Star Tribune
Tribal CEO alleges he was fired for speaking out against pot venture
Derek Dorr thought the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe could lose millions in federal contracts and break the law if the tribe got into the marijuana business, and said he brought his concerns to tribal leaders and the U.S. State Department last fall.
Dorr was promptly fired as CEO of tribal-owned Makwa, which handles contracts with the State Department and other government agencies, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week.
“The timing of his discharge was not a coincidence — it was a reprisal,” the suit alleges. “Cannabis remains a prohibited substance under federal law, and Makwa is a company in the business of federal government contracting.”
Dorr is seeking potentially millions of dollars in damages and lost compensation.
A lawyer for Makwa, Molly Ryan, said the company denies the claims and will “vigorously defend the allegations of the lawsuit.”
Several Minnesota tribes have started growing or selling marijuana since the state legalized recreational cannabis last year. Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV) is building a 50,000-square-foot cannabis growing facility near Grand Casino Mille Lacs in Onamia and has plans to build more in the future.
The tribe-owned company’s executive said this spring he sees a potentially $100 million opportunity in cannabis.
Tribes have sovereignty to set their own rules around cannabis, but they are still subject to federal law — as are states that have legalized marijuana. However, a lack of federal enforcement guidelines keeps the industry in legal “limbo,” lawmakers wrote earlier this year.
Dorr, who founded Makwa in 2019, said by the time he learned of the band’s cannabis plans, he believed MLCV “had already violated federal law, impacting Makwa’s [compliance] and federal contracts in the process,” according to the lawsuit. MLCV is the parent company of Makwa.
“For the majority of Makwa’s customer base, contracting with Makwa while MLCV was engaged in the cannabis industry would be out of the question,” the lawsuit says, since many of Makwa’s customers are involved in national security.
When Dorr spoke with an official at the State Department on Oct. 11, “the deputy director’s reaction to the possibility of Makwa’s proceeds supporting the development of a cannabis business was extremely negative,” according to the lawsuit.
Dorr was fired Oct. 26, and he declined a severance agreement, according to court filings. His 10-year contract allowed Makwa to fire him with or without cause.
Dorr later filed a complaint with a federal agency and sought a $12 million settlement the company rejected.
“Makwa has not engaged or invested in cannabis-related businesses,” Nicole Truso, an attorney for the company, wrote in a letter in January regarding the proposed settlement. “Mr. Dorr’s fixation on the legality of marijuana at a federal level is misplaced and nonsensical.”
The Small Business Administration’s Office of Inspector General has taken no action on Dorr’s complaint.
Star Tribune
Paris to deploy 4,000 police officers for France-Israel soccer match following violence in Amsterdam
PARIS — Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.
France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday.
”There’s a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities ”won’t tolerate” any violence.
Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.
”There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be ”reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.
Nuñez said that French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces in order to prepare for the match.
Israeli fans were assaulted last week after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, according to Dutch authorities. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.
On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.
Star Tribune
Drones strike Moscow as top UK official highlights Russian casualties in Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine — A massive drone strike rattled Moscow and its suburbs overnight into Sunday, injuring several people and temporarily halting traffic at some of Russia’s busiest airports, officials reported. Meanwhile, a huge nighttime wave of Russian drones targeted Ukraine.
This came after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a pact with North Korea Saturday night, obliging the two countries to provide immediate military aid using ”all means” if either is attacked. The agreement marks the strongest link between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War.
Earlier this week, Ukraine reported that its troops engaged for the first time with North Korean units. U.S. officials earlier confirmed the deployment of at least 3,000 North Korean troops to Russia, while Kyiv has repeatedly said the number is far higher. This has fueled concerns of a marked escalation in Moscow’s war on Ukraine, and tensions spilling over into the Asia-Pacific.
U.K. estimates Russian troop losses at 700,000
Both Moscow and Kyiv have kept a tight lid on casualty figures since the start of the full-scale war despite regular reports of Russian forces taking huge losses following ”human wave” attacks that aim to exhaust Ukrainian defenses.
However, the chief of the U.K. defense staff, Tony Radakin, told the BBC that Russian forces had suffered their worst month of casualties in October since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He said Moscow’s troops suffered an average of 1,500 dead and wounded ”every single day,” bringing their total losses in the war to 700,000.
According to Radakin, ordinary Russians were paying ”an extraordinary price” for the war, even as a grueling, monthslong Russian offensive in Ukraine’s industrial east continues to eke out gains. He did not say how U.K. officials had calculated the Russian casualty figures.
”There is no doubt that Russia is making tactical, territorial gains and that is putting pressure on Ukraine,” he said. But he added that they were ”tiny increments of land,” and Moscow’s mounting defense and security spending was putting an increasing strain on the country.
Star Tribune
St. Paul’s Concordia University doubles enrollment in a decade
“Ever since [then], we’ve been on everybody’s speed dial,” LaMott said of other colleges contacting Concordia about their reset.
Mistick said other colleges have tried it, with mixed results.
“The tuition reset lets you know they’re committed to value and … transparency and that’s something a lot of parents are looking for today,” Mistick said.
This fall, Bethel University in Arden Hills announced a dramatic price cut for next year’s freshmen, lowering tuition and fees by $18,000. Campus visits are already up 40% this year, said Timothy Hammer, Bethel University’s marketing director.
“Concordia [University] is a great example of how strategic pricing decisions can impact growth and accessibility,” Hammer said, adding that Bethel consulted with Concordia’s leaders.
In Moorhead, Concordia College did a similar tuition reset in 2020, lowering tuition to $27,500, said Ben Iverson, its vice president for enrollment. Last year, the college debuted its Concordia Promise, which offers free tuition to students from families making less than $90,000. This fall, freshmen enrollment increased by 28%, Iverson said.