Star Tribune
St. Paul Familiar Faces program connects unsheltered to resources
Police Chief Axel Henry said that motivated city officials to try a different approach that partners law enforcement with a collective of city and community organizations. Familiar Faces is part of that approach, which Henry believes is an evolution in how the city serves residents.
“We want to create a system where the system is set up to say, ‘It doesn’t matter what you bring us, we are equipped and we stand ready to help you and create solutions,’ ” Henry said, adding that he and Michels talk four to five times a week. “This is an evolution that’s happening here, and we’re going to a new, better 2.0 or 3.0 version of this that better addresses the current situation.”
A study published last month by the nonprofit Wilder Foundation says homelessness has increased in the past decade. Most of those unsheltered people had been homeless for a year or more, or four or more times in the past three years. Data from that study also found that drug use increased as people spent time outside without shelter, often worsening their conditions. St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood is an example of that challenge; advocates there say unsheltered people have turned to fentanyl to cope and medicate themselves.
Sue Abderholden, executive director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota, said mental health conditions worsened for many Minnesotans during the coronavirus pandemic. And without federal funding provided during that time, the state’s mental health system suffered.
“We have a workforce shortage, but we also have more people who are struggling with their mental health,” Abderholden said. “And then you add on the fentanyl crisis and things like that … so we have greater needs, and frankly we’re not able to meet those needs.”
St. Paul hopes to meet some of those needs through Familiar Faces and work with Heading Home Ramsey, a community-wide partnership helping to connect organizations addressing homelessness.
He said in a phone call Friday afternoon that he was not being serious.
“It was a private chatroom with a relatively limited group of people, that contained primarily facetious, sarcastic, dark humor,” Parsneau said. “What I said was not meant as anything serious, and somebody went out of their way and targeted me, and that got forwarded to Rep. Finstad, who I believe understands facetiousness.”
He acknowledged his comment was an “insensitive statement,” and said he was not advocating for anyone’s assassination or curtailing the investigation into Thompson’s killing, he added in a Facebook message.
“It was meant to be about the larger social media reaction to the crime, which I believe reflects public frustration with the health insurance industry and the countless tragic stories of denied health care,” Parsneau said. “Rep. Finstad should spend his time addressing that crisis instead of being a cancel culture activist.”
Parsneau said on Friday he has not been asked to resign. A university spokesman confirmed he has tenure.
Edward Inch, Minnesota State Mankato’s president, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that Parsneau’s comment was made on a personal Facebook account and not endorsed by the university.
Star Tribune
Sovereign citizen told Minnesota police, FBI that his homemade explosives were for rocket hobby
According to charges, investigators also retrieved multiple documents related to American Nationals and the Minnesota State Assembly — which law enforcement defined as a sovereign citizen movement. Lund declared that he is a “American National,” and was covered under the “law of the land.” He said that all 50 states were assembling their own state assemblies and that North Carolina has recently established a family global bank to control American National currency called “American Federate Dollars.”
“It has taken Lund five or six years to understand everything,” Tobin wrote in Lund’s criminal complaint, referring to his knowledge of the American Nationals.
According to the complaint, when told by the investigator that he was barred from possessing ammunition as a felon, Lund replied: “Oh, no. There’s a little difference to that. There’s a difference between the public and the private. I did my certificate of assumed name, which separates me from the public and private side of things.”
Tobin wrote that she interpreted this exchange as Lund saying that because he is a sovereign citizen — or “private” — he is exempt from criminal law if he is not planning to harm anyone. She added that many self-proclaimed sovereign citizens believe they are not subject to any federal laws or jurisdictions within the United States.
Criminal charges against Lund cite a website for the Minnesota State Assembly, in particular a passage reading: “Reclaim your Status as American State Nationals and American State Citizens and help finish the Reconstruction of our Actual government that was vacated after the civil war.”
“American Nationals believe that they can declare themselves sovereign, or private parties, and no longer be subjected to the rules and laws of the U.S. government,” Tobin wrote. “This extends to the belief that sovereign citizens or ‘privates’ do not have to obey criminal laws.”
Star Tribune
Walz weighs in on canceled Minnesota cannabis license lottery: Litigation ‘happens in every state’
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
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