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Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in Congress, said a report that the National Security Agency and FBI were tracking the email of five prominent American Muslims is “troubling because it suggests that Americans were targeted because of their faith and civic engagement.” Documents leaked by former government contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the Muslim attorneys and activists were targeted for surveillance from 2002 to 2008 under a program meant to uncover terrorists and foreign agents, according to an analysis from online news organization The Intercept. Among the documents released were training materials that used the...

Instead of leaving with the drugs and weapons they were sent to find, a Minnesota SWAT team executing a “no-knock raid” left with the bodies of a family’s two dead dogs. “The first thing I heard was ‘boom,’” Larry Lee Arman told KMSP, recalling the raid which occurred in St. Paul at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. “Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. Right in front of us.” Equipped with a warrant for drugs and weapons, the SWAT unit barged in while Arman was asleep on a mattress with his two children, shooting Mello and Laylo, the family’s two pit bulls. “One...

The population of Mogadishu is moving to Minneapolis, through the miracle of chain immigration. I don’t know whether there is any limiting principle to this or whether all of Mogadishu will one day reside along the Mississippi, but in any event, the Somali influx is already impacting Minnesota politics. Despite being “natural conservatives”–imagine what they must think of abortion and gay marriage!–the Somalis have so far been reliable Democratic voters. This has created one of this year’s most interesting local races, in which Phyllis Kahn, a left-wing Democrat who has represented her district in the Minnesota House of Representatives for...

New regulations of pet breeders go into effect; governor previously vetoed abortion center licensing ST. PAUL — A measure to license and inspect commercial dog and cat breeders—passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton earlier this year—went into effect on July 1. The new regulations throw into sharp relief Dayton's refusal to accept any state licensing or inspection of abortion facilities, which perform thousands of surgical procedures on Minnesota women each year. "Gov. Dayton wants to safeguard the well-being of pets, and that is admirable," said Scott Fischbach, Executive Director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for...

At least 16,000 low-income Minnesotans never received letters telling them that the state needed more information on their MNsure applications for health insurance, and many possibly remain uninsured. State officials disclosed the mistake Wednesday and blamed the problem on human error. The notices were supposed to tell the applicants to provide more information to qualify for the state's Medical Assistance program, but the notices were never sent. The applicants applied through MNsure, the state's new health insurance exchange, but their eligibility for the low-income assistance couldn't be automatically verified. "We understand that this is unacceptable to have not been sending...

Target Corp. on Wednesday took a stand against customers who bring firearms into its stores. “This is a complicated issue, but it boils down to a simple belief: Bringing firearms to Target creates an environment that is at odds with the family-friendly shopping and work experience we strive to create,” John Mulligan, the company’s acting CEO, said in a statement. The matter became a surprising controversy for the Minneapolis-based retailer in recent months when activist gun owners in Texas and other states chose the company’s stores to demonstrate their belief in the right to openly bear arms.

The Hennepin County attorney’s office is investigating whether a private mailbox center in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood has been improperly used as an address for more than 140 voters. State records show that 419 Cedar Avenue S. has been used by some of the voters as far back as 2008. No one lives at the address, which is a Somali-dominated commercial building housing several small businesses and a popular mail center. Several dozen apartments upstairs use a different building number. Records also show that more than 90 of the registrants at that address have voted in previous elections, although it’s unclear...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — One of the oldest Catholic churches in St. Paul had to close down because of a dwindling congregation, but it's been given new life as an Islamic community center. The Church of St. John parish, built in 1886, closed in 2013. It reopened Friday as the Darul-Uloom Islamic Center, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported (http://bit.ly/1z0o5In ). "There are a lot of East Africans in the area, and we want to give them a place to worship, a place to be educated, a community space," center spokesman Feisal M. Elmi said. The former church held...

Absentee voting started Friday, six weeks ahead of primary elections. Already there are strong allegations of voter fraud. The attorney for Phyllis Kahn says he got word Thursday night; there might be hundreds of people who are registering and voting using an address that's not their home. Absentee voting kicked-off Friday morning in a hotly contested democratic primary race for the state house between incumbent Phyllis Kahn and Mohamud Noor. Brian Rice, attorney for the Phyllis Kahn Volunteer Committee, claims there's voter fraud. "I think there is a coordinated effort to use this address to bring voters into the DFL...

