MINNEAPOLIS — The 2024 election cycle has barely had time to cool off as the 2025 race for Minneapolis mayor starts to heat up.

On Wednesday, Ward 11 Minneapolis City Council Member Emily Koski officially launched her bid for mayor, joining State Sen. Omar Fateh in challenging incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey.

“Minneapolis is and always has been my home,” she said in a press conference announcing her candidacy. “… Today, it’s clear to me the city I love is at a crossroads. We face many challenges and opportunities. We’re up against efforts to drive wedges between us and pit us against one another, and we need a strong, unifying leader to move us forward. 

“That is why today, I am proud and honored to announce I am running to be the next mayor of the city of Minneapolis.” 

Koski was first elected to the City Council in 2021 and re-elected in 2023. While in office, she’s focused efforts on public health and safety, workers’ rights and affordable housing, among other citywide initiatives.

In her statements Wednesday morning, Koski accused Frey of “creating conflict” during his time as mayor, saying he’s built “division” instead of “solutions.”

“Over the last four years, I’ve had the front-row seat to this mayor’s tenure. I’ve witnessed firsthand his inability to work with your City Council and his absence at so many tables — whether that be with local organizations and advocacy groups, our county, state or federal governments,” she said.

“His focus on creating conflict, turning every issue, every problem, into Us vs. Them; building division, not solutions; and his failure to lead us through our toughest challenges. We can and we must do better.”

Koski also referenced her father, Al Hofstede, a former Minneapolis City Council member, chair to the Met Council and two-term mayor, who she said “modernized Minneapolis.”

“My dad devoted his whole life to the city and its people, and I’m proud to carry on that legacy,” she said.

Frey’s office responded to Koski’s announcement later Wednesday morning, accusing the city council member of flip-flopping on some of the city’s most major issues.

“Over the last two years on the Minneapolis City Council, Emily Koski has changed her position on everything from paying police officers more to regulating Uber and Lyft,” the statement read. “Minneapolis voters deserve a clear vision and Mayor Frey will continue to outline his. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing what the Council Member stands for in this election cycle.”

Sen. Fateh, who represents District 62 — which includes part of Minneapolis — entered the race on Monday. Elected to the state legislature in 2020, Fateh was the first Somali American sworn into the body. In his role, the senator worked closely on a law boosting pay for rideshare drivers and helped secure student financial aid for lower-income families, among other actions.

During his launch for Minneapolis mayor, Fateh also criticized Frey, saying he’s “failing Minneapolis.”

“Mayor Frey and the status quo are failing Minneapolis residents. We deserve leadership that makes it so people want to continue to live here, raise families here, and start businesses here,” he said. “I’m committed to building a city that works for everyone. Serving in the Minnesota Senate, I’ve seen firsthand what a progressive legislature can do with the right executive. As mayor, I will work with the progressive City Council to achieve tangible wins for our neighbors and uplift those of us who are struggling to get by.”

Following Fateh’s announcement, Frey said he would “welcome Senator Fateh to the mayoral race,” and then accused the senator of “rubber-stamping the most extreme voices on the City Council.”

“We welcome Senator Fateh to the mayoral race and look forward to presenting voters with a clear choice between two contrasting visions for the future of Minneapolis. Mayor Frey’s responsible leadership has helped the city recover while making critical progress toward rebuilding the police department, leading the nation in affordable housing, and supporting workers and local businesses. Senator Fateh, a Democratic Socialists of America member who supports removing the police department from the city charter, would jeopardize that progress by rubber-stamping the most extreme voices on the City Council,” said a Frey campaign spokesperson.

Frey’s seat — and all 13 of the city council’s — are up for grabs in 2025.

PLYMOUTH, Minn — When it comes to owning a home, Minnesota has one of the largest disparity gaps in the country between white families and Black families. 

According to University of Minnesota researchers with the Mapping Prejudice Project, home ownership for white households is around 78%. For Black households, that number is around 25%. 

Although racist restrictions in neighborhoods is illegal thanks to the Fair Housing Act, which protects people from discrimination, it’s still a major problem. 

Thousands of homeowners in Minnesota still have what’s known as a “racial covenant” in their deed. Essentially these covenants were put into property deeds to prevent people of color from living or occupying land in many neighborhoods.

