Star Tribune
GOP candidate contests results of 54A House race in Scott County
Republican Aaron Paul is challenging the results of the House District 54A race, alleging in a notice of an election contest that Scott County elections officials engaged in “deliberate, serious, and material violations” of state election law when they lost 21 ballots yet declared DFL Rep. Brad Tabke the winner by a 14-vote margin.
“Scott County election officials unlawfully lost and failed to count significantly more ballots than would be needed to change the announced result of the election, meaning at the very least the actual victor is in absolute doubt and at worst the candidate who received fewer votes has been announced as the winner,” reads the notice, which a Republican public affairs director shared with the Star Tribune and other media outlets Monday.
Paul is asking the court to declare a vacancy for Tabke’s seat once his current term ends, giving voters the chance to decide a winner “pursuant to Minnesota law governing special elections.”
Reid LeBeau, Paul’s attorney, and David Zoll, Tabke’s attorney, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The notice is the latest twist in the Shakopee-area race that will determine the distribution of power in the Minnesota House. DFLers and Republicans will share power for the first time since 1979 if Tabke prevails; if Paul ultimately wins, Republicans will have a slim one-vote majority.
The race has been tightly contested since Election Day, when Tabke appeared to have a 13-vote lead over Paul.
Early returns showed Paul, a Bloomington police officer, ahead in several precincts by small margins. Tabke, a former Shakopee mayor who has served two nonconsecutive House terms, maintained advantages in northeast Shakopee and a precinct north of Shakopee High School.
A few days after election night, Scott County officials rescanned some ballots cast in Shakopee after a scanning machine malfunction. The updated unofficial results increased Tabke’s advantage to 14.
Officials on Monday identified the man who was shot to death on Thanksgiving Day in Minneapolis.
Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed, 21, of St. Paul, was shot in the head Thursday at an at an apartment in the 700 block of Emerson Avenue N. and died that same day at HCMC, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Police said the person who they believed fired the shot had already fled. No arrests have been announced.
In a statement, Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the shooting a “senseless act of violence.”
The chief added that “our investigators are focused on seeking justice for the victim and are asking anyone who knows what happened or has any information about this incident to contact us immediately.”
There have been 73 homicides in the city so far this year, according to a Star Tribune database. That compares to 62 at this time last year.
Anyone with information about last week’s shooting is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submit tips at www.CrimeStoppersMN.org/.
Rideshare drivers across Minnesota got a pay raise Sunday when a new law governing minimum wages kicked in, and it comes after local Uber and Lyft drivers pushed for nearly two years to get better compensation and job protection.
The new rates could also bring up to a 25% increase in trip fees for riders, Uber spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in an email, “though pricing is always subject to change,” she said.
State law now requires rideshare companies to pay drivers $1.28 per mile and an additional 31 cents per minute while passengers are in the vehicle. Drivers will receive a minimum of $5 per trip and 80% of any cancellation fee charged to riders who call off a trip after a driver is on the way to pick them up. On top of that, rideshare drivers will also earn extra pay if transporting a rider in a wheelchair-accessible vehicle.
Tips are not included in the minimum pay calculations.
Under the law, rideshare drivers have the potential to make more money, a much as 20% more, DFL Leaders said in the spring before the legislation passed. But not all drivers are convinced they will.
A provision in the law allows Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) to average a driver’s earnings over a two week period, and pay them the minimum on that average. If a driver’s average is below the mandated rate, the companies will provide a “top off” payment to bring drivers up to the minimum pay, according to a posting on Uber’s blog.
That does not sit well with some metro area drivers.
The law “is absolutely not beneficial to the drivers,” said Prince Lee, who drives for both Uber and Lyft in the Twin Cities area. “We need $1.28 paid straight for every ride.”
MANKATO – Patti Loso’s candle flickered in the bitter winter wind as she asked the crowd for a moment of silence. Her 19-year-old son, Jack, was killed in a landslide one year ago in Minneopa State Park.
“For if you always think of me, I will never have gone,” Patti Loso said, quoting a funeral poem by Margaret Mead, at a vigil on Saturday overlooking the waterfall where her son died.
Patti, 57, and her husband Robert Loso, 56, said they blame the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for negligence leading to their son’s death.
“How could they allow this to happen?” Patti Loso said in a recent phone call. “It’s a failure of their system to not have the means in place to adequately inform and warn people.”
The Robbinsdale couple said they plan to file a lawsuit against the DNR within the next month. They claim state officials were negligent in warning park visitors about the risks of landslides in the area. Their lawyer Jeff Storms, based in Minneapolis, said he plans to serve the lawsuit soon.
The DNR in a statement said the Losos via their family’s attorney have filed a notice of intent to file a claim. “Given the clear potential for litigation we cannot comment further at this time,” Gail Nosek, DNR communications director, said Monday morning.
“Our thoughts and condolences continue to be with the family and loved ones of Jack Loso following this tragic loss,” the DNR statement said.
Minneopa State Park is a 58-acre recreational area just outside of Mankato, with two waterfalls. Jack Loso, a student at Minnesota State Mankato, visited the park with his sister and cousin on Dec. 2, 2023. He walked down a trail to the base of the lower waterfall, and then the sandstone cliff above him collapsed and buried him.
