Star Tribune
Walz talks assault rifles, running and beef jerky on national media blitz
Gov. Tim Walz appeared on multiple national media outlets Monday for relaxed interviews with supportive questioners, receiving invitations to play golf with the SmartLess hosts and a Buffalo plaid flannel shirt from the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that read “Dad in plaid” on the back.
Walz gushed and nearly gasped in delight about the shirt, saying it’s “the single greatest thing I’ve ever gotten.” He added, “You know I’m wearing this, right?” Host Ana Navarro encouraged him to return to the show wearing it “when” he and Vice President Kamala Harris win the election.
The governor was in New York City, appearing live on that show and scheduled to later record an episode of “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart to air at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central. The governor’s previously recorded episode of the SmartLess podcast also became publicly available Monday morning. He gave some new peeks behind-the-scenes.
The multiple hosts of both shows were squarely on team Harris-Walz. The SmartLess hosts raved about Walz’s everyman appeal. Co-host Will Arnett told the governor that his “authentic self shines through.”
Co-host Jason Bateman asked what can be the “big give,” an olive branch that the Harris-Walz administration would give to those who didn’t support them. Walz said, “She said it and I agree with her, she needs to appoint a Republican to the cabinet.”
The governor mentioned two conservatives he respects, former Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona “as honest as anything” and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, whom he called one of the most honorable men he knows. “They are ethical and they care about this country,” Walz said.
Along with co-host Sean Hayes, the SmartLess crew asked about governor’s sleep schedule, fitness habits and his favorite snack on the campaign trail. Walz said he doesn’t need much sleep, tries to run 5K five times a week, hitting 9-minute miles and that his go-to snack is beef jerky much to the annoyance of his pescatarian daughter Hope Walz.
The View crew steered Walz into a discussion of gun control, reproductive rights and the economy, but did so in a non-confrontational manner that allowed the governor to repeat familiar positions and stories.
The situation didn’t reach crisis levels, however, until the costs of the school’s 2022 expansion into Burnsville wiped out STEP’s financial reserves. Its fund balance, the most critical indicator of a charter school’s financial health, fell from $2.7 million in 2022 to $54,461 in 2023, state records show. This year, the school is operating at a deficit of nearly $800,000.
In response to Ibrahim’s allegations, IQS said in a statement that its repeated interventions were aimed at ensuring the school operates within state guidelines and lives up to the promises made in its contract with the nonprofit.
“It is unfortunate that Dr. Ibrahim has made unfounded claims of racial bias,” IQS Board Chair Steve Kelley said in a statement. “He is wrong. IQS and its leadership team have acted professionally and impartially.”
Star Tribune
40-year term for ‘unprovoked’ shooting that killed new high school grad at Brooklyn Park party
A Bayport man received a 40-year term Monday for shooting and killing a new high school graduate at a party in Brooklyn Park last year.
Daniel Martez Walker, 32, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after jurors convicted him last month of second-degree intentional murder and being a felon in possession of a gun in connection with the death of Reese Crenshaw, 19, of Roseville, on June 2, 2023.
“This was a callous act of unprovoked violence,” a post-sentencing statement from County Attorney Mary Moriarty read.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Walker is expected to serve nearly 26 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
According to Minnesota court records, Walker has a lengthy criminal history that includes five convictions for burglary, and one each for robbery, weapons possession and disorderly conduct.
According to the charges:
Crenshaw was freestyle rapping at a card table with Walker and others. Walker stood up without provocation and shot Crenshaw with a handgun. Walker fled the scene, and two witnesses took Crenshaw to the hospital. Another witness said Crenshaw was “just sitting there, not even talking,” before he was shot, the charges read.
“We have not abandoned the effort to try and win those voters,” Hann said of suburbanites.
But Martin said he started to see the GOP’s grip on the suburbs loosening 20 years ago, when Democrat John Kerry won Edina in the 2004 presidential election.
“That’s the moment when I really knew there was a sea change coming in Minnesota politics,” he said. The DFL by then was competitive in suburbs like St. Louis Park, Richfield and Bloomington, but Martin saw Edina’s flip as “really quite remarkable,” he said. “You could see the wind started to change out there.”
It took another 14 years for a Democrat to win the Third Congressional District.
Since he became chair of the DFL in 2010, Martin said suburbs have been his main focus. He said the party has spent a lot of time and resources recruiting candidates for school board, city council and legislative contests.
“I think it would be reductive to say it was just I that flipped the district,” Phillips said of his win in 2018. That win came after years of organizing, he said, and amid growing dissatisfaction with former Republican President Donald Trump.
