Minneapolis-based Target Corporation announced Tuesday that it is closing nine stores in four different states, citing “theft and organized retail crime.”
The closures include locations in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland, according to a press release.
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The 2023 Marxist School, organized by a group called International Marxist Tendency (IMT), is coming to Minneapolis at the end of September.
“Join the communists!” a website for the event says.
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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a supplemented legal opinion regarding school discipline laws after dozens of police departments pulled school resource officers.
Ellison said the new opinion addresses “good-faith” concerns about the law.
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The Minnesota Freedom Fund supplied $100,000 bail for the release of Myon Demarlo Burrell earlier this month after he was charged with illegally possessing a firearm and narcotics.
Hennepin County Jail records show Burrell was released from custody on Sept. 2 after supplying bail. However, a document posted by Crime Watch showing that the controversial bail fund supplied the bail wasn’t uploaded into the online court record until Monday of this week.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer has reintroduced legislation that would ban the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which the majority whip described as a potential threat to the “American way of life.”
As the Biden administration explores the possibility of developing a digital dollar, Emmer said the idea could dismantle “Americans’ right to financial privacy.”
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At least three more police agencies have announced within the last week that they are suspending their school resource officer (SRO) programs in response to a new state law.
The new law, passed during the 2023 legislative session, prohibits SROs in cases where there is no threat of bodily harm or death from using the prone restraint or any force that “places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen.”
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A federal judge refused to dismiss religious discrimination claims against a private university that dumped an art history professor after she showed her class “Islamophobic” depictions of the Prophet Muhammad commissioned by Muslims, saying the “novelty” of Erika Lopez Prater’s argument didn’t make it implausible.
The order Friday by U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez means ongoing scrutiny of Hamline University, whose President Fayneese Miller announced her scheduled retirement two months after an overwhelming vote of no-confidence from faculty in the wake of Prater’s non-renewal.
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Center of the American Experiment hosted a panel discussion with police chiefs and state representatives last week to discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).
The law prohibits SROs in cases where there is no threat of bodily harm or death from using the prone restraint or any force that “places pressure or weight on a pupil’s head, throat, neck, chest, lungs, sternum, diaphragm, back, or abdomen.”
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Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt announced a new “Focus on Fentanyl” initiative Thursday aimed at increasing the public’s awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and connecting them with resources.
Witt, who said her own family has been impacted by the fentanyl crisis, plans to release a series of videos profiling Minnesotans who were killed by the highly potent synthetic opioid. The first video chronicles the life of Seth Carlson, a 17-year-old athlete from Bloomington who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022.
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A new organization fronted by two Democrat-allied political consultants has entered the battleground for political control of school boards holding elections this fall.
The Minneapolis-based School Board Integrity Project was officially formed in May. Its mission, according to its website, is to help “guide potential and registered candidates and incumbents who align with our principles and equip them with the tools they need in their ‘campaign toolboxes’ in order to run successful school board campaigns.”
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A Minnesota DFL leader who once expressed support for “dismantling” the police is now benefiting from a heightened police presence in her neighborhood after she was allegedly carjacked.
Sources told Alpha News that Minneapolis police were “instructed to do extra patrols in her neighborhood,” saying the request “came from downtown.”
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The University of Minnesota (UMN) paid over $200,000 to develop a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training program that teaches medical professionals that healthcare is fundamentally racist, according to documents received by the medical watchdog Do No Harm and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The training, developed by Diversity Science, is intended to educate healthcare professionals on obstetric care for black and indigenous women, which the training dubs “birthing people,” and highlights perceived “structural racism” in healthcare practices. Moreover, UMN’s DEI office blames “white supremacy” for certain disparities in perinatal care, and trains providers to view the development of medicine and the healthcare system as tainted with racism, documents obtained by Do Not Harm reveal.
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Average gas prices in Minnesota have jumped by more than 30 cents in a week, according to AAA data.
The current average price is $3.98 per gallon, up 36 cents from a week ago, the AAA data says. Average prices in the seven-county metro are over $4.
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A teacher in the Osseo school district asked students to share their preferred name and pronouns on the first day of class and state whether they should be used when contacting home.
