Star Tribune
Falcon Heights, St. Anthony move toward renewing police partnership severed after killing of Philando Castile
Two Ramsey County cities moved this week toward renewing a police partnership that ended after a St. Anthony police officer fatally shot Black motorist Philando Castile during a 2016 traffic stop in Falcon Heights.
The two councils voted to begin negotiating a contract that, if approved, would see St. Anthony policing Falcon Heights for the first time since 2017, when the communities ended a more than 20-year partnership in the wake of Castile’s killing.
Falcon Heights City Council Member Melanie Leehy said she believes partnering could bring healing to the two cities who shared a difficult experience when Castile was killed. The debate over whether or not to remain partners drew on for many months, dividing members of the communities.
Leehy said had advocated that the cities stick together after Castile’s killing. “You can’t heal when you’re apart,” she said.
She thanked both cities’ leaders and residents for being willing to have difficult conversations now, acknowledging it was clear during engagement sessions that even within Falcon Heights and St. Anthony, residents’ opinions varied on whether the cities should partner again.
Falcon Heights’ vote to begin negotiations Wednesday was unanimous. The city has been patrolled by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office since 2018. Since 2020, Sheriff Bob Fletcher has urged Falcon Heights to find another option because, he said, his office doesn’t patrol contiguous areas, so deputies must travel long distances at high speeds to respond to emergencies.
Falcon Heights City Administrator Jack Linehan has cited several potential benefits to renewing the partnership. Among them, a more community- oriented policing model, and work the St. Anthony department has done to rebuild itself in the wake of Castile’s killing.
On Tuesday, the St. Anthony City Council voted 4-1 to begin negotiations to police Falcon Heights.
Some St. Anthony residents questioned whether renewing the partnership would benefit their city, voicing concern that the quality of service could suffer, and about cost.
St. Anthony City Council Member Thomas Randle, the lone ‘no’ vote, also expressed concern that the city could hire enough officers to cover Falcon Heights, and about how St. Anthony’s policing style would mesh with Falcon Heights leadership.
Early estimates put the cost to Falcon Heights at between $1.65 million and $1.8 million in 2026. St. Anthony officials estimate the city would need to add nine positions to police Falcon Heights, and suggested it would ask for Falcon Heights’ financial help in upgrading police facilities.
St. Anthony leaders anticipate a contract could be signed in the fall.
The man shot by law enforcement during a 15-hour siege in rural western Minnesota had been paranoid and acting erratically, leading his family to call authorities about his behavior, court documents say.
Kasey Paul Willander, 27, was behaving strangely Saturday afternoon while possessing a knife and a bow, his mother told a Yellow Medicine County sheriff’s deputy around 3:15 p.m., according to the search warrant from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office.
Willander left before deputies arrived at the home in Clarkfield, 15 miles south of Montevideo, the search warrant said.
Two hours later, law enforcement said it received a call that Willander had a rifle and was at another relative’s home nearby.
These relatives were forced to barricade themselves in their home as police used an aerial drone to search for Willander, who was hiding in a grove of trees on the property, the warrant said.
As deputies evacuated his relatives from the home, Willander pointed a long gun at the officers, the warrant said.
A standoff ensued. Willander boarded up windows in the home and destroyed cameras on the property, the warrant said.
Police SWAT teams surrounded the home, the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. Willander again shot at the officers.
DULUTH — Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given an unexpected and no-strings-attached $9 million to a Duluth nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs grow.
The EFund was chosen through Yield Giving’s “quiet research” process, in which it chooses and evaluates organizations privately for unsolicited gifts. EFund is only the second known northeast Minnesota organization to benefit from the billions Scott, an author and the ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has given since 2020 as part of her pledge to donate a majority of her wealth over her lifetime. The Duluth Area YMCA in 2020 received an undisclosed amount. About $140 million in donations have now been designated to Minnesota organizations.
“It still feels surreal,” EFund CEO Shawn Wellnitz said. “And with no restrictions, it’s just transformational,” especially as pandemic aid dries up for businesses and creditors are more cautious about lending money.
Unrestricted gifts are considered rare in the philanthropy world.
The EFund nonprofit, formed in 1989, manages a portfolio of about $60 million, lending money and offering services to entrepreneurs in northeast and east-central Minnesota, and northern Wisconsin. The Seattle billionaire’s gift is its largest ever. The recognition and confidence that comes with a Scott donation can help the organization leverage that money “multiple times over,” Wellnitz said.
The nonprofit works with about 1,500 entrepreneurs each year. Wellnitz said the money will allow the organization to take bigger risks with companies they are already helping who are poised to bring more jobs to the region, along with preparing succession plans for the looming mass retirements of area aging business owners.
It has lent start-up money several times to Advanced Machine Guarding Solutions, a safety equipment supplier in Hibbing. The EFund helped the owner, who came from the robotics industry, line up other funding sources. The company now has more than a dozen employees and “back orders through the roof,” Wellnitz said.
Yield Giving didn’t share with the EFund why it chose the nonprofit. Its website says it looks at organizations in underserved communities that have high potential for impact, and with stable finances, a long track record and evidence of outcomes.
Star Tribune
A second person has been charged in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced dozens of women and children to relocate last week.
A second person has been charged in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced dozens of women and children to relocate last week.
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