Star Tribune
Brooklyn Park expanding city’s only recreation center and adding space for teens
Younger kids will benefit, too, Hill said. With teens in a new adjoining building, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will have their own dedicated space, a desire expressed by many residents when the city conducted a survey a few years ago.
Safety will be a huge component of the updated and expanded building, Hill said. A new entryway will require all who enter the Zanewood to pass through a weapons detector before turning right to the current recreation center or left to the new teen center. Like school resource officers, Bruley said police will have a presence on the campus with the goal of building “positive” relationships with kids.
Brooklyn Park has been dreaming of an expanded Zanewood since 2018 when voters passed a $26 million park referendum, with $2 million of that allocated to a new teen center. The COVID-19 pandemic put plans on pause, and supply chain issues and inflation pushed costs higher. The city asked but failed to get state bonding money.
With the council’s approval, the city will use $7.1 million in referendum funds to pay for the project, with the rest coming from a variety of other sources. Hill said the city also hopes to bring in revenue by renting out its gym for sports tournaments and a multipurpose room to churches or groups wanting to host activities such as pickleball.
“This will open the door to be more innovative with our youths,” said Tashawna Williams, Brooklyn Park’s art and engagement specialist. “It will help us expand our programming,” she said, noting
that sewing, henna and other art classes could be added to the menu.
The expansion comes as the city has been seeking additional gym space, a dire need in the state’s sixth largest city of more than 80,000 residents,
As well-wishers flocked Officer Ikran Mohamed, 4-year-old Amira Shafii raised her little arm in a proud salute — her auntie’s new police cap perched lopsided on her head. The ‘junior officer’ cracked a smile.
Mohamed, dressed in a black hijab, adjusted her newly pinned badge with henna-laced hands. She’d just become the first Somali woman to ever join the Minneapolis Police Department.
“I want to be a role model for girls who look like me, so they can say ‘I can do it, too,” Mohamed, 23, told reporters Thursday night following a graduation ceremony honoring 11 new recruits and 12 lateral hires from other Minnesota law enforcement agencies.
“I’m just very excited to be here and represent my people and my community.”
Amira Shafii, 4, goes around saluting friends and relatives for photos wearing the police uniform cap of her aunt, officer Ikran Mohamed, who became the first Somali woman to become an officer with Minneapolis Police Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 at the American Indian Center in Minneapolis, Minn.. ] AARON LAVINSKY • Aaron.lavinsky@startribune.com (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Mohamed immigrated to the United States from Kenya when she was 10 years old. She previously worked as a corrections officer in Steele County.
Beside her, 27-year-old Officer Lesly Vera also had the power of representation on the mind. Vera became the first non-citizen to serve on the police force Thursday, marking a significant victory for immigration advocates.
Although thousands of lawful permanent residents and DACA recipients already serve in the United States military, many states maintain citizenship requirements for those seeking to become a licensed police officer. But in recent years, as law enforcement agencies across the nation have struggled to replenish their ranks with qualified candidates, a growing number have eliminated that requirement.
In 2023, at the recommendation of the Peace Officers’ Training Board, the Minnesota Legislature changed state law allowing for applicants who are either citizens or “eligible to work in the United States under federal requirements.”
“The Republican Party would be far better off with him losing this round and having a Democrat in for two years,” Scheffler said.
The 6B district include the cities of Baxter, Breezy Point, Jenkins, Nisswa, Pequot Lakes and all but one precinct in Brainerd. That one precinct is included in District 6A, which is represented by Davis’ brother, Rep. Ben Davis, R-Merrifield, who is seeking a second term this election.
Davis said he doesn’t like being caught in the middle of a political dispute. His intention in signing the petition in June wasn’t about endorsing any candidate, he said.
“People are tired of the two-party system,” Davis said. “Why not give a third option?”
An elderly Minnesotan died earlier this year after a bat exposure at home in the western part of the state resulted in a case of rabies.
The Minnesota Department of Health announced the death Friday, following confirmatory testing on Sept. 20 of the rare infectious disease by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The case is the ninth on record in Minnesota since 1917, and the fourth since 2000. Seven of the infections were fatal.
State health officials said the death does not indicate a heightened risk to the public, but urged people as always to avoid contact with bats, which are responsible for 70% of U.S. rabies cases. State Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Stacy Holzbauer also reminded people to seek rabies vaccinations for household pets and livestock.
Rabies is treatable with an immune globulin injection plus four doses of rabies vaccine to boost the immune system, but only if treatment is started before symptoms emerge. Otherwise, the disease is almost always fatal.
The state said the victim is older than 65 and was exposed to a bat in July. The investigation into the infection is ongoing, but family members reported that a bat had been in the house and that the victim had killed a bat. The individual did not receive rabies treatment before symptoms emerged.
Public health workers were following up to determine whether close relatives or health care workers who treated the victim had been exposed to the virus.
The state encouraged people to contact health care providers or the health department after any physical contact with bats, because their bites can sometimes leave only small or unnoticeable marks. Bats can be tested for rabies if captured to determine whether people need to initiate treatment.
