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St. Paul mayor and city council meeting to reach budget compromise

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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.”



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What is suspect Luigi Mangione’s motive in UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting

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Authorities detained a person of interest in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Pennsylvania on Monday, identifying the individual as Luigi Mangione.

Mangione, 26, was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news conference. Officers questioned Mangione and found he was carrying multiple fake IDs and a U.S. passport, a gun and a firearm suppressor similar to the one used in the murder, she said.

Mangione was “sitting and eating” in the McDonald’s Monday morning when he was identified by the employee, said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives with the New York Police Department.

Police found a three-page handwritten document that allegedly spoke to the suspect’s motivation in the killing and his mindset. According to the New York Times, the document criticized health care companies for putting profits above care, according to the New York Times. Kenny said the manifesto did not target other individuals, but did convey a dislike for corporate society. “It does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.

The recovered firearm was a 9mm “ghost gun,” which may have been made with a 3D printer, Kenny said.

Mangione’s last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii, according to Kenny. But he was born and raised in Maryland and also has ties to San Francisco.

Mangione was high school valedictorian at the all boys Gilman School in Baltimore. High school tuition at Gilman is $37,690, according to the school’s admissions page.

In a message emailed to Gilman families on Monday, Head of School Henry Smyth said the school is aware that Mangione has been linked to the shooting. His email confirmed that Mangione was a Gilman alumnus in the class of 2016.



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Resort owners near Boundary Waters drop expansion after state sues

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The proposed expansion would have increased the total number of dwelling units on the site from 13 to 62 and added 12 docks with space for 75 boats. The county’s shoreline protection rules, which were written with the DNR in the 1990s, allow the resort a maximum of 29 dwelling units and docks that could fit a maximum of 14 boats, the DNR argued.

Exceeding those numbers could threaten the stability of the shoreline and the aquatic environment of both White Iron and Farm lakes, according to the agency.

The lawsuit was the third time since last year that the DNR sued a local government for failing to enforce shoreline development rules. It sued the city of Fairmont in 2023 after council members tried to issue a permit for a restaurant to build a new dock and lake-front patio over the objections of the DNR. The city agreed to withdraw the permit a few months later.

In January, the agency sued the city of Minneapolis after it gave permission to a homeowner to build on a bluff of the Mississippi River. That case is still in court.



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Metro Transit hails ‘exciting change’ in new service

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The extra and expanded service comes as Metro Transit has, at least for now, turned the corner on its struggle to find enough bus operators. After “struggling mightily” for the past three years, the agency now has nearly 1,300 drivers, a number Metro Transit has not seen since before the pandemic, said Deputy General Manager and Chief Operating Officer Brian Funk.

Funk attributed the uptick in hiring to better wages, up from $21 per hour a few years ago to almost $30 an hour now. New drivers also are getting two weeks of additional training time to get them ready to hit the streets, Funk said.

The agency has 60 drivers in training now, but the need is still there. In March, the agency will open the Gold Line, a rapid bus line running from Woodbury to Union Depot in downtown St. Paul, and will need 30 operators to deliver that service. The agency also plans to open the B Line running from Uptown to downtown St. Paul on Lake Street and Selby Avenue next summer. And the E-Line, a rapid bus route from Southdale in Edina to the University of Minnesota is supposed to open about a year from now.

“We will continue to hire,” Funk said.

The new and expanded service is part of Metro Transit’s Network Now strategy to expand service by 35% in the next three years by looking where current and future service should go to meet travel needs and grow ridership.



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