Star Tribune
Hennepin County lobbyists cost more than $310K. What did they accomplish?
Hennepin County spent $310,000 on lobbyists in 2023 to influence state and federal lawmakers.
The Hennepin County Board intergovernmental relations committee got an annual update of those efforts Nov. 14. Lobbying costs for the county are expected to be similar next year, with the exact amount set in December when commissioners approve the 2024 budget.
A summary provided by county officials shows that $120,000 was spent on lobbying the federal government and the remaining $190,000 was dedicated to influencing state lawmakers on a variety of topics including infrastructure, housing and social services.
Commissioner Marion Greene, who represents District 3, noted that the county had a number of important funding and policy successes during a busy legislative session when lawmakers approved a nearly $70 billion two-year budget.
“Our team was ready to be partners with legislators during that intense session,” Greene said. “I’m so impressed with our team.”
A big win this year was the Legislature’s approval of $26 million for an anaerobic digester the county wants to build in Brooklyn Park to dispose of organic waste. To get the money, the County Board needs to approve a plan to close the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) on the edge of downtown Minneapolis that burns garbage to create energy.
The HERC is a controversial facility that environmental and social justice advocates say has a disproportionate impact on the county’s most at-risk populations. But some county staffers argue the incinerator’s emissions are well below acceptable levels and that burning trash is better than sending it to a landfill.
In October, the County Board ordered staff to come up with options by February to close the HERC between 2028 and 2040.
The state infrastructure bill also included $3.5 million to help fund the rehabilitation of the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. County officials hoped to get $8.6 million more in the coming legislative session to help pay for that project.
Hennepin County’s lobbying goes beyond money for infrastructure. The County Board’s legislative priorities for 2024 include:
Waste: To close the HERC, residents need to dramatically reduce the trash they create. County leaders say state funding and policy changes will be needed to aid in that effort.
Health and human services: County leaders need state and federal help to continue to provide equitable care and services to residents. Officials want state leaders to do more to address the growing shortage of nurses and other health care workers.
Housing: County officials want the Legislature to continue to invest in affordable housing through aid to renters and subsidies to housing providers. They also back a “livable” minimum wage of $15 per hour or more.
Transportation: County leaders want new state investments in transit projects, including the Blue Line light-rail extension and an ongoing Arterial Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project led by the Metropolitan Council.
The County Board is expected to formally approve its legislative platform when it meets Nov. 28.
CBRE, which marketed the property, declined to comment on the sale.
Adam Duininck, president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council, said while the low sales prices might sound alarming, there are bright spots. Homeowners in the city are facing a few tough years of property tax increases as commercial values drop, he acknowledged. But the lower prices have also enabled new players to buy downtown properties, paving the way for fresh ideas to transform the urban core.
“Hopefully, they come into the market with a certain kind of energy and optimism that helps drive the market back up,” he said, adding public safety improvements have also fueled recent momentum.
Take the Kickernick Building, which recently opened an art gallery. Earlier this year, Twin Cities-based United Properties sold the historic former warehouse on the edge of the CBD for $3.79 million. In 2017, United paid $19.5 million for the building.
Just a couple blocks away, Tom McCarver and Steve Boynton bought a mixed-use, nearly 31,000-square-foot building at the corner of Seventh Street and Hennepin Avenue that most recently housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. Last month, they paid about $4.3 million, slightly more than half of what it sold for in November 2017.
Tom McCarver, CEO of Hennepin Real Estate Partners LLC, poses Tuesday on the rooftop of the Stimson Building in Minneapolis that formerly housed Seven Steakhouse & Sushi. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
After the restaurant closed during the pandemic, the building went into receivership and up for auction. McCarver and Boynton, executives at a company that owns billboards across the metro, were among nearly a dozen bidders. They won the auction in March, but because of “legal hurdles,” the sale didn’t close until last month.
A third wildfire burning within the Superior National Forest was discovered Tuesday near Bogus Lake in Cook County.
The fire, 45 acres in size, was active overnight into Wednesday as firefighters and aircraft continued suppression efforts, according to the U.S. Forest Service. The cause is unknown.
Bogus Lake is less than 20 miles northeast of Grand Marais.
A drought has put much of the upper Midwest, from northern Minnesota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, under “above normal” conditions for potential wildland fire, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Bogus Lake Fire is the second wildfire to be discovered in the Superior National Forest this week and the third one actively burning since early September.
Monday, a fire was detected on the eastern side of Shell Lake, about 4 miles north of Road 116 within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, in St. Louis County. That fire is less than one acre, with the potential to spread east near Agawato Lake and the Sioux-Hustler Hiking Trail, the Forest Service said.
That fire grew to 45 acres and half of it was contained as of Oct. 1, according to the Forest Service. It is suspected of being caused by humans. Firefighters remain assigned to the fire.
Star Tribune
Duluth man involved in chaotic aftermath of fatal stabbing turns himself in 6 months later
DULUTH – On the mid-April night that Chantel Moose was fatally stabbed outside a downtown bar, Trayvon Joseph Walters fired at least two shots toward the fleeing suspect and a man who was pistol-whipping the accused. Then Walters took off for six months.
Walters, 27, traveled back from Colorado and turned himself in to local law enforcement officials on Wednesday morning, according to his attorney, assistant public defender Aaron Haddorff. He faces charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon — along with unrelated charges of second-degree assault from 2020 — and appeared before Judge Eric Hylden in the afternoon at the St. Louis County Courthouse. His bail is set at $250,000.
Kimonte Travion Cadge, 26, who was taken to a hospital for the gunshot wound Walters allegedly inflicted, was charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He was extradited from Cook County Jail in Chicago and was booked in St. Louis County Jail in September.
According to the criminal complaint: Moose and Plummer, who is friends with Moose’s ex-boyfriend, got into an argument after bar close on April 12 outside Spurs on 1st Street. A bouncer intervened, and Plummer reached over him to take a swipe at Moose with a knife with a 4- to 6-inch blade. Moose backed up and walked away before she dropped to the sidewalk.
When Plummer saw her fall, he took off running.
Cadge chased him, pistol-whipped him, then fired his gun at him. Walters, according to the criminal complaint, fired at least two shots toward both men, then left in a vehicle. Cadge retreated to a nearby apartment before he was transported to the hospital.
Moose was pronounced dead at a hospital, with a stab wound to the right side of her chest.
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