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
Trump says he can’t guarantee tariffs won’t raise US prices and promises swift immigration action
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump said he can’t guarantee that his promised tariffs on key U.S. foreign trade partners won’t raise prices for American consumers and he suggested once more that some political rivals and federal officials who pursued legal cases against him should be imprisoned.
The president-elect, in a wide-ranging interview with NBC’s ”Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, also touched on monetary policy, immigration, abortion and health care, and U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere.
Trump often mixed declarative statements with caveats, at one point cautioning ”things do change.”
A look at some of the issues covered:
Trump hems on whether trade penalties could raise prices
Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists’ predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher domestic prices for consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. an households won’t be paying more as they shop.
”I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market.
That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation.
Star Tribune
Who is Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the insurgency that toppled Syria’s Assad?
BEIRUT — Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria’s President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. In recent days, the insurgency even dropped his nom de guerre and began referring to him by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test.
Insurgents control capital Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family’s iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed.
Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad’s state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility Sunni Islamist extremists will take over. The country is also fragmented among disparate armed factions, and foreign powers from Russia and Iran to the United States, Turkey and Israel all have their hands in the mix.
The 42-year-old al-Golani — labeled a terrorist by the United States — has not appeared publicly since Damascus fell early Sunday. But he and his insurgent force, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – many of whose fighters are jihadis — stand to be a major player.
For years, al-Golani worked to consolidate power, while bottled up in the province of Idlib in Syria’s northwest corner as Assad’s Iranian- and Russian-backed rule over much of the country appeared solid.
He maneuvered among extremist organizations while eliminating competitors and former allies. He sought to polish the image of his de-facto ”salvation government” that has been running Idlib to win over international governments and reassure Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities. And he built ties with various tribes and other groups.
Along the way, al-Golani shed his garb as a hard-line Islamist guerrilla and put on suits for press interviews, talking of building state institutions and decentralizing power to reflect Syria’s diversity.
Star Tribune
NYPD releases new photos of suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing
The New York Police Department released two new photos Saturday night of the man suspected of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
First reported by NBC News and the New York Post, the images are the latest update in the search for the man sought in the Dec. 4 killing of Thompson, a Maple Grove resident who worked at the insurance company for 20 years.
One image depicts the possible shooter’s face framed in the partition of a taxi, a blue mask and black hoodie obscuring most of his features. The other photo, captured from inside a car, depicts the man outside a vehicle, wearing the same mask and hooded jacket. The NYPD said investigators have tracked some of his movements by taxi, according to NBC News.
The photos are the most recent development in an intensive manhunt, now stretching into its fifth day, for Thompson’s killer, though the efforts have so far yielded few breakthroughs.
This undated photo released by the New York Police Department shows a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, outside of a taxi. Part of the image was blurred by the source. (NYPD via AP) (NYPD/The Associated Press)
Law enforcement officers on Friday evening found a backpack in Central Park believed to have belonged to the suspected killer, with some national outlets reporting yesterday that the bag contained two items: a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money. New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters at a police holiday party on Saturday that the “net is tightening,” according to the New York Post.
Police previously said the man may have traveled to New York City last month via a Greyhound bus that left from Atlanta. But a local outlet in Atlanta reported late last night that NYPD officers are “unclear” if the man was ever in Atlanta and where he boarded the bus.
Authorities are offering hefty rewards for information related to the CEO’s killing. The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced Friday night it would provide up to $50,000 for tips leading to an arrest and conviction, while the NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward.
The impact of Thompson’s killing has stretched from Manhattan to Minnetonka, where UnitedHealthcare is headquartered. FOX 9 reported yesterday that fencing now partially surrounds the campus’ entrances, with a police observation trailer located nearby.