Star Tribune
Man not guilty of threatening harm to St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, Maplewood Mall
A judge acquitted a 37-year-old man of threatening to harm St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Maplewood Mall and concluded that the defendant’s intention was to buy the shopping center and run for mayor.
Andrew Thomas Grzywinski, of St. Paul, was found not guilty late Thursday afternoon by Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann on two counts of threats of violence.
The suspicion took root when Grzywinski sent a former girlfriend a text on Dec. 27, 2022, showing an assault-style gun on a window ledge, with a message that read, “Maplewood Mall is my idea, and Mayor of St. Paul is an end goal,” according to the charges filed in December 2022.
The woman alerted Woodbury police because Grzywinski was staying at a hotel in that city. A Woodbury police investigator said Grzywinski had been hospitalized Dec. 15-22, 2022, in Pensacola, Fla., “on a mental health hold,” the charges read, and a doctor there said Grzywinski’s threats should be taken seriously.
Woodbury police then notified their counterparts in Maplewood and St. Paul, leading to his arrest and charges.
In returning his verdicts in writing, Guthmann said, “The text message does not state or imply a threat to commit an act of violence. There is nothing expressly or impliedly threatening about the words ‘Maplewood is my idea,’ and the existence of a gun in the background of a panorama photo of a hotel room containing many other objects does not reasonably change the character of those words.”
The judge continued, “To conclude that defendant’s text was intended as an express or implied threat to the Maplewood Mall or anyone inside is entirely speculative and without support in the evidence.”
Guthmann’s filing noted that Grzywinski, who owns his own heating and cooling business, was not mulling or making any threats against the mall or the mayor but had been telling various people close to him that he wanted to buy the mall and run for mayor.
While the newest shark at the Minnesota Zoo might be particularly skilled at swimming, she was named after St. Paul’s beloved Olympic gymnast, the zoo announced Thursday.
Suni the zebra shark was born Aug. 17, just after the conclusion of the summer Olympics in Paris, where gymnast Suni Lee earned three medals.
Zoo visitors will be able to spot the striped baby Suni in the shark nursery in Discovery Bay, according to the zoo’s weekly newsletter. Those stripes won’t last forever; by the time she’s one, Suni’s stripes will be replaced with spots.
Visitors may find Suni exploring her environment or lying still, which is normal. Zebra sharks can rest motionless on the bottom and use throat muscles to pump water across their gills.
Zebra sharks are an endangered species, over-hunted for their fins, according to the zoo. The zoo is part of a global program that sends eggs and pups from zoos and aquariums to Indonesia to be released into the wild.
Suni’s mom is Ruby the shark, the zoo’s only breeding female. Ruby is also the mother of 7-year-old female JZ. Mother sharks do not raise their young, unlike many aquatic mammals like dolphins.
Ruby is a genetic match for the shark rehabilitation program and the zoo hopes to provide viable eggs in the future.
We at the Minnesota Star Tribune are committed to continually enhancing our digital products and experience. Earlier this year, we rebooted and upgraded the Minnesota Star Tribune’s website and apps to create a cleaner, crisper, modern platform that we’ll continue to build upon. And today, we’re reaching out to let you know about another upcoming enhancement that will impact anyone who visits startribune.com or our mobile apps.
Starting Friday, Oct. 25, we are making changes to our login and subscription management system. These changes will require you to log back into your Minnesota Star Tribune account on startribune.com and to our apps when login goes live there early next week. We’re sorry for the small inconvenience – but it will be worth it.
Why are we doing this? We are moving subscription management for our digital subscribers to a modern subscription management platform. This platform will level up your subscription management experience, allowing us to serve you in ways that were not possible with our legacy system.
Enhancements you will notice include a modern payment infrastructure and subscription management, including the ability to easily make changes to your subscription right in the platform. You will also see a simplified login flow using your email address (no need to remember a separate username).
If you are a subscriber, or if you have logged into the site over the past two years, you should have already received communication about this via email, and we encourage you read those communications to ensure you are prepared for this change. In addition, you will see messaging on our website and apps notifying you of this coming change.
If you encounter any issues, you can find more information about our updates here.
In addition, we will be rolling out new ways to log in to your account, starting with Google, on Friday.
This upgrade also lays the foundation for greater personalization and content customization for a more robust digital experience in the future.
ROCHESTER – The biggest venue here will technically have new operators in 2025, though there likely won’t be staff changes.
Experience Rochester has switched operating companies, ending a contract with venue specialists ASM Global and expanding a contract with its food and beverage vendor Oak View Group. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) revealed Friday that 146 workers would be affected by the switch.
ASM Global notified DEED officials last month that it planned to lay off its staff running the Civic Center. Experience Rochester said in a statement Friday that Oak View Group plans to rehire and retain all employees once it takes over operations in January, “ensuring continuity and a seamless transition for our staff and our guests.”
The Mayo Civic Center has been a Rochester fixture since 1939, though it’s expanded over the years. It boasts almost 200,000 square feet of space, can seat up to 7,200 people in its arena and claims to be the largest event facility in southern Minnesota.
