public Safety Facility, Sheriff’s Office
Two Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office facilities in downtown Minneapolis are getting upgrades, part of years of planned work at public safety facilities across the county.
In early March, the Hennepin County Board approved a $1.4 million construction contract for upgrades to the Sheriff’s Office on the first floor of Minneapolis City Hall and $14.1 million for improvements at the Public Safety Facility across the street.
The Hennepin County Public Safety Facility opened in 2000 and is used 24-hours a day. It will receive a new elevator and repairs to other elevators; fixes to cell plumbing and resident showers, and a new roof.
Those repairs are part of the county’s capital improvement plan and are the latest work at the Fourth Avenue South building that houses a jail with 270 cells used for pretrial detentions.
Last year, the County Board approved $2.6 million for an updated building control system that operates the heating and cooling system. The board also approved $1.7 million to convert and replace about 4,500 light fixtures with more efficient ones — saving an estimated $113,000 on energy and maintenance.
The board also approved $572,000 for a new fence around the public safety facility. Solar panels are planned for the roof.
Those are just some of the capital improvements planned for Sheriff’s Office facilities in Minneapolis. County leaders are also working out updates to the Juvenile Detention Center and neighboring crime laboratory on Park Street.
There are also plans to renovate space the sheriff’s office uses at Minneapolis City Hall, including the $1.4 million project recently approved by the board to update offices and conference rooms. City Hall also has holding cells the Sheriff’s Office uses in addition to the cells at the Public Safety Facility.
City Hall is already undergoing a multi-year, $32.5 million renovation to modernize offices and meeting spaces in the historic structure. Most city officials, including those of the City Council and the mayor, have moved to other offices while the renovations are underway.
The building is owned and operated by the Municipal Building Commission, which is made up of city and county officials.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
