A unique development process is underway at St. Anthony Falls in downtown Minneapolis, where the federal government is transferring 5 acres of land to local control.

Owámniyomni Okhódayapi, a nonprofit formerly known as Friends of the Falls, has selected a design team guided by Dakota knowledge keepers to conduct a consensus-based ecological restoration. The land was both the birthplace of Minneapolis and sacred to the Indigenous people who lived there before.

"We're working towards 100% land restoration, bringing flowing water back, bringing back species of life where they once were," said Shelley Buck, president of Owámniyomni Okhódayapi and a former Prairie Island tribal leader. "People are really excited about this and willing to change how they do business normally to make sure that this site truly does give back to all of us."

The cat tour started small.

John Edwards thought it would be hilarious — and somewhat ridiculous — to lead a walk through his Minneapolis neighborhood admiring the many felines that live there.

“It’s the kind of densely populated neighborhood where if you’re walking around, you’re going to see a lot of cats,” said Edwards, who lives in Lowry Hill East — often called “the Wedge” because of its wedgelike shape — where there are roughly 9,300 residents.

About a dozen people showed up for the impromptu cat tour, led by Edwards, seven years ago. Over a two-mile walk, the group stopped to see some 20 cats peeking through their windows.

Edwards — who runs a hyperlocal media publication called Wedge Live — never anticipated his cat tour concept would catch on. But people loved it and wanted more, so Edwards began organizing an annual cat tour.

It grew every year.

Journalist Linda Tirado is dying after being shot by cops while covering the George Floyd protests. Her work told the story of poverty from the inside out.

The labor union representing more than 200 Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board employees voted to authorize a strike this week.

LIUNA Local 363 employees cast ballots with 94% in favor, the union said in a Facebook post.

Employees have for years called for improvements to wages, health care and safety precautions, AJ Lange, Business Manager of LIUNA Local 363 said in a statement.

"Despite our endless hard work, skill, and dedication that makes Minneapolis' parks the best in the nation, management continues to treat us with contempt," Lange said.

Jaleel Stallings was swept up in the chaos of protests over George Floyd’s murder. The outcome changed his life.

Celebrate Juneteenth in the Twin Cities this year with more than a dozen events that include free food, a carnival, educational opportunities and face painting, among other family-friendly activities.

Juneteenth, which falls on June 19, marks the anniversary of an 1865 order in Texas that freed slaves in the state at the end of the Civil War. The order came two years after President Abraham Lincoln ended slavery nationwide in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. News of the emancipation was slow to reach Texas.

Juneteenth became a federally recognized holiday in 2021, and is considered the longest-running African American holiday, when community members acknowledge and celebrate Black liberation and accomplishments.

Here are a list of Juneteenth events around the Twin Cities:

The verdicts come in the seventh week of trial, and after rare allegations of jury tampering led to the dismissal of two jurors.

Workers at four Twin Cities Half Price Books locations ratified their first contract last week after unionizing two years ago.

Employees at stores in Coon Rapids, St. Paul, St. Louis Park and Roseville say their new contracts include pay raises, increases in starting salaries, and new job protections.

"A Minneapolis police officer, a suspected shooter and a civilian are dead after a shooting in the Whittier neighborhood on Thursday, the department said. Several others are injured.

Officer Jamal Mitchell died in the shooting, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said in an evening news conference."

'He was a hero, a son, a father, a fiancé, and an officer who was so deeply committed to protecting and serving,” Frey said. “Just a year ago Officer Jamal Mitchell was recognized for a heroic act in saving a number of people, an elderly couple, and that is just the kind of person that he was.'"

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Now, I'm usually team ACAB but this event is a tragedy, so we're taking a day off. Jamal was one of the first to this scene, and while trying to offer medical support got ambushed and killed.

My brother was a few blocks away, but managed to be either far enough away or had good enough timing to not hear gunshots.

Several events were held this weekend to remember Floyd, a now annual tradition in Minneapolis. A coalition of activist organizations held a solidarity rally on the corner of Lake Street and Chicago Avenue. They were joined by Floyd’s relatives as well as the family of Calvin Horton Jr., who was shot and killed by a pawn shop owner during the unrest that followed the death of George Floyd. Prosecutors declined to bring charges against the man.

Many activists say Minnesota hasn’t done enough.

“After the murder of George Floyd, we had the murder of Daunte Wright,” said Trahern Crews, founder of Black Lives Matter Minnesota. “After the murder of George Floyd, we had the murder of Amir Locke. We had the murder of Tekle Sundberg. And there still has not been any justice in any of those cases.”

Minneapolis has the green light to proceed with a pilot that will allow the city to use cameras to catch speeders and drivers who run red lights and mail them a ticket.

A provision in an omnibus bill passed in the final hours of the Legislative session Sunday grants authority for the state's largest city to institute a traffic enforcement camera program that can start as soon as Aug. 1, 2025 and run for four years.

"Minneapolis now has authority," said Ethan Fawley, who coordinates the city's Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic deaths within the next three years.

Over the next 15 months, Minneapolis will have to flesh out a plan on how the program would work, conduct community engagement and determine where up to 42 cameras can be placed. The law requires cameras to be placed in "geographically distinct areas and in multiple communities with differing socioeconomic conditions." The city also will need to procure equipment and hire traffic camera enforcement agents.

The Minneapolis 2040 Plan, which sought to end single-family zoning citywide and improve housing affordability, could move forward without the threat of continued environmental lawsuits.

A couple paragraphs tucked into a 1400-page bill passed in the waning hours of the 2024 legislative session exempts comprehensive plans — which are guiding documents for cities’ zoning and land use — from environmental review. The law applies retroactively to the most recent comprehensive plans created in the seven-county metro area, including the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, which has been stymied in recent years by environmental lawsuits.

Individual projects, like new apartment buildings, would still be subject to environmental review.

New Amtrak Borealis train begins service tomorrow, May 21st, 2024

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/amtrak-to-launch-chicago-st-paul-train-may-21/

#Train 333 to #Milwaukee and 340 to #Chicago will become Train 1333 to #Minneapolis and 1340 to Chicago.

#Amtrak #Midwest #Minnesota #Wisconsin #Illinois @msp @usa

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar won the endorsement of the state DFL party in her re-election bid for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in a first round of balloting. The backing unlocks resources from the state party ahead of the August primary race.

Rep. Omar won the endorsement over former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels, whom she defeated by just two percentage points in 2022. During a question-and-answer portion of the convention, Omar was asked about the war in Gaza which she referred to as a “genocide.”

“There is no way for us as citizens of this country to continue to allow our tax dollars to pay for the bombs that are destroying a civilian population,” Omar said to cheers from the audience.

The Minneapolis City Council approved a plan Thursday designed to correct what many longtime city residents have called one of the worst development decisions in the city’s history.

Under the new plan, the former Kmart department store and its parking lot which has blocked Nicollet Avenue near Lake Street since the late 1970s, will include mixed-use buildings, park land and new bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

This is largely fantastic, but I definitely laughed at Ham-line.

The University of Minnesota agreed late Wednesday night to consider student protesters’ demands calling for the university to divest from Israel.

Student organizers said that in light of the development, they plan to take down their encampment on the campus’ Northrup Mall by noon Thursday. A coalition of student groups set up camp for nearly 10 days. University police arrested nine people last week after they refused to leave an earlier iteration of the encampment.

The union said that members would vote on Thursday and Friday, and they would announce the results on Saturday. The unions can call a strike at any time after members approve, but are required to give the district 10 days’ notice before walking off the job.