Star Tribune
Rochester MN voters to weigh in on $19.4 million school referendum
The request marks the second straight year that the district has put a referendum on the ballot. Last year’s request for a $10.1 million technology levy failed by 318 votes, prompting Mayo Clinic to step in and make a onetime donation of $10 million to the district.
The district, the seventh-largest in the state with 17,300 students, says this year’s operating referendum is needed to maintain a variety of programs and positions, including those supporting students struggling academically, accelerated learning opportunities, vocational training and mental health services.
If the referendum fails, the district has said it will need to make at least $16.7 million in cuts to next year’s budget, including the closure of three elementary schools. Class sizes would also go up by three students across the board, the district said. Popular programs, including field trips to Mayo High School’s planetarium and Quarry Hill Nature Center, could also be on the chopping block.
The district estimates the 10-year referendum would raise taxes on a $350,000 home by $29 a month. Because of changes made by the Legislature in 2023, the district would have the ability to extend the levy for another decade without voter approval, something it has already done with a 2015 voter-approved levy.
Among the groups that have come out in support of the referendum are the Rochester branch of the NAACP and the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber said the referendum is needed to “ensure that Rochester remains competitive as a community.”
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A 14-year-old boy fatally shot a 13-year-old boy on accident early Tuesday in a Minneapolis home occupied by several other people, officials said.
The “apparent accidental” gunfire occurred about 1:30 a.m. near the intersection of N. 24th and Sheridan avenues in the 2400 block of N. Ferrant Place, a statement from police read.
Officers arrived, saw that the 13-year-old had been shot once and provided immediate aid to the teen before he died at the scene, according to police.
“Preliminary information indicates that a 14-year-old boy was handling a gun when the 13-year-old boy was shot,” the police statement continued. Police did not disclose the teens’ identities.
The 14-year-old remained at the scene, and was arrested and booked into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center.
There were two adult women and other juveniles in the home at the time of the shooting, police said.
“The death of a child is always incredibly troubling and tragic,” said Police Chief Brian O’Hara. “Our investigators will work diligently to answer the many questions we have. In addition to supporting the families that are impacted by this tragedy, everyone must make every effort to ensure that every gun is securely stored.”
The shooting comes about two weeks after a 3-year-old boy accidentally shot himself to death in northeast Minneapolis. Jajuan Robinson was critically wounded at the Hook and Ladder Apartments in the 2300 block of Jefferson Street NE. on Oct, 21, said his aunt, Meshia Woods. The toddler died at HCMC a short time later.
A man has received a prison term topping 33 years for a killing outside a Wright County business where the shooter, his wife and the victim worked.
Kevin Uriel Zelaya Asencio, 24, of Glencoe, Minn., was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to second-degree intentional murder and second-degree assault in connection with the March 2023 shooting of Adrian Montano Medina in the parking lot of the Dura Supreme cabinet manufacturing company in Howard Lake.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Zelaya Asencio is expected to serve the first 21 years of his 33-year term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
The County Attorney’s Office said it based its criminal complaint on interviews with witnesses and Zelaya Asencio, along with physical evidence and surveillance video.
Numerous calls to 911 reported the shooting, including one from a woman screaming. One caller gave law enforcement the license plate of a pickup truck that Zelaya Asencio drove from the parking lot.
Police arrived and found Medina in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck with a fatal gunshot wound to his head.
Minutes later, a sheriff’s deputy spotted Zelaya Asencio’s pickup traveling on Hwy. 12 in Waverly. Zelaya Asencio was arrested, and the deputy found an AR-15 assault-style rifle in the pickup.
