Category Archives: Minneapolis

Minnesota prosecutors get evidence on ICE killings from federal authorities

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Previously withheld material concerns fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during immigration crackdown

Previously withheld evidence regarding the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti is now in the hands of Minnesota prosecutors, helping the state gain clarity on the deaths that occurred earlier this year during protests against a federal immigration crackdown.

“Through the cooperation of our federal partners, we have obtained hard drives of previously withheld evidence in the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis,” the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, said in a video statement posted on social media.

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Anti-ICE organizers shift focus to defend democracy from Trump assault

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Citizens in Minnesota using lessons learned from migrant crackdown to protect elections from president’s threats

When thousands of immigration agents flooded Minnesota earlier this year, a loose network of neighbors sprang into action. They fed each other. They got kids to and from school safely. They tracked the surge that tore through their communities.

After organizing, block by block, to monitor Donald Trump’s extraordinary crackdown on their state, the same neighbors are shifting their focus to a different threat. What if the US president tries to steal an election?

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Judge blocks subpoenas for Walz and others over Minnesota immigration crackdown

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Federal judge rules subpoenas linked to Trump’s immigration operation were ‘issued for unlawful reasons’

A federal judge agreed to quash the US federal government’s subpoenas of leaders in Minnesota issued during the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown on the state earlier this year.

The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas to the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz; the attorney general, Keith Ellison; the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey; and other local officials in the Twin Cities in January.

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Chicago-to-Minneapolis United Airlines flight diverted after attempted cockpit breach

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Plane landed in Wisconsin and ‘unruly passenger’ was taken into custody before flight continued to Minnesota

A United Airlines flight bound for Minneapolis from Chicago was reportedly diverted after an “unruly passenger” tried to breach the cockpit late on Friday.

The FBI and police responded to reports of a security concern with the passenger, who was detained by police at the Dane county regional airport in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Minnesota Democratic lawmakers stage sit-in over gun violence protection bill

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Representative Samantha Sencer-Mura leads action after Republican speaker rescinds promise to bring bill to vote

Democratic state representatives in Minnesota staged an overnight sit-in in their house chamber on Thursday after the Republican speaker failed to put a gun violence prevention bill up for a vote.

Samantha Sencer-Mura, a Democratic representative from Minneapolis, first announced the plan on Wednesday from the floor of the state’s house of representatives, giving speaker Lisa Demuth, a candidate for governor, 24 hours to give the bill a vote before the sit-in would start.

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Why did Michelin snub St Paul in its guide to the best restaurants in the Great Lakes region?

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Critics warn smaller and immigrant-run restaurants risk being overlooked as city-funded deal shapes dining map

When Michelin announced that it was expanding its world-renowned restaurant guide into the Great Lakes region of the United States, including Minneapolis, one prominent city was left off the map – Saint Paul, the state capital.

Despite being just 11 miles apart, the second half of Minnesota’s “Twin Cities” was absent from the highly anticipated announcement. The omission has raised concerns among food critics and locals that Saint Paul – and, more widely, smaller local restaurants in Minneapolis and elsewhere – could be left behind.

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Judge orders ICE to release Minneapolis man after 50 days of unlawful detention

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Arrest of asylum seeker Elvis Joel TE and his two-year-old, without a warrant, had sparked widespread outrage

A federal judge ruled on Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker who has been unlawfully detained for 50 days.

The man, identified as Elvis Joel TE in court filings, was arrested on 22 January at the height of ICE’s aggressive raids in Minneapolis. The case sparked widespread outrage as Elvis TE was detained with his two-year-old daughter while they were returning home from the store, and ICE quickly flew both of them to Texas despite a court order barring their transfer out of Minnesota.

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Renee Good’s family says Trump hasn’t contacted them after her death

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Neither president nor anyone in administration has reached out after Good was killed by immigration officer, says family

The family of Renee Good, an unarmed US citizen and mother who was killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis last month, said in an interview with NBC News that neither Donald Trump nor anyone in his administration has contacted them since her death.

“There’s a reason that we hired our own investigators – to make sure that the truth is transparent and available, to make sure that this is really taken seriously, and to make sure that we know what occurred,” Brent Ganger, Good’s brother, told NBC News.

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Parents identify victims of Minneapolis school shooting: ‘Our hearts are broken’

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Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10, died during the attack on the Annunciation Catholic school church

An eight-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl who were killed in a mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school have been identified by their parents.

Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10, died during the attack on the Annunciation Catholic school church on Wednesday morning, their parents confirmed. A further 17 people, 14 of them children, were injured in the shooting.

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Judge blocks White House from defunding 34 municipalities over ‘sanctuary’ policies

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Cities that limit cooperation with immigration authorities had sued Trump administration over funding freeze

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting off federal funding to 34 “sanctuary cities” and counties that limit cooperation with federal immigration law enforcement, significantly expanding a previous order.

