Star Tribune
Thirty arrested in Dinkytown after July 4th disturbances
More than two dozen people were arrested at midnight Friday in Minneapolis as groups of young adults in Dinkytown began shooting fireworks at police officers, civilians and their cars following July 4th celebrations, although no one was seriously injured in a night that saw fewer melees and less gun violence than previous years.
From midnight to 3 a.m., Minneapolis police arrested 30 people, seized dozens of illegal fireworks and issued five citations. Most will be charged with felony rioting, but those who deliberately targeted people will be charged with felony assault, said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. That number is likely to increase as other agencies dispatched across the city finalize reports.
“We understand it’s the 4th of July, some people are going to shoot off fireworks,” O’Hara said. “We’re most concerned about this really, really dangerous — and just stupid – behavior of shooting them at people.”
Of those arrested, 27 were adults and eight were juveniles; ages ranged from 15 to 23. According to police, 28 were not from Minneapolis, and five of them carried out-of-state licenses from Kansas, Massachusetts and Maine.
“It’s dangerous to the people that are coming, the kids that are coming to watch this stuff — it’s dangerous for everyone,” O’Hara said. “It’s ridiculous that our residents and other people visiting our town have to deal with this egregious behavior.”
Police say much of the crowds can be traced to social media “pop-up” invitations, posts encouraging people to come to Minneapolis and cause disturbances.
Unlike in previous years, police saw no gun violence. There were four shootings on July 4th last year, along with multiple disturbances throughout the city, and seven people were shot on Boom Island in 2022.
“It’s not as bad as last year and the problems we’ve been seeing are over here in Dinkytown on the east side of the river,” O’Hara said.
In preparation for potential violence on July 4th, police ramped up security efforts and closed down roads. The department deployed an additional 200 officers this year, and were aided by 50 Minnesota State Patrol troopers, Minneapolis Parks Police and University of Minnesota Police. Police say an increased presence will continue over the weekend for Taste of Minnesota.
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
