Star Tribune
Demonstrators protest Rep. Dean Phillips’ stance on Israel-Hamas conflict at his Minnetonka office
About 70 demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict protested Wednesday afternoon outside a Minnetonka building that houses the district offices of U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips.
The protesters had planned to stage a sit-in in Phillips’ office, but they found the door locked with a notice saying that the staff was “working remotely today.”
They then moved outside to demonstrate on a sidewalk facing Interstate 394, waving Palestinian flags and signs calling for a cease-fire and “No New Occupation of Gaza.”
The protesters, who call themselves members of the Free Palestine Coalition, said they chose to demonstrate against Phillips because he is a declared presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination and because he called in a Nov. 17 press release for “a multinational peace force” to be deployed to Gaza “to maintain security and support humanitarian reconstruction.”
Wayne Miller, 34, of Minneapolis, who led chants on a bullhorn, said that such a multinational force carried with it the potential for direct American military involvement.
In an email, a Phillips spokesman said the Minnetonka office was taking in-person meetings only by appointment, “due to ongoing security concerns.” The spokesman said that protesters had requested a meeting at 3 p.m. Wednesday but that time didn’t work for Phillips or his staff, and said the group had been invited to meet virtually at a different time.
Phillips, a businessman who represents Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, is running a long-shot campaign for president. He says that President Joe Biden, 80, is too old to serve in the White House and is unlikely to defeat former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for president in the 2024 election.
In the Nov. 17 news release, Phillips called the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas “the worst massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust.” He said that while Israel had “every right and expectation to target Hamas terrorists,” that response had “taken an unacceptable toll on Palestinian civilians, many of whom are subject to Hamas terror.”
Melanie Yazzie of the Red Nation, who belongs to the Free Palestine Coalition, said in a news release backing the demonstration that Phillips’ call for a multinational peace force “risks regional and global war with possible deployment of U.S. troops to Palestine.”
Two people from Minnetonka were killed late Friday afternoon when their GMC Suburban ran a stop sign and was struck by a GMC Yukon headed north on Hwy. 169 west of Palisade, Minn.
According to the State Patrol, Marlo Dean Baldwin, 92, and Elizabeth Jane Baldwin, 61, were dead at the scene. The driver of the Suburban, a 61-year-old Minnetonka man, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The Suburban, pulling a trailer, was headed east on Grove Street/County Rd. 3 at about 5:15 p.m. when it failed to stop at Hwy. 169 and was struck by the northbound Yukon. The Yukon then struck two westbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.
Four people from Zimmerman, Minn., in the Yukon, including the driver, were taken to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, while two passengers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Three girls in the Yukon ranged in age from 11 to 15.
The drivers of the two vehicles struck by the Yukon were not injured, the State Patrol said. Road conditions were dry at the time of the accident, and alcohol was not believed to have been a factor. All involved in the accident were wearing a seat belt except for Elizabeth Baldwin.
Hill City police and the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.
Amid the cacophony and chaos of the pregame preparation before a recent Minnetonka High School football game, an exceptional group of six girls is gathered together among the school’s deep and talented cheerleading and dance teams.
The cheerleaders, a national championship-winning program of 40 girls, dot the track around the football field. As the clock ticks down to kickoff and their night of choreographed routines begins, the six girls, proudly wearing Minnetonka blue T-shirts emblazoned with “Skippers Nation” and shaking shiny pom-poms, swirl around the track, bristling with excited energy.
Their circumstances are no different from any of the other cheerleaders with one notable exception: The girls on this team have special needs.
They’re members of the Minnetonka Sparklers, a squad of cheerleaders made up solely of girls with special needs.
A football game at Minnetonka High School is an elaborate production. The Skippers’ recent homecoming victory over Shakopee brought an announced crowd of 8,145. And that is just paying attendees; it doesn’t include school staffers, coaches, dance team, marching band, concession workers, media members and others going about their business attached to the game.
The Sparklers program, now in its 12th season, was the brainchild of Marcy Adams, a former Minnetonka cheerleader who initiated the program in her senior year of high school. Adams has been coach of the team since its inception, staying on through her tenure as a cheerleader at the University of Minnesota.
She started the program after experiencing the Unified Sports program at Minnetonka. The unified sports movement at high schools brings together student-athletes with cognitive or physical disabilities and athletes with no disabilities to foster relationships, understanding and compassion through athletics. Many Minnesota schools offer unified sports.
“I grew up in a household that valued students with special needs and valued inclusion,” Adams said. “I saw a need to give to those students. At Minnetonka, we have a strong Unified program, and this was a great opportunity to build relationships and offer mentorship opportunities.”
Elite runners are in a league of their own.
To get a sense of how far ahead elite runners are compared to the rest of us, the Minnesota Star Tribune took a look at how their times compare to the average marathon participant.
The 2022 Twin Cities Marathon men’s winner was Japanese competitor Yuya Yoshida, who ran the marathon in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds, for an average speed of 11.96 mph. He averaged 5 minutes and 2 seconds per mile.
That’s more than twice the speed of the average competitor across both the men’s and women’s categories, of 5.89 mph, according to race results site Mtec. The average participant finished in 4 hours, 26 minutes and 56 seconds. That comes out to an average time of 10 minutes and 11 seconds per mile.
And taking it to the most extreme, the fastest-ever marathon runner, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya, finished the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours and 35 seconds, for an average pace of about 13 mph. Kiptum averaged 4 minutes and 36 seconds per mile.
Here is a graphic showing these differences in average marathon speed.
