Free Republic

A Shakopee couple pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday in what authorities characterized as a wide-ranging, multimillion-dollar income tax refund scheme that preyed on immigrants in Minnesota and Florida. Mark Arlin Hammerschmidt pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and has agreed to cooperate with authorities investigating the scam. He faces up to nine years in prison. He also agreed to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution to victims.... ark Hammerschmidt obtained official identification papers for the Guatemalan victims and used them to obtain taxpayer identification numbers, then filed multiple years’ worth of fake tax returns in their names supported with...

A resolution to honor the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks each year at the University of Minnesota was rejected by the student government there, with some students expressing concern that such a measure could foster “Islamaphobia.” The resolution noted that the attack still has a lasting effect on many on campus, and “the events of that date are of immeasurable importance to the world we live in today,” and that the university has no formal memorial for that date on campus. It called for a moment of recognition on the morning of Sept. 11, 2016, and every year to...

Black Lives Matter protesters shut down a Minneapolis interstate Monday evening, a day after the police shooting of Jamar Clark, who later died. About 200 to 300 people took part in the protest, which closed traffic on Interstate 94 for about three hours Monday night, said Lt. Tiffani Schweigart, spokeswoman for the Minnesota State Police. Fifty-one people were arrested. Earlier Monday, Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges asked the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office to open a civil rights investigation into the shooting.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton isn't objecting to the possible placement of Syrian refugees in his state as long as they undergo rigorous screening first. Dayton released a statement Monday saying he's been assured by the White House that any refugees from the war-torn country would be "subject to the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States."

A Burnsville DFLer's campaign for the state House abruptly ended Sunday morning within hours of him posting on social media that ISIS "isn't necessarily evil" and is "made up of people doing what they think is best for their community." The Twitter posting Saturday by Dan Kimmel, coming as the world's emotions remain raw from Friday's terror attacks in Paris, brought swift rebuke from others on Twitter. House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, called for Kimmel to give up his campaign. "I'm folding up the campaign tent," Kimmel told the Star Tribune. He later issued a written apology and called...

[Snip]...On Tuesday, November 10, the Minnesota Student Association (MSA) — the undergraduate student government at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UMN) — rejected a resolution for a moment of recognition on future anniversaries of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks…."I am well aware that 9/11 was a devastating tragedy but I am also fearful for the welfare of our Muslim and Middle Eastern students on campus, of which I identify with."

A Democratic candidate for Minnesota state representative is ending his campaign because of backlash to a post he made on social media about the Islamic State. Dan Kimmel, a software developer and self-described "business process expert" from Burnsville, Minn., posted a tweet Saturday night that said "ISIS isn't necessarily evil. It is made up of people doing what they think is best for their community. Violence is not the answer, though." His tweet came a day after attacks in Paris left 128 dead and at least 350 injured. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Kimmel has since deleted the statement and...

A Hennepin County judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against organizers of the massive Black Lives Matter protest at the Mall of America in Bloomington last Christmas season. The leaders of the protest, which drew more than 2,000 people to the mall on Dec. 20, had faced misdemeanor charges of aiding and abetting trespass, aiding and abetting unlawful assembly, and aiding and abetting disorderly conduct. In a 137-page decision, Chief Judge Peter Cahill dismissed all charges against the 11 organizers, while keeping in place trespass charges against 17 individual protesters.

A new survey of Minnesota voters shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton trails a handful of GOP candidates in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. Clinton's failure to fend off challenges in the Midwestern blue state - ranked the second most liberal state in the union in 2014 - shows just how much the Democratic juggernaut may be struggling. Ben Carson leads Clinton 50-41 percent in the KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, Florida Sen Marco Rubio wins 47-41, Carly Fiorina bests Clinton 45-41, and Donald Trump has a three percentage point edge on Clinton too, 45-42. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, whose poll numbers have dropped...

In a feministic attempt to be hip, the Hillary Clinton campaign decided to do something “fun” and ask Democratic senators – all female of course – to hold up signs with their answers to questions about the Democratic presidential candidate front-runner.  It’s sort of like, remember how Michelle Obama held a sign with the #bringbackourgirls in an effort to “fight back” at the terrorist group Boko Haram that kidnapped hundreds of girls from a Nigerian school? As if that would make any difference at all.  This entire exercise is sort of like that, only much lamer. Besides, what better way...

