Star Tribune
Final supermoon of 2024 will be in the sky tonight
Skygazers in Minnesota and around the U.S. will enjoy one more chance to see a supermoon before the end of the year.
The supermoon, also known as the Beaver Moon, will appear fullest on Friday, November 15, at 3:29 p.m CST., NASA said. That’s before sunset in Minnesota, but the moon will appear full for about three days around this time, until a few hours before sunrise on Sunday morning.
The stunning moon occurs when it is as close to Earth in its lunar orbit as it ever gets, while also being full. Supermoons only happen three or four times per year, and always appear consecutively.
The name Beaver Moon comes from the Maine Farmers’ Almanac, which began publishing Native American names for full moons in the 1930s. NASA said Mid-fall during the November full moon was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze to ensure a supply of warm winter furs, NASA said. Another theory is the name comes from the busy pre-winter period for beavers, according to the space agency.
November’s full moon is the last of four consecutive supermoons, slightly closer to Earth and brighter than the first of the four supermoons in mid-August.
The next supermoon won’t be until October 2025.
An Inver Grove Heights woman allegedly stole over 500 pieces of mail from mailboxes, according to charges filed Friday, and was busted after police confronted her in a vehicle filled with stolen packages and letters.
A little after midnight on Thursday, an officer with Inver Grove Heights police pulled over the vehicle of the suspect, 34-year-old Kanesha Renae Anderson, for having a broken headlight, according to a police department news release. The officer saw a “large amount of mail” inside Anderson’s vehicle.
Upon questioning, Anderson admitted to stealing the mail from nearby mailboxes and told police she didn’t intend to give it back, according to charges filed Friday in Dakota County District Court.
Anderson was charged with two counts of mail theft. Attorney information for Anderson was not available as of Friday afternoon.
Officers sorted through the recovered mail, found over 500 stolen pieces, and counted 161 people who had their mail stolen. The mail was repackaged and transported to a post office to be re-sent to its owners, and police will notify the victims who were impacted, the department said.
The department urged residents near the intersection of 78th Street East and Concord Boulevard to check with the post office if they have not received expected mail, as they may have had mail stolen.
Anderson was arrested and remained in Dakota County jail on Thursday afternoon.
He did not return a message on Friday.
A spokeswoman for the city declined to comment on the case, but Mayor Roger Reinert said in a campaign interview before his election that the suit had the potential to bankrupt the city.
The businesses had alleged the city violated its own code for years by giving discounts to some commercial and multifamily properties while failing to charge others. For example, until 2021, the city gave steep discounts to waterfront properties, which amounted to more than $1 million annually, or 20% of its stormwater utility budget. Duluth collected about $5.2 million in stormwater fees in 2020, and businesses paid nearly half of that, the lawsuit says, at a rate higher than those in comparable cities.
More than 1,500 properties were billed at commercial rates in 2020, according to court documents, a number that also includes discounted properties.
In court filings, attorneys for the city said it had begun reviewing and fixing its billing practices long before the 2021 lawsuit was filed, a process that was completed this year and included remeasuring the impervious surfaces of thousands of properties. That process did find some properties weren’t correctly charged, some because the city wasn’t aware of changes to amounts of impervious surfaces.
A trial had been scheduled for February. It is unclear whether an appeal will be filed.
Authorities on Friday identified the 65-year-old man fatally shot by police during a mental health call Wednesday and released the names of the two officers who fired at him.
The victim, Peter Greco, was pronounced dead at the scene. On Wednesday, Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski said officers had responded to a residence in the 6100 block of 61st Avenue S. just after 10 a.m. Zibolski said the department received numerous calls that morning from Greco, who was asking for medical assistance and said he was having suicidal ideations.
Responding officers talked with Greco, who was armed inside a residence, for about a half-hour. Zibolski said Greco exited the house with a handgun and two officers – Sgt. Lucas Mock and Officer Princeten Harris – discharged their firearms.
Per department policy, the officers have been placed on administrative leave. The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.
According to Zibolski, Mock has been an officer with the Fargo Police Department for eight years; he started as a patrol officer in 2016, was promoted to sergeant in 2021 and now serves as supervisor in the neighborhood services division. Harris has been with the department for 10 months; he is a recent graduate of the police academy and is completing his field training.
Before Wednesday, Fargo police had had a number of contacts with Greco, including six this year, that had been resolved without incident, Zibolski said.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of this individual. We understand that losing someone in this way is profoundly tragic and our hearts are with them during this difficult time,” Zibolski said Wednesday. “We also ask that you keep our officers and their families in your prayers, as well. They are equally traumatized by incidents like this.”
