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Lawmakers push for bill requiring naloxone in Minnesota schools
Last year, the bill stalled due to partisan negotiations. This year, State Senator Kelly Morrison (DFL-Deephaven) is hopeful.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Colleen Ronnei of Chanhassen said her son Luke had a magnetic personality.
“Luke was a really gregarious, charming guy,” Ronnei said. “He was handsome and funny and he had a beautiful soul.”
Unfortunately, underneath his shining personality, Luke struggled with anxiety and depression. At age 17, he was prescribed painkillers when he had his wisdom teeth removed. Eventually, he became addicted.
“I still remember Luke saying to me, ‘Mom, you have no idea. You have no idea how many young people are struggling with this. If you knew… you would be absolutely blown away,'” Ronnei recalled.
In 2016, Luke died of an accidental overdose at home. Looking back at the painful loss of her son, Ronnei wonders if the outcome would have been different if she had known about Narcan, the opioid-reversal drug that can save a life during an overdose.
“When Luke died, we didn’t know what Narcan was. We had no information that it even existed. I think that was true and remains true for a lot of people.”
Now, through her nonprofit Change the Outcome, Ronnei visits Minnesota schools to educate students and staff about the opioid epidemic as well as preventative measures, sharing her personal story. Since 2018, she also has been working with Minnesota Sen. Kelly Morrison (DFL-Deephaven) on legislation that would require naloxone to be stored in Minnesota schools.
“Honestly, Colleen Ronnei was the first to bring this to my attention,” Sen. Morrison said.
Morrison said so far, there have been several iterations of the legislation. It was introduced and included in the education omnibus bill last session but stalled when negotiations broke down between the Republican-controlled Senate and Democrat-controlled House. Now that both chambers are controlled by one party, Morrison said she doesn’t anticipate partisan politics getting in the way.
“This really isn’t a partisan issue, but it got caught up in partisan politics,” she said. “Addiction and opioids… does not discriminate by party affiliation. This is something that impacts all Minnesotans, and so we’re actually feeling really optimistic that this is the year we can get this done.”
Meanwhile, Ronnei and Morrison say school districts like Bloomington are leading the way. Since 2016, the Bloomington school district has kept naloxone in its buildings. Now, there are two doses of Narcan in each AED box at the secondary and high schools and vials of intramuscular naloxone stored in health offices that nurses are trained to administer.
The district’s director of health services, Hannah Hatch, said Bloomington schools began storing naloxone not as a result of a problem within the district, but more as a preventative measure.
“For us, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Hatch said. “Because there was no harm by stocking it. We felt like it was something we could manage internally. We have registered nurses that would be able to administer, we have people who could train.”
While they’ve never had to use any of their doses, Hatch says their district has had some “close calls.”
“We’ve had a student that received it by emergency personnel,” she said, adding, “I think it gives our nurses ease knowing that there is something if an emergency like that arises. Every minute counts.”
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Synchronize your watches! The award-winning best new musical sets its destination to the Orpheum.
MINNEAPOLIS — You don’t need to build a flux capacitator to travel back in time and relive an ’80s phenomenon.
“Back to the Future the Musical,” which won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical, is coming to the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of fall.
The London’s West End and Broadway show is based on the 1985 blockbuster film that spawned two sequels: “Back to the Future Part II” in 1989 and “Back to the Future Part III” in 1990. All three films combined grossed nearly a billion dollars.
The award-winning musical stars Caden Brauch as Marty McFly, Don Stephenson as Doc Brown and Ethan Rogers as Biff Tannen.
“Back to the Future the Musical” officially premiered at the Manchester Opera House on March 11, 2020. It then had a huge run at London’s West End beginning in 2021 and hit Broadway in August of 2023.
The musical is directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando with original music by multi-Grammy-winners Alan Silvestri (“Avengers: Endgame”) and Glen Ballard (Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”), alongside songs from the movie including “The Power of Love,” “Johnny B. Goode” and “Back in Time.”
“Back to the Future the Musical” will play at the Orpheum from Tuesday, Sept. 10 to Sunday, Sept. 22.
Tickets, which start at $50, will go on sale at HennepinTheatreTrust.org on Friday, June 14, 2024, at 10 a.m.
