Best of Neighborhoods News 05/21/2019: UMN student government reaffirms push to rename campus buildings

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UMN student government reaffirms push to rename campus buildingsThe Minnesota Student Association released a letter in the wake of a decision that came after nearly a year-long contention over four University of Minnesota campus buildings named after figures with racist, anti-semitic pasts. The state university’s governing body, the Board of Regents, voted 10-1 against the renaming of Coffman Union, Coffey Hall, Nicholson Hall and Middlebrook Hall, names which go as far back as 1851. In pushing back against this decision, the MSA-issued letter reads, “We strongly believe that renaming is the first step of reckoning with our University’s [history]. That is why, to us, renaming is a when, not an if.” MSA will meet with the newly-appointed regents, as well as the incoming University President Joan Gabel, to continue conversations about renaming. Continue Reading

How community members in Ramsey County stopped a big-data plan from flagging students as at-risk

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On Jan. 28, 2019, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter made an announcement at St. Paul’s City Hall that caught many observers by surprise: after months of community resistance, city and county officials have decided to walk away from a controversial data-sharing initiative. The initiative – unanimously approved by the Ramsey County Attorney, the County Sheriff of St. Continue Reading

Best of Neighborhood News 9/5: Motion to dismiss charges in police shooting of Justine Damond

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The attorneys of Mohamed Noor, the police officer who shot and killed Justine Damond in 2017, have filed to dismiss the charges against Noor on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct and a failure to demonstrate probable cause. The attorneys suggest that statements made by county attorney Mike Freeman undermined Noor’s right to a fair trial. This case is one of 10 fatal police shootings in 2017 alone. “Knowing that the night of July 15th ended in tragedy, it is easy to second-guess the split second decision of Officer Noor to draw his firearm and shoot,” write Noor’s attorneys, Tom Plunkett and Peter Wold, in a Hennepin County District Court filing. The trial for this case is set to begin in late September. Continue Reading

Best of Neighborhood News 8/8: No charges filed in police shooting of Thurman Blevins

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On July 30, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced his decision to not file charges against MPD officers Ryan Kelly and Justin Schmidt. The two officers shot and killed Thurman Blevins during a police investigation on June 23 in the Camden neighborhood. Community members gathered and spoke out in response to the County Attorney’s decision. “This Thurman Blevins case did not happen in a vacuum, it happened as part of a history of corruption at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department,” said civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy-Armstrong, adding, “It is not an isolated incident — it is part of a pattern that shows [the MPD] diminish the lives of Black residents in Minneapolis.”

“I don’t want the media and the world to think we are angry. We aren’t angry. Continue Reading

St. Paul’s growing political will for $15 minimum wage may mean a faster track for passage

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Samuel Callahan is a single father raising his 14-year-old daughter, the youngest of his seven children. The father-daughter pair share a one-bedroom apartment in North Minneapolis. It’s cramped quarters, and yet the small family still does not get to spend enough time together. Callahan has been working at a Taco Bell for the past four years, but in 2016 he also started picking up shifts at a McDonald’s in order to make ends meet. In total, Callahan works 17 hours a day, six days per week. Continue Reading

J4, the Hmong Freedom Festival [Photos]

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If you live in Saint Paul, you probably know about J4, the annual gathering and freedom celebration that takes place each July 4th weekend in Como Park. The event has been going on for 35 years, and was founded to mark the anniversary of Hmong immigration into the United States. Continue Reading

The Rural Poetry of Tired Moonlight: Paul Dickinson on Starring in the Local Festival Hit

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Tired Moonlight is local filmmaker Britni West’s first film as a director, and it’s  coming to the Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival tomorrow. The film is an delicate atmospheric  homage to life in rural Montana, filled with soft touches, and introspective look at relationships in small towns. I really enjoyed it!Most films that depict rural poverty in America – think about a film like Winter’s Bone – paint a bleak picture of life at the margins. Tired Moonlight manages to make the world of back roads Montana seem lovely, without resorting to the usual nostalgic clichés. It was one of the most honest meditations on small town life I’ve seen, and almost made me wish I’d grown up in a place like Kalispell.The film also stars long-time Saint Paul punk musician, poet, book seller, and professor Paul Dickinson, who owns the Dead Media bookstore and runs the Riot Act Reading Series. Continue Reading