Star Tribune
Minnesota court interpreters support continuing work stoppage long term
When defense attorney Erica Davis went to a hearing for a Spanish-speaking client in Ramsey County District Court on Tuesday, no interpreter came.
A group of Minnesota court interpreters is in its second week of declining case assignments in protest of the judiciary not meeting their demands for a pay increase that keeps up with inflation.
In response, the courts are rescheduling some lower-priority hearings, Minnesota Judicial Branch spokeswoman Kim Pleticha said, though they have not been able to catalogue how many were postponed. She noted that any hearings that involve a person in custody are a high priority and would not be delayed.
The court system has a roster of 300 freelance interpreters, about one-third of whom are certified through rigorous testing. The certified interpreters have led the work stoppage, but exactly how many interpreters have stopped work is unknown; they are not in a union. Pleticha said some interpreters are still accepting assignments. The courts also have 12 staff interpreters who are continuing to work.
Since the work stoppage, 87% of hearings requiring a Spanish interpreter – the most common language — have had a certified interpreter, she added. State law says that the courts must take the highest qualified interpreter who is most available at the time.
“We take this very seriously … we’ve been very clear from the beginning that we absolutely stand very firmly behind what interpreters do,” Pleticha said. “They provide a very critical service to the courts.”
Davis is among a slew of attorneys who wrote in support of the interpreters’ demands last year as the state court administration was accepting comments on a new compensation proposal. The changes took effect on Jan. 8, the day the work stoppage began, and the certified interpreters’ pay went from $56 to $65 per hour, after they had asked for $95 to keep up with inflation following decades of minimal raises. The new policy also makes other changes they dispute, including eliminating pay for travel time.
“Absolutely, I support the work stoppage,” Davis said.
Most of Davis’ clients are Spanish-speakers who need interpreters. Even though she speaks Spanish, interpreters are required to be neutral parties. Last week in Anoka County, an interpreter also didn’t show up for a Zoom hearing for a different client.
State Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, sent a letter to Minnesota Supreme Court justices saying he plans to hold an informational hearing on the matter in a few weeks as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Latz wrote that “more than the Court’s current proposal needs to be done to meet the needs of the interpreters, both administratively and regarding compensation, and to thus meet the needs of non-English speaking participants in the justice system.”
The group of interpreters said in an email that they had a two-hour meeting Sunday and 65 certified and noncertified foreign language interpreters, along with American Sign Language interpreters, “expressed their unwavering support in continuing the stoppage long-term.”
State Court Administrator Jeff Shorba last responded to the group in an email Jan. 4 saying the courts would ask for $1.525 million to increase interpreter pay in the upcoming legislative session.
The need for interpreters has grown dramatically: 46,622 hearings required a foreign language interpreter in 2022, a 77% increase since 2012. The court said it has 85 active, certified interpreters, most of them for Spanish, followed by Russian and Hmong.
“What I think is going to be the biggest problem is timelines can only get extended so far on folks, particularly that are in custody and need to have a trial before we start running up against the clock of [constitutionality],” Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Michael Berger said.
There’s pressure to move a backlog in the court, he added, “but if our clients don’t have a certified interpreter, that’s going to be problematic.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