The production contains flashing lights, strobe effects, pyrotechnics and is recommended for ages 6 and up.
Its run time is 2 hours and 35 minutes and includes one intermission.
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Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024.
ANOKA COUNTY, Minn. — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public to help find a missing Anoka County woman who they believe is without critical medication.
Marina Dougall, 36, was last seen in Minneapolis in September of last year but wasn’t reported missing until May 2024. Police said her family hasn’t heard from her since she was last seen.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released a statement Wednesday, saying Dougall was known to frequent the Franklin Avenue North area of Minneapolis as well as places throughout Anoka County and across the Twin Cities metro. Investigators said she may have been in the area of Burnett County, Wisconsin last September, before being dropped off at the Norwoood Inn in Roseville.
MISSING: Investigators believe Marina Dougall may have been in the in the Burnett County, Wisconsin, area Sept. 20-22, 2023, and then dropped off at the Norwood Inn in Roseville. Anyone with information on Marina Dougall’s whereabouts is urged to call 911. pic.twitter.com/HhfAeFGiJZ
— Minnesota BCA (@MnDPS_BCA) September 11, 2024
The BCA said Dougall has a medical condition that requires medication, and that she also has a history of mental health and substance abuse issues.
Dougall is described as 5’9 and 140 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She also has a chipped front tooth, flower tattoos on her right hand and left shoulder, a snowflake tattoo on her right abdomen and a large tattoo on her back.
The BCA added Dougall was born in Russia and speaks with a slight accent.
If you’ve seen Dougall or know any information about her whereabouts, you’re urged to call 911 or contact the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office at 763-324-5209.
A judge handed 25-year-old Damarean Bible a 367-month sentence – 30 and 1/2 years – for killing 37-year-old Savannah Williams in November of 2023.
MINNEAPOLIS — A Minneapolis man will serve more than 20 years in prison after being convicted of second-degree intentional murder in the death of a transgender woman in November of 2023.
A Hennepin County district judge sentenced Damarean Kaylon Bible to 367 months – or 30 and 1/2 years – for fatally shooting Savannah Ryan Williams, a woman who was well-known in the Twin Cities trans community. He will serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars.
“This senseless act of violence against a Native and Cuban transgender woman has left a family without a daughter, a partner without their person, and a community without the vibrant light that Savannah uniquely brought to every room she was in,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty following the sentencing. “Savannah deserved safety.”
Moriarty said investigators in her office conducted a thorough review to determine whether the killing was motivated by bias, but concluded they could not prove bias beyond a reasonable doubt. The county attorney did say Williams’ murder is part of a pattern of escalating attacks against trans women, particularly those who are of color. She said since 2013, 286 trans women have been killed, with 85% of those victims being Bipoc women.
Two state legislators who are members of the Queer Caucus vowed to continue work at the State Capitol to protect Minnesota’s transgender community and increase penalties against those who harm them.
“Savannah Ryan Williams was a beloved member of the trans and Two Spirit community, and she should be alive today,” said Minnesota Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-66A). “The data is clear that trans people, especially trans people of color, suffer violence at rates far greater than our cisgender neighbors. The Queer Caucus will continue do everything in our power at the Capitol to solve this crisis, and I thank the County Attorney’s Office for sharing this commitment.”
Minneapolis police were dispatched to the 3000 block of 4th Ave. S. around 9 a.m. Nov. 29, 2023 on reports of someone not breathing. Witnesses told officers they heard a gunshot just before 6 a.m.
Investigators used surveillance video to track the shooting suspect to an apartment building where they arrested Bible.
A criminal complaint says Bible admitted to shooting Williams in the head. He told police she approached him for a sexual encounter but he began to feel “suspicious.” After the act, he shot and killed her, according to court documents. Bible reportedly confessed after police found surveillance video of him at the scene near the Lake Street light rail station.
The complaint said while in jail, Bible told his dad he “just murdered someone.” It reads that he felt sorry for killing the victim and knew he wasn’t God, but he “had to do it.”
He was convicted of second-degree intentional murder on Aug. 27, 2024.
Following her death, friends remembered Williams as a big personality who was “full of life.”
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