Star Tribune
Minneapolis council looks to license street food vendors
“We’ve never once invoked that,” Lingo said. “There have been conversations [about] in order to compel ID you need to have identification, or you could be arrested for that, or if you’re not behaving, or you need to be trespassed. But that’s a different conversation than immigration, and deportation has never been brought to the conversation.”
Hundreds of U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, have declared themselves sanctuary cities, where police are discouraged from reporting people’s immigration status unless they are investigating a serious crime.
Marta has sold empanadas and Ecuadorian desserts on Lake Street, usually making $60 to $70 a day to pay her rent and support her children. The 38-year-old woman also sold food on the streets of Ecuador, where migrants have come in record numbers to Minnesota, fleeing poverty and violence. The Fort Snelling immigration court has a backlog of over 13,341 Ecuadorian cases pending, a huge increase since 2018, when there were 344 cases.
Cindy Weckwerth, environmental health director for the Minneapolis Health Department, said in recent months, the city has seen an increase in unlicensed vendors and complaints about them.
Lingo said so far this year, there have been 38 violations and citations for operating a sidewalk food cart without a license; repeat offenders can get cited, which brings a $200 fine.
Inspectors are sometimes accompanied by police officers, Lingo said, because often vendors resist giving their identity and sometimes are uncooperative or are amid a large group.
Star Tribune
One man shot dead, another wounded near Willmar soon after gunman opened fire from Lyndale Av. balcony
Bystanders observing the scene in Minneapolis recalled hearing the female police negotiator pleading with Matariyeh to surrender. When shots rang out over the phone, the negotiator dropped to her knees and cried. Colleagues could be seen comforting her.
O’Hara said the shots in Minneapolis were fired shortly after an altercation involving Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend, who arrived to the apartment to retrieve some items. Matariyeh and the woman share a child, who was at day care at the time. Police went there to ensure the child’s safety shortly after the suspect fled. The ex-girlfriend and the boyfriend were also not harmed.
The chief said that when police initially responded, it was unclear whether the suspect was still inside the apartment. There is no indication of a domestic violence history between the pair.
At one point after Mayerchak was shot, an officer or dispatcher radioed that the suspect was the man from Minneapolis: “He did say he was willing to shoot cops. Proceed cautiously.”
A short time later, the suspect was leading police on a chase of speeds of more than 100 mph while on the phone with the Minneapolis negotiator, threatening “suicide by cop.”
At about 2:29 p.m., Matariyeh was arrested, and a gun was recovered in the ditch.
He said he would continue to support economic development projects, including one aimed at stabilizing the riverfront and preserving cultural sites that were significant to both the Dakota people and European settlers.
“We want to have good things,” Whiting said. “I’m pretty fiscally conservative for being called the liberal that I am. But, if it makes sense, we’re going to do it.”
Yttreness, who has lived in Shakopee since 1998, spent years with the Fire Department, serving first as a volunteer. He worked most recently as assistant fire chief, a role he left earlier this year.
Yttreness declined to speak in detail about his management of the department, saying, “I’m no longer with them, so that’s the past.”
He said he is running to “get involved in trying to manage the city’s expenses more” and “give some guidance and support to our city employees, public works, police.” He said he believes his knowledge of city operations could be helpful and he wants to “try to do zero tax increases, if possible.”
Authorities identified a 35-year-old St. Paul woman found shot to death last week in a North End apartment.
The St. Paul Police Department said Damara Alexis Stowers was the woman found shot in her apartment on Oct. 19.
Police found Stowers at around 9 p.m. in the dwelling in the 100 block of Sycamore Street East after reports of a shooting. Officers rendered aid until Saint Paul fire medics arrived and pronounced her dead at the scene.
Investigators believe a carjacking reported that same night is connected to Stowers death, but no arrests have been announced. The victim in that carjacking was shot, but Regions Hospital staff treated them for noncritical injuries.
Stowers’ death marked the fourth homicide in the capital city in 10 days, and the 25th homicide this year according to a Star Tribune database. There were 28 homicides by this time last year.
