Star Tribune
Ideas to transform I-94 in Minneapolis and St. Paul compete for funds
But St. Paul leaders, including City Council Member Anika Bowie, who represents the area where a land bridge would be built, and State Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, said last week that they favor the land bridge.
Promoted by ReConnect Rondo, the land bridge would also be a catalyst for an African American cultural enterprise district, said Keith Baker, executive director of ReConnect Rondo. The bridge, estimated to cost $313 million, will spark extensive new development to fan out from it. The project, he said, could eventually tap into billions in federal infrastructure money allocated to Minnesota.
Baker, who worked at MnDOT for 18 years before moving to ReConnect Rondo, said a land bridge first emerged in 2011 as a way to help mitigate damage done to Rondo by the freeway. Study of a land bridge has garnered nearly $11 million in state funding so far.
“MnDOT ultimately is going to decide what it’s going to do with the corridor, right?” Baker said in a recent interview. “What I will say is we have influence over that because we’ve already been out of the gate right? We’ve already provided a very good foundation.”
And, Baker said, a land bridge has wide — and deep — community support in the old Rondo area of St. Paul.
Sharon Garth has lived near Central Village near I-94 in St. Paul for 50 years. The plan coming out of the ReConnect Rondo process “is the first time that I’ve seen something that is really going to shape this whole area of our community for the next 20, 30, 40 years,” she said.
The identities have now been released of both men who were shot to death during a one-day spate of gunfire tied to homeless encampments, while a suspect in the shootings remains jailed.
Robert Milton Brown, 39, of Minneapolis, was shot in the head Wednesday and died at the scene in the 2500 block of S. 15th Avenue, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said Friday.
Police said Brown was standing by a garage in an alley at 4:15 p.m. when a group of people passed by. One person in the group approached Brown and shot him.
About 12 hours earlier, Roland Scott Littleowl, 20, died after being shot in the head in an alley in the 2500 block of 17th Avenue S. The shooting also left a man in his 30s wounded, police said.
In a third incident Wednesday, a man suffered a potentially life-threatening gunshot wound at 7:20 p.m. in the 2300 block of S. 17th Avenue S. The suspect was arrested 15 minutes later near E. 26th Street and 17th Avenue S., according to police.
The alleged shooter remains jailed with charges pending. Police have not released his identity.
On Thursday, Mayor Jacob Frey Frey vowed to accelerate the destruction of the encampments and called out the fentanyl crisis as a major factor.
Also on Thursday, the City Council approved measures related to housing and homelessness: a new set of reporting requirements intended to add transparency to camp removals, including where individuals land after being dispersed; a $1.5 million rehabilitation grant to help a downtown shelter make needed repairs; and an extension of the pre-eviction notification period for renters from 14 days to 30 days.
Voters in Robbinsdale will have a chance in November to elect up to three new members to a school board that the district lawyer has deemed “the most dysfunctional board” he’s ever worked with.
A 34-page workplace conduct investigation, released last month, included a similar summary of the current Robbinsdale school board: Personal disputes and cross-complaints among at least six of the seven board members resulted in “a high level of dysfunction and animosity in the school board’s operations,” read the investigative report by Red Cedar Consulting.
Most of the allegations in the report were not sustained. Of those that were sustained, most qualified as violations of the board’s internal values of respect.
Seven candidates are now vying for three open seats on that board. Six of them — Barbara Breher, Greta Evans-Becker, Aviva Hillenbrand, Aileen White, Deborah Campion and Kenneth Wutoh — say moving past that discord would be their top priority if elected.
“We didn’t need an investigator to let us know that we were dysfunctional,” said Evans-Becker, the other incumbent running to keep her seat. “A lot of harm has been done, but we have to move past it.”
Evans-Becker was the only board member who wasn’t named in the multiple complaints included in the investigative report.
Helen Bassett, who is running to keep the seat she’s held since 2021 did not respond to requests for an interview.
Robbinsdale Area Public Schools has about 10,400 students and serves all or parts of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, New Hope, Plymouth and Robbinsdale. Its current superintendent, Teri Staloch, took on the role in July after a failed superintendent search to replace David Engstrom, who resigned in September 2023.
Savage officials are celebrating resident Abby Bauleke, who earned her second Paralympic medal earlier this month.
The 23-year-old, who grew up in Savage and attends the University of Alabama, is part of the Team USA Paralympics wheelchair basketball team that earned a silver medal at the Paris games. She was also part of a team that won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo games.
Savage officials are declaring Friday Abby Bauleke Day. They will host an event at City Hall from 2 to 3 p.m., where Bauleke will sign autographs and take pictures.
“This was one of our only opportunities to have her here and to just congratulate her and celebrate her accomplishments,” said city spokesperson Emily Gunderson.
