Star Tribune
Child care has long been a vexing problem in rural Minnesota. One county may have cracked the code.
MORRIS, Minn. – Jade Michaelson moved to this west-central Minnesota town a year ago when her husband bought an auto-repair shop here. Immediately, she confronted two problems. One was employment; how could a preschool teacher find work in a county with one child-care center? The other was finding child care for her two young kids. She certainly didn’t want to open her home to in-home child care chaos.
Like anywhere in Greater Minnesota, Stevens County, home to University of Minnesota Morris and three major dairies, has a long, stubborn child-care problem. The problem has only deepened in recent years. A decade ago, the county had 34 child-care providers. When Michaelson moved here, there were 15 — the center plus 14 in-home providers — meaning the county of 10,000 people had lost 220 childcare spots in 10 years.
But just as Michaelson’s family moved to town, Stevens County launched an ambitious experiment in solving its rural child-care crisis. It was Michaelson’s perfect solution: An in-home child care outside of her home.
The county took $1.28 million of its $2 million in federal COVID relief money to build six child-care “pods” — a nearly 6,000-square-foot building of six rowhouses with capacity for 84 child care spots. The long, thin houses look like suburban starter homes, with spacious living rooms serving as play areas and learning centers.
“The space we have is perfect,” she said on a recent morning, holding a crying toddler who just stubbed her toe. “If this wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have started a day care. No way.”
The county also, with the help of a Minnesota Department of Economic Development grant, doubled the size its one child-care center, from 42 spots to 84.
The child-care problem is a vexing issue in both rural and urban areas across the state. A Duluth task force this month termed it a “near-crisis” in Minnesota’s fourth-largest city, where four child care centers closed last year and three more this year. The report said the city has about 3,000 child care slots — but 4,200 kids age 6 or younger with parents who are part of the workforce.
Minnesota lawmakers have discussed a child care affordability scholarship program.
Star Tribune
Man charged with getting in a shootout with trooper on I-94 in Minneapolis after causing crash.
A man grabbed the steering wheel from his girlfriend, crashed the vehicle on a Minneapolis interstate and got in a shootout with a state trooper, according to charges filed Tuesday.
Eddie James Freeman, 23, of Minneapolis, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with one count of first-degree assault, four counts of second-degree assault and one count of fourth-degree assault in connection with the confrontation Saturday on Interstate near the Dowling Avenue exit. None of the gunfire resulted in any injuries.
Freeman remains jailed in lieu of $300,000 bail ahead of a court appearance Wednesday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
Also Tuesday, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) identified the trooper involved in the altercation as as Mark Vande Steeg. The agency said Vande Steeg has been in law enforcement slightly more than a year and is on standard critical incident leave as its investigation continues. Body camera and squad camera video captured portions of the incident, the BCA said.
The agency said said its crime scene personnel recovered a handgun from the where Freeman was arrested. The personnel also saw bullet damage to Vande Steeg’s squad, the BCA added.
According to the charges:
Troopers were sent about 10:15 p.m. Saturday to the spot where Freeman crashed his vehicle. While en route, they were alerted to shots being fired near the crash scene and were given a description of a possible suspect.
As Vande Steeg arrived, he put his squad spotlight on a man who matched the description. In response, Freeman fired several shots at the trooper.
Star Tribune
Duluth mayor’s girlfriend and campaign manager is involved in city business, emails show
DULUTH — The campaign manager and girlfriend of Mayor Roger Reinert has been directly involved in city business, from coordinating Reinert’s involvement with President Joe Biden’s January visit to asking a city staffer to complete research for Reinert, public records show.
Emails beginning at the start of the year when Reinert first took office detail Amber Gurske’s requests to the city’s public information officer and Reinert’s former assistant. The emails, obtained through a data practices request, were first reported by a Duluth online news site.
Gurske, a business development and marketing manager for Superior, Wis.-based Amsoil, offered a city staffer ideas and copy for social media topics to be covered by Reinert, coordinated a potential mayoral proclamation, reviewed a press release and asked his assistant the nature of a meeting Reinert was taking when asking to be added to his schedule. Gurske was on a panel that interviewed a candidate for a senior adviser role for Reinert’s office, and also acted as his staff at a local elementary school where he read to students, emails show.
Neither Reinert nor Gurske responded to interview requests.
As his campaign manager and not city staff, Gurske’s involvement in city operations is unethical, and potentially illegal, said David Schultz, a political science and legal studies professor at Hamline University.
“She doesn’t have the authority to direct staff,” he said, and Reinert could face conflict of interest and accountability accusations.
Gurske asking a city employee to conduct work is likely misappropriation of public dollars, Schultz said, especially if she is directing work for campaign-related social media accounts. Reinert frequently posts about city business on an Instagram account that is labeled as a campaign page.
“Can you please research/chat with folks in the next few days to get an update on Brighton Beach?” Gurske wrote to Kelli Latuska, the public information officer. “Folks have been talking about it and Roger wants to on perhaps Thursday do a post and maybe a video about where we are at, but we don’t know.”
Star Tribune
Man who staked out Trump at Florida golf course charged with attempting an assassination
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A man who authorities say staked out Donald Trump for 12 hours on his golf course in Florida and wrote of his desire to kill him was indicted Tuesday on charges that he attempted to assassinate a major presidential candidate.
Ryan Wesley Routh had been initially charged with two federal firearms offenses. The upgraded charges reflect the Justice Department’s assessment that he methodically plotted to kill the Republican nominee, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery surrounding Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course on an afternoon Trump was playing on it. Routh left behind a note in which he described his intention.
Man charged with getting in a shootout with trooper on I-94 in Minneapolis after causing crash.
Trump promises lower taxes for U.S. manufacturers in Georgia
Duluth mayor’s girlfriend and campaign manager is involved in city business, emails show
Man charged with getting in a shootout with trooper on I-94 in Minneapolis after causing crash.
Trump promises lower taxes for U.S. manufacturers in Georgia