Star Tribune
Metro leaders say surplus aid could help recruit more police officers
A group of Minneapolis and Hennepin County leaders say a onetime infusion of state money could be critical in the effort to replenish their beleaguered agencies with more officers.
In a news conference Wednesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt stood with Twin Cities area mayors and other elected officials in a show of support of Gov. Tim Walz’s proposed $550 million in public safety aid for cities, counties and tribal governments throughout Minnesota. About $34 million of that would go to Minneapolis and $14 million to Hennepin County to be spent at their discretion on public safety.
Witt and O’Hara said the money could help ramp up recruitment—a challenge for both of their departments in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and unrest that followed.
“Every week the department continues to shrink,” O’Hara said . Minneapolis is beginning to see more applicants, he said, but the state money would allow them to market good policing and compete with pay in other cities.
In the Twin Cities and across the country, law enforcement officers are in short supply. Since the 2020 riots and torching of the Third Precinct headquarters, a record number of Minneapolis police have quit or gone on long-term leave, and the department has struggled to find replacements.
As of last month, 590 police officers worked for the Minneapolis Police Department, down from nearly 900 in 2020.
At the same time, violent crime — especially involving guns — has soared to the highest rates in decades. Frey attributed a decline in some metrics over the past year to partnerships with state and local agencies and help from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. But Frey said that progress “is not sustainable” under a system that relies too heavily on long hours and overtime pay for what remains of the police force. The city also needs money to help implement a court-enforceable agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, the terms of which were announced last month.
“The bottom line here is we need additional assistance,” Frey said .
The money could also fund public safety initiatives outside of police, such as hiring social workers and combatting the drug epidemic in Minnesota, said Hennepin County Commissioner Jeffrey Lunde.
“It is not a crime to be addicted; it is not a crime to be homeless; and it is not a crime to be suffering from mental health,” he said. “We need to respond with resources and make sure they get the help they need.”
Walz nearly doubled his request for public safety aid for local governments, following a forecasted $19 billion in the state’s surplus in February, to be used for hiring, buying more equipment or working with community groups on strategies to address crime. Walz will have to negotiate the two-year budget proposal with other Democratic leaders in order to get it passed. The legislative session is required to adjourn May 22.
The Lynx are in the hot seat.
The team lost Game 3 of the WNBA Finals series against the New York Liberty on Wednesday night 77-80, setting the stage for a decisive match at Target Center on Friday night. Fans in the arena reacted with resounding disappointment after Sabrina Ionescu sunk a three-pointer to break away from the tie game and dashed the Lynx’s chance at forcing overtime.
Before we get to the reactions, first things first: The Lynx set an attendance record, filling Target Center with 19,521 spectators for the first time in franchise history. That’s nearly 500 more than when Caitlin Clark was in town with the Indiana Fever earlier this year.
Despite leading by double digits for much of the game, the Lynx began the fourth quarter with a one-point lead over the Liberty and struggled to stay more than two or three points ahead throughout.
The Liberty took the lead with minutes to go in the fourth quarter and folks were practically despondent.
Of course, there were people who were in it solely for the spectacle. Nothing more.
The Lynx took a commanding lead early in the first quarter and ended the first half in winning position, setting a particularly jovial mood among the fanbase to start the game.
Inside Target Center, arena announcers spent a few minutes before the game harassing Lynx fans — and Liberty fans — who had not yet donned the complementary T-shirts draped over every seat.
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.
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