Free Republic

State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury, was arrested Monday morning in Detroit Lakes and booked into the Becker County Jail for suspected first-degree burglary. Detroit Lakes Police Chief Steve Todd said at 4:45 a.m. on Monday, a 911 dispatcher received a call from a homeowner on Granger Road who reported that there was a burglar inside their home. Todd said officers arrested the woman inside the home and she was identified as Mitchell. Mitchell, 49, was booked into Becker County Jail and was still listed on the jail’s roster early Monday afternoon. Mitchell was elected to the Senate in 2022 and...

That’s not constituent service. A Minnesota state senator was arrested early Monday on suspicion of first-degree burglary — hundreds of miles from her home turf. Nicole Mitchell, a 49-year-old first-term Democrat who reps the Twin Cities suburbs of Woodbury and Maplewood, was taken into custody after a homeowner called police in Detroit Lakes — 220 miles to the northwest — to report an intruder, according to local reports. Mitchell, a former TV and radio meteorologist and a commander in the Air National Guard, was booked into the Becker County Jail, where she remained as of Monday afternoon, according to online...

Jackie Rahm Little, 36, was federally charged over the week in fires at two Minneapolis mosques. MINNEAPOLIS — The man who was federally charged over the weekend in fires set at two Minneapolis mosques was previously bailed out by the Minnesota Freedom Fund, court records show. Jackie Rahm Little, 36, was apprehended Saturday night in Mankato by the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office and taken into federal custody. In addition to setting fires at the Masjid Omar Islamic Center and Mercy Islamic Center last month, Little was also identified as the suspect who vandalized the Minneapolis district office of U.S....

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter announced Wednesday a temporary policy for establishments serving indoor food or beverages. View the full order from Minneapolis here and from St. Paul here. The policy, which applies for licensed businesses at which food or drink is served indoors, will require customers to either show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative PCR or antigen test taken within 72 hours of the visit. City officials said the policy will take effect on Jan. 19. There is not an explicitly listed expiration date for the policy, but Frey said the policy...

The terrorist attacks on 9/11 impacted every single person in the United States and most people around the world. To this day, those terrorist attacks impact how we travel and our overall sense of security. All this week on "Nightcast" at 10 p.m., Chief Political Reporter Tom Hauser will look at various aspects of those attacks from a Minnesota perspective. We started on Tuesday with how 9/11 unfolded in Minnesota. On Wednesday, KSTP talked to relatives of victims of 9/11 about how their families and others are honoring their loved ones. On Thursday, we heard from a flight instructor and...

A team of journalists and a retired Woodbury police officer have followed the Jodi Huisentruit case and held a dedication ceremony in June 2018 for new billboards placed in Mason City, Iowa on what would have been her 50th birthday. The TV show “48 Hours” promises to reveal “new information” Saturday in the unsolved case of Iowa anchorwoman Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared 23 years ago. The 27-year-old Minnesota native vanished while heading to work one morning in June 1995, leaving behind evidence of a struggle in her apartment parking lot but few clues as to who assaulted her. In the...

Body cameras from a Twin Cities police department captured officers giving high-fives to a young driver after he appeared to successfully give CPR to a stunned squirrel. The video was posted Thursday afternoon to the Brooklyn Park Police Department Facebook page. In an hour of posting, it had already amassed thousands of views and hundreds of shares. Police say the officers were on routine patrol on Sept. 25 when they saw a young man bent down near the curb on the 6500 block of Hampshire Avenue. They stopped and got out of their squad car. As they approached, the officers...

The Justice Department has filed charges against a former FBI agent accusing him of leaking classified documents to a news outlet. Terry Albury, whom Minnesota Public Radioreported worked on counterterrorism matters at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, stands accused of two counts — “knowingly and willfully” transmitting national defense information to The Intercept, and refusing to hand over a document related to terrorism recruitment. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, officials filed a two-page felony information document, which the paper described as “a charging document that typically signals an imminent guilty plea.” The documents Mr. Albury is accused of giving to the...

Linwood Kaine, the youngest son of Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was charged in St. Paul, Minn., Friday for crimes police say he committed two and a half months ago at a Trump rally.The 24-year-old man was charged with concealing identity in a public space, fleeing on foot and obstructing the legal process by interfering with a peace officer. The obstruction charge alone is a gross misdemeanor and carries up to a year in prison and $3,000 fine.Kaine and five others were originally arrested March 4 on suspicion of second-degree riot following a "March 4 Trump" rally at the Minnesota State...

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has said in recent days that Minnesota is his to win, will make his first public visit to the state Sunday afternoon. “We’re going up to Minnesota which, traditionally has not been Republican at all,” Trump said at a rally in Florida. “And we’re doing phenomenally. We just saw a poll.” The Trump rally will be at 2 p.m. at the Sun Country hangar at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, located at 2005 Cargo Road. Gates will open at 11 a.m. Tickets are required and can be requested on Trump’s website....