Barack “Yes we can” Obama has already proven that he’s big on slogans. Leaving behind FORWARD, and of course ‘Hope and Change…We Can Believe In,’ the president’s newest catchphrase is “In the shoes,” which describes loafer-lover Barack Obama attempting to reconnect with everyday Americans by metaphorically slipping into other people’s shoes. To infuse added relatability into his plans to do future ‘in the shoes’ walkabouts, the White House is officially calling Obama’s planned encounters with the unwashed masses a “day-in-the-life” series, wherein the POTUS leaves his billionaire friends and devoted low-maintenance wife behind to venture forth onto the highways and...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama headed to Minneapolis on Thursday, the first stop in series of summer road trips where he will aim to spend a "day in the life" of an ordinary American and persuade voters that the White House understands their challenges. The trip is also aimed at reconnecting Obama with Democrats ahead of midterm elections where Republicans stand a good chance of taking control of the Senate, jeopardizing the chance to accomplish goals for his last two years in office. Obama will have lunch with Rebekah Erler, an accountant in St. Paul with two young sons...

(CNSNews.com) - Apparently because he doesn't get out of the White House enough (?) -- or have enough to do? -- President Obama will travel to Minnesota on Thursday to "spend a day with Rebekah," described by the White House as a "hardworking mom from Minneapolis," who wrote to the president to tell him "how much harder it's become to get ahead and do right by her family." When the president receives letters like Rebekah's, he "makes notes in the margins, and sits down to reply personally," the White House said. This time, he's made plans to meet with Rebekah...

John has previously noted the problem of robberies at the University of Minnesota on its main campus in Minneapolis. The campus is near downtown in an urban setting. Following standard practice, the university issues crime alerts that identify the race of the perpetrator when the authorities have a basis to do so based on victim identification or otherwise. Some groups on campus are not happy with the crime alerts. The local CBS station reports: School officials at the University of Minnesota are working with black student and facility organizations after they wrote a letter to the school’s president about the...

I really wanted Opus Delecti to mean delicious opus, but it doesn't. In almost 16 years, this is my first vanity. And all I can muster is to post it in bloggers and personal, where it ostensibly belongs. Vanities were against the rules, and as a date once told me, I'm a rule follower. Nobody will miss me when I'm gone. In fact, I know many folks will rejoice. There are many folks I will miss, once zotted. I'll miss the kitty pings, most of all. I'll miss the quiet solitude of Lurker and the crazy shenanigans of Laz. I...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Brooklyn Park volleyball coach faces felony charges for allegedly having child porn on his computer and photoshopping images of a student he knew onto pornographic pictures. James Edward Ferdig, 41, is charged with two counts of possessing child porn, court documents filed earlier this month show. A criminal complaint states that officials began investigating Ferdig last year. In August, officers executed a search warrant and seized a computer and other items belonging to Ferdig.

When Rick Perry stumps for businesses to relocate, at least he’s cheering for his home state of Texas as the final destination. In Minnesota, we have the unusual experience of having a governor laud a corporation for moving its headquarters out of the state — and out of the country. Medtronic, a leading manufacturer of medical devices, acquired an Irish firm in the same sector, but will move its corporate headquarters to Ireland rather than transfer Covidien’s executive operations to Minnesota (via Gary Gross): “As I look at the project as governor of Minnesota, this is a good deal...

Think of it as a lottery with a 30 percent chance of winning. The prize? A city permit authorizing people to be among the lucky property owners on their block allowed to rent their house. For 70 percent of their neighbors, well, that’s just too bad. That’s how it works in Winona, a southeastern Minnesota college community that in 2006 instituted an across-the-board rental restrictions on property owners. “It’s basic freedom, it’s your house, it’s your property. And here’s another case of the government coming in blindly saying you don’t have those rights anymore because we’re the Winona City Council,”...

Garrett McKay dipped his brush in a bucket of water and began scrubbing the dirt from another bright white headstone, this one from a second lieutenant who served in World War I, dying in 1963. “I know in the winter the headstones do get very weathered,” he said, as the bristles removed grime caked into the engraved letters. “The ones under the trees are really pretty dirty.” Despite the Saturday morning drizzle, McKay and 20 friends and family members spent the morning at Fort Snelling National Cemetery cleaning the limestone graves of hundreds of soldiers, their wives and the occasional...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2014/06/13/rick-nolan-minnesota-bergdahl-veterans-hospitals/10447371/

As you know, we are committed to overturning Minnesota election law that enables ineligible individuals to vote in two ways: by not determining the eligibility of election-day registrants before counting their votes, and by accepting the statements of individuals that they are eligible even when the state has records showing they are not, such as non-citizens and felons. We have spent considerable time with our attorneys refining the arguments that connect the precise text of the Minnesota Constitution (“[Ineligible] persons shall not be entitled or permitted to vote at any election in this state.”) to the statutes that in fact...