“Please circle your answer choice for the following in regards to your pronoun/preferred name use,” a handout reads. It then asks if the teacher should use the student’s preferred name and pronouns when calling home.
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While recreational cannabis use has been legal in Minnesota for just more than one month, elected officials in local governments across the state are still sorting out just what that means for their communities.
Under the new law, you can’t yet buy or sell the product. You can grow it at your home in limited quantities and give some of that away to others. But many local government officials are having public conversations about where you can smoke it and how many businesses should eventually be allowed to sell it within a jurisdiction. At times, these conversations involve interpretation of potential conflicts between the new state law and federal regulations that still define marijuana as a controlled substance.
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Minnesota Democrats plan to use their governing trifecta to bring assisted suicide to the state next year.
Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, who carried an assisted suicide bill in the legislature this past session, said in a press release this week that “advocates are now ramping up their push to pass the bill during the 2024 legislative session that convenes in February.”
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While students across the state are now back in class, the list of secondary schools that will begin the year without a school resource officer continues to grow.
On Monday the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office announced it will pull its officers it has contracted as SROs from six schools in the east metro. Well more than a dozen law enforcement agencies across the state have now pulled their SROs from school campuses in the wake of a new law they say the legislature needs to fix so their officers can safely do their jobs.
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St. Paul police responded to separate incidents of gunfire both Saturday and Sunday nights just outside the Minnesota State Fair grounds. In one incident, a fairgoer was reportedly struck by an errant bullet. In another incident, a University of Minnesota bus was struck by gunfire that shattered a window.
About 10:13 p.m. Saturday, a person inside the fairgrounds called 911 to report that they had been shot at, according to dispatch audio at the time. The person who was reported to be at Chambers Street and Carnes Avenue said the bullet struck him, but the bullet did not make penetration.
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Michigan is trailing Illinois and Minnesota in the Midwest race to register the most electric vehicles.
Illinois leads with nearly 80,000 EVs, while Minnesota has 41,417 and Michigan has 34,380.
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Three-term state Rep. Ruth Richardson, DFL-Mendota Heights, abruptly resigned via Twitter / X Friday night, as the long Labor Day weekend began.
Little additional explanation was given for her sudden departure. As a House member, she served on the Economic Development Committee.
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The City of Champlin is considering seceding from Hennepin County and joining Anoka County.
The Champlin City Council discussed the idea during a worksession Monday at Mayor Ryan Sabas’ request.
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The number of Americans who view Minneapolis as a safe city has declined by 15%, according to a new Gallup poll.
A majority of Americans (58%) still view Minneapolis as a safe place to “live in or visit,” but this is down from the 73% who said the same in 2006, the last time the poll was conducted.
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A north Minneapolis resident whose street has become “an established destination” for drug dealing said he wants elected leaders to “understand how abandoned and helpless we feel.”
“We are an established destination now for drug purchases. Cars stop by 24/7 and within moments they have a carhop with their face in the passenger window, ready to serve,” said Jay Dorsey, who owns a home across the street from an Aldi store that closed earlier this year to much disappointment from local residents.
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The number of Minnesota students who consistently attend school has dropped by 15% since 2019, according to state Department of Education data released last week.
The annual North Star Accountability Report tracks “consistent attendance,” which is defined as the number of students who attend school at least 90% of the time and are not chronically absent.
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A left-leaning elections reform organization is representing a local group hoping to intervene in a Minnesota Chamber of Commerce lawsuit that’s challenging a new state law it says unconstitutionally restricts political speech of businesses.
On Friday, the Massachusetts-based advocacy group Free Speech For People, on behalf of Clean Elections Minnesota, filed a motion requesting to intervene in the Chamber’s federal lawsuit that contends a new law governing corporate speech unconstitutionally restricts the political speech of its members’ businesses who have minimal investment from foreign-based individuals and entities.
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Gov. Tim Walz announced the appointment of one of his administration’s top attorneys to the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Karl Procaccini, 40, has spent the last 4.5 years as general counsel and deputy chief of staff in the governor’s office. Depending on who you ask, the Connecticut native and Harvard Law grad has been regarded as either a prudent or overreaching legal advisor to Walz during the Covid-19 pandemic and riots in 2020 and 2021.
