Star Tribune
Judge orders competency evaluation for Minneapolis man accused of terrorizing, shooting his neighbor
This new order for a competency evaluation will allow the psychological examiners services program with the Minnesota Judicial Branch to look at all of Sawchak’s past mental health evaluations and court documents. They will also be able to interview Sawchak.
Since 2007, Sawchak has been a party to 10 court petitions seeking an order for protection based on allegations of harassment, stalking, window-peeping and various forms of assault. The previous claims prompted at least five criminal complaints, starting in 2016, outlining increasingly threatening and violent behavior in the Lyndale neighborhood. His only conviction, so far, is for slashing the tires of a Minneapolis police officer.
The Moturi family had repeatedly asked to have Sawchak arrested for his behavior. Even after Moturi was shot, it took police five days to arrest Sawchack — culminating in a late night SWAT standoff where MPD officers shattered his windows and used heavy machinery to tear holes into the home’s upper floor.
The perceived lack of police action led to increasing criticism of how the Minneapolis Police Department had handled Sawchak’s behavior and the complaints of the Moturi family, culminating in a contentious City Council meeting on Oct. 31.
NEW YORK — Thousands of Microsoft 365 customers worldwide reported having issues with services like Outlook and Teams on Monday.
In social media posts and comments on platforms like outage tracker Downdetector, some impacted said that they were having trouble seeing their emails, loading calendars or opening other Microsoft 365 applications such as Powerpoint.
Microsoft acknowledged ”an issue impacting users attempting to access Exchange Online or functionality within Microsoft Teams calendar” earlier in the day. In updates posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the company’s status page said it identified a ”recent change” that it believed to be behind the problem — and was working to revert it.
Microsoft shared that it was deploying a fix — which, as of shortly before noon E.T., it said had reached about 98% of ”affected environments.”
Still, the company’s status page later added, targeted restarts were ”progressing slower than anticipated for the majority of affected users.”
As of midday Monday, Downdetector showed thousands of outage reports from users of Microsoft 365, particularly Outlook.
Every Thanksgiving week, the governor of Minnesota welcomes turkeys to the Capitol — but not for a pardon. A “presentation.” Minnesota does not pardon turkeys. Minnesota would, in fact, like everyone to eat more turkeys. Minnesota turkeys generate more than $1 billion in economic activity and account for tens of thousands of jobs, according to the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association.
So this Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz will welcome a pair of somebody’s dinner to the Capitol and, in keeping with tradition, withhold pardons from them. The birds were raised by Jake Vlaminck, president of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, on his farm in Lake Lillian. Paisley VonBerge of the Hutchinson Future Farmers of America chapter, did the work of socializing the young turkeys and getting them camera-ready.
In Washington, Biden ended his final turkey pardon on a wistful note. He and his wife, Jill, were heading to Staten Island for a Friendsgiving with members of the Coast Guard, in memory of their late son. He urged the country to hold in their hearts all the families with empty seats at the table this season.
Being president has been “the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said. “Remember who we are. We’re the United States of America. There’s nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together.”
Star Tribune
Special counsel moves to dismiss election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss the case accusing President-elect Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, citing longstanding Justice Department policy shielding presidents from prosecution while in office.
The move announced in court papers marks the end of the Justice Department’s landmark effort to hold Trump accountable for what prosecutors called a criminal conspiracy to cling to power in the run-up to his supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In court papers. prosecutors said the Justice Department’s position “is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated.”
The decision was expected after Smith’s team began assessing how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The Justice Department believes Trump can no longer be tried in accordance with longstanding policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
