Star Tribune
Upper Harbor Terminal project announces new partnerships for performance center
Planners behind a future performing arts center with an outdoor amphitheater along the Mississippi River north of downtown Minneapolis have lined up two major groups to help lead its public programming and raise private funds.
The African American Community Development Corp. (AACDC) and the Minnesota Orchestra have signed on to help establish and operate the Community Performing Arts Center, organizers announced this week. They join the First Ave. group of music venues as development partners.
Upper Harbor Terminal is a 48-acre site on the Mississippi River in north Minneapolis. It formerly housed a barge shipping terminal that ceased operations in 2014, and is largely unused. United Properties, another partner in the development, first responded to a request for proposal for the project in 2016.
The Minnesota Orchestra will serve as the center’s strategic business partner, handling private fundraising, according to the Thursday news release from First Avenue.
The orchestra will remain at its current location in downtown Minneapolis, but could perform at a new, completed amphitheater. The orchestra will receive a portion of the revenue when the project is operational, the release states.
The design work has not been completed, but the operators anticipate the center will be completed by spring 2025.
The AACDC will serve as the “community entity” for the project, overseeing public programming. It also will manage economic development opportunityfunds that would accumulate from a $3 fee on every ticket sold at performances. It’s estimated that will come to about $500,000 annually.
AACDC, created in 2021, works to convert African American ideas, capital and action into lasting benefits for the community. The hope is that partnering with AACDC will help to engage with the area’s African American community and get Black Minnesotans involved with the center’s future.
“They are going to make sure there’s meaningful programming for the community and African American community,” said Ashley Ryan, First Ave.’s vice president of marketing. “There have been hundreds of community outreach meetings, and the groups behind the project are very explicitly seeking input from the neighborhood.”
The funds also will go to exploring local vendor and entrepreneur opportunities and a youth jobs program, the release states. Mayor Jacob Frey called the project a “game-changer for the North Side” in the release.
“The local partnerships forming around this development project will prove to be good, not only for the Northside, but for the entire arts community in Minneapolis, leading to a final, community-minded space,” he said.
More about the Upper Harbor Terminal development can be found at upperharbormpls.com.
The medical center is owned by a local nonprofit, but operated by Duluth-based Essentia under an affiliation agreement that dates back to 2009.
With the ruling announced Wednesday, Essentia Health says it will continue to operate the hospital, clinic, assisted-living and long-term care facilities in Fosston, plus clinics in Bagley and Oklee.
“Now that the arbitration process is over, Essentia is focused on the opportunity to engage our patients, colleagues and the community in building a shared vision for the future of health care in Fosston,” said Dr. Stefanie Gefroh, interim president of Essentia Health’s West Market, in a statement.
Arbitrators were asked to rule on whether Essentia eliminated a “core” service by discontinuing deliveries, since the city of Fosston would then have the right to terminate the affiliation agreement. But the panel in a 2-1 vote concluded that labor and delivery is just one aspect of obstetrics (OB).
“OB is a ‘core’ service under the agreement, encompassing labor and delivery as part of comprehensive care for pregnant women,” the ruling states. “Simply put, while the delivery of the baby is an essential component, it is not the sole care provided to a pregnant woman.”
Fosston officials, including the town’s mayor, were involved in the arbitration because the city has a legal connection to the nonprofit owner of the medical center, which historically was a municipal hospital.
Star Tribune
Judge gives driver year in jail for being drunk, fatally hitting man in Minnesota street
A driver was given a year in jail Wednesday for being drunk when he fatally hit a man in the street near St. Cloud.
Tyler J. Nies, 26, of Sartell, Minn., was sentenced in Benton County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash shortly before 11 p.m. on July 28 in Sauk Rapids near the intersection of N. Benton Drive and N. 8th Street that killed Kevin D. Oehmen, 47, of Sauk Rapids.
Judge Robert Raupp opted for the year in jail while setting aside a 5¾-year term. Raupp also ordered Nies to serve 10 years’ probation, perform 80 hours of community work service, complete a chemical assessment attend a victim impact panel, abstain from mood-altering chemicals and stay away from bars.
According to the criminal complaint:
An officer at the scene noticed that Nies smelled of alcohol. Nies initially said he had one beer before driving his pickup. A preliminary breath test by the officer measured Nies’ blood alcohol content at 0.129%, more than 1 1⁄2 times the legal limit in Minnesota.
Upon further questioning, Nies said that before driving he drank three beers, which were about 16 ounces each.
Nies told police he was heading north on Benton Drive in the right-hand lane and suddenly saw a man walking in the grassy area next to the curb “like he was going to cross the road,” the complaint read. Police Chief Perry Beise added that Oehmen was on a street with no marked crosswalk.
Here’s a roundup of 55 claims that caught the interest of the Washington Post, in the order in which they were made
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