The Mapping Prejudice Project scoured through thousands of public records highlighting this hidden racist clause in deeds that many homeowners likely didn’t know existed on their record. 

U of MN’s Kirsten Delegard is the director of the Mapping Prejudice Project, and she explained why this data is so important in understanding the huge disparity gap existing today.

“Housing is fundamental for every aspect of well being,” Delegard said. “The kind of housing that you have determines whether you’re gonna be sick or healthy, what kind of access to green space you’re gonna have, what kind of access to educational opportunities you’re gonna have, whether or not you’re gonna be breathing polluted air. This exploration of who had access to housing when what were the barriers for certain groups is key to understanding why we have such high disparities in Minnesota today.”

Part of the Mapping Prejudice Project is to inform homeowners in Minnesota about these racial covenants. Thousands have been discharged while other homeowners like the Crichton family in Plymouth, are only learning of this discriminatory past. 

“My dad bought the property in 1949 and built this house.,” said Ellen Crichton paging through an old photo album. “He and my mom designed it and built it themselves and we were all raised here.”

What once was a place Ellen Crichton took her first steps, is now a place her grandkids are doing the same.

“We bought the property and refurbished it and I love it,” Crichton said. 

Crichton’s Plymouth home was passed down from one generation to the next without knowing that their family home had a racial covenant in their property deed. 

“I was flabbergasted that that was on the deed, I couldn’t believe it,” Crichton said.

“It says, ‘No persons of any race other than Caucasian race will use or occupy any building or lot except that this covenant shall not prevent occupancy by domestic servants of a different race domiciled with an owner or tenant.’ Isn’t that all horrible?”

In layman’s terms, the land was off limits to those who were not white and although illegal, the hateful racist language still exists in thousands of deeds in Minnesota today.

“I’m sure that my dad didn’t see that in the deed,” Crichton said. “I’m sure he didn’t read the entire thing.”

The Crichton’s were told about the Just Deeds Coalition, which is a group of attorneys, realtors and various cities that provide legal and title services to help property owners find discriminatory covenants and discharge them for free.

Maria Cisneros is the City Attorney for Golden Valley and part of the Just Deeds Coalition. Cisneros had removed a covenant on her own home, and knows just how important it is.

“I think one of the best things to come out of discharging a covenant is that you have added to the historical record,” Cisneros said. “The covenant is always gonna be there in Minnesota. The law doesn’t delete the language from the historical record. It’s always gonna be in the property records, but when you discharge your covenant, we fill out a new piece of paper that disavows the language in the covenant and then you sign it and then your name is now in the historical record.”

“We would have passed it on with that on there,” Crichton said. “You know… I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.”

The Mapping Prejudice Project has found more than 55,000 racial covenants in property deeds across the state of Minnesota so far. Delegard said that many covenants were placed by developers when they developed a new neighborhood. 

If you would like to learn more about the Mapping Prejudice Project, click here. If you would like to find out if your home has a racial covenant, click here.

MINNEAPOLIS — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in 2020.

While it’s safe to say we’re well-versed in dealing with winter weather, one rare seasonal occurrence has even the most diehard, lifelong Minnesotans wondering: What the heck is a snow squall?

If the name of the phenomenon caught you off guard, don’t let the actual storm surprise you, too.

“A snow squall is a rare occurrence that can be issued for a brief, but heavy snow band usually behind a cold front during the wintertime,” said KARE 11 Meteorologist John Zeigler. 

“Small areas of energy swing behind a low-pressure center or can trail behind a strong cold front. This creates very small narrow bands of snow that can produce whiteout conditions that may only last for a few minutes but have been known to catch drivers off guard.”

Zeigler added that although Wednesday’s forecast includes a possible snow squall pop-up, it isn’t expected to impact the wider Twin Cities metro.

“We may see a few of these today, but the expectation is that it will be very isolated and not impact that many communities around the region,” he said.”

According to the National Weather Service, snow squalls don’t typically produce high snow accumulations, usually notching no more than an inch. However, coupled with strong winds and cold temperatures, NWS agrees these storms cause “extremely dangerous conditions for motorists.”

Go to KARE11.com/weather to stay up-to-date on the latest forecast and conditions.