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Minneapolis police union seeks state mediation for contract talks

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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.



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Two killed in second Minneapolis encampment shooting of weekend

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Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.

At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.

A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.

Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”

Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.

“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.



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Walz plays Madden video game with AOC on Twitch

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During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.

After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.

Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.

Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.

Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”

Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.



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Trump’s Madison Square Garden event turns into a rally with crude and racist insults

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”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”

Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”

Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”

The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.

In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”

”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.



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