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has indicated in recent days that he thinks Minnesota is his to win, will make his first public visit to the state Sunday. “We’re going to Minnesota,” Trump said at a rally in Florida, according to reporters who were there. Trump’s Minnesota campaign confirmed the visit. Minnesota Republican Party Chairman Keith Downey said the rally will be at 2 p.m. at the Sun Country hangar at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, according to initial information from the Trump campaign.

Amir Meshal has a fascinating history. He's originally from New Jersey, but back in 2007 he was detained and interrogated by the FBI in Kenya after escaping from Somalia. Somehow, his travels brought him to Minnesota, and to a mosque in Bloomington, which kicked him out this summer. Friday prayers bring hundreds to the Al-Farooq Youth and Family Center, which is perhaps the largest mosque in the Twin Cities. But not everyone is welcome -- not after Meshal began attending prayer and hanging out earlier this year. In June, the center called police and had Meshal, 31, removed and ticketed...

A local chapter of activist group Black Lives Matter is planning on stopping Twin Cities Marathon runners from crossing the finish line. According to a WCCO report, the protesters will form a physical barrier of people to stop runners in their tracks. Protesters told the station that the marathon is a good place to cause peaceful disruption. Some who plan on running the race said on Facebook that they were angered by the planned protest, saying it might lead to violent encounters. The protest is organized for Oct. 4 at a park about half a mile from the race's finish...

Two weeks after disrupting light rail service on the Vikings’ home opener, Black Lives Matter St. Paul plans to “disrupt” another major event – the Twin Cities Marathon. The protest, dubbed #BlackMarathon, is set to begin at 10 a.m. on Oct. 4 at Boyd Park in St. Paul. The marathon starts at 8 a.m. and is one of the ten largest marathons in the country. Black Lives Matter St. Paul announced their plans Friday in a press release posted to their Facebook page, citing what they describe as the “beating” of 15-year-old Tyree Tucker by a Saint Paul police officer...

Hundreds of people are expected to participate in a protest at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood this weekend.Pro-Life Action Ministries, as well as other pro-life organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens will protest at the St. Paul Planned Parenthood, 671 Vandalia St., Saturday, from 9-11 a.m. The protest is part of a day of protests at Planned Parenthood offices across the country.The planned demonstrations follow the recent release of undercover videos that abortion opponents claim show the trafficking of body parts harvested from aborted children. Last month, hundreds protested outside the St. Paul facility, calling for the government to cut...

Some senior buyers are already gone. Vice presidents, too. But for 13,000 other Target Corp. employees in Minnesota, there's fear that the bull's-eye is on their backs. Target jolted the Twin Cities on Tuesday when it said "several thousand" corporate staffers will be laid off in a cost-cutting move. Executives didn't say who, when or where -- although the buzz is the ax will swing freely next week. Since the news broke, reaction to Target's $2 billion cost-savings plan has been split, especially by street. On Wall Street, analysts mostly liked the plan. Target stock touched an all-time high Wednesday...

A new project from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is using computer simulated training sessions to teach doctors in Minnesota how to talk to fat kids.The nearly $500,000 study using “virtual role play” to coach doctors is the latest attempt by the federal government to combat obesity.“Obesity in the United States is at historically high levels and is an important health problem,” the grant for the project states. “Interventions targeting children are a high priority because children bear the greatest lifetime health risk from overweight and obesity.”“Health professionals in primary care settings are influential in the lives of families,”...

New! Join us for 2nd Saturday 2A Coffee & Chat! Saturday, January 12, 2013, 10:30 a.m. (metro location, see info below) A great chance to meet other like-minded people in a casual setting once per month. We meet up on the second Saturday of each month at a Twin Cities metro area coffee shop, restaurant or gathering spot. Open carry is welcomed, but not required**. This is NOT an "event" or "rally" or "protest." It's simply friends and new friends meeting for coffee. Period. LOCATION: (metro suburban location just minutes NE of DT Mpls) Given the current climate of discrimination...

Nearly one in three people with Somali ancestry in the United States live in Minnesota, although some activists claim there are more. The 1 in 3 estimate comes from new survey data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's American Community Survey says there are about 25,000 people with Somali ancestry in Minnesota and about 85,700 in the United States. The other states with large Somali populations are Ohio, Washington and California, but their communities are much smaller than Minnesota's.

Target Corp. said Monday it won't give money to gay-friendly causes to quiet the uproar over a $150,000 donation that helped support a Minnesota governor candidate who opposes gay marriage. The discount retailing giant said it was "best to wait" given the controversy stirred by its donation, which prompted Facebook calls for a boycott and scattered protests outside stores. An anti-boycott site also popped up on Facebook from conservatives supporting Target. "We believe that it is impossible to avoid turning any further actions into a political issue and will use the benefit of time to make thoughtful, careful decisions on...