Star Tribune
St. Paul budget vetoes open sharp divide between mayor, city council
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has vetoed five line-items to cut from the budget passed by the City Council last week, but it’s not clear if those vetoes will stand after the council voted to override them Thursday.
Carter and Council President Mitra Jalali disagree on when the city budget is made final, a minor distinction that could have significant implications for filling city jobs, funding police overtime and renovating council offices.
Carter argues the council missed a Dec. 18 deadline in city charter to finalize the budget, so his vetoes are the final word and his administration will start “operationalizing” the budget. Jalali said she thinks the council hit that deadline, having passed a budget Dec. 11. And she said St. Paul has until Dec. 30 to deliver a budget to the state, so the council’s overrides will stand.
Earlier this month, Carter came out swinging against the council’s 5.9% property tax levy increase they set last week. Carter wanted a steeper increase; and the council’s budget contains much less funding for police overtime than Carter wanted, and directs his administration to not fill several vacant positions.
Carter used his line-item veto authority to cut $2.3 million from the council’s budget, arguing their balance sheet relied on impossible-to-realize savings, including a major cut to police overtime. He delivered the line-item vetoes to the council Wednesday evening, after the council’s regular meeting adjourned. The biggest cut was $1.8 million, was for a renovation of the council offices. Carter characterized the upgrades as “new carpets and drapes,” while Jalali said during Thursday’s meeting that the work was focused on making the offices more accessible to people with disabilities.
Jalali had worked with Carter on a compromise budget, which the council rejected last week. But this week, Jalali said Carter had given the council no indication that he intended to veto any part of the budget.
Asked how his vocal opposition to the council’s budget and vetoes would impact the working relationship with the council, Carter said, “We should be alright.”
Star Tribune
Central High graduate with Rondo roots tapped to be next superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools
Still, Board Member Chauntyll Allen said Thursday: “Each one of these candidates could lead this district in a wonderful way.”
Stanley began her teaching career in the East Metro Integration District and then served as a principal in the Roseville Area Schools and an administrator in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage and Eden Prairie districts before taking over three years ago in Edina, where she oversees 8,600 students.
She is a product of the Rondo neighborhood, she told school board members Wednesday, with a “long, rich history in St. Paul.” Initially, Stanley worked as an occupational therapist, but she then switched to teaching when a student asked her “whether or not you could be brown and you could be smart,” she recalled, describing it as a “pretty profound experience.”
In Burnsville, she oversaw programming for English language learners, and in subsequent moves to Eden Prairie and Edina, succeeded in narrowing achievement gaps. She said she was impressed with the SPPS Reads program to boost student literacy and sees it as a perfect fit for her skillset.
“I say that literacy is the currency of power in the United States,” Stanley said.
Mhiripiri-Reed started her career as a middle school teacher in St. Paul, and then went on to be a high school principal in Brooklyn Park and a school administrator in Monterey, Calif., and Washington, D.C., before taking the top job in Hopkins overseeing 6,900 students.
Three Minnesota women have been accused in federal court of enriching themselves from a health care fraud scheme, spending the proceeds on private jets, luxury vehicles and other items.
The charges lay out how the three reportedly used an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center called Evergreen Recovery, Inc., based in St. Paul, to defraud Medicaid and other health care programs by billing for treatment that was not provided and services that were not eligible for reimbursement.
The scheme also allegedly involved the defendants using free housing as a kickback to induce clients to remain in Evergreen Recovery treatment so the clients’ names and information could be used to overbill Medicaid.
Charged in the case is Shawn Ashley Grygo, 37, of Forest Lake; Shantel Rene Magadanz, 34, of Stacy; and Heather Lynn Heim, 46, of St. Paul. Each faces nine counts of wire fraud, among other charges.
Magadanz and Heim made their first appearances in federal court Thursday. Grygo is set for to appear in court Monday. None have entered a plea, according to online court records.
The complaint identifies Magadanz as the chief executive of Evergreen, Heim as the lead financial and operations officer and Grygo as the head of day-to-day operations.
From March 2018 to July 2024, Evergreen submitted invoices for $30 million from Medicaid and Medicaid-funded health care programs, the complaint said.
The three received excessive salaries in return. Magadanz was paid $600,000 in 2023, and was on track to receive more than $1 million this year, according to the complaint.
Star Tribune
Duluth bike group asks for safer roads after cyclist dies crossing Mesaba Avenue at rush hour
DULUTH – Alice Tibbetts slipped into all the gear she wears to make herself more visible to vehicles as a decades-long, year-round bike commuter: bright yellow jacket, reflective vest, several lights and a reflective helmet.
“The question is, would this have saved me from a driver going 42 miles an hour down Mesaba [Avenue]?” she asked, referencing a commuter-heavy road. “The answer is no.”
Tibbetts and other members of Vibrant Streets Duluth, a chapter of the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, hosted a call to the city of Duluth, St. Louis County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation for improved safety Thursday afternoon in response to the Dec. 4 death of a cyclist who was struck by two cars and killed as he crossed a high-traffic highway here during rush hour. The group is asking for speed monitoring or flashing beacons at dangerous crossings, enforcement of pedestrian right-of-way laws, data-driven solutions and a city transportation commission.
Steven Edward Hoover, 60, was hit at 5 p.m. as he crossed Mesaba Avenue below First Avenue W. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to a news release from Duluth police.
The day after Hoover’s death, members of Vibrant Streets Duluth visited the site of the crash to clock traffic using a radar gun. Forrest Vodden, the group’s chairman, said it wasn’t a scientific study, but a 15-minute sampling found most drivers exceeding the speed limit by 8-10 miles per hour and some drivers surpassed 50. The speed limit on this stretch is 30.
“We just wanted to get a feel for the speeds at that time of day at that location,” he said.
The transportation commission could be a reality. In his state of the city speech earlier this year, Mayor Roger Reinert noted that Duluth has 39 boards and commissions and he was looking to the city council to align and reform some of these groups. At the same time, he suggested the formation of a transportation commission that would offer input on streets, sidewalks, bike lanes and other paths.
City Councilor Mike Mayou, who was at Vibrant Streets Duluth’s event, said he could see such a committee developing within the next six to eight months, if not sooner. The logistics of it still need to be planned.
