Star Tribune
Rochester passes homeless camp ban as legal issues loom
ROCHESTER — This community will soon have a ban on public camping to deter homeless camps, in spite of legal threats and a pending Supreme Court decision.
The Rochester City Council Monday night passed, by a 4-3 vote, a proposed ordinance banning public camping, the culmination of months of debate that would allow Rochester police to arrest homeless campers on public land, a misdemeanor.
The ban is on track to go into effect next month after the city holds two ordinance readings at future council meetings.
Area police last summer urged local officials to create the ban, arguing they needed more legal consequences in the face of a growing number of camps around town. Rochester officers broke up more than 130 camps last year and found three dead homeless residents in public parks.
The proposed ban has raised questions among critics concerned Rochester will effectively criminalize being homeless. Attorneys with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services threatened to sue the city last month on behalf of three homeless residents if the ban was approved. They argue the city’s definition of public camping and the ban itself is overly broad.
Supreme Court to hear similar case
A U.S. Supreme Court case over a challenge to a 2018 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that homeless people could not be punished for breaking anti-camping ordinances if not enough shelter beds are available. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case later this spring.
Critics say the case reflects a similar situation in Rochester, where a little more than 70 overnight shelter beds are available to homeless residents at any one time. Olmsted County typically estimates about 200 unhoused adults and 400 unhoused children live in the area, though homeless counts have increased over the past year.
City officials say they tweaked the ordinance in response to those concerns. Residents are given a warning first, and police must help homeless residents find a safe place to go and notify them of available services before moving to arrest someone. Unsheltered folks are given 48 hours to move on from their camp.
“We in fact put safeguards and guardrails on ourselves,” Police Chief Jim Franklin said.
A barrier to escaping homelessness?
Council members Brooke Carlson, Molly Dennis and Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick voted against the ban. They also tried and failed to tweak the ordinance to remove consequences for people who live and sleep in cars. Dennis condemned the ban, arguing criminal charges could potentially put up more barriers for homeless residents trying to find homes.
“People who are surviving, they need as much help as possible,” she said.
City officials said the court would likely divert residents charged with violating the ban to other programs rather than convicting them. Homeless residents could face up to 90 days or a $1,000 fine, but City Attorney Michael Spindler-Krage said all but the most extreme cases would likely be ordered to a work program or county services instead.
“For these types of offenses, we are always looking for options to avoid a conviction on someone’s record,” Spindler-Krage said.
Still, most council members revealed they struggled with the vote. Normal Wahl called the ban “not perfect,” but argued the city needed more ways to address homelessness.
“If there were a perfect answer every city would be doing it,” Wahl said.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