Before the Russian Airbus 321 was blown apart 30,000 feet over the Sinai by what a growing consensus of intelligence experts believe to be a bomb planted by a passenger or airport worker, a man who would later fight and die for the Islamic State (IS) worked at the Minneapolis airport with security clearance and access to the tarmac and aircraft. It could have happened here. It may yet. As Investor’s Business Daily reported in September, 2014: Fox affiliate KMSP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul has reported the case of Abdirahmaan Muhumed, who, before he went to Syria to fight and die...

4 of 6 Hamtramck City Council members are Muslim The Polish flocked to Hamtramck in the 1900s and evidence of the city's Polish roots remain. However, over the last few decades a new wave of immigrants, primarily from the Middle East, South Asia and Southeastern Europe, has dramatically changed the face and culture of this community. Now, the Hamtramck City Council is going to reflect that diversity. "We are very proud and we are very happy for that achievement, what we have done in this city, for our city," said Jamal Alturki, a voter. Voters gave Abu Musa and Anam...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target (TGT) plans to close 13 stores nationwide, including one in New Ulm and two others in Milwaukee and Superior, Wisconsin. The Minneapolis-based retailer says a decision to close a store usually follows several years of decreasing profitability. The retail giant plans to close the stores on Jan. 30, 2016. Target was hurt by a massive credit-card breach before Christmas 2013 that sent shoppers temporarily fleeing. The company also botched a major expansion into Canada and pulled the plug on that earlier this year. Layoffs in 2015 included 2,500 jobs, or about one-fifth of the workers in the...

Minnesota Media Poll Shows Donald Trump on Top and Defeating Hillary - Outlet Promptly Deletes Their own Findings... Posted on November 3, 2015 by sundance The operational arm of the DNC, or perhaps Senator Al Frankin, must have been urgently dispatched to contact KTSP (ABC 5) News in Minnesota after they published results from their sponsored SurveyUSA poll?survey... Why? Because they deleted the lead in paragraph only moments after posting it. Their survey finds Donald Trump perceived to be the most likely nominee amid all of the survey respondents: * Trump 26% * Carson 19% * Rubio 16% * Bush...

It can take years to get the recipe just right. Thirteen-year-old Lucas Hobbs has a head start. He's already figured out the secret ingredient to a happy life. Hobbs knows what it's like to lean on others for help. "When I was at the hospital, people, like our neighbors and stuff, would bring us food," Lucas said. In January, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. "He went through chemotherapy, radiation ... it was really tough," his father said. When the Make-A-Wish Foundation approached Hobbs, the young teenager knew right away he wanted to work in a food truck. "I love...

<p>January 28, 2004 -- Al Franken is a big fat blabbermouth, and now he thinks he's Hulk Hogan. OK, maybe not that fat.</p> <p>But a blabbermouth for sure - and now he's unleashed a new weapon: the body slam.</p> <p>At a Howard Dean campaign stop in New Hampshire Monday, Franken lost control of himself when lunatic-fringe acolytes of Lyndon LaRouche began heckling the former Vermont governor.</p>

Donald Trump might finally have crossed the line. Appearing on Saturday at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, the real estate mogul took his running feud with Arizona Sen. John McCain to a new level. “He’s not a war hero,” said Trump. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” The remarks, which came after days of back-and-forth between McCain and Trump, were met with scattered boos.

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) — A suspect in a domestic incident who was being treated at a Minnesota hospital grabbed a gun from a sheriff's deputy and killed the officer early Sunday, prompting hospital security officers to subdue the suspect with a stun gun, authorities said. After the suspect was taken into custody he died, despite efforts by medical personnel to revive him.

A Somali Muslim Metro Transit driver, 32-year-old Mahmud Dabshir Aden of Minneapolis, who came to the U.S. as a ‘refugee’ from Somalia 8 years ago, was arrested by Metro Transit Police for refusing to let a pregnant teenage girl off the bus, exposing himself, and demanding oral sex, according to the criminal complaint filed.Star Tribune /TopRightNews Aden was charged with soliciting for prostitution, a felony that carries a sentence of as much as 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $50,000. He is being held pending his next court appearance Monday afternoon. (That’s all? He exposed himself to...

The number of Africans trapped in poverty has surged by around 100 million over the past quarter century, the World Bank said on Friday, despite years of economic growth and multi-million dollar aid programs. The report's figures, described as "staggering" by the bank's Africa head Makhtar Diop, showed widespread malnutrition, and rising violence against civilians, particularly in central regions and the Horn of Africa. "It is projected that the world's extreme poor will be increasingly concentrated in Africa," Diop added in a foreword. A surge in population meant the proportion of Africans in poverty had actually fallen since 1990, but...