Star Tribune
Minnesotans join Smith, AOC in unveiling affordable housing bill
Joined by Minnesota affordable housing groups, Democrats Sen. Tina Smith and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez unveiled a bill Wednesday that they say would create more affordable housing across the country.
The “Homes Act” would establish a housing development authority within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that would build and maintain a stock of permanent affordable housing. Smith said housing supply is far behind demand.
“Our proposal would serve renters, and homebuyers alike, providing millions of Americans in rural and urban communities with more options for a quality, affordable place to call home—with the sense of stability, security, comfort and pride that should come with it,” Smith said in a statement.
Her bill would authorize $30 billion in federal spending a year, with 5% of that set aside for tribal communities and at least 10% for rural communities, along with a revolving loan fund. Noah Hobbs, the strategy and policy director of One Roof Community Housing in Duluth, said that rural requirement will especially help in greater Minnesota.
“Oftentimes when bills get made either in St. Paul or D.C., they leave out greater Minnesota or greater America,” he said. “This rural set aside is really huge in helping us do more work than what we’re already doing. So we’re doing about, on average, 20 homes a year, either acquisition rehab or new construction. And so we’re hoping that this will help accelerate that.”
He said he thinks the bill will help not only in Duluth but also in places like Floodwood, Grand Marais, Grand Rapids and smaller municipalities between Duluth and larger cities.
Research from New York University, University of California at Berkley and the Climate and Community Institute estimates that the bill could build and preserve 1.25 million housing units, which would include 876,000 units for low income households, according to a joint memo from Smith and Ocasio-Cortez’ offices on the bill.
The bill would also help local communities address housing needs by helping to finance real estate acquisition or conveying property to public housing authorities, nonprofits, local governments, community land trusts and tenant or resident owned cooperatives, the memo continues.
Police in Brooklyn Park will soon have a new tool to track and find vehicles wanted in connection with shootings, abductions, car thefts and other violent crimes.
The City Council earlier this month authorized the Police Department to enter into a $28,000 contract with Flock Safety to install eight license plate readers that use cameras to take photos of the rear license plates of vehicles as they pass by. The devices alert police about vehicles that might be connected to serious crimes, Police Chief Mark Bruley said.
The technology “is a huge step forward in that work,” Bruley said, noting it can help identify vehicles wanted across the metro when they come into the city of Brooklyn Park.
The cameras do not take photos of drivers’ faces, Bruley said. Nor will they be used to issue citations for speeding, parking or equipment violations. But the cameras can identify the color and type of vehicle and other features such as if a vehicle has damage, the chief said.
Several agencies that already have the system have shared information with Brooklyn Park police and “we have solved many of our violent crimes through this system,” Bruley said.
The Eden Park Apartments installed the system on its own, and earlier this year shared information with Brooklyn Park police about a vehicle believed to be connected to a shooting. Officers tracked the suspect vehicle to Fridley and made an arrest, closing a case “that would have not been solved for who knows how long. In less than 12 hours, it was all wrapped up,” Inspector Elliot Faust said.
Bruley said only detectives can access data that will be stored for 30 days to prevent unauthorized use. An outside firm will audit usage every two years to ensure the department is following state laws.
The city has not yet determined where the cameras will go, but hopes to have them operational in the next few months.
Star Tribune
More than 40 years later and thanks to advances in DNA technology, a man has received a 20-year term for a murder in the Uptown area of Minneapolis.
Thanks to advances in DNA technology, a man has received a 20-year prison term for a murder in the Uptown area of Minneapolis more than 40 years ago.
Matthew Russell Brown, 67, of Ingleside, Ill., was sentenced Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the stabbing of Robert A. Miller at a home in the 3200 block of S. Girard Avenue in 1984.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest in June 2023, Brown is expected to serve the first 12½ years of his sentence in prison and the balance on supervised release.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said the linchpin in the case was a disposable cup discarded by Brown that contained DNA matching the blood at the scene.
“As we all know, advances in technology have improved DNA analysis,” the Minneapolis Police Department said in a statement released at the time of Brown’s arrest. “Over the past eight years, MPD homicide investigators assigned to the FBI’s Cold Case Task Force have been working diligently with the BCA Forensics Lab to identify DNA found at the scene and narrow down a possible list of suspects. One lead led to another until the MPD homicide investigators were able to identify a suspect in the case.”
At 2:30 a.m. on July 19, 1984, police arrived at Miller’s apartment , where two women in the hall said a man armed with a knife had broken into the building and attacked them.
Officers found Miller dead with “stab wounds to his face, head, chest, back and shoulders,” the complaint read.
Star Tribune
Twin Cities man guilty of murder for fatally stabbing fellow group home resident nearly 2 dozen times
The staffer told a 911 dispatcher that she didn’t hear anything further from the room and said “something isn’t right.”
A police officer arrived and saw a shirtless Adams running from the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses across the street and into the group home. In a Kingdom Hall trash can, police located a “badly bent” and bloody kitchen knife inside a garbage bag. Another bag held a pair of blood-soaked gloves.
Officers located Rahn in his room with stab wounds to his neck and back. Medics declared him dead at the scene.
Adams gave various accounts to police about how and why Rahn was stabbed.
The medical examiner found stab wounds to Rahn’s face, neck, upper body and elsewhere. He also suffered at least 20 stab wounds to one of his hands, which are “consistent with defensive wounds,” the complaint said.
Brooklyn Park to add license plate readers for police investigations
How to watch NFL football for free in Week 3: The best games and where to stream them
U.S. Air Force gives update on new B-21 stealth bomber: “Nobody on the planet can do what we’re doing”
Brooklyn Park to add license plate readers for police investigations
How to watch NFL football for free in Week 3: The best games and where to stream them