Star Tribune
Embattled Rochester council member ousted in primary
ROCHESTER – Molly Dennis’ tumultuous time on the Rochester City Council is coming to an end.
On Tuesday, the first-term council member was defeated in a four-way primary race for her Ward 6 seat. Preliminary results show Dennis finishing last in the race with just 14% of the vote. The two candidates advancing to the November general election in Ward 6 are Dan Doering, a Lutheran pastor, and Mark Schleusner, a programmer at Mayo Clinic.
Leading up to the primary, Dennis’ challengers made the case that the Ward 6 rep had become a distraction during her first term on the council. In March 2023, Dennis was formally censured by the council for inappropriate behavior, including allegedly harassing city staff. The measure limited her interactions with staff for a year and led to ongoing disputes during meetings, including in May when she was kicked out of council chambers following a heated exchange.
Dennis has argued that she is being pushed aside for raising tough questions about how the city spends public funds. Dennis — who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — has also filed a lawsuit against the city, along with two council colleagues, alleging that she has been discriminated against for how she processes information.
After Tuesday’s tally, however, it was clear voters shared concerns about her performance as a council member. Dennis finished with 267 votes, about a quarter of the number she received in the 2020 primary.
In the race for Rochester City Council president seat, Randy Schubring and Shaun Palmer are moving on to the general election. Palmer, the sitting Ward 5 council member, led the way with 46% of the 10,756 votes cast. Schubring, the director of community relations at Mayo Clinic, finished with 43%.
Schubring is on a leave of absence while he campaigns and has said he will resign from Mayo if elected council president. The seat was left open after incumbent Council President Brooke Carlson opted not to seek reelection after one term in office.
In the two other council primaries: Nick Miller, a financial analyst, and Tripp Welch, an administrative leader at Mayo Clinic, are moving on in Ward 2 after incumbent Council Member Mark Bransford opted not to see a second term. Business owner Andy Friederichs and incumbent Council Member Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick easily advanced in Ward 4.
Star Tribune
Vandals uproot 60 new trees on St. Paul riverfront tossing many in the Mississippi River
Sixty newly-planted trees along St. Paul’s riverfront were uprooted Wednesday night, and most were tossed into the water, in an act of vandalism costing tens of thousands of dollars.
“I’m incredibly sad. It’s hard to fathom,” said Karen Zumach, the director of community forestry for St. Paul-based non-profit Tree Trust, which contracted with the city to plant the trees with the help of high school students in October. “I like to think that trees are the least controversial thing we deal with these days.”
The trees were planted over two days along Shepard Road, in the area of Upper Landing Park and the Sam Morgan Regional Trail.
Photos taken by city staff Thursday showed a long row of piles of upturned dirt circling around holes in the ground where the trees once stood. All but 14 of them were tossed into the Mississippi River, rendering them unsalvageable, Zumach said.
The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department estimated the damage comes to $40,000.
The St. Paul Police Department confirmed Thursday it received a report of the vandalism and an investigation is ongoing. The city parks department said in a statement the vandalism is believed to have occurred overnight.
The 14 trees that did not end up in the river have been reinstalled, Zumach said. The process to replace the others has yet to be determined, but the planting season has already passed.
About 25 high school students helped plant 250 trees while school was out during the annual MEA conference for state educators in October, Zumach said.
The Minneapolis City Council was unable to override Mayor Jacob Frey’s recent veto of an ordinance that would give some organizations first dibs on buying certain rental housing units in an effort to preserve affordable housing.
Under the proposal, if the owner of certain rental units wants to sell, they would have to give certain “qualified organizations” the first shot at buying their property, with exceptions for sales to renters or family members, for example.
Frey wrote in his veto letter that “now is not the time to make it harder to invest in our city’s housing stock.” He said while he agrees with the goal of preserving affordable housing, he doesn’t believe the ordinance will accomplish that in the current housing market.
“I appreciate the intention behind this ordinance, and in a different housing market when investment was more free-flowing, I may have a different perspective,” he wrote.
Supporters said the proposal would keep thousands of units of affordable housing available and prevent large investment firms from gobbling them up — and potentially hiking rents to reap profits.
The council voted 7-5 to override Frey, but needed nine votes.
Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, who co-authored the ordinance, argued when it was before the council on Oct. 31 that it would help small, local developers buy property that’s now being bought up by national investment firms or hedge funds.
Council Member Linea Palmisano said she was torn on the ordinance when it was before the council, saying the city has an affordable housing crisis, but that she was concerned about unintended consequences, such as whether first-time home buyers wouldn’t be able to compete. She voted for it then, but voted against an override on Thursday.
Hills-Beaver Creek held off a late Mountain Iron-Buhl rally to win the first Nine-Player state semifinal Thursday at U.S. Bank Stadium, 26-20.
The Patriots had a 26-14 lead late, but fumbled the ball away at their own 5-yard line. Mountain Iron-Buhl capitalized on the turnover and scored right away, making the score 26-20.
Mountain Iron-Buhl got the ball back with 43 seconds remaining and moved into Hills-Beaver Creek territory, but Sawyer Bosch intercepted a pass to end the threat.
Hills-Beaver Creek will face the winner of the Fertile-Beltrami-LeRoy-Ostrander semifinal in the state championship Saturday, Nov. 23 at 10 a.m.
