Star Tribune
Minnesota DFL senator to shift to remote work as she battles long COVID
DFL state Sen. Lindsey Port told her legislative colleagues on Monday that she’s switching to work mostly remotely as she struggles with worsening — and at times dangerous — symptoms of long haul COVID.
Since contracting COVID in 2020, the second-term senator from Burnsville has struggled with ongoing symptoms, including extreme fatigue and neuropathy in her hands, arms, feet and legs, which causes both numbness and pain and has forced her to walk with a cane.
That feeling has intensified, causing sudden paralysis in her legs. Two weeks ago, she fell at home and suffered a concussion.
“Knowing that I could be doing longer-term damage to my brian made me really realize that I needed to change how I interact at the Capitol,” Port said in an interview on Monday.
Port, the chair of the Senate’s Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee, carried a number of major bills through the chamber last session, including the proposal to legalize marijuana in the state. She informed her colleagues in an email that she will participate remotely in committee and floor work as a default and “join you in-person on the most important occasions, like presenting bills on the floor.”
She’s the second DFL senator to move to largely remote service this session, following former DFL Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic’s announcement earlier this year that her cancer had reemerged. Dziedzic led the narrowly divided chamber last year as Democrats pushed through a historic agenda, serving part of the session remotely as she recovered from a major surgery.
Port said Dziedzic set an example for how “we can show up in different ways.”
“Seeing her leadership helped me realize it’s OK to show up differently, in a way that maybe the Legislature is not used to,” Port said. “Tons of people all over Minnesota are working remotely right now, and we can do that too.”
The chamber is controlled by Democrats by a single vote, and at least one Republican senator has pushed this year to limit voting remotely after the practice was established and widely used during the pandemic. Minnesota still allows remote voting for legislators in certain circumstances.
Port said eliminating remote participation is an “outdated and unsympathetic” way to look at the Legislature, which now includes many younger members with families. Legislators in both parties have had to cast votes remotely over the last four years during unexpected health or family emergencies.
Port caught COVID early in March 2020, before Minnesota had confirmed its first COVID-19 death, and wound up in the emergency room. She’s opened up about the ways the virus continues to change her life, from asthmatic attacks and kidney stones to her struggles with the numbness and paralysis in her legs.
Neurological issues, difficulty breathing, brain fog, extreme fatigue as well as eye and throat issues are common signs of long COVID, symptoms that can last weeks, months, or even years after an initial infection. Research suggests that 1 in 5 people between the ages of 18 to 64 has had at least one medical condition following a COVID infection. That increases to 1 in 4 in people 65 and older.
“While for me it feels hard to ask for help and to say I need an accommodation, it is also really empowering to know that I can do great work for my district and great work for the people of Minnesota and I don’t have to give up any of my bills,” she said. “I can show up in a different way and still be a really strong legislator.”
Star Tribune
Woman spared prison for after the fact role in fatal shooting at Twin Cities gas station
A woman was spared prison Monday and sentenced to probation for aiding a man accused in a fatal shooting 3½ years ago at a Minneapolis gas station.
Yalayna R. Butcher-Griffin, 25, of Oakdale, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court to three years’ probation and given credit for the nearly six months she spent in jail after pleading guilty to aiding an offender after the fact in connection with the shooting of 19-year-old George F. Zeon, of Plymouth, on May 6, 2021, at the Amstar gas station on West Broadway between James and Knox avenues.
If she abides by the terms of probation, Butcher-Griffin’s conviction can be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Butcher-Griffin’s sentence also includes an agreement by her to cooperate with the prosecution and testify truthfully against the accused shooter, 21-year-old Albert J. Lucas, of St. Paul, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting and has been charged in adult court with second-degree murder. He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a Dec. 9 court date.
According to criminal complaint from the 2021 killing:
Surveillance video showed a vehicle pull up to Zeon as he pumped gas. Two males left the vehicle, entered the store, came out and confronted Zeon, whose girlfriend was with him.
She told police the suspects were asking Zeon about being in a gang, which confused her.
Star Tribune
Former youth leader for Duluth Vineyard church, Jackson Gatlin, sentenced to prison for sexual assault
Since Gatlin’s plea earlier this month, nine victims have filed civil charges against him — in addition to his parents, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA, its governing body.
In the civil complaints filed November 6, Gatlin is accused of extended hugs, touching teenaged girls over and under their clothes, making them touch him, tackling them in the guise of playing games, and raping them. He is accused of tying a girl to his bedpost. In one case, Brenda Gatlin reportedly walked into her bedroom and found her son sexually assaulting a girl. Nothing came of it, according to the complaint.
Gatlin told several girls that he was going to teach them and show them the love of god, according to court documents. A parent found sexual text messages from Jackson Gatlin to their daughter and notified at least one of his parents.
The Gatlins, Duluth Vineyard and Vineyard USA are accused of continuing to give Jackson Gatlin access to minors, even though leadership had been told of his action, not providing proper training, covering up information and not going to the local police department, among other accusations.
Jackson Gatlin was fired from his position within the church in mid-February 2023 and was not allowed back on the church campus. Michael Gatlin resigned as senior pastor at Duluth Vineyard and from various positions and board tied to the church in February 2023. He had been with the church for 2 years. Brenda Gatlin, who was a super regional leader for Vineyard USA, followed suit.
Officials on Monday released the identity of a man who was killed late last week in St. Paul in a drive-by shooting.
Andre Lorenzo Mitchell, 26, of Minneapolis, was shot shortly after 1:30 p.m. Friday in the 600 block of Aurora Avenue, steps away from the Rondo Community Library and St. Albans Church of God. police said.
No arrests have been announced.
Mitchell was in a parked vehicle with another male and two small children when a second car drove by, shots were fired, and the car’s driver fled. No one else was injured in the shooting, and Mitchell died while being transported by ambulance.
Police are asking that anyone with information about the shooting to contact police at 651-266-5650.
There have been 10 homicides over the past two months in St. Paul, eight of them committed from gunfire, according to police reports.
So far this year, the homicide tally in St. Paul stands at 29, according to a Minnesota Star Tribune database. That’s the same number at this point last year in the city.
