Star Tribune
Former judge, former public defender in Hennepin County Attorney race
In the race for Hennepin County attorney, voters will choose between two candidates who have differing views and experience with the criminal justice system and how to keep residents safe.
Martha Holton Dimick, 69, a retired Hennepin County judge, is running as a tough prosecutor while Mary Moriarty, 58, former Hennepin County chief public defender, is a reformer who wants to hold cops accountable. Both candidates agree that addressing gun violence and reducing recidivism are top priorities, but they have different ideas on achieving public safety.
Moriarty said data will guide charging decisions and policies to target implicit racial bias and root causes of crime. Holton Dimick wants repeat offenders to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Moriarty has spent the majority of her career litigating against the office she seeks to lead, while most of Holton Dimick’s tenure was spent as a prosecutor and judge who worked for the County Attorney’s Office from 1999 to 2009.
Recently, a group of 32 senior prosecutors in the County Attorney’s Office penned a letter in support of Holton Dimick. Meanwhile, 41 staffers from the county’s public defenders office wrote in support of Moriarty, who also has the DFL endorsement.
Moriarty would be the first openly gay woman to lead the office and Holton Dimick would be the first Black woman to oversee Minnesota’s largest public law office, comprising 200 attorneys, 260 support staff and $69 million budget.
This is the first county attorney election since the murder of George Floyd, which placed the office under a national spotlight. Retiring County Attorney Mike Freeman charged former officer Derek Chauvin within days of the killing before the state Attorney General’s Office took over the prosecution.
Freeman was frequently criticized for convening grand juries to investigate fatal shootings of civilians by police. He later admitted this process lacked transparency, and both candidates vow greater transparency in the office if elected.
Grand juries for police misconduct
Holton Dimick: “I’d rather take it by a case by case basis … I’m not going to close the door on grand jury indictments, but I feel safer saying I would rather keep the decision myself. I don’t want to give those cases over to the AG office.”
Moriarty: “I would not use a grand jury just because of their secretive nature completely controlled by prosecutors, no defense attorneys or judges… I’m not sending cases to other county attorneys either because voters of Hennepin County will have elected me to make those decisions … I’d partner with the Attorney General on a case by case basis.”
Violent crime
Holton Dimick: “I think we have to send a message that we are not going to mollycoddle these violent criminals any further and we’re all to make sure that they are adequately punished. Victims are entitled to have relief. And so our community’s entitled to have relief. I want violent criminals held accountable. And I want the consequences to fit the crime.”
Moriarty: “I’m a big advocate of the Office of Violence Prevention. They are trying to train trusted messengers in the community to recognize when something’s brewing and train them with conflict mediation skills and try to interrupt violence before it happens … We should treat violence like a disease in approaching this entire system from a public health lens.”
Police misconduct
Holton Dimick: “I think we can do reform and public safety together. The Minneapolis Police Department, the culture is damaged. We didn’t need the Department of Human Rights to tell us that.” She said she voted no on the charter amendment to replace the MPD.
Moriarty: “Prosecutors see more video [body and dash camera] than police leadership … We’ll flag that and give it to police leadership so that they can have that conversation to interrupt behavior. Nip that in the bud before it gets worse.” She will not disclose how she voted on replacing the MPD.
Cameras in courtrooms
Holton Dimick: “We have open courtrooms. People are certainly invited and can come and observe any court proceeding that they want to … Other than the high-profile cases, no, I’m not a fan.”
Moriarty: “I think there is a place for cameras in the courtroom. I wish it would actually become more normalized in a way where people could see the ordinary day to day, not just something that’s sensationalistic.”
Diversifying juries
Holton Dimick: “There’s nothing wrong, I don’t see, with the process. I think it’s just that people don’t understand how it’s done, and that it is done totally anonymously … It’s kind of a disingenuous attack on the jury system.”
Moriarty: “I think we are way behind other states. We use driver’s licenses, voter registration and IDs. And other states use library cards, government assistance, all kinds of other lists, which would bring us a much more diverse jury. And so I am very much in support of that.”
New MPD Chief Brian O’Hara
Holton Dimick: “I’m really quite impressed with him. I think he’s going to come in and going to change that police department into a more progressive police department that is more engaged in the community.”
Moriarty: “He seems to be saying the right things and acknowledging there needs to be change to build trust in the community. He has worked under a consent decree and it appears we’re headed in that direction.”
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – A truck crashing into a school bus left nine with minor injuries Wednesday morning in rural Redwood County, a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff’s office said.
The bus driver, serving the Wabasso Public School District, failed to yield when entering the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, the statement said.
Deputies received word of the crash around 8:15 a.m. and identified the bus driver as Edward Aslesen, 72, of Milroy.
The nine injured passengers on the bus were transported to local hospitals, the statement said.
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