Star Tribune
Suburban school districts say busing is off to a smooth start. Except in two districts.
“My family is making it work but I know of other families who are really struggling and reaching out to strangers on Facebook to help get their kid to school,” Nelson said. “I keep hearing from families who say this has never been an issue before.”
The district is continuing to process the requests, and those who registered earlier will be processed first, according to a district letter that went to families. “Our goal is to ensure that every family who requests bus service receives it,” Goldade said, adding that Hopkins isn’t facing a bus driver shortage or routing changes that would cause major disruptions.
Having enough drivers at the start of the year is a welcome change, said Troy Schreifels, the director of transportation, security and emergency management for Osseo schools. He estimates that more than half of the 25 years in his career were marked by driver shortages, which became acute in the wake of the pandemic.
“But this year, we had a full bank of drivers for the first day of school, and it’s been going really well,” Schreifels said.
Without the staffing issues of the past, several districts said their transportation departments’ main challenge this year is adjusting routes around road closures, slowdowns and orange cones.
“There’s just a lot of construction,” said David Hanson, transportation coordinator for St. Louis Park schools. “That seems to be the biggest hurdle our buses are facing this year.”
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
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Minnesota corrections officials are investigating after an inmate was found dead at the state prison in Moose Lake.
The 37-year-old’s cellmate found the man unresponsive in their room about 10:40 a.m. Tuesday, according to a news release Wednesday from the Corrections Department. Staffers immediately started life-saving efforts, but those efforts failed.
The department’s Office of Special Investigations is looking into the death, with help from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office. The inmate’s identity was being withheld until notification of family.
