Tag: Minneapolis riots

GOP PA-5 Nominee Alfe Goodwin Argues Defund the Police ‘Power Grab’ Supported by Harris-Walz and Rep. Scanlon Led to Officer Shortages

Tom Pappert
Defund the Police

Pennsylvania U.S. House candidate Alfe Goodwin told The Pennsylvania Daily Star on Tuesday the past support of the Defund the Police movement by Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Tim Walz, and her opponent Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05) contributed to the police shortage in Philadelphia and its surrounding communities.

Goodwin told The Star her 14 years of experience with the Philadelphia Police Department gave her a “unique perspective” when Scanlon and other Democrats in 2020 expressed support for defunding the police, who she called “the first ones to see the results of policy” due to their presence in local communities.

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Chauvin Trial Cost Hennepin County $3.7 Million

The Center Square
Chauvin Trial Cost Hennepin

Hennepin County spent $3.7 million on the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, according to documents obtained by The Center Square via the Freedom of Information Act.

Securing the Hennepin County courthouse was the second-largest expense – $773,412 paying for barbed wire, razor fencing, barricades, and boarding up windows. The most significant expense was employee overtime costing $1.1 million.

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Target Pledges to Make Black Employees 20 Percent of Its Workforce

Corinne Murdock

Target is pledging to ensure that Black employees make up at least 20 percent of its workforce. The Minneapolis-based corporation based their goal on a diversity report of 2019.

Target stated that the data indicated a need for more “equitable outcomes for Black team members.” For this ethnicity only, the corporation promises to broaden leadership pathways, develop hiring and retention programs, increase mentorship and sponsorship programs, tailor benefits.

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Minneapolis Residents Sue the City and Mayor Jacob Frey Over Defunding Police

Corinne Murdock

Eight Minneapolis residents filed a lawsuit Monday against the City of Minneapolis and Mayor Jacob Frey for the negative repercussions of defunding the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). The plaintiffs allege that city officials’ words and actions concerning law enforcement caused a severe uptick in Metro’s crime rates.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMWLC), who issued a press release the day after the suit was filed.

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Trump Meets with Riot Victims, Campaigns in Minnesota

Ben Kolodny

President Trump visited Minnesota today as part of a push to counter Joe Biden’s campaign efforts in the state. 

The president spoke to victims of the riots that rocked the state after the death of George Floyd, Breitbart reports. John Wolf, owner of a liquor store in Minneapolis told the story of how his business was targetted multiple times over the period of unrest, resulting in a million dollars in damages and lost merchandise.  Wolf stated that he called police 10 times as rioters vandalized and looted his building, but no one came. “The feeling of helplessness that I had knowing that no one was coming was indescribable,” Wolf told the president. Wolf went on to say that “there’s nothing more important for elected officials than providing safety to residents and businesses. Without that, nothing works… I held up to my end. The city of Minneapolis didn’t.”

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Walz Asks Federal Government to Help Twin Cities Rebuild from $500M Worth of Rioting Damage

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz has requested federal financial assistance to help the Twin Cities recover from more than $500 million worth of damage caused by rioting.

In a press release, Walz’s office said nearly 1,500 Twin Cities businesses were vandalized, burned, or looted during the late May riots, with current estimates of the damage exceeding $500 million.

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VIDEOS: Businesses Across Twin Cities Burned to the Ground, Residents Work to Clean Up

Anthony Gockowski

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota – More than 200 businesses across the Twin Cities have been vandalized, looted, or burned in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was allegedly murdered Monday night by a Minneapolis police officer.

After setting fire to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Third Precinct Thursday night, rioters made their way to the Fifth Precinct Friday, reducing a nearby Wells Fargo and U.S. Post Office to rubble.

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Jail Records Contradict Claims That Most Rioters Are from Out of State

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, and Gov. Tim Walz all have suggested that many of the rioters wreaking havoc on the Twin Cities are from out of state, but jail records seem to show otherwise.

“We’ve seen long-term, institutional businesses overridden. We’ve seen community institutions set on fire. And I want to be very, very clear, the people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents. They are coming in largely from outside of the city, from outside of the region, to prey on everything that we have built over the last several decades. The dynamic has changed over the last several days,” Frey said during a joint Saturday press conference.

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Mayor Frey Says George Floyd Would Be Alive ‘If He Were White,’ Calls Incident Murder

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he thinks George Floyd was murdered and claimed Floyd “would be alive today if he were white.”

Video from the tragic Monday night incident shows a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a handcuffed Floyd, who repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Floyd was pronounced dead shortly after he was taken into custody.

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Justice Department Says George Floyd Investigation ‘Top Priority,’ Trump Briefed

Anthony Gockowski

The U.S. Department of Justice promised a “robust criminal investigation” into the death of George Floyd in a statement released Thursday.

A joint statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office said the investigation into the fatal Monday night incident is “a top priority.”

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Hennepin County Commissioners Call for ‘Immediate Arrest’ of All Officers in George Floyd Case

Anthony Gockowski

Two members of the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners asked the county attorney Thursday to “immediately arrest and press charges against the officers involved in the murder of George Floyd.”

All four officers involved in the tragic Monday night incident have been fired from the Minneapolis Police Department, including Derek Chauvin, the officer who was recorded pressing his knee into the neck of a handcuffed Floyd.

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Gov. Walz Activates National Guard in Response to Minneapolis Riots, Declares Emergency

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz announced Thursday afternoon that he has signed an executive order activating the Minnesota National Guard to help respond to the riots in Minneapolis.

Wednesday night’s riots were marked by widespread looting, vandalism, and arson, leaving portions of south Minneapolis in ruins. In one case, a construction site being developed for low-income housing was set ablaze early Thursday morning and collapsed into the street below it as rioters cheered.

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