Free Republic

Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson said Wednesday he is attending a meeting with President Obama designed to help mend frayed ties between law enforcement and the communities they serve. “We are at the @WhiteHouse right now for a 3-hour convening w/ President Obama re: the recent events in #BatonRouge & across the country,” Mckesson tweeted Wednesday. Mckesson wrote he will be joined by fellow activist Brittany Packnett and Minneapolis-based Black Lives Matter leader Mica Grimm. The president is sitting down with nearly three-dozen law enforcement officials, civil rights leaders, educators and local politicians at the White House in...

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said this morning that he does not support a controversial effort to build a $28.5 million levee at the St. Paul Downtown Airport. His decision could potentially kill a nearly 10-year effort by the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to protect the airport from periodic flooding.

In exit interviews with both Pioneer Press city hall reporter Tim Nelson and the editorial page, outgoing St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly made the case that he's turning over an economically healthy city to incoming Mayor Chris Coleman. We'd agree. But like any politician who's just been elected, Coleman has promises to keep. The one that's keeping us up at night — and half the St. Paul business community — is the living wage. St. Paul already has a living wage, but like many around the country it is only advisory and the city can grant exemptions. Advocates are pushing...

Less than 48 hours after Chris Coleman was swept into office, Progressive Minnesota Executive Director Ryan Greenwood was on the phone, trying to revive efforts to pass a living-wage law in St. Paul. One of Greenwood's main obstacles to the proposal was removed this week with Mayor Randy Kelly's crushing electoral defeat, and Greenwood saw an opportunity. He is not alone. Coleman's victory Tuesday has emboldened a City Council majority and progressive interests that are getting ready to push an aggressive agenda early in the new mayor's term. Proposals that Kelly sidetracked are being given new life, and changes for...

ST PAUL MAYOR Total Number of Precincts 104 Precincts Reporting 69 Total Votes 17902 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BILL DAHN 35 GLEN MANSFIELD 27 RANDY C. KELLY 4816 SHARON ANDERSON 153 CHRIS COLEMAN 9172 NICK TSCHIDA 92 ELIZABETH DICKINSON 3582 JACOB PERASSO 25