Author

Deena Winter has covered local and state government in four states over the past three decades, with stints at the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota, as a correspondent for the Denver Post, city hall reporter in Lincoln, Nebraska, and regional editor for Southwest News in the western Minneapolis suburbs.
Minneapolis council committee rejects $145k workers’ comp settlement to cop involved in beating
By: Deena Winter - October 2, 2023
The Minneapolis City Council approved over $22 million in workers’ compensation settlements for 144 Minneapolis police officers in the two years after George Floyd’s police murder made international headlines. But on Monday, a council committee took the unusual step of declining to approve a settlement with an officer involved in an excessive force case.
Lake Elmo family has been fighting 17 years for city water after state pushed PFAS into their well
By: Deena Winter - October 2, 2023
The Blackford family of Lake Elmo, Minnesota, has been waiting 17 years for someone from the government to bring them clean city water.
Minneapolis poised to give $145k settlement to MPD officer involved in beating
By: Deena Winter - September 29, 2023
The city of Minneapolis is poised to pay $145,000 to a SWAT team leader whose unit drove around in an unmarked van firing plastic bullets at people without warning five days after the police murder of George Floyd. They wound up severely beating two men after one of them fired back in self-defense.
Right-wing ‘constitutional sheriffs’ movement comes to Minnesota
By: Deena Winter - September 29, 2023
An extremist, anti-government group that believes sheriffs and police officers have the power to decide which laws to enforce is touring Minnesota next month.
Republicans say Orwellian ‘bias registry’ could still be created under new law
By: Deena Winter - September 18, 2023
A Minnesota bill that would have created a state government database of “hate incidents” — which drew impassioned opposition from Republicans who said it would police constitutionally protected political speech — was quietly watered down during the waning days of the legislative session.
Conservative group challenges legality of Minnesota’s new election misinformation law
By: Deena Winter - September 12, 2023
The Minnesota Voters Alliance is suing the state over a new law barring people from distributing misinformation in the run-up to elections.
Mike Lindell goes ballistic during depositions, lashing out at lawyers
By: Deena Winter - September 12, 2023
Mike Lindell lost his cool during a series of legal depositions recently. Lindell yelled, swore, called lawyers names, banged his fist on a table and repeatedly slammed down a pile of legal documents during a March deposition he gave defending himself in a defamation lawsuit.
Forever chemicals found in tribal school well on Leech Lake reservation
By: Deena Winter - September 1, 2023
When students return to school after Labor Day at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School on the Leech Lake reservation, they won’t drink from water fountains or eat food prepared with well water. Five-gallon jugs of water are propped all over the school and in the cafeteria after manmade, toxic chemicals were found in the school’s drinking water […]
Some of MPD’s newly appointed leaders have stains on their lengthy records
By: Deena Winter - August 29, 2023
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara named a new leadership team comprised of nine department veterans — six of whom have some stains on their records.
Minneapolis police chief faces three investigations for alleged misconduct
By: Deena Winter - August 24, 2023
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara is under fire, with some activists calling for him to be reprimanded after three complaints were filed against him, one in connection with his approval of the hiring of an officer with a history of excessive force.
Scott Jensen back on speaking circuit with anti-vaxx activists
By: Deena Winter - August 22, 2023
Scott Jensen, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor in Minnesota, has apparently changed his mind again about whether to hang out with some infamous anti-vaxxers.
12 Minnesota cities exceed EPA’s proposed limits for forever chemicals in drinking water
By: Deena Winter - August 22, 2023
The Minnesota Department of Health has identified 12 cities and two manufactured home parks where at least a portion of the drinking water is estimated to exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed new limits on toxic, man-made chemicals dubbed “forever chemicals.”