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Osseo Area Schools appears to have approved a proposal to fly an LGBT “pride” flag at all district buildings “indefinitely,” according to an audio recording of a recent school board work session.
Under the district’s existing “LGBTQIA+ History and Culture Resolution,” the school board “invites the community to join in the celebration by raising the LGBTQIA+ Progress Pride flag on June 1st at all district buildings and in the school board room as a symbol of support.”
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed an ordinance passed by the city council to enact a minimum compensation of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute while transporting a rider, subject to annual adjustment.
Instead, Frey struck a deal to boost Uber driver pay to the city minimum wage and guarantee at least $5 per ride.
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The field of candidates is now set for the 28 school districts across Minnesota that will hold “off-year” elections this November, where there are no legislative seats or congressional or statewide offices on the ballot.
While most of the nearly 300 other school districts across the state hold their elections during more visible campaign cycles (such as 2024), the school district communities with races this fall represent about 1.7 million residents across the state. Combined, those districts with seats up for election steward well over $4 billion in tax dollars.
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The Minneapolis City Council passed an ordinance starting Jan. 1, 2024, that ride-share companies say will force them out of the city because of increased costs and regulations.
The vote passed 7-5-1 to enact a minimum compensation of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute while transporting a rider, subject to annual adjustment.
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A former DFL legislator credited with leading a campaign to help Democrats recapture the state Senate in 2022 has landed a new job as a top lobbyist for the University of Minnesota.
Melisa Lopez Franzen, who served in the Minnesota Senate for a decade before choosing not to seek re-election last year, was announced as the U of M’s new executive director of government and community relations on Wednesday.
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A lifelong dream to have his own place hasn’t exactly gone as planned for Kent Bergmann behind Campanelle in Lino Lakes.
“The name of the restaurant is nothing more than a noodle. We make those noodles fresh every single morning. It’s a Campanelle noodle is what it’s called. It’s like baked mac and cheese on steroids,” Bergmann explained.
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The entire police force of Goodhue, Minn., has resigned and the town has no applicants to fill the vacancies, leaving the future of law enforcement in the community uncertain.
Police Chief Josh Smith will remain in the post until Aug. 24, but has told the city he could not find anyone willing to join the force, Fox News reported.
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Membership of a new commission tasked with redesigning the Minnesota state flag and seal was supposed to be finalized earlier this month. But it appears it’s not quite ready to begin its work, which is to be completed and sent to the legislature by Jan. 1, 2024.
While Gov. Tim Walz appointed three members of the public to the 17-member State Emblems Redesign Commission earlier this month, a handful of appointees from state councils and agencies had not yet been listed as filled on the webpage for the body as of Monday. The commission was supposed to be finalized by Aug. 1, according to statute.
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Two affiliated Catholic colleges in Minnesota adopted a policy for the new academic year allowing “non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender-nonconforming individuals” to enroll in a men’s or women’s college based on the sex with which they identify.
The colleges’ previous policy only explicitly referred to “transgender” students, except in a “frequently asked question” that noted non-binary students must “consistently live and identify” as either a man or a woman.
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Minnesota gas prices keep creeping closer to the national average after jumping nearly 40 cents in the past month.
Minnesotans are paying an average of $3.81 a gallon as of Friday, according to the most recent figures provided by the American Automobile Association. The national average hit $3.84.
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The fastest growing city in Minnesota, and one of the fastest growing suburban communities in America, has banned the use of smokeable marijuana in its public spaces. And they’re doing it for the kids, according to city leaders.
The Lakeville City Council voted this week to create a new ordinance that prohibits the smoking of cannabis and hemp in public places — including parks, streets, sidewalks and other outdoor spaces where people can gather. Violation of the new ordinance, which takes effect immediately, is a petty misdemeanor, punishable by a $300 ticket, according to a city report on the measure.
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Former Republican donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison Wednesday for sex trafficking multiple minor girls.
“Anton Lazzaro was a predator who hid in plain sight. He was a sex trafficker who camouflaged his true nature with his wealth and privilege. Today, his crimes were laid bare, and justice was served,” prosecutors said in a statement following Lazzaro’s sentencing.
