Star Tribune
George Floyd family fund accepting grant applications to help businesses, nonprofits
Billy Jones is hopeful that $500,000 in grants from George Floyd’s family will support the businesses at 38th and Chicago, an area struggling to recover since Minneapolis police officers killed Floyd there in May 2020.
He opened Onyx Coffeehouse there in April “to connect community members in all walks of life, people who typically probably wouldn’t cross each other’s paths.” But Jones has heard about many people staying away from the intersection known as George Floyd Square — whether out of fear or respect.
“I’m definitely applying,” he said. And even if the grant money goes toward surrounding organizations, he added, “a win for my neighbor is a win for me.”
Floyd’s relatives, community leaders and civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Jeff Storms announced this week the opening of the grant application process for the Ward 8 Community Benevolence Fund to support Black- and minority-owned businesses and organizations in the neighborhood where Floyd was murdered.
Floyd’s family donated $500,000 to the fund — from its $27 million civil settlement with the city of Minneapolis — to uplift the local people and institutions harmed by systemic racism. The fund is now accepting applications for grants that, among other purposes, would support the renovation or expansion of businesses, training initiatives, and programs for arts and civil rights awareness.
“What we hope to accomplish first and foremost is to get funds in the hands of those businesses in the Ward 8 community near where George was murdered that were impacted so heavily following George’s murder,” said Storms, who is president of the fund’s board. “And we’re also looking to get money in the hands of nonprofits that benefit that area and work in that area.”
Sam Willis Jr. is eager for his and other businesses in George Floyd Square to receive more support. He was preparing to open his restaurant Just Turkey when the pandemic hit. Then Floyd was killed. The opening was delayed until that fall, and he received $50,000 from the city. But he lamented that the stretch still suffers from a loss of customers and “looks like a Third World country.”
“I’m going to look into it and do the best I can to … go through the process,” he said of the grants.
The grant application guidelines will be discussed during a town hall meeting from noon to 1:30 p.m. Jan. 27 with fund board members and City Council President Andrea Jenkins. The event will be held at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, 1101 Harmon Place, Room MSL238. Reservations are recommended by emailing info@theward8fund.org.
Applications must be submitted to the fund’s website, and grants will be funded at the levels of $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000, but larger grants will also be considered.
“I hear from businesses and community members quite frequently, and people are frustrated with the sort of level of support that has been offered to this community,” said Jenkins.
She praised Floyd’s family for donating funds to help the community.
Star Tribune
Mary Moriarty vows to retry Cody Fohrenkam whose conviction for murdering Deshaun Hill was overturned
The appeals court ruled that at least some of that evidence was wrongfully used to convict Fohrenkam.
Walker, the attorney representing Hill’s family, said that although it’s disappointing that the family must sit through another trial, the ruling is “what makes America, America.”
“I understand where the judge is coming from,” Walker said. “It’s one of those cases that upsets people — people getting out on this, that and the other, on ‘technicalities,’ but they’re not technicalities, it’s the law.”
Star Tribune
Eagan parents of college runner who died by suicide settles suit with her coach and school
The Eagan parents of a college runner who died by suicide has settled their lawsuit that alleged their daughter’s cross-country coach at the time tormented her with demeaning comments in emails and texts about her weight and learning challenges.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida in June 2023 by Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner, the parents of Julia Pernsteiner, 23, who died in her Jacksonville University dorm room on Nov. 8, 2021. Her death came two months after the coach kicked her off the team, the suit contended.
The lawsuit named as defendants the university and former cross-country coach Ronald E. Grigg Jr., who coached women’s track and cross-country at the Division I school from 1998 until his sudden resignation in July.
The family’s attorney, Robert Spohrer, said that the case went to mediation, and there was “an amicable resolution of all issues” that led to the suit’s dismissal.
Spohrer said a strict confidentiality agreement among the parties prevented him from disclosing terms of the settlement.
Attorneys for Grigg and the university did not respond to messages left by the Star Tribune.
Messages were left Thursday with the law firms representing the school and Grigg. The defendants have yet to file any response in federal court to the allegations. The university said in a statement that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The suit contended that Pernsteiner’s constitutional rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act and under Title IX because of discriminatory acts based on her gender.
The state Republican Party and conservative legal groups filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday claiming that Hennepin County did not appoint partisan election judges in the right way.
The party and two conservative groups, the Upper Midwest Law Center and the Minnesota Voters Alliance, want to know how Hennepin County appointed election judges to its absentee ballot board this year. The board’s work includes making sure signatures on absentee ballots match signatures on voter registration cards and deciding if a ballot is spoiled or not.
The central question of the lawsuit, according to Andy Cilek, executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, is whether county elections officials have to exhaust lists of potential election judges provided by the political parties before selecting others for the absentee ballot boards, which are required to have a balance of Republican and Democratic election judges.
“We want to understand how this occurred,” said Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann.
The suit alleges no one from a list of 1,500 Republicans supplied by the state Republican party to the Secretary of State’s office were selected by Hennepin County. Hann said he did not know if any Republicans were selected to serve.
Ryan Wilson of the Upper Midwest Law Center said the group has not scrutinized lists of election judges in other counties to make sure they included names provided by the state Republican Party. Wilson said his group is focusing on Hennepin County because it has the most voters, and the most potential to have an impact, he said.
In a statement, Daniel Rogan, Hennepin County auditor, said absentee ballot board members were appointed in compliance with state law and guidance from the Secretary of State.
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