Star Tribune
New St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry vows to listen
Axel Henry made phone calls to new police recruits this week and got a reminder of why he loves his new job.
Henry, who was sworn in as St. Paul’s police chief Wednesday, was calling applicants for the department’s police academy to let them know that they had been accepted. Many cried on receiving the news, he said, but one call stood out.
“One of them was a St. Paul kid who literally said, ‘I’ve been waiting my entire life for this phone call,'” Henry, 54, said. “That inspires me.”
Henry will manage hundreds of officers, oversee a potential $130 million budget and help to implement a community-first public safety approach backed by Mayor Melvin Carter and $10 million in federal funds during his six-year term as chief.
In an interview, Henry detailed some of his priorities, including curbing gun violence and building connections with residents, and shared how the city that he credits with raising him, plus a dose of hip-hop, inspires him to lead.
Carter recommended Henry, a 24-year veteran of the department over four other candidates for the job, and he won unanimous approval from the City Council. At Henry’s swearing-in ceremony, Carter charged him with keeping the city on the cutting edge of public safety. “In Axel Henry,” he said, “we have someone who has been at the forefront for years, keeping St. Paul in the forefront.”
Growing up in St. Paul, Henry said, he found comfort listening to such rap emcees as Ice-T, KRS-One and, his favorite, Run-DMC. He estimates at least 60,000 music tracks are in his collection today. And although he is not a big fan of today’s artists, he said the core tenants of hip-hop guided him.
“When you start talking about real hip-hop culture, what are we talking about? We’re talking about peace, unity, love and having fun,” Henry said. “Those are the four food groups that go into hip-hop that I was raised on.”
Henry said he intends to make combating gun violence one of his first priorities and noted that the number of homicides in 2021 is double what the average was before the pandemic.
St. Paul needs more officers to tackle gun violence and do more police work in the community, he said, which is why recruitment and retention is another of his priorities. He said the department must spread awareness about what police do in order to correct misinformation.
The community may play a huge role in that by recruiting potential officers and working with police to deter crime.
“The police are the community, the community are the police, and we’ve got to work together,” Henry said, referring to the pitch he made in public meetings when he was vying for the job.
“I meant this when I said it in the forums, ‘The next chief is going to have to be as comfortable on a street corner as he is in the council chamber.’ You won’t hear what’s hurting the community unless you’re listening to them, and you won’t actually understand how the solutions you want to help them with will work for them, or they won’t work for them, if you’re not listening.”
On Thursday, Henry spent time listening to officers as he attended his first roll call as chief.
Some nodded in agreement when he said officers’ achievements in St. Paul make them diamonds of the industry. Others asked for support from the administration and for policy changes to help do their jobs.
Henry said everyone must work together to solve problems that face police and the city.
“There isn’t a single problem we’re going to be able to solve here without everyone throwing their shoulder in there a little bit,” Henry said. “If we can do something to do better for you, we want to know about it. Thank you for what you do, really.”
Star Tribune
Mary Moriarty vows to retry Cody Fohrenkam whose conviction for murdering Deshaun Hill was overturned
The appeals court ruled that at least some of that evidence was wrongfully used to convict Fohrenkam.
Walker, the attorney representing Hill’s family, said that although it’s disappointing that the family must sit through another trial, the ruling is “what makes America, America.”
“I understand where the judge is coming from,” Walker said. “It’s one of those cases that upsets people — people getting out on this, that and the other, on ‘technicalities,’ but they’re not technicalities, it’s the law.”
Star Tribune
Eagan parents of college runner who died by suicide settles suit with her coach and school
The Eagan parents of a college runner who died by suicide has settled their lawsuit that alleged their daughter’s cross-country coach at the time tormented her with demeaning comments in emails and texts about her weight and learning challenges.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Florida in June 2023 by Ray and Lynne Pernsteiner, the parents of Julia Pernsteiner, 23, who died in her Jacksonville University dorm room on Nov. 8, 2021. Her death came two months after the coach kicked her off the team, the suit contended.
The lawsuit named as defendants the university and former cross-country coach Ronald E. Grigg Jr., who coached women’s track and cross-country at the Division I school from 1998 until his sudden resignation in July.
The family’s attorney, Robert Spohrer, said that the case went to mediation, and there was “an amicable resolution of all issues” that led to the suit’s dismissal.
Spohrer said a strict confidentiality agreement among the parties prevented him from disclosing terms of the settlement.
Attorneys for Grigg and the university did not respond to messages left by the Star Tribune.
Messages were left Thursday with the law firms representing the school and Grigg. The defendants have yet to file any response in federal court to the allegations. The university said in a statement that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The suit contended that Pernsteiner’s constitutional rights were violated under the Americans with Disabilities Act and under Title IX because of discriminatory acts based on her gender.
The state Republican Party and conservative legal groups filed a petition with the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday claiming that Hennepin County did not appoint partisan election judges in the right way.
The party and two conservative groups, the Upper Midwest Law Center and the Minnesota Voters Alliance, want to know how Hennepin County appointed election judges to its absentee ballot board this year. The board’s work includes making sure signatures on absentee ballots match signatures on voter registration cards and deciding if a ballot is spoiled or not.
The central question of the lawsuit, according to Andy Cilek, executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, is whether county elections officials have to exhaust lists of potential election judges provided by the political parties before selecting others for the absentee ballot boards, which are required to have a balance of Republican and Democratic election judges.
“We want to understand how this occurred,” said Minnesota Republican Party Chair David Hann.
The suit alleges no one from a list of 1,500 Republicans supplied by the state Republican party to the Secretary of State’s office were selected by Hennepin County. Hann said he did not know if any Republicans were selected to serve.
Ryan Wilson of the Upper Midwest Law Center said the group has not scrutinized lists of election judges in other counties to make sure they included names provided by the state Republican Party. Wilson said his group is focusing on Hennepin County because it has the most voters, and the most potential to have an impact, he said.
In a statement, Daniel Rogan, Hennepin County auditor, said absentee ballot board members were appointed in compliance with state law and guidance from the Secretary of State.
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