Star Tribune
UHC CEO Brian Thompson is shot and killed in New York City
After clearing the jam, the shooter began to fire again, Kenny said, and then fled on foot.
Responding to reporter questions, Kenny said police don’t know if the shooter could have been a professional, nor could investigators say if there was a silencer on the weapon. From watching the video, he said, “it does seem that he’s proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly.”
After his initial flight from the scene, the suspect was later seen riding an e-bike, including when he was spotted in Central Park.
“The motive for this murder currently is unknown,” Kenny said. “Based on the evidence we have so far, it does appear that the victim was specifically targeted. But at this point, we do not know why.”
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson was CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer. It is a division of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, which is the fourth-largest public company in America behind Walmart, Amazon and Apple.
His wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News that he had been receiving threats. “There had been some threats,” she said in a phone call with NBC News. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Star Tribune
Architecture writer, Minnetonka McMansion critic Bette Hammel dies
“I told my mom that story later and just she said, ‘Oh no, it’s just because of Dick,’” who had been gone for more than 20 years by that time, Susan Hammel said. “I’m like, ‘No, mom, they love you, too.’”
Hammel is survived by daughter Susan Hammel and son-in-law Dan Broberg, grandchildren Danny and Caleigh, and stepchildren Anne Hammel and Stephen Hammel, among other family members and friends. A visitation and funeral mass will be held Dec. 17 at St. Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Wayzata.
Star Tribune
Forfeited money will pay bill for outside lawyers in Londregan case
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office wants to tap criminal forfeiture money to pay a $578,028 bill from the Washington, D.C., law firm hired to take over the now-dismissed murder and manslaughter charges against state trooper Ryan Londregan.
The County Board advanced, with a 5-1 vote Tuesday, a request from County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office to spend $700,000 in criminal forfeiture money as part of a supplemental budget appropriation. The board is expected to formally approve spending the forfeited funds at their final meeting of the year Dec. 12.
“We were told, whatever the expense was going to be, would have been in their budget, and it wasn’t,” Anderson said after his vote.
Sarah Davis, deputy county attorney, noted that criminally forfeited funds are available to her office annually, but the County Board must OK how the money is spent.
“This is not taxpayer dollars. That is one thing I want to make clear,” Davis told the board.
Most of the forfeited funds will go toward paying Steptoe LLP, a Washington, D.C.-based international law firm that Moriarty hired in April to take over the Londregan case. The Minnesota trooper was charged with murder, manslaughter and assault for the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a July 2023 traffic stop.
Minnesota law dictates how money from forfeited property is distributed: 70% to the law enforcement agency to supplement operations or expenses; 20% to the prosecuting authority’s operating fund; and 10% to the state treasury credited to the general fund.
Star Tribune
Sonja Trom Eayrs’ ‘Dodge County, Incorporated’ takes a deep dive into what’s happening with Minnesota farms
Sonja Trom Eayrs, a Twin Cities attorney, grew up on a farm outside Blooming Prairie, Minn. A decade ago, Eayrs started waging a litigation campaign in Dodge County to compel local governments to enforce the rules against the growth of massive hog operations.
While small victories in court were ultimately swallowed on appeal, Eayrs has now penned a memoir-ish look back on her fight that put a target on her back in her small rural hometown. The book also offers an unsparing view of consolidation in the agriculture industry.
In “Dodge County, Incorporated,” Eayrs says she and her family “witnessed firsthand the effects of Big Ag that are rarely discussed in mainstream food and farm media.”
She spoke with Minnesota Star Tribune agriculture reporter Christopher Vondracek earlier this month.
Q: We both grew up in southern Minnesota. What’s your thought about how Blooming Prairie might differ from when you grew up?
A: A couple of years ago, I’m visiting my mother in the nursing home, and I find out from a relative they’re spreading manure on the edge of Blooming Prairie. There’s a Facebook page called, “You Know You’re From Blooming Prairie When.” So I put on there, “you know you’re from Blooming Prairie when it smells like pig [feces], and it’s mid-October.” The first two comments are supportive. Then, boom. The hog mafia realizes [what I’ve said], and, whoa, Facebook is blowing up. So, what’s it like today? Anybody who is aligned with corporate agriculture is in a power position. Everyone else remains quiet.
Q: I often hear from farmers who say heavy-handed government regulation puts the small farmer out of business. Why talk about “corporate ag,” and not governmental farm policy or a desire for affordable food?
A: Corporate agriculture has harnessed our government policy. You look, there is no such thing as cheap food. Because we are all subsidizing this. They externalize all these costs, and we are all [paying] as taxpayers.