Star Tribune
St. Paul mayor and city council meeting to reach budget compromise
The middle ground: a 7.2% increase.
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Deputy Mayor Jamie Tincher said Carter, too, would like the levy to be lower. But proposing a 5% increase would mean an additional cut of $6 million from 2025 city services — a reduction that could increase fire response times, slow the processing of license applications and reduce parks and rec and library services.
“He doesn’t have a path to do that without reducing services that will be felt by the people who are currently getting them,” Tincher said.
If the two sides cannot agree on a tax levy for 2025, state law would require the city to institute this year’s levy. That, Tincher said, would lead to drastic cuts in city personnel and services, as costs go up every year because of things like health care, insurance and previously negotiated salary increases.
The gap between revenue and costs then, she said, would be $16 million.
Tincher was asked if this year’s negotiations felt “different.”
Star Tribune
2½-year term for onetime Edina financial adviser who stole $1.6M from clients
A onetime Edina-based financial adviser has received a 2½-year prison sentence for cheating clients out of more than $1.6 million and using the money to buy property in the city.
Kristi Margaret Berge, 48, founder and CEO of Keep Safe Investments, LLC, or KSI Financial, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with the scheme that ran from mid-2020 to early 2023.
After finishing her prison time, Berge will be on supervised release for two years. Her sentence also calls for her to make full restitution to her victims.
Ahead of sentencing, defense attorney Bruce Rivers argued for his client to receive a term of six months’ home confinement followed by three years’ supervised release.
“Ms. Berge has demonstrated an incredible amount of acceptance of responsibility,” Rivers wrote to the court, adding that she had no criminal history before this case. “Ms. Berge never set out to hurt anyone. Her business took a turn, and she made some serious mistakes along the way and has every intention to repay those who were harmed.”
In response, prosecutors asked for Berge to receive a two-year prison term. They noted in their filing that she earned a degree from Columbia University, worked in London for the Morgan Stanley investment firm and “has been a supportive mother to her children.”
However, the filing continued, “given her education, gainful employment and other job skills, Berge’s decision to commit fraud is certainly puzzling and troubling. … That Berge certainly had the means and professional skills to live comfortably without resorting to crime makes her scheme all the more aggravating.”
According to Berge’s plea agreement and other court documents:
Star Tribune
Manhunt continues for killer of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare CEO
The Des Moines Register reported that Thompson was valedictorian of his 1993 high school class in Jewell, Iowa. The town is located nearly 3 hours south of the Twin Cities, just west of Interstate 35.
“Brian was a wonderful person with a big heart and who lived life to the fullest,” his wife, Paulette Thompson said in a statement. “He will be greatly missed by everybody. Our hearts are broken, and we are completely devastated by this news. He touched so many lives.”
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who died Dec. 4. in New York City.
Investigators were releasing no new details as of 7 a.m. Central time on Thursday.
On Wednesday, police said they were examining the contents of a cell phone found in the alley where the shooter fled. They also indicated the e-bike used by the suspect was part of a local cycle-sharing business.
“There [is] GPS on those bikes,” chief detective Joseph Kenny said during the news conference. “We’ll be working with the company.”
Star Tribune
Prison for man stemming from shooting death in Twin Cities home where toddler present
A 23-year-old man has received a sentence of 3¾ years in connection with a shooting of a resident in his Brooklyn Park home more than two years ago.
Marlon J. White, of Brooklyn Park, was sentenced Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court to second-degree manslaughter stemming from the death of Khalib K. Blunt, 20, on Sept. 28, 2022, at a house in the 7800 block of N. Tessman Drive.
With credit for time in jail after his arrest, White is expected to serve the first 2½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
According to the charges and police:
A 911 caller sent police to the home, where they found Blunt down in the entry. Blunt, shot in the chest, died soon afterward at North Memorial Health Hospital.
Officers questioned White at the scene about the gun’s location. He first denied knowing where the gun was but then said he put it in his car parked nearby. An officer found the handgun under the driver’s seat.
White told police he was standing next to Blunt in the living room, heard a gunshot and saw Blunt collapse near the front door. White said he grabbed the gun off the couch, along with his 2-year-old son, and put the gun in his car, then went to Blunt’s aid.
A witness told police he had gone to Blunt’s house that evening, and White was there. They were sitting on a couch smoking marijuana and watching a movie when he heard a gunshot, and saw Blunt get up and rush toward the steps. He said he never saw a gun that evening and didn’t know where it came from.