Star Tribune
MnDOT’s kicks off Name-A-Snowplow contest
An election free from campaign speeches, rallies and partisan politics got underway Tuesday as the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s kicked off its fourth annual Name-A-Snowplow contest.
Voters will have until Jan. 28 to select names they want to see appear on MnDOT snowplows through the popular contest being held online. Participants will be limited to one vote, but will be allowed to select up to eight names from the list of 50 finalists with nods to pop culture, sports, history and the state’s indigenous population.
Those include “Beauty and the Blade,” “Alice Scooper,” “Taylor Drift,” “SKOL Plow” and “Waipahiƞte,” the Dakota word for snow plow.
Names that get the most votes will be declared the winners, with one name assigned to one of the big orange trucks in each of MnDOT’s eight districts.
MnDOT solicited suggestions from the public during December and more than 8,000 names were submitted, said spokeswoman Anne Meyer. Agency staff winnowed the list down to 50, and considered uniqueness, frequency of submissions, ideas specific to Minnesota, and names that would be easily identifiable and understandable to appear on the ballot.
Previous contests designed to bring a bit of levity to winter have resulted in names being applied to 24 plows statewide. MnDOT staff also gave names to three additional plows, Giiwedin-The North Wind; Goonodaabaan-Snow Vehicle, and Icamna-Blizzard in acknowledgement of the highways the state plows adjacent to tribal lands.
Winners will be announced in late January, the agency said. Go online to https://www.dot.state.mn.us/nameasnowplow/ to vote.
Transforming the heart of both downtowns, which have much larger buildings than old warehouses, is going to take a lot more money, creativity and time. Josh Talberg, managing director at downtown Minneapolis brokerage JLL, said with no major apartment buildings on the drawing board in either downtown, the fleet of empty office buildings present a golden opportunity to create more housing and lead both cities in a new direction.
“You can can certainly see the fundamentals improving, and you can feel that vibrancy, and that’s ultimately the foundation that’s needed to get investors to reinvest in the city,” he said. “But it’s not as if these 18-wheelers can turn on a dime.”
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
