Star Tribune
Mpls. neighbors attacked family homeless shelter residents, agency says, but no one arrested
”The officers on the scene were dismissive of the victims, disrespectful to staff and guests, and provided comfort and reassurance to the assailants,” said the spokeswoman, Laura Vitelli. “No arrests were made despite clear camera footage identifying the assailants and staff willing to make statements. The neighbors were emboldened by the MPD’s lack of response and continued to threaten and harass families and staff through Thursday evening and Friday. When PSP tried to relocate one of the impacted families to a nearby hotel, the neighbors followed and harassed them.”
About 54 people were living at St. Anne’s at the time, including 16 mothers and 38 children.
The shelter, at 2634 Russell Ave N., was transferred from Haven Housing to People Serving People this May.
For nearly a year during the pandemic, St. Anne’s was fitted with a new HVAC system and did not take on residents. One of alleged harassers moved into the neighborhood during the period when the shelter was empty and there was not the competition for street parking that exists when the shelter is full of residents and staff, said People Serving People CEO Hoang Murphy.
Murphy said that last Tuesday, one of the residents parked in front of a neighbor’s home on the public street. The neighbor and the resident got into an argument. St. Anne’s staff intervened, and the resident moved her vehicle to avoid arguing further.
The following Thursday, another shelter resident parked her nearly identical vehicle in the same spot. Murphy believes the neighbor assumed it was the same person and accosted them. Staff again tried to de-escalate. Allegedly a large gathering of neighbors, including children being egged on by adults, then broke the glass of the shelter’s front and side doors in an attempt to unlatch them, kicked a staff member who was holding an infant at the time, and “pistol-whipped” a shelter resident who was trying to flee, Murphy said.
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — About 25 children and adults were injured Wednesday when a wagon carrying them overturned at a western Wisconsin apple orchard.
The children, parents and chaperones were on a field trip to the orchard in Lafayette when one of two wagons being pulled by a tractor turned sideways and rolled over, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes told reporters. Hakes said the tractor was traveling at a low speed when the wagon rolled over while going downhill.
Three people suffered critical injuries, while injuries to five others were considered serious. Authorities didn’t say how many of the injured were children.
The elementary school-age children attend a school in Eau Claire. Lafayette is northeast of Eau Claire.
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
Read the original article
