Author

Deena Winter

Deena Winter

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.

Mining agency relents, gives grant to Fond du Lac for clean water

By: - June 25, 2020

A state mining board commissioner today approved a $250,000 grant to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to provide clean drinking water, after the mining board tabled the grant, citing the band’s opposition to copper-nickel mining in sensitive watersheds. The Reformer reported Wednesday on the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board’s June 10 discussion […]

Resident calls for Falcon Heights council member to resign over front yard gardens

By: - June 25, 2020

The fight over a Falcon Heights vegetable garden continues.  A month ago, Quentin Nguyen had resigned himself to living with a Falcon Heights ordinance that seemed designed to stop him — and just him — from planting a big vegetable garden in his front yard. But now, he’s calling on a Falcon Heights City Council member to […]

Minneapolis City Council to take up change to city charter eliminating Police Department

By: - June 24, 2020

The Minneapolis City Council plans to vote Friday on moving forward with an amendment to the city charter that would replace the Police Department with a new public safety entity.  It’s the first step to getting it on the ballot in November, when Minneapolis voters could decide the fate of the department. Under the proposed […]

Hennepin County Board takes up racism as a public health crisis

By: - June 24, 2020

A panel of the Hennepin County Board voted Tuesday to declare racism a public health crisis, despite the objections of two commissioners who wanted more time to examine it. About a dozen other county boards nationwide have passed similar resolutions in the wake of  George Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police. Hennepin […]

Hennepin County Board starts spending federal money; libraries reopening

By: - June 24, 2020

Commissioners on the Hennepin County Board voted to spend some funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, part of which it has already devoted to emergency housing relief and small business assistance. The board voted to spend: $2 million to feed the hungry. Any of the roughly 150 […]

Minneapolis Council members draft charter amendment to replace existing police department

By: - June 23, 2020

Five Minneapolis City Council members have written an amendment to the city charter that would remove the police department and replace it with a new city agency responsible for public safety, according to a draft of the amendment obtained by the Reformer. The proposed charter amendment, which could go before Minneapolis voters as soon as […]

Trio of GOP state senators to call for federal investigation of Minneapolis Police Department

By: - June 22, 2020

Three Republican state senators are calling on U.S. Attorney General Willliam Barr to open an investigation into the Minnesota Police Department’s response to unrest and rioting that broke out after George Floyd’s death. Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, Sen. David Senjem, R-Rochester, and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, have scheduled a Tuesday news conference to ask for […]

Minnesota GOP lawmaker says Antifa and Muslim organization plan to ‘police Minneapolis under Muslim rule’

By: - June 22, 2020

A Minnesota lawmaker said last week Antifa and Muslim organizations plan to “police Minneapolis under Muslim rule,” communism is moving into Minneapolis-St. Paul and the state’s Democratic attorney general would like to “close down all of northern Minnesota.”  The Park Rapids Enterprise quoted Rep. Steve Green, R-Fosston, making the comments during a Hubbard County Board […]