Star Tribune
Gov. Tim Walz, Sen. JD Vance debate a clash of Midwestern visions
Now, I grew up in the part of Ohio that’s actually Appalachia. Zanesville, home of the Y Bridge, where you can only hope a stranger comes along asking for directions, so you can tell them to go to the middle of the bridge and turn right. My first home in Ohio was a little house built in the back yard of another house, up the hill from a soon-to-be-shuttered Armco plant.
It was a great place to grow up. How many towns have weathered not one but two tiger escape events? Tons of kids in the neighborhood. Considerate steel plant workers who swerved out of the way when we careened down the hill, out of control, butt-first on a skateboard. By dint of avoiding both car wheels and the foamy orange runoff that spilled out of the factory and into the creek where we played as kids, I am here to tell you: Ohio is pretty great. It would not kill JD Vance to say something nice about Ohio in general and Zanesville in particular.
Lord knows he’s not going to say anything nice about Minnesota. The Minnesota he and his running mate, former president Donald Trump, describe in their speeches is a crater still smoldering from 2020′s mask mandates and the murder of George Floyd. They burned Minneapolis to the ground, they lie. They burned Minneapolis to the ground.
Walz advised not lying. Not to your dog, when it’s time to go to the vet. Not to your parents, if you’re a kid making the case for a family pet. Tell the truth. Dad is probably going to be the one emptying the litter box, but you can promise to love that cat with all your heart. The dog is going to the vet, not the dog park, but you can go for a pup cone afterward, promise.
Dogs, Walz said, bring out the best in us.
Murdock continues to ask the officers, “Why did you shoot me?”
The officers turn Murdock onto his stomach and place him in handcuffs. As the officers begin asking him, “Where were you hit, buddy?” Murdock does not respond as the officers pull the sweatshirt up on his torso. The officers then yell for medics to be brought in. Murdock was airlifted to HCMC in Minneapolis, where he died from his injuries.
Along with the footage, St. Paul police sent out a news release, in which St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said it’s a “very sad time for our city and the families of those impacted by the loss of a loved one.”
“We stand committed to being transparent and accountable for our actions and we hope the release of these videos will help answer some of the questions people have,” Henry said. “The families, our community, and our officers will continue to be our priority as this independent investigation moves forward.”
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is conducting an investigation into the shooting of Murdock. Asked about why officers decided to fire, spokesperson Jill Oliveira said “any information about motive is part of the BCA’s active investigation.”
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday that it spotted two Russian ships and two Chinese vessels passing through the Bering Sea in formation on Saturday, in a sign of the growing cooperation between Beijing and Moscow in the Arctic.
The Chinese and Russian coast guard ships were spotted about five miles inside the Russian exclusive economic zone in the northernmost location where Chinese vessels have been seen by the U.S. Coast Guard, it said. The Bering Sea separates Russia from Alaska.
”This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in a statement.
In July, Russian and Chinese bombers flew together for the first time in international airspace off the coast of Alaska. The flights were not seen as a threat, but it was the first time that Chinese bombers had flown within the Alaskan air defense identification zone and the first time Chinese and Russian aircraft had taken off from the same base in northern Russia.
The Chinese coast guard said in a statement that the joint patrol with Russia, which followed a joint drill, was to check fishing boats to maintain order in the North Pacific Ocean, in accordance with a U.N. and international convention. It said the vessels carried out exercises on search and rescue of illegal boats that showed ”high efficiency in coordination and cooperation.”
The close relationship between the Chinese and Russian militaries has been a concern in Washington, which has criticized Beijing for supporting Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
A new federal lawsuit alleges that a Woodbury man sustained a traumatic brain injury after being shot with a rubber bullet by Minneapolis police while peacefully protesting the killing of George Floyd outside the Third Precinct in 2020.
The ordeal left Mason Hermann, of Woodbury, with short-term memory loss, headaches and fatigue, the lawsuit contends.
Attorney Jeff Storms filed the 29-page lawsuit in court last week. It seeks unspecified damages from the city of Minneapolis for violating Hermann’s First Amendment rights.
Minneapolis has paid nearly $50 million to settle claims of police brutality or officer misconduct since Floyd’s murder. Many hefty payouts went to journalists and bystanders injured by law enforcement officials during the unrest, actions that have since been described as a pattern of unconstitutional behavior by the U.S. Department of Justice.
City spokesman Allen Henry acknowledged that the city has been served with the lawsuit, but declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Hermann, then 20, joined a growing crowd of protesters on Lake Street on May 27, 2020, to criticize MPD’s actions. No curfew restrictions were in place at that time.
Officers in tactical gear were perched on the Third Precinct’s roof and outside its barricaded entrance for hours, where some armed with 40-mm “less lethal” rounds fired upon the crowd. At approximately 6:50 p.m., according to the lawsuit, a rubber bullet struck the left side of Hermann’s head, without warning or provocation. No commands were given prior to that use of force.
The unidentified officer “shot Hermann with the projectile in retaliation for and to chill Hermann’s further speech,” the lawsuit says, adding that Hermann “never displayed any aggression” toward police.
