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Duluth man pleads guilty to criminal sexual conduct with girls

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DULUTH – With freshly selected jurors waiting nearby for the start of an expected days-long trial, a Duluth man facing criminal sexual conduct charges took a last-minute plea deal instead of facing the women he abused when they were children.

Clint Franklin Massie, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse to the four counts from incidents dating back to 2008-09 when two of his victims were young girls. The deal dismissed one of the counts against him. His sentencing is scheduled for March 20, and he could end up with more than nine years in prison. Massie, who was initially charged in February 2023 and has been out on $300,000 bail, was released until his sentencing.

In each case, the victim was known to Massie — whether they were related or through their shared membership at Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. He was friends with their parents and regarded as a fun, child-free uncle, according to reports from the investigation.

Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Ryan told the court that the victims were satisfied with the deal.

“They have been involved in talking this through,” he said to Judge Dale Harris.

After Massie pleaded guilty, would-be witnesses and their supporters filed into the courtroom filling rows. Massie, dressed in a dark suit coat and khaki pants, turned to look. Ryan questioned him on the victims’ accusations — four specific scenarios where he had touched girls: during a sleepover at his house, when alone on a tractor, or beneath a blanket while others were in the room.

Massie said in court there were a lot of big gatherings and shared meals within this the group. It wasn’t unusual for one of the many children to sit on his lap.

At times Massie paused and said he couldn’t remember exact details or motives. At other times he deferred to what he told investigating officers last year. In each instance he ultimately agreed with the scenario presented by the prosecution.



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Were officers in Minnesota’s scandal-ridden Metro Gang Strike Task Force ever punished?

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A scandal-ridden Twin Cities law enforcement unit called the Metro Gang Strike Force imploded 15 years ago. Audits and investigations found a pattern of corruption — which included illegally seizing property and engaging in excessive force, often against people of color.

Reader Shawn Bassett of St. Paul followed the story closely as the scandal unfolded in a series of cascading revelations. Years later, he wondered if any of the individuals involved were ever punished.

He reached out to Curious Minnesota, the Strib’s reader-driven reporting project, asking, “What happened to the officers who were part of the Metro Gang Strike Force?”

“I remember that it was egregious corruption,” Bassett said. “I didn’t know if there were consequences.”

The officers seized cash and valuables, including television sets, cars, and in one case, even an auger used to drill holes for ice fishing, investigations found. Members of the multi-jurisdictional agency even at times took home property for their own use.

They drove some of the vehicles they confiscated. Evidence was often mishandled. Frequently, criminal charges were not filed against those they targeted.

Shelly Blas, shown here with her father Felix Blas, said in 2009 that the Strike Force came into her home, broke a number of windows and items, and verbally assaulted the family. (Flores, Elizabeth)

As the scandal deepened, Michael Campion, then the state’s commissioner of public safety, permanently disbanded the force on July 17, 2009. But only one officer faced federal criminal charges. Some were suspended, while others resigned.



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New LGBTQ community center with a co-working cafe opens in Uptown Minneapolis

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The founders of Queermunity, Minneapolis’ newest LGBTQ social club and resource center, remember the first summer after the pandemic very well. Group chats lit up amidst a flurry of excitement as people started to go back out again to try to make much-needed, social connections.

But bars and dance clubs are only a part of the answer, co-founder Hilary Otey said.

“We can talk, we can be together, we can get drunk. But how do you actually rebuild community with authentic interactions?” Otey said. “Nothing wrong with a lesbian bar… but there has to be more and different opportunities.”

There are 300+ LGBTQ community centers in the U.S., so why shouldn’t the Twin Cities have one, business and life partners Otey and Kayla Barth wondered. Their new space opened in Uptown last month.

While the cities boast many opportunities for LGBTQ-centered services as well as queer nightlife, there hadn’t been a place centered around the other forms of social wellbeing, Otey said. They both dreamed of a space with lots of options for activities, including those that are family friendly, alcohol free or that start before 10 p.m.

“We really wanted to focus on creating a space that met the needs of folks whose needs were not being met elsewhere, who didn’t have a space where they felt included and connected,” Otey said.

The space, at the previously vacant 3036 Hennepin Ave. beside Magers and Quinn Booksellers, offers a cafe, co-working, and space for groups to rent.

Queermunity also hosts a variety of social events. In the three weeks since opening, Queermunity has hosted a craft circle, yoga, trivia, quiet reading and even a pop-up group wedding for couples looking to marry ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump. Coming soon? A spades night, sound baths, grief processing sessions and gender-affirming haircuts.



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How some Minnesota schools are tackling chronic absenteeism

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A group of school districts across Minnesota say they are figuring out better ways to get student attendance back on track, with the rate of chronically absent students stubbornly high even years after COVID school closures.

Earlier this year, the Legislature voted to send $4.7 million to 12 school districts to try to figure out how to get attendance rates back up. The districts — Burnsville-Eagan-Savage, Chisholm, Columbia Heights, Cook County, Mankato, Minneapolis, Moorhead, Northfield, Red Lake, Rochester, Sauk Rapids-Rice and Windom — presented early results from their year of experimentation to a legislative commission on Dec. 2.

The districts say the funding is making a difference, helping them buy software to better track attendance, and hiring people dedicated to dealing with attendance.

“Not many districts the size of Chisholm have the opportunity to have someone committed to that role,” said Carrie McDonald, the director of teaching and learning for the district of about 650 students situated about an hour and a half north of Duluth, during the Student Attendance and Truancy Legislative Study Group meeting.

While a small district like Chisholm is using the personal relationships its new attendance coordinator can develop with students, bigger districts like Moorhead are trying to find systems to keep students on track.

“Having a staff person who notices a kid is not in school and reaching out to that kid is not a system we can rely on,” Moorhead’s Isaac Lundberg told the commission.

Though different school districts need to use different ways to reach out to students and families, they agreed on a need to find uniform systems to document attendance in schools, and compare results across districts.

Students are missing school for all kinds of reasons, and chronic absenteeism — defined as missing 10% of school days or more— was a growing problem across the country even before the pandemic.



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