Star Tribune
In Hennepin County, outdoor warning sirens still key to delivering severe weather alerts
When a family of tornadoes roared across the Twin Cities on May 6, 1965, authorities sounded civil defense sirens to warn people to take cover.
It was a bold move that had never been tried before, and it worked.
“They got it,” said Eric Waage, director of Hennepin County Emergency Management. “They took shelter. The sirens saved lives.”
Once reserved to alert civilians to enemy military attacks, outdoor warning sirens remain a critical tool in warning the public of extremely large hail, destructive winds and tornadoes. On Thursday, sirens will blare at 1:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. as part of a statewide tornado drill to be held in conjunction with Severe Weather Awareness Week.
The drills, which will be canceled if there is severe weather, are meant to encourage people to think, “What would I do now?” Waage said.
Other activities to remind and educate people about what to do when severe weather strikes will be Monday through Friday.
From 1950 through 2020, Minnesota has averaged 29 tornadoes a year, according to the Minnesota State Climatology Office. While 77% of twisters in Minnesota occur during May, June and July, the violent spiral windstorms have been reported in every month of the year except January and February. In 2021, at least 16 tornadoes danced across Minnesota on Dec. 15, the latest date for a tornado ever reported in the state, records show.
Though none has been reported in Minnesota yet this year, there had been 519 nationwide as of Friday, nearly double the average at this point in the year, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Tornadoes already have led to 63 deaths this year, approaching the yearly nationwide average of 71.
The trend has Hennepin County officials fearing that 2023 could be an active summer locally. Urban areas are not immune, as shown by twisters that inflicted damage on north Little Rock, Ark., and other communities across the southern U.S. in recent weeks, Waage said.
In the past 50 years, more than 30 tornadoes have touched down in Hennepin County, including north Minneapolis in 2011 and Edina and south Minneapolis in 1981. In 1939, a storm raced from Medina to Anoka and became the namesake of the Anoka High School sports teams: the Tornadoes.
While the nearly 300 sirens in Hennepin County remain the most direct way to get the word out — warnings don’t have to pass through media outlets before reaching the public — the county in recent years has invested heavily in technology to expand ways to alert residents of the state’s most populous county, and fast.
“People don’t pay attention as they used to,” said Emily Jackson, a Hennepin County Emergency Management meteorologist. “They are not as weather aware.”
A large section of the county’s public works facility in Medina houses the Emergency Operations Center. The county has three meteorologists on staff to monitor weather conditions, and a network of 25 automated weather stations feeding them data. When strong storms develop, staff members come into the nerve center to monitor a bevy of radio frequencies, send out alerts to cell phones and on social media channels and even post messages on electronic highway billboards.
The county also holds annual training for severe weather reporting for staff and volunteer weather spotters and works in concert with the National Weather Service.
“We hope to provide even more accurate warnings,” Waage said.
In addition to tornado warnings, Hennepin County sirens sound when hail 2 1⁄2 inches or more in diameter is reported and when winds reach 80 mph or stronger.
That is one reason Hennepin County is among several agencies participating in Severe Weather Awareness Week. And the hope is residents, businesses and schools will participate, too.
Waage said all households should have a NOAA weather radio that broadcasts storm warnings and hazards instantly. Cell phones may not be the most reliable because they might not work in some buildings, he said.
“People need to have more than one method to be warned,” Waage said.
That is why the tried-and-true siren will always sound when severe weather strikes — an official confirmation that “it’s time to take protective action,” Waage said.
Betty Danger’s, the quirky northeast Minneapolis bar known for its Ferris wheel and miniature golf, has been sold for $3.5 million.
The property, located at 2501 Marshall St. NE and 2519 Marshall St. NE, was purchased on Nov. 15, according to the certificate of real estate value filed with the state. The primary buyer of the site is entrepreneur Joe Radaich, according to Taylor VerMeer, a spokeswoman for an undisclosed project planned for the site.
“While I can confirm that Joe Radaich is the primary buyer listed on this project, we are not able to share anything more at this time,” VerMeer said in an email.
Radaich has operated bars in the past, including Sporty’s Pub and Grill, which later became Como Tap. Radaich no longer operates Como Tap, an employee said on Tuesday. Radaich did not return requests for comment. Attempts to reach Leslie Bock, the Betty Danger’s previous owner, were unsuccessful.
The property’s mortgage payments are set at $18,886 per month with a 6.15% interest rate, the state filings show.
A Minneapolis nonprofit that served food to low-income kids has agreed to dissolve itself after a state investigation found it violated laws regarding its operations and financial transactions.
The move was announced Tuesday by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office began investigating Gar Gaar Family Services, also known as the Youth Leadership Academy, after it was denied from participating in a federally funded program to provide food to students after school.
The investigation then found additional issues, including:
An attorney who has represented Gar Gaar, Barbara Berens, could not be reached Tuesday afternoon. Neither Ali or Morioka have been charged in criminal court.
The settlement by the state and Gar Gaar requires it to begin the dissolution process within 60 days of a court’s approval. The nonprofit then must transfer its assets to other charitable organizations with a similar mission.
Gar Gaar, which means “help” in Somali, launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to help students in need, especially those in the Somali community. The group served meals outside of the school year as part of the Summer Food Service Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture but managed by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Gar Gaar received $21 million in reimbursements for serving 7 million meals — the top provider of summer meals in Minnesota in 2021.
What would have been a wild story was quickly put to rest Tuesday when Bloomington police issued a statement clarifying that no, it was not in possession of a recorded O.J. Simpson murder confession.
TMZ reported Tuesday afternoon that Bloomington police may have unwittingly come into possession of such a recording after arresting a former bodyguard of Simpson’s more than two years ago.
But about two hours after that report published, the suburban police department sent out a release that said the belongings seized during the arrest of Iroc Avelli had been inspected and officers “did not locate any information of evidentiary value for the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Here’s what police said happened:
Bloomington police arrested Avelli under suspicion of assault on March 3, 2022. Several items were taken by police in the process, including a backpack which contained multiple thumb drives, according to a statement.
They said Avelli and his attorney said one of the thumb drives in the backpack contained a recording of Simpson confessing to the infamous 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman, according to Bloomington police.
A search warrant was granted to inspect the thumb drives. A copy was obtained by TMZ, dated June 26, and the document only said the results from the search were “pending.”
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