Star Tribune
Duluth mental health crisis team is funded one more year after mayor proposes cut
The team is made up of unarmed staff who are trained to de-escalate situations and create safe spaces for those in crisis. They still work with police in situations that warrant it but the intervention work, advocates say, diverts people from emergency departments and has helped several thousand people each of the last two years. The contract was first approved in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.
Crisis team director Michael Furo said the team is part of a larger trained group that serves a broader area, but those designated to Duluth on any given night respond to mental health calls with screenings and visits, and perform outreach at the Chum homeless shelter and other places where vulnerable people gather. Outreach helps them build relationships, he said, and they often hand out water, rain ponchos, sunscreen and snacks.
Angel Dobrow is part of a community advisory group that oversees the team. She said it’s wise for the city to buy time, but it should aim to be holistic with services.
“If you or a family member is in the middle of a mental health crisis, you’re not going to [care] whether your potholes got filled,” she said. “You want some care. People have this idea that city services are, you know, very specific to the roads and the police. I think we need to soften that and be more encompassing about how we care for each other.”
Duluth resident John Powers wrote to City Council that it “seems for an administration focused on ‘hard’ city services, there is a blind spot in its decision-making process that fails to see and/or appreciate the essential need for ‘soft’ services in making Duluth a vibrant community.”
St. Louis County spokeswoman Dana Kazel said the county had only recently learned of the proposal and has asked to be part of conversations about the program.
Mel Northway, a three-year starter for the Gophers men’s basketball team, died Monday.
Northway, who lived in Hartselle, Ala., was 81.
After moving into the Gophers’ starting lineup as a sophomore in the 1962-63 season — freshmen were ineligible for varsity play then — the 6-8 center from Minneapolis Henry High School averaged a double-double in points and rebounds in each of his three seasons as a starter for coach John Kundla.
Northway, who was an Academic All-American in 1964, averaged 13.6 points and 11.7 rebounds in 72 games for the Gophers. He is sixth on the Gophers’ career rebounding list with 841 rebounds.
Northway was drafted by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1965 NBA draft but started the basketball program as coach and athletic director at Anoka-Ramsey Junior College.
After two years at Anoka-Ramsey, he played and coached professionally in Belgium for three seasons. He was named the top player in the Belgium League in 1968 and 1969.
He returned to Minnesota and served as an assistant to Gophers coach Bill Fitch while completing a master’s degree. He then started the basketball program at Inver Hills Junior College. After two years as the Inver Hills coach and athletic director, he became the basketball coach at Blaine High School.
After Blaine, Northway spent 20 years as athletic director and assistant principal at Neenah (Wis.) High School. He was named to the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
Metro Transit fares will be lowered and simplified after the new year after a series of changes were approved by the Metropolitan Council on Wednesday.
The changes, which take effect Jan. 1, include:
Additionally, at some point in 2025, people who qualify for the Transit Assistance Program, an income-based program, will pay $1 fares for up to two years before re-applying is necessary.
Metro Transit said in a news release the price changes are expected to draw an additional 926,000 rides in 2025, which will offset some of the costs associated with lower fares.
Through September this year, ridership has increased 8% compared to last year.
“Making transit easier to use is key to growing ridership, and we believe simplifying fares will help do just that,” Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras said. “These changes also support our belief that cost should not be a barrier for those who want or need access to our services.”
Star Tribune
Vandals uproot 60 new trees on St. Paul riverfront tossing many in the Mississippi River
Sixty newly-planted trees along St. Paul’s riverfront were uprooted Wednesday night, and most were tossed into the water, in an act of vandalism costing tens of thousands of dollars.
“I’m incredibly sad. It’s hard to fathom,” said Karen Zumach, the director of community forestry for St. Paul-based non-profit Tree Trust, which contracted with the city to plant the trees with the help of high school students in October. “I like to think that trees are the least controversial thing we deal with these days.”
The trees were planted over two days along Shepard Road, in the area of Upper Landing Park and the Sam Morgan Regional Trail.
Photos taken by city staff Thursday showed a long row of piles of upturned dirt circling around holes in the ground where the trees once stood. All but 14 of them were tossed into the Mississippi River, rendering them unsalvageable, Zumach said.
The St. Paul Parks and Recreation Department estimated the damage comes to $40,000.
The St. Paul Police Department confirmed Thursday it received a report of the vandalism and an investigation is ongoing. The city parks department said in a statement the vandalism is believed to have occurred overnight.
The 14 trees that did not end up in the river have been reinstalled, Zumach said. The process to replace the others has yet to be determined, but the planting season has already passed.
About 25 high school students helped plant 250 trees while school was out during the annual MEA conference for state educators in October, Zumach said.
