Star Tribune
As Walz makes Trump’s COVID-19 response a campaign issue, we look at Walz’s record
Frequent media events at the start of the pandemic made him a household name, even among apolitical Minnesotans who had little else to do but tune in amid school and business closures and restrictions on social gatherings.
Walz then made numerous public appearances in 2021 to promote COVID-19 vaccinations, welcoming the first doses of vaccine when they arrived at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, unveiling the state’s Mall of America pop-up clinic, getting his own shot alongside former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and appearing at the Minnesota Zoo to promote free passes, fishing licenses and other vaccine incentives.
The governor responded personally when Hennepin Healthcare had dire needs, said Jennifer Decubellis, who took charge of the safety-net health care provider in Minneapolis at the start of the pandemic. She credited Walz for making the tough choice to suspend non-emergency surgeries in spring 2020 to preserve hospital supplies and for creating an equitable rationing system in early 2021 so health care providers wouldn’t fight over limited vaccines.
The governor also helped secure a deployment of military doctors and nurses in late 2021 when her hospital was overwhelmed.
“That extra boost of help got us through,” Decubellis said.
Walz’s leadership during the pandemic may have aided his selection as the VP candidate, said Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science expert. His work with governors regionally to standardize COVID-19 responses led to his election as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. And that made him a presence at the White House this year, and an influencer over whether President Joe Biden should pursue a second term.
Star Tribune
Man charged in shooting, armed standoff with police at south Minneapolis apartment building
A 40-year-old man was charged Thursday with three felony assault counts for allegedly shooting up his south Minneapolis apartment building last weekend, prompting a standoff with police before an officer shot and disarmed him.
According to the criminal complaint, Nathan Mellstrom Matz fired numerous shots with an AK-47 rifle sometime before 4:30 a.m. Saturday at the apartment building, in the 4000 block of Minnehaha Avenue in the Longfellow community. Several 911 calls summoned the police, who evacuated residents before finding Matz in a stairwell holding the rifle.
An officer gave Matz a minute and 20 seconds to drop the gun before firing a single shot at him. The suspect was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was expected to survive his wound. No one else was injured in the episode.
One resident told police he heard gunfire, stepped out in the hall and ran back into his apartment when he saw the gunman down the hall, who fired and nearly hit him. Another resident said he heard gunshots through his floor and found bullet holes there. A homeowner across the street said her house was hit by bullets and that she believed it was targeted during the shooting.
Matz is charged with three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, but prosecutors may seek an aggravated sentence because, among other things, the shooting occurred in a densely populated area.
During the hearing, the Mille Lacs Band backed away from its original route and aligned with the Upper Sioux Community, which proposed an even longer route but also stated that it preferred the pipeline never be reopened.
The Yankton Sioux Tribe and the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe also opposed the project.
And on Thursday, Nina Berglund, a member of the Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota tribes brought a sample of pipestone for the commission to see as they deliberated in a downtown St. Paul hearing room. She shed tears as the monument superintendent described the significance of the area.
“To have it be able to represent itself in a room where everyone’s talking about it and no one knows what it looks like,” Berglund said of the pipestone.
Nina Berglund, a member of the Northern Cheyenne and Oglala Lakota tribes and a Minneapolis resident, holds a piece of pipestone from Pipestone National Monument and a bunch of sage on her lap during a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission meeting at the Metro Square building in St. Paul, Minn. on Thursday, Sep. 12, 2024. The commission discussed options surrounding a permit for Magellan Pipeline Company to build a pipeline near Pipestone National Monument. ] ALEX KORMANN • alex.kormann@startribune.com (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Brusven said granting a route permit would make it easier for Magellan to survey the route because they would be less reliant on landowners granting them access to look for items of cultural significance.
Tuma said if Magellan runs into anything, including catlinite, they would have to route the pipeline to avoid it. He drove the site personally as he researched the issue and was confident the ruling will bring a “thorough examination” of the route before construction.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Thursday that sheriff’s deputies were legally justified when they killed a man in Minnetonka during a shootout at his home.
Clint Lavelle Hoyhtya, 28, was shot multiple times during the firefight late in the morning of April 10 at a home in the 13400 block of E. Crestwood Drive. Two deputies at the scene were shot and survived their wounds.
Deputies were serving an arrest warrant when gunfire erupted. Hoyhtya died at the scene. Dispatch audio and a law enforcement source also confirmed that Hoyhtya was not the subject of Wednesday’s warrant.
County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that her office reviewed the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s (BCA) investigation and office found no evidence of unlawful conduct by law enforcement during its encounter with Hoyhtya.
Two of the four deputies who shot at Hoyhtya were wounded during the firefight. Christopher Heihn was hit multiple times, was taken to HCMC for treatment and has since been released. Keith McNamara was treated at the scene after being hit by shrapnel.
Moriarty said her office determined that the deputies acted lawfully, initially retreating to find cover, calling for a negotiator and attempting to persuade Mr. Hoyhtya to stop shooting. She said the deputies exercised restraint and did not resort to deadly force until it became necessary, namely when Mr. Hoyhtya shot at them.
“In our review of the BCA’s investigation, we found no unlawful conduct by law enforcement,” a statement from Moriarty ready. “This was a terrifying incident that left [a sheriff’s] deputy hospitalized with a gunshot wound, endangered the lives of several other deputies and community members, and led to the death of Mr. Hoyhtya.”
