Star Tribune
Duluth to get ‘in your face’ arena football team in 2024
DULUTH — This city will again have its own indoor football team, scheduled to begin play in June 2024 in the old hockey arena at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC).
The Arena League, a new organization run by Heisman Trophy winner-turned Los Angeles Raider Tim Brown, announced its intent Wednesday to set up a team in Duluth.
Springfield, Missouri, was the first city named in early March, followed by a period of online voting to narrow the options. The league is expected to have four teams in its inaugural season.
“This gives us a good excuse to revive the old arena — which is still a beautiful space,” said Dan Hartman, executive director of the DECC. “This is a way more ‘in your face’ experience because you’re so close to the game.”
The teams will be made up of Division I athletes who weren’t drafted by NFL teams — or were drafted and then released.
“This is an opportunity for them to continue playing with scouts watching,” said Tommy Benizio, a consultant for the league. “We expect high scoring games, big hits, things people cheer for.”
Officials said they hope to draw locally known players as the league grow.
The Arena League plans to emphasize the highlights of regular football, with extra attention on the entertainment. Each team will have six players who play both offense and defense on a 50-yard field. There will be a quick-play clock and helmets are equipped with microphones so fans can hear all communication. Expect a high-jumping player to sometimes leap over the walls — hockey boards with padding — when making a catch.
Don’t like the referee? They can be ousted from future games via fan voting — one of several decisions The Arena League is leaving up to fans. It’s holding a contest soliciting ideas for the name, logo and team colors. Season tickets are available, including floor-level box seats that come with parking and a table-side server.
The Arena League team joins the Duluth Huskies, of the Northwoods League for college players, and Duluth FC, a semipro team from the National Premier Soccer League partially owned by Olympic curling champion John Shuster as summer spectator sports for the region.
Duluth last had an indoor football team in the early 2000s when the Duluth Lumberjacks played at the DECC Arena. Other cities still under consideration for the franchise include Rochester, Minn., Kansas City, Mo., Rockford, Ill., Dubuque and Waterloo, Iowa, Little Rock, Ark., Wichita Falls, Texas, and Oklahoma City, Okla.
After months of maintenance problems and safety concerns in downtown St. Paul’s Lowry Apartments, city officials condemned the building, forcing dozens of tenants to abruptly relocate to hotels this week.
On Monday afternoon, city staff responded to a plumbing leak in the 11-story building at 345 Wabasha St. N. Officials reported significant damage and signs of vandalism, including copper wire theft that left electrical systems exposed. The leak also raised concerns about mold.
To make repairs, the building’s water must be shut off — a move that would leave tenants without boiler heat and fire sprinklers, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher said in a Tuesday email to state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega and City Council Member Rebecca Noecker, who represent the area.
After determining heat and water could not be restored quickly, Tincher wrote: “There was no other option than to conclude the building was not safe for residents to stay.”
Property manager Halverson and Blaiser Group (HBG) agreed to provide alternative housing for tenants for up to 30 days, Tincher said. City staff worked with Ramsey County’s Housing Stability team and Metro Transit to help 71 residents pack and move.
Before then, the building belonged to downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, Madison Equities. After the January death of the company’s founder and longtime principal, Jim Crockarell, the dire state of the group’s real estate portfolio became apparent.
The Lowry Apartments, the sole property with a high concentration of low-income housing, quickly became the most troubled. Residents reported frequent break-ins, pest infestations, inoperable elevators and more, to no avail.
Star Tribune
Metro Transit allocated $12 million to boost security, cleanliness on Twin Cities light rail and buses
They will be soon. With more money to spend, Metro Transit plans to bring on 40 more this year. With their ranks growing, TRIP agents, clad in blue, have recently started covering the Metro C and D rapid transit lines between Brooklyn Center and downtown Minneapolis.
The big investment in public safety initiatives comes as Metro Transit is seeing an uptick in ridership that plunged dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slow to recover. This year ridership has been a bright spot, the agency said.
Through October, the agency has provided 40.1 million rides, up 7% compared with the first 10 months of 2023. In September, the agency saw its highest monthly ridership in four years, averaging nearly 157,000 rides on weekdays, agency data shows.
At the same time, crime is down 8.4% during the first three quarters of 2024 compared to the same time period last year, according to Metro Transit Interim Police Chief Joe Dotseth. However, problems still persist.
On Nov. 29, Sharif Darryl Walker-El, Jr., 33, was fatally shot on a Green Line train in St. Paul. Just a week earlier, a woman was shot in the leg while on the train and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Earlier this year, a robbery attempt on the Green Line in St. Paul left a passenger shot and wounded.
“Our officers are spending time on the system and sending a clear message to everyone: Crime will not be tolerated on transit,” Dotseth said. “And we will work to ensure those commit those crimes are held accountable.”
The ACLU of Minnesota has sued Otter Tail County, its sheriff and correctional officers at its jail, alleging unlawful punishment of a man known to them who has serious mental health issues.
Ramsey Kettle, 33, a member of White Earth Nation and lifelong Otter Tail County resident, was jailed in February on charges that were dropped two months later. The ACLU says that the sheriff’s office attempted to cover up the mistreatment, but a whistleblower working at the jail reported the abuse to the state. A 46-page lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court of Minnesota.
“Mr. Kettle was subjected to extreme, punitive treatment in violation of his constitutional rights and standards for basic human dignity,” the ACLU said in a statement. “Otter Tail County officers, with approval of the acting jail administrator, kept Mr. Kettle locked up in solitary confinement for days without food, water, or appropriate medical and mental health care.”
Otter Tail County spokesperson Shannon Terry said in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune that “Due to the impending litigation, Otter Tail County has no comment or statement at this time.” Terry did confirm that Kettle was released from custody April 24, when the charges were dropped.
Kettle was immediately placed in solitary confinement after he arrived at the jail Feb. 9, the lawsuit says. Jail staff didn’t assess Kettle’s poor mental health, which the ACLU says was well-documented and known to officers. The ACLU says Kettle “exhibited increasing signs of physical and mental distress” and officers allegedly “laughed at him, mocked him, and left him to suffer.”
Kettle had been booked at the jail multiple times before. In March 2022, he was convicted of making terroristic threats and sentenced to two years. On the day he was scheduled to be released from Rush City Correctional Facility after serving his full sentence, he was charged in Otter Tail with four counts of aggravated witness tampering stemming from the conviction.
“Rather than going home on February 9, 2024, as he had anticipated for nearly two years, he was transferred to Otter Tail County Jail to await trial on these new charges. The new charges were unfounded and intended solely to keep Mr. Kettle incarcerated,” the lawsuit states.
District Judge Johnathan Judd dismissed the charges as lacking foundation.
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