Star Tribune
Historic Osseo cemetery gets a modern name
A 155-year-old Osseo cemetery has been renamed for the second time, and is now known as the Open Gate Cemetery.
The graveyard at 124 W. Broadway was established by the Freie Gemeinde, a society whose name roughly translated from German means “free community” or “free thinkers.” The society considered themselves “the friends of truth, uprightness and honesty,” said Larry Phenow, president of the Rudolph Niggler Cemetery Association, which owns and operates the grounds.
In 1918, the Freie Gremeinde Cemetery was renamed the Niggler Cemetery to recognize a land contribution from Rudolph Niggler and his wife, Elizabeth. The gift doubled the size of the cemetery on the southwest side of Osseo.
Phenow said changing the name to Open Gate is part of an effort to increase local awareness of the cemetery. The new name is also meant to better represent the society’s founding values: a cemetery available to all, regardless of race, creed, color or religion, Phenow said.
The Niggler Association will soon be renamed the Open Gate Cemetery Association.
Tim Harlow
Dakota County
More youth using library since county dropped fines
Young people are increasingly getting library cards, checking out materials and generally engaging with Dakota County libraries — a shift that county officials are crediting in part to the decision to eliminate youth fines in 2022.
Margaret Stone, Dakota County libraries director, said that although recent data is “a little wonky” due to COVID-19, she believes a “good proportion” of the uptick is due to ditching fines.
From 2019 to 2022, the number of young people applying for library cards has increased 41% and the number of youth materials checked out has risen 30%.
The number of average daily users who are youth went up in 2022 compared to 2019, the last normal year for data before the pandemic. Average daily use — measured by recording any time a juvenile library card interacts with library software — jumped 19%.
The Dakota County Board will consider eliminating all fines during 2024 budget discussions, Stone said.
The county budgeted for $220,000 in fine revenue in 2022 but only collected $73,000, she said.
Erin Adler
St. Louis Park
Anti-idling program growing
Signs discouraging idling cars could pop up around more of St. Louis Park’s parking lots this spring and summer.
The signs are part of the “Idle-Free SLP” campaign launched last fall, inspired by a student project at St. Louis Park Middle School. With the signs and a page on the city website, the city is trying to raise awareness of the financial, health and environmental costs of running parked vehicles.
This spring, the city is again offering free aluminum anti-idling signs to anyone who owns or manages a parking lot. Email City Sustainability Specialist Ellie Rabine at erabine@stlouisparkmn.gov to get a sign.
Josie Albertson-Grove
Golden Valley
Planning commissioner appointed to City Council
The Golden Valley City Council has appointed Sophia Ginis to finish the term of departing Council Member Kimberly Sanberg, who is moving out of the city.
Ginis has served on the planning commission since October 2021 and has also served on the city Board of Zoning Appeals. She works as director of community affairs at Metro Transit.
Other finalists for the seat were Roger Bergman, Stephen Ettel, Andy Johnson and Stephen Merriman. The council interviewed candidates earlier this month and voted to appoint Ginis.
She will be sworn in next month and serve until January. Voters will choose a new council member this fall to serve a term beginning in 2024.
Josie Albertson-Grove
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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