Star Tribune
Myron Frans to retire from University of Minnesota finance post
Myron Frans will soon retire from his job as the University of Minnesota’s senior vice president for finance and operations — but he’ll continue to work part-time providing advice to the president on healthcare issues.
Frans couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Interim U President Jeff Ettinger announced the change in an email sent to students and staff Tuesday afternoon.
As senior vice president, Frans oversees a wide array of issues for the university, helping to craft its funding requests, overseeing public safety efforts and playing a key role in negotiations aimed at ironing out the future of its medical programs. Before joining the U in 2020, Frans worked as a commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Revenue and Department of Management and Budget, and as an attorney.
The announcement comes at a time when the U’s health programs face a critical juncture. A state task force charged with providing recommendations on the U’s health programs is set to hold its final meeting Wednesday. The U and Fairview Health Services, which owns its hospital, are renegotiating their long-term affiliation.
“Myron has been our point person for academic health negotiations and I deeply appreciate his willingness to continue leadership in this realm over the next several months to ensure the best possible conclusion on this important effort,” Ettinger wrote in the announcement.
The announcement said Frans will retire as senior vice president on March 1 but will continue to serve as the U’s designee on the Fairview Health Services board and “has agreed to serve as a Senior Advisor to the President in a part-time capacity focusing on our clinical partnerships related to academic medicine.” The announcement didn’t provide further detail about what that advisor role entails or the salary for it.
Ettinger said U Budget Director Julie Tonneson will serve as interim senior vice president for finance and operations when Frans retires.
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.”
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Dentists are pulling healthy and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn