Star Tribune
Metro Transit expands fare inspection efforts to bus rapid transit lines
Metro Transit is taking fare compliance efforts to its bus rapid transit lines.
On Monday, police officers, community service officers and Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) agents carried out an “educational operation” at the Brooklyn Center Transit Station as they asked riders to show proof they had paid for their trips and kicked off the agency’s next phase of cracking down on fare dodgers.
“We don’t want to see you pay fines, we want you to pay fares,” said Metro Transit Police Chief Ernest Morales III.
The agency in December began a concerted effort to conduct fare compliance checks on the Blue and Green light-rail lines. In the months that followed, non-sworn community service officers and TRIP agents have issued nearly 1,200 citations to riders who didn’t pay their fares. But only 38 people have paid the $35 administrative fines so far, said Leah Palmer, interim manager of the TRIP program.
Violators have 90 days to pay the fines.
Metro Transit has 12 unarmed TRIP agents who are contracted with Allied Universal Security Services and plans to hire up to 12 more to fully staff up and cover the expansion onto the rapid bus lines.
The agents in their royal blue jackets check to see if riders have paid, but also interact with passengers who misbehave or may need to be connected with social services. The agents were added in February to provide an increased official presence on light-rail trains as part of Metro Transit’s effort to beat back crime and make riding transit safer.
The agency is down 68 police officers, Morales said. By using TRIP agents and community service officers to handle fare checks, officers can respond to more serious crimes, he said.
TRIP agents began riding the C and D lines Monday. Both lines begin their routes at the Brooklyn Center Transit Station. The C-Line follows Penn Avenue and Olson Highway to downtown Minneapolis. The D-Line follows Emerson, Fremont and Chicago avenues to the Mall of America. Some riders on Monday simply skipped the payment machines on the platform, but were ushered off the bus and directed to the machines.
Monday’s event was also aimed at introducing riders who struggle to pay their fare to the Transit Assistance Program (TAP). The program allows low-income earners to get bus cards that allow them to ride for $1, which is below the regular bus fare of $2 during nonpeak hours and $2.50 during rush hours.
About 10 people signed up for TAP on Monday, said program coordinator Andrea Kiepe as she manned a table inside the transit station.
“We are helping people who are not able to afford the fare and qualify for the reduced fare,” Morales said.
WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee voted in secret to release the long-awaited ethics report into ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz, raising the possibility that the allegations against the Florida Republican who was President-elect Donald Trump’s first choice for attorney general could be made public in the coming days.
The decision by the bipartisan committee was made earlier this month, according to a person familiar with the vote who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday. CNN first reported the vote.
It’s a stunning turnaround for the often secretive panel of five Republicans and five Democrats. Just last month, members voted along party lines to not release the findings of their nearly four-year investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with minors and use of illicit drugs while Gaetz was in office.
Democrats had pressing to make the report public even though Gaetz was no longer in Congress and had withdrew as Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department. A vote on the House floor this to force the report’s release failed; all but one Republican vote against it.
Gaetz lashed out Wedneday on social media against the latest development, again denying any wrongdoing. He criticized the committee for its move after he had left Congress, saying he would have ”no opportunity to debate or rebut as a former member of the body.”
”It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life,” Gaetz posted on X, the website formerly known as Twitter. ”I live a different life now.”
Most Republicans have argued that any congressional investigation into Gaetz ended when he resigned from the House. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also requested that the committee not publish its report, saying it would be a terrible precedent.
While ethics reports have previously been released after a member’s resignation, it is extremely rare.
Officials on Wednesday identified the two women who died in a fiery crash when their vehicle collided with another at north Minneapolis intersection.
Esther Jean Fulks, 53, and Rose Elaine Reece, 57, both of Minneapolis, died soon after the wreck late Monday morning at the intersection of N. 26th and Emerson avenues, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Fulks died at the scene, while Reece was declared dead at North Memorial Health Hospital.
Two people in the other vehicle were hospitalized with critical injuries, while a 17-year-old boy waiting at a bus shelter to be picked up for school was hit and taken HCMC with noncritical injuries, police said. Their identities have yet to be released.
Fulks was “a mother of four and very loved in her community!” daughter D’Nia Fulks posted on an online fundraising page started on behalf of the family.
Esther Fulks (With permission from GoFundMe)
A northbound vehicle on Emerson struck the women’s vehicle as it headed east on 26th, police said. The impact sent the eastbound vehicle into the bus shelter, where it caught fire.
Police said they believe excessive speed played a role in the crash, but they have yet to say which driver was suspected of speeding.
Star Tribune
Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it’s not sold
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.
The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the U.S.
It’s unclear how quickly the high court might issue a decision.
