Star Tribune
Wellstone’s green campaign bus to roll again after repairs
Paul and Sheila Wellstone waved from the back of their campaign bus as they left a Rochester hotel after Wellstone’s press conference, which coincided with the visit of then-President George H.W. Bush on behalf of Republican Rudy Boschwitz’s campaign on Nov. 2, 1990. (Charles Bjorgen)
During Paul Wellstone’s three Minnesota campaigns for the Senate, the bus became a indelible green symbol of his devotion to retail politics and grassroots campaigning. His career ended tragically on Oct. 25, 2002, when, in the final weeks of his re-election campaign, his plane crashed near Eveleth, killing Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, Dave’s younger sister, Marcia, staffers Tom Lapic, Mary McEvoy, Will McLaughlin and the two pilots.
Dave Wellstone and his younger brother, Mark, who now lives in Colorado, survived their parents and sister but restoring the bus wasn’t a priority until now.
In response to the story earlier this year, Wellstone said he called an old Northfield High School wrestling buddy, Doug Grisim, who owns Bluff Country School Bus Service in Lake City for help. Wellstone opened with, “I’m not sure if you remember the green bus.”
In the senator’s first campaign, a pair of staffers were lost in the northern suburbs and saw the bus for sale by the roadside. The campaign acquired it for $3,500. The bus was already retrofitted as a camper with a metal porch off the back that was perfect for whistle-stop stump speeches.
Grisim said a couple calls was all it took to get the green bus on the road to restoration. Kevin Daniels, a diesel mechanic at Benjamin Bus, paid a visit to the farm and scouted the condition of the bus. Tim Schubert, CEO of Trobec’s Bus Service Inc. in St. Joseph, also went and took photos. Schubert will restore the exterior of the bus and refurbish the interior.
David Wellstone and other bus company owners and mechanics push the green bus the final few feet into the bay where it will undergo the first stages of refurbishing in Northfield. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
The bus interior smells musty, but it looks good for its age. Pro-union stickers remain on the walls along with images of the late senator and his allies like former DFL Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe of Erskine. Newspapers from the day of the crash are strewn on the tables.
Solventum, the 3M health care spinoff, might be keeping its home base in Minnesota after speculation it could eventually set up its headquarters out of state.
The company is working with the city of Eagan to move into an existing commercial building there and is seeking state support for the major upgrades the campus will need to accommodate upwards of 800 employees working on-site every day.
There was concern Solventum could exit the state after leaving its short-term home on the 3M campus in Maplewood. San Antonio, home of major subsidiary Acelity, was a possible target, and Solventum had not made any pledges to remain in Minnesota.
“Other states (and countries) are generously courting the company to move to their jurisdiction, and the bulk of the company’s business is, in fact, not currently located in Minnesota,” an Eagan City Council resolution read. “The company could downsize its workforce currently located at the 3M corporate campus in Minnesota and move employees to any of the company’s 29 locations outside of Minnesota.”
Instead, the state might keep its newest public company, and the Twin Cities could continue to boast yet another Fortune 500 business.
To make that happen, Solventum is looking for an as-yet-unspecified level of funding from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), likely many millions given the “large amount of capital investment” needed, according to city documents.
“The assistance to be provided by DEED is appropriate and necessary to retain an existing business in Minnesota,” the resolution said.
Solventum spun off from 3M on April 1 this year. It manufactures a range of medical devices, bandages, dental supplies and other products. The company earned roughly $8 billion in annual revenue when it was a part of 3M.
Two central Minnesota banks are merging to bolster the size and resources of the community institutions.
First State Bank of Sauk Centre and Little Falls-based Pine Country Bank will operate as Pine Country Bank, per a Monday announcement. Regulatory authorities have already approved the merger, which will complete in January.
“We’d be considered an agricultural bank,” said Rob Ronning, CEO of Pine Country Bank. “It makes up the largest portion of our portfolio.”
Ronning said the merged bank’s lending limit will likely increase from $4.1 million to $6.2 million. As of June 30, Pine Country Bank had assets of $244 million and First State Bank had assets of $157 million.
Holding company MidCountry Acquisition, based in Minneapolis, owned and operated both banks and drove their merger.
“They were just looking to get more efficient,” Ronning said of MidCountry’s motivation to combine the financial entities.
Pine Country Bank — which began in 1927 as the Royalton State Bank — has branches in Little Falls, Rice and Royalton. First State Bank has locations in Sauk Centre and downtown Minneapolis. Pine Country has 40 employees while First State employs 15 staffers.
Last week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point. Ronning is optimistic about the impact of that on the banking industry.
As well-wishers flocked Officer Ikran Mohamed, 4-year-old Amira Shafii raised her little arm in a proud salute — her auntie’s new police cap perched lopsided on her head. The ‘junior officer’ cracked a smile.
Mohamed, dressed in a black hijab, adjusted her newly pinned badge with henna-laced hands. She’d just become the first Somali woman to ever join the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I want to be a role model for girls who look like me, so they can say ‘I can do it, too,” Mohamed, 23, told reporters Thursday night following a graduation ceremony honoring 11 new recruits and 12 lateral hires from other Minnesota law enforcement agencies.
“I’m just very excited to be here and represent my people and my community.”
Amira Shafii, 4, goes around saluting friends and relatives for photos wearing the police uniform cap of her aunt, officer Ikran Mohamed, who became the first Somali woman to become an officer with Minneapolis Police Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 at the American Indian Center in Minneapolis, Minn.. ] AARON LAVINSKY • Aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Mohamed immigrated to the United States from Kenya when she was 10 years old. She previously worked as a corrections officer in Steele County.
Beside her, 27-year-old Officer Lesly Vera also had the power of representation on the mind. Vera became the first non-citizen to serve on the police force Thursday, marking a significant victory for immigration advocates.
Although thousands of lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients already serve in the United States military, many states maintain citizenship requirements for those seeking to become a licensed police officer. But in recent years, as law enforcement agencies across the nation have struggled to replenish their ranks with qualified candidates, a growing number have eliminated that requirement.
In 2023, at the recommendation of the Peace Officers’ Training Board, the Minnesota Legislature changed state law allowing for applicants who are either citizens or “eligible to work in the United States under federal requirements.”
