Star Tribune
Osseo ponders opening city-run cannabis store
Officials in Osseo want to open a city-run dispensary when recreation cannabis sales start in Minnesota next year.
“Our goal is to be the first facility to open in the Twin Cities, municipal or otherwise,” City Council Member Mark Schulz said at a council work session in late January. “We are way further along than anybody else, which is a really good thing.”
An ad-hoc committee has been exploring the idea for months. In January, the council passed a resolution paving the way to join the Minnesota Marijuana Association. Tougher decisions loom as the council starts assembling a plan for how such a store would operate, and where it would be located.
Multiple Minnesota cities run retail outlets for liquor, though Osseo is not among them. Still, said City Administrator Riley Grams, “We want to be ready when the state opens the application window. We want to submit.”
The state’s newly formed Office of Cannabis Management, which will oversee licenses, is still working to finalize rules and regulations for the state’s fledgling cannabis industry. Part of that will be presenting a path for cities to obtain a municipal dispensary license, Grams said.
Wedged between the much larger cities of Brooklyn Park and Maple Grove, Osseo had a population of just over 2,500 people in the last census.
Among the bigger decisions city leaders would face by opening a cannabis store is where to put it. One idea is incorporating it into the building that houses City Hall and the police department, but Riley said that could be tricky because customers might shy away from an establishment in proximity to law enforcement even though the product will be legal to buy.
A second option would be to house it in the former Osseo Press building. It’s spacious enough, but “it needs a lot of love,” Grams said. An unidentified building in the city’s industrial area is also under consideration.
Any site would need to be heavily fortified with security features, including a multitude of cameras, alarms, and possibly license plate readers. Any site would also need a special entry for trucks delivering product and armored vehicles picking up cash receipts.
“We want to make it as safe as possible,” Schulz said. A new city department would oversee operations, Grams said.
“Having a detailed business plan and well thought out security plan, we think that will be the key to getting a successful municipal license,” Grams said.
Schulz said he studied how Missouri oversees cannabis operations after legalizing it two years ago. He suggested council members take a field trip there to see how municipal outlets operate there.
City officials said they don’t yet know how much would be needed in startup costs, nor what kind of revenue they might eventually expect. Some cities use profits from liquor stores to cover things like park maintenance or street repairs
But the idea of extra revenue at a time when city services are getting more expensive to deliver — and having control that cities wouldn’t get with private dispensaries — would be a “win-win for the city,” Grams said.
Schulz said that’s why he’s on board.
“Taking the burden of the city budget off the backs of the taxpayers; if that was not a huge priority, I don’t know that I’d be as excited and adamant about this moving ahead,” Schulz said.
Star Tribune
Former Medtronic consultant gets 18 months federal prison for insider trading
A former Medtronic consultant received an 18-month prison sentence this week for his role in a scheme linked to the $1.6 billion acquisition of an Israeli medical device company in 2018.
A federal jury in February convicted Doron “Ron” Tavlin, 69, of Minneapolis, of one count of conspiracy to engage in insider trading and 10 additional counts related to securities fraud. That same jury found David Jay Gantman, 58, of Mendota Heights, not guilty of all charges against him. A third defendant — Afshin “Alex” Farahan, 57, of Los Angeles — pleaded guilty in 2022 and has yet to be sentenced.
“His crime was cynical and brazen. It was also reckless,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert wrote in a memo calling for a 3-year prison term. “Tavlin’s conduct had the potential to blow up a deal that a team of executives and financial advisers had been diligently negotiating for months.”
Tavlin is now scheduled to self-surrender Jan. 5 to begin his prison term, which will be followed by 320 hours of community service.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Tavlin learned about a secret, pending acquisition by Medtronic of Mazor Robotics, where he worked as vice president of business development, in 2018. Tavlin also previously worked as a consultant to the Ireland-based Medtronic, which also has a headquarters in Fridley.
Tavlin illegally tipped off Farahan, his friend, about news of the imminent acquisition and told him to keep the news secret. Farahan knew the deal would likely result in a boost to Mazor’s stock price and quickly bought more than $1 million of the company’s stock throughout August and September 2018. Medtronic announced plans to acquire Mazor, which specialized in robotics for spinal procedures, in September 2018 and the deal closed three months later.
Prosecutors said Farahan netted more than $245,000, and Gantman made $255,000 in profit by selling the securities quickly after the deal was publicized. Farahan paid Tavlin for the secret information about the pending deal — including a $25,000 kickback about a year later —according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, who sentenced Tavlin Monday, also ordered Tavlin to pay a special assessment fee of $1,100 – or $100 per each count. Frank did not impose a fine.
Star Tribune
Charges detail assault in Minneapolis that led to shooting rampage, killing one in Kandiyohi County
Another friend of the ex-girlfriend arrived to help. He pulled up in a car as the group exited the apartment and Matariyeh immediately pointed a gun at him before pounding on the windshield with the gun. Everyone fled as Matariyeh ran back inside the apartment.
The two men met in a parking lot before attempting to return to the apartment. That’s when they looked up and saw Matariyeh on the balcony. Matariyeh immediately began firing multiple shots at them as they took cover behind parked cars.
It was around this time that Minneapolis police officers arrived and made contact with Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend. She believed he was still inside the apartment, but officers later learned that he had fled. They reached him on the phone. He told officers he was going to kill innocent people if he couldn’t speak with his ex-girlfriend or see his daughter, who was at daycare at the time. He later told police negotiators that “he wanted to go out by ‘suicide by cop.’”
All the while, Matariyeh was speeding westbound.
Police officers pursued him near Cosmos in Meeker County after being alerted that Matariyeh might have stolen another vehicle at gunpoint in Carver County.
Around 2 p.m. he pulled into the rural driveway of Peter Mayerchak in Lake Lillian. Mayerchak, who was in his yard placing hay over his septic mound, went and greeted Matariyeh, who shot him in the chest.
Star Tribune
DFL’s last-minute push to keep their trifecta
Mixing progressive dreams with dire warnings, a group of DFL leaders riled up a group of volunteers in St. Paul on Thursday morning, urging them to push on through the day’s freezing rain and fatigue in the remaining days before the election.
Several elected officials including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the group of about 150 campaign staffers, volunteers and union members about how meaningful their work is to keeping DFL control of the Legislature, as the electeds start a statewide bus tour to turn out votes.
“We are here to keep our trifecta here in Minnesota,” U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got five days, people!”
On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said earlier this month that the House Republican Campaign Committee had raised a record $2.7 million ahead of the election and she said Republicans have also set records in volunteering and door-knocking as they work to break DFL control.
Minnesota Democrats hold a rally before starting a bus tour around the state to get voters excited, including Rep Ilhan Omar, Sen Amy Klobuchar, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, Rep Betty McCollum and Sen Tina Smith on Thursday. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” Demuth said in a statement. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule.”
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said she thought voters preferred action to the gridlock of divided government. “They’re looking for people who can get things done,” she said.
These last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts come as Democrats around the country push to keep control of state legislative chambers and try to flip a few statehouses that Republicans hold by just a few seats.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the national Democratic party that works on statehouse races across the country, has spent $500,000 on Minnesota races this year, including House races and the state Senate contest.