Star Tribune
Klobuchar to play key role on Jan. 6 amid questions over whether Trump, Vance will accept results
Jan. 6, 2025, will mark four years since rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, a day that sent lawmakers into hiding and caused chaos and destruction on Capitol Hill.
Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, then ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee, was one of the four tellers responsible for counting the electoral votes during the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. She has not forgotten what it was like to take cover with fellow lawmakers and walk through broken glass and spray-painted pillars the next day to announce the certified results of the election on Jan. 7, 2021.
Since then, Klobuchar has played a leading role to ensure the U.S. Capitol is secure and better equipped in the event of another insurrection.
“I have a constitutional obligation to make sure that what happen[ed] on Jan. 6 never happens again,” Klobuchar said in an interview.
Now chair of the Senate Committee on Rules, Klobuchar will lead the procession of senators to the House chamber on Jan. 6 and join three other members of Congress in counting Electoral College votes that day. In the years since the insurrection, Klobuchar has also spearheaded legislation and oversight hearings to bolster security that day and, in her role as chair, will play a chief role in ensuring security runs smoothly on Jan. 6, 2025.
She’s also chair of the bipartisan Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, which is tasked with everything from picking the inaugural theme to choosing who gets a speaker slot on inauguration day.
So there could be two Minnesotans with an outsized role at the Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration, if the Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz wins.
Minnesota’s senior senator will continue to chair the inaugural committee, regardless of who wins the White House and will also likely give a speech during the event.
The Ramsey and Washington County food scraps program has expanded to 19 more cities, meaning people in those areas can recycle their food scraps by placing them in a food scrap bag and tossing it in the trash.
Some 20% of trash in Ramsey and Washington counties is food scraps, according to Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy. If those food scraps go to a landfill, they not only take up space but also create methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
This week’s expansion will add some 28,000 households to the food scraps program, for a total of more than 100,000 households, according to Trista Martinson, the executive director of Ramsey/Washington Recycling & Energy.
“We’re excited to continue expanding a program that offers a convenient option for residents to turn their food scraps into a valuable resource and contribute to a more sustainable future,” she said in a statement.
The new cities added to the program include: Afton, Bayport, Baytown Township, Birchwood Village, Dellwood, Denmark Township, Grant, Lake Elmo, Lake St. Croix Beach, Lakeland, Lakeland Shores, Mahtomedi, Oak Park Heights, Pine Springs, Stillwater, Stillwater Township, St. Mary’s Point, West Lakeland Township and Willernie.
The program has been available for several months in Cottage Grove, Grey Cloud Island Township, Landfall, Maplewood, Newport, North St. Paul, Oakdale, St. Paul Park and Woodbury. The food scraps program will roll out over several years and eventually be available for all cities and townships in Ramsey and Washington counties.
The program is part of the state’s goal of recycling 75% of the solid waste generated by a metro county by 2030.
A 10-year-old boy has been arrested after police say he recklessly drove a stolen vehicle across a crowded Minneapolis school playground, narrowly missing multiple children.
The boy was booked Thursday into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of second-degree assault in connection with the incident on Sept. 20 outside Nellie Stone Johnson Community School in the 800 block of N. 27th Avenue, police said.
Police records indicate that the boy, whose identity is being withheld by law enforcement because of his age, has at least 30 entries dating to May 2023.
He has been arrested at least twice before for auto theft related crimes, according to police. He’s also listed as a suspect in more than 12 cases that range from auto theft to robbery to assault with a dangerous weapon. The remaining entries are mostly related to cases involving running away, police said.
The boy was identified as the driver of a stolen vehicle that went on the grass and sidewalk between the school and the playground. Surveillance video shows school staff frantically trying to move children off the playground and out of harm’s way.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the 10-year-old’s family is cooperating with police and have asked for help to keep the boy or anyone else from being injured or killed.
“It is unfathomable that a 10-year-old boy has been involved in this level of criminal activity without effective intervention,” O’Hara said. “Prison is not an acceptable option for a 10-year-old boy. But the adults who can stop this behavior going forward must act now to help this child and his family.”
Star Tribune
Edina man arrested and charged with murder in Redwood Falls, Minn., after allegedly setting up ambush to kill police officers
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. — Police say a man armed with a rifle set up an ambush that aimed to kill first responders, in a scheme ultimately foiled when his weapon jammed.
Christopher Mark Covert, 27, of Edina, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and first and second degree assault after police said he tried to kill peace officers. He also faces a felony charge for possessing ammunition capable of penetrating body armor.
According to the criminal charges against Covert:
Police said they received two calls about a possible suicide in Redwood Fall’s sprawling Ramsey Park around 9:43 p.m. on Aug. 28.
After arriving at the park, police said they found a car registered to Covert. Inside they discovered camping supplies, a Bible, a crucifix, and Narcan — medicine that rapidly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
As police and a search dog scoured the 256-acre park and its miles of hiking trails, they called out into the darkness, “Christopher, it’s the police, we are here to help you!”
They said they saw a man run from them toward a walking bridge by the city’s power plant.
As the man ran away, he allegedly dropped a black rifle case. Inside the case was an AR-15 rifle with an altered trigger and a red dot optic, and 10 loaded magazines with about 300 rounds — some of which were armor-piercing, police said
