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Will Cooley Q&A: What the Murderapolis years can teach us about today’s rise in violent crime
Memorials of the so-called Murderapolis years when violent crime hit its 1990s era peak are scattered across the city. In the courtyard outside the Hennepin County Government Center stands “Phoenix Rising,” an abstract sculpture made in 1996 from melted guns. Several blocks away is an unassuming red-brick building, the Jerry Haaf Memorial Parking Ramp, named […]
Emails show Minneapolis police chief coordinated with PR pros to fight council, protect budget
Bill Rodriguez was the first speaker at the first public hearing on cutting funding to the Minneapolis Police Department. “We need both: the police and reform,” Rodriguez said at a City Council meeting in November. Variations on that phrase — “we need both” — were repeated throughout the hearing. It is the signature talking point of […]
Q&A with Kendall Qualls: ‘It’s insulting to hear that Black people can’t get ahead because of systemic racism.’
In November, Republican Kendall Qualls lost a race to represent Minnesota’s 3rd District to U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips. Two months later on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Qualls launched TakeCharge Minnesota: “A new organization committed to countering the prevailing narrative in popular culture that America is structured to undermine the lives of Black Americans,” according […]
Data show racial bias in reporting from popular Twin Cities crime media network
This story has been updated to correct a factual error and include more comments from Crime Watch & Information. At about 9:30 the night of June 26, 2020, the Minneapolis Crime Watch & Information network reported that a mob of 50 men were attacking a man outside Cup Foods, seemingly without provocation, just feet from […]
Outlandish Walz rumors take flight on social media
Editor’s note: An image from a Facebook post has been removed from this story because it originally appeared in a private Facebook group. The reporter of this story improperly used a pseudonym to gain entry into the group, in violation of Reformer ethics rules. Here are two utterly banal facts about Gov. Tim Walz: His […]
Minnesota right reacts to Trump’s narrowing path: From wild conspiracy theories, to fear and sadness
On Thursday afternoon, votes were still being counted in half a dozen swing states, and the presidency was still up for grabs. As the path for a Trump victory grew narrower, the reaction on the left has been a mix of cautious optimism, disappointment that it’s not a landslide and anxiety over their own unlikely […]
Man who police say threatened Walz had history of sharing Facebook posts from Right Now MN
The man charged with threatening to kill Gov. Tim Walz frequently shared Facebook posts from Right Now, a local conservative outfit funded by prominent, rich Minnesota men. On August 2, Shawn Simonson, a 51-year old man from Blaine, called Walz’s public line and left a threatening voicemail. In the profanity-laced message, he threatened to put […]
A fascist manifesto is gaining fans on the right, including state Sen. Roger Chamberlain.
NOTE: This article quotes racist and sexist passages. Since last fall, Minnesota State Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, has taken a keen interest in a book called Bronze Age Mindset. The self-published tome has captivated many on the American right while trafficking in neo-fascism, racism and misogyny. The writer is an anonymous internet figure who […]
Leaked documents: Intelligence wing of law enforcement struggled to fulfill its mission during George Floyd protests
During the unrest following the killing of George Floyd, the intelligence gathering and analysis arm of Minnesota law enforcement fed a constant stream of unverified and ultimately bogus threats to officers while failing to identify more credible risks, according to recently leaked documents. Last month the hacktivist group Distributed Denial of Secrets published more than […]
Former Minneapolis cop says MPD rejected his intervention training offers twice
A former Minneapolis police sergeant, recognized for his work in helping clean up the scandal-plagued New Orleans Police Department, says he twice offered his old department training that could have prevented the death of George Floyd. Twice he was turned down. Michael Quinn, a retired 23-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department, said he offered […]
Some of Minnesota’s most well-known rich men are key funders of a right wing disinformation campaign
A right wing group funded by some of the wealthiest people in Minnesota — including an heir to railroad baron James J. Hill’s fortune — is waging an online disinformation campaign. Right Now Minnesota is an independent expenditure committee whose stated goal is to elect “a governor in Minnesota who believes in smaller government, less […]
Lawyers and conservative activists suing Walz administration have been at it for decades
Libertarian lawyer Erick Kaardal has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a coalition of small businesses challenging Gov. Tim Walz’s executive order that declared some businesses essential and others not. The policy is a cornerstone of Walz’s strategy to combat COVID-19 by keeping Minnesotans out of places that are most likely to serve as disease […]