The order, issued on Friday by the San Francisco-based US district judge William Orrick, adds Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as Boston, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque, to cities that the administration is barred from denying funding.

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Minneapolis agrees to court-supervised police reform after George Floyd’s killing

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Consent decree had been under negotiation since justice department issued a critique of authorities in June 2023

The Minneapolis city council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government in response to the murder of George Floyd that would require reforms within the city’s police department under longterm court supervision.

The agreement was not immediately released publicly, but it was expected to incorporate and build on changes the police department has already made to its policies on the use of force and training of officers following Floyd’s death in 2020.

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Couple accused of stealing nearly $1m of Lululemon products from stores

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Jadion Richards, 44, and Akwele Lawes-Richards, 45, were arrested on 14 November in Minneapolis-St Paul

A couple has been accused of stealing nearly $1m worth of Lululemon products from its stores across the US.

Jadion Richards, 44, and Akwele Lawes-Richards, 45, were arrested on 14 November in Minneapolis-St Paul and have each been charged with one count of organized retail theft, according to a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota and reviewed by multiple outlets.

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US prisoner charged with attempted murder over stabbing of Derek Chauvin

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John Turscak, 52, accused of stabbing Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd’s murder, 22 times in prison in Tucson, Arizona

A detainee at a federal prison was charged on Friday with attempted murder in the prison stabbing of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.

John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times in the law library at the Tucson federal correctional institution in Arizona with an improvised knife, prosecutors said. Turscak, 52, told correctional officers he would have killed Chauvin had they not responded so quickly, according to prosecutors.

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Derek Chauvin expected to survive stabbing attack in prison, officials say

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Minneapolis police chief provided updates about attack on former officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd

The former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd and was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate Friday is expected to survive the attack, officials have told media outlets.

Updates about Derek Chauvin, the wounded convicted killer and ex-cop, were provided to various media outlets – including the Associated Press and the news station KSTP – by the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O’Hara, as well as a spokesperson for Minnesota state attorney general Keith Ellison’s office on Saturday.

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Ilhan Omar faces Democratic primary challenge from ex-Minneapolis official

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Don Samuels says he will once again run after being narrowly defeated by the twice-elected congresswoman in 2022

Ilhan Omar got a prominent Democratic primary challenger Sunday when former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels announced he’ll try once again to unseat the representative after coming close in 2022.

Omar, a charter member of “the squad” of progressive House Democrats, won re-election twice despite making comments in her first term that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. But Omar – a Somali American and Muslim – has come under renewed fire for condemning the Israeli government’s war in Gaza.

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Minneapolis to pay $700,000 to family of man killed by police

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Chiasher Vue’s kids wanted to calm their mentally ill father, but police detained them in vehicle and killed him as he pointed a gun

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to a $700,000 settlement with family members who were locked inside two squad cars when police killed their father after officers refused their offers to try and help calm him down.

A federal judge ruled that officers were justified in shooting 52-year-old Chiasher Vue after he pointed a rifle at them on 15 December 2019. The settlement will resolve a lawsuit his family filed arguing that police had illegally and unconstitutionally detained them that night.

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UN human rights experts begin US tour focusing on racial justice and policing

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Panel established in response to George Floyd killing will visit Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York

A team of United Nations experts has arrived in the US on a tour that will focus on racial justice, law enforcement and policing.

On Monday, the Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the Context of Law Enforcement, an independent panel appointed by the UN human rights council, began its two-week visit to the US.

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Mayor says George Floyd would be alive if Derek Chauvin had been fired in 2017

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Jacob Frey makes remark during announcement that Minneapolis reached $8.9m settlement in two excessive force lawsuits

The mayor of Minneapolis said George Floyd would still be alive if the city’s police department had “done the right thing” and fired officer Derek Chauvin in 2017 after complaints he knelt on the necks of two people he arrested.

Jacob Frey was speaking at a press conference Thursday announcing the city had reached a $8.9m settlement in two excessive force lawsuits.

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Minneapolis agrees deal with state to revamp post-George Floyd policing

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Court-enforceable agreement passes city council with 11-0 vote as members harshly criticize police and previous city leaders

The Minneapolis city council on Friday approved an agreement with the state to revamp policing, nearly three years after a city officer murdered George Floyd.

The Minnesota department of human rights issued a blistering report last year that said the police department had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade. City leaders subsequently agreed to negotiate a settlement with the agency.

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Former police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back sentenced to prison

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J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter and will serve a three and a half year term

The former Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s back while another officer kneeled on the Black man’s neck was sentenced Friday to three and a half years in prison.

J Alexander Kueng pleaded guilty in October to a state count of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. In exchange, a charge of aiding and abetting murder was dropped. Kueng is already serving a federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights, and the state and federal sentence will be served at the same time.

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