Star Tribune
Minnesota Historical Society criticized for not closing Ramsey House
For the first time since at least before the pandemic, tour groups will go through the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul on Dec. 26.
Tours of the historic mansion had previously been suspended on that date in recognition of the mass hanging in 1862 of 38 Dakota men outside Mankato while Ramsey was governor.
Officials with the Minnesota Historical Society, which owns the 19th Century house and 25 other historic sites across Minnesota, said tickets were sold for four Candlelight Christmas tours this year after new staff members were “unaware” of the practice to not conduct tours on that date.
Ben Leonard, the nonprofit’s vice president of historic sites said in a statement that it has been “practice, but not policy,” to not hold programming Dec. 26. Leonard said the Historical Society’s officials decided not to cancel the Dec. 26 tickets and issue refunds, but instead, address “Minnesota’s complex history” during the tours.
“December 26th marks a very painful anniversary for Native American communities,” he said in a statement. “At the Minnesota Historical Society, we recognize the tragedy of this day and the generational impact of the mass execution and exile of the Dakota people from Minnesota.”
That’s not good enough, said Josie Bergmann, a tour guide at the Ramsey House for the last five years.
“It is deeply disappointing,” she said. “No. 1, that we didn’t recognize this error. And, then, that it’s still going to go on. It sends a bad message. ‘We can’t cancel it. Let’s just hide it.’”
The Minnesota Star Tribune sent emails Friday asking Historical Society officials, including director and CEO Kent Whitworth, whether they consulted with Native American officials before deciding to continue the tours. None responded.
The St. Paul school board on Thursday agreed to take the district’s property tax levy to the limit once again — this time to the tune of a 7.9% increase in 2025.
The action came at the tail end of a spirited truth-in-taxation season that found homeowners venting at hearings about the high cost of government in St. Paul, and a week after the City Council voted to lower Mayor Melvin Carter’s proposed increase in the city’s share of the tax bill to 5.9%.
Jane Prince, a former City Council member, appeared before the school board earlier this month to ask members to ease the bite on homeowners. Between 2015 and 2024, she said, St. Paul Public Schools raised its levies by 50%, compared with a 39% hike in Minneapolis.
On Thursday, Tom Sager, the district’s executive chief of financial services, cautioned that a move by the board to levy taxes in an amount less than that allowed by the state Department of Education could lead to a corresponding decrease in the amount of state aid it receives in some funding categories.
Board Member Carlo Franco said Thursday he hoped that the district could one day get to the point of lowering its levy increases in response to homeowners decrying “big taxes” in St. Paul.
“Our commitment is to make sure that those ‘big taxes’ translate into big outcomes and big successes for our kids,” Franco said.
The owner of a city’s $275,300 median-valued home will see a $142 increase in the district’s share of the property tax bill, or 11.5%. Changes in individual property values, as well as levies set by the county, city and other tax bodies, are among the other factors determining one’s final overall tax bill.
Star Tribune
18-year-old from North Dakota charged in north Minneapolis shooting that killed teen girl
An 18-year-old from West Fargo, N.D., has been charged with killing a 17-year-old girl this summer in a shooting at a north Minneapolis gas station that injured another person.
Erick Corday Scott was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree murder for the death of Lonnaya I’zanay Warren-Lloyd, of Minneapolis. Scott has no criminal history in Minnesota but, since turning 18 in April, he has been charged with three different crimes in North Dakota: felony conspiracy to commit robbery with a firearm; misdemeanor fleeing a police officer on foot; and unlawful possession of a firearm as a violent felon.
The firearm possession charge was filed on Dec. 12 and Scott is in custody at the Cass County jail.
Katie Nechiporenko, an assistant Cass County state’s attorney for North Dakota, said that while Scott hasn’t been convicted of a felony as an adult, he has a juvenile record that can be used to enhance adult sentencing on the most recent firearm charge.
“It’s just for certain crimes as they relate to guns,” she said. “It’s North Dakota’s carveout.” Nechiporenko said she has not been contacted by Hennepin County about the murder charge against Scott.
Messages were left with Scott’s lawyer in North Dakota. No attorney was listed for him in Hennepin County.
According to court and police documents:
Police responded to the Super USA gas station around 11 p.m. on July 7 after reports of a shooting. They found Warren-Lloyd in the front passenger seat of a parked car with multiple gunshot wounds. She was transported to North Memorial Hospital where she died.
That rings hollow, Our Streets said
“MnDOT’s Rethinking I-94 team should be embarrassed to repeat a harmful history by removing these options without consent from those most impacted,” the Our Streets statement said. “MnDOT continues advancing plans to rebuild this emblem of white supremacy against the will of affected communities.”
In September, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting Our Street’s push for a road with fewer lanes and the opportunity to repurpose highway land for public housing, affordable commercial space, parks, community gardens, or uses determined by surrounding communities.
The resolution asks MnDOT to “improve the Rethinking I-94 project’s evaluation criteria to more accurately measure and prioritize the impacts on adjacent neighborhoods.”
Any redo of I-94 needs to improve the ability to move goods and people through the corridor, fix aging infrastructure, address safety issues and congestion, promote better health, and enhance community and connectivity, MnDOT said.