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Gov. Tim Walz won’t call a special session to make changes to the new adult-use recreational marijuana law to fix loopholes Republicans allege effectively decriminalize use for minors.
Walz told reporters gathered for a press conference Tuesday that it’s clear to him it’s still illegal for minors to use marijuana products. He said he won’t be calling a special session at the request of House Republicans, but said he expects that legislators may choose to tweak the new laws during the 2024 regular legislative session.
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More than a dozen communities across the state participated in Brave Books’ first annual “See You at the Library” event over the weekend, a national movement to “bring traditional Christian and American values back into the public space,” local event organizers told Alpha News.
“When we saw Brave Books was looking for people to host story hours at their local libraries, we thought it would be an awesome way to connect with the community, educate parents how low our literacy rates are, and bring an hour of fun to families right in their local library,” said Britni Granquist with Dakota County Moms for Liberty, which helped organize five story hours across the south metro attracting more than 600 attendees.
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Alpha News journalist Sheila Qualls recently hosted a townhall panel discussion on the failures of Minnesota’s public education system.
Qualls is the host of the podcast “Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom,” in which she investigates the public school system in Minnesota through interviews with students, parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members.
The townhall panel she hosted consisted of retired teachers, a school board member, a current private school educator, and a parents group director.
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The filing period for the November local elections officially opened this week and candidates in a few, highly visible and hotly-contested school board races have already lined up influential endorsements prior to submitting their filing papers.
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A Catholic church in Duluth and a school in Minneapolis were vandalized in separate incidents in late July.
St. Charles Borromeo School told families this week that two individuals broke into the school on the evening of Saturday, July 22, creating “an extensive mess that required 700+ hours of clean-up work and is still ongoing.” The school said its clean-up efforts “after this disaster cost thousands of dollars.”
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Amid declining academic test scores, Hopkins High School will be one of the first schools in Minnesota to offer the George Floyd-inspired Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) course this fall.
Less than 50 percent of Hopkins High School students are proficient in reading, math or science. It will be one of just a few schools in the state to offer the class this fall along with high schools in St. Paul and Edina, the Star Tribune reported.
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A St. Paul native is taking on the NBA to prove his rights were stolen when COVID-19 vaccines were mandated in 2021.
Kenny Mauer was a referee for the NBA for over 35 years; he never missed a game. Mauer grew up in St. Paul and was an athlete his whole life. He played baseball for the University of Minnesota and began refereeing high school sports in college.
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A new report released last week calls the popular narrative that Minnesota’s criminal justice system is biased against black offenders a “myth.”
“The narrative of unwarranted racial disparities in Minnesota’s criminal justice system is well entrenched but this new offender data from the BCA exposes this narrative as a myth,” said report author David Zimmer, a policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment and retired 33-year veteran of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.
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In a joint letter addressed to Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic leaders, several GOP lawmakers expressed “deep concern” with a cannabis legalization bill that will take effect in just four days.
“Recent reporting has revealed serious concerns with the bill — including that it effectively legalized marijuana use for children — that these members believe need to be addressed promptly in order to protect our kids and communities,” a press release from the Minnesota House Republican Caucus explained.
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Starting in September, all Minnesota debt collectors must provide debtors a list of Minnesota-based nonprofit organizations that can provide them with credit counseling.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is implementing laws that legislators passed this spring and Gov. Tim Walz signed in May.
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The chair of the Osseo school board warned a parent reading from a sexually-explicit book available in the district’s libraries that there may be children in the room.
“Last month we had some kids in the audience and some of the language was offensive to some,” said Chair Jacquelene Mosqueda-Jones during Tuesday night’s meeting.
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A Nebraska teenager was recently sentenced to 90 days in jail after she burned and buried the remains of her aborted baby, a case U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar called a “frightening violation of privacy and autonomy.”
Omar published a screenshot of a New York Times article about the case of 19-year-old Celeste Burgess, who was not charged “under Nebraska’s abortion law,” the article notes. At the time, Nebraska prohibited abortions after 20 weeks; that has now been moved up to 12 weeks.
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