Star Tribune
Solar eclipse a no-show in cloudy Minnesota
Kristen Christenson brought her twin boys to the Bell Museum in St. Paul on Monday, where hundreds gathered in the afternoon to catch what they hoped might be even a quick glimpse of a solar eclipse behind a gray, cloudy sky.
Timothy and Benjamin Christenson had a large LEGO set depicting Earth, its sun and the moon in orbit. “I figured other people would also find it entertaining,” said Christenson, who gave it to her boys for their fifth birthday in March, and which they’ve played with every day since. As it turned out, the toy model setting in the grass was a big hit among the Bell crowd — who, like all Minnesotans who stayed local on Monday, were totally deprived of an actual celestial show by the crummy weather. Meanwhile, the twins demonstrated on the LEGO set what was happening above, behind the clouds.
“This is it, guys,” Christenson, who had also carted in homemade viewing boxes, said as the eclipse reached its supposed local peak. “It looks like nothing.”
Optimism turned to mild disappointment for those Minnesotans who weren’t keeping a close eye on the forecast Monday. As sky watchers in select parts of the U.S. experienced a few minutes of dark at daytime, the crowds gathered at the Bell and across town at the Science Museum of Minnesota made solar-themed crafts and watched livestream feeds of the eclipse from other, sunnier cities experiencing totality.
An eclipse last October also fell on a cloudy day locally, though that day saw the clouds part enough to give dedicated watchers a show, said Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the Bell Museum. Despite Monday’s disappointment, Brummel was still feeling lofty.
“An eclipse lets us really understand where we are in the universe,” she said. “We’re able to see or experience these two other objects in the sky, the sun and the moon and they line up just perfectly, and they’re just the same size of the sky for an eclipse to happen.”
In downtown St. Paul, the Science Museum of Minnesota was also bustling, with many kids on spring break visiting with their parents. On the museum’s outdoor terrace, beneath the clouds, Kevyn Zeipelt of St. Paul said she was disappointed but didn’t regret the attempt.
“We had to give it a shot, at least,” Zeipelt said, adding that “there are other cool things at the Science Museum.”
Heather Ethen, who was visiting with her four kids, said they made plans months ago to visit the Science Museum for the kids. The weather made it feel like a letdown, she said.
“Disappointed is a great word for it,” Ethen said.
Back at the Bell, as peak viewing time came and went with nothing but cloudy skies, Christenson turned on her phone’s flashlight and shined it into the cereal box projectors that she and her sons had created for the occasion, trying to give them a taste of the visual effects they would have seen had it been a sunnier day.
Star Tribune
Twin Cities man gets 5 years in prison for romance scheme that raked in more than $2M million
A Brooklyn Park man received more than five years in prison Tuesday for perpetrating with others a nationwide romance fraud scheme for four years and pulling in more than $2.1 million.
Dodzi K. Kordorwu, 38, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul to a 5¼-year term after pleading guilty to the online ruse that targeted dozens of primarily older people.
Judge Eric Tostrud also ordered Kordorwu to be under court supervision for three years after his release and to make full restitution of the money he stole.
The FBI says about 24,000 victims in the United States reported losing about $1 billion to romance scams in 2021. Researchers say romance scammers prey specifically on seniors, some capitalizing on the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic to find lonely victims.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutors argued in a court filing for Kordowu to be given a sentence of nearly seven years in prison.
While taking on the persona of “Dr. Carmen Williams” to interact with one victim, Kordowu “directly expressed his love [and] promised to never leave them,” the prosecution filing read.
Upon receiving a monetary shipment, Kordorwu followed up with “‘thank you so much my sweet and beautiful wife. I love you, and I will always love you,’” the filing continued. “The deeply personal connections forged by these overtures is what made the fraud scheme so potent.”
The defense proposed in writing to the court for a sentence of probation, contended that he had a limited role in the scam, the crime was nonviolent in nature, and “Mr. Kordorwu is the sole person being held responsible for the offense.”
The Brooklyn Park City Council has extended its censure of Council Member Boyd Morson in response to claims that he continues to disrespect staff and display inappropriate behavior online.
The council at its meeting last week declined to remove the censure, Morson’s second in the past couple years, which was put in place this spring after a staff member filed a complaint. Fellow council members say Morson, who is seeking reelection on Nov. 5, violated city code, citing concerns that he has posted disparaging messages on social media criticizing the city manager and council members, including calling a fellow member “corrupt.”
In next month’s election, Morson faces a challenge from Amanda Cheng Xiong to represent the city’s eastern district.
Morson isn’t the only Brooklyn Park council member under censure, a usually rare, official reprimand by a governing body. Earlier this year, the council censured Council Member Maria Tran for violating the code of conduct. And last week, council members said they want Tran to receive a mental health evaluation, claiming she had made several concerning comments, including that city leaders were plotting to have her killed and expressing an interest in bringing a gun to meetings.
That means one-third of the six-member council is now censured.
Morson did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.
When the council censured Morson this past spring, members agreed to evaluate the decision every three months and determine whether to remove the action. But last week, the council agreed Morson had failed to follow the conditions imposed, which include having no communication with staff other than the city manager and economic development director.
Minneapolis police and SWAT negotiators are on the scene in contact with a man reported to have fired shots from an apartment building in the heart of the Lyn-Lake neighborhood.
Police were called shortly before 1 p.m. to the building at 2904 Lyndale Ave. S., where the man fired shots from the balcony and had threatened to shoot himself and others. The person remained in the apartment as police shuttered the busy intersection and surrounding blocks from 28th to Lake streets in the commercial and residential neighborhood. A SWAT vehicle was on scene and negotiators were in contact with the man.
In a statement posted to X shortly after the incident unfolded, Minneapolis police said no one was hurt and encouraged people to stay away from the area.
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