Mayor R.T. Rybak's choice of Bonnie Bleskachek as fire chief in 2005 turned out to be one of his most disastrous personnel decisions. After 14 months, Bleskachek accepted a demotion to a desk job after tales of naked hot-tub parties and retaliation against rivals spawned lawsuits and investigations. Yet Bleskachek once again hopes to climb the career ladder by becoming an arson investigator, and it turns out the city's reassurances that she wouldn't work in a firehouse or direct other firefighters didn't mean forever, Steve Brandt reports.

Unnecessary deaths and other negligence at the state-operated Minneapolis Veterans Home have created their own scandals in the past, but by most accounts the care at the nursing home has improved markedly. Yet a state investigation concluded that lax financial controls allowed an employee to steal at least $6,800 from residents, Warren Wolfe reports.

After evictions and noisy arrests Thursday morning, the confrontations over Occupy Minneapolis could continue today if Hennepin County moves to clear away tarps, blankets and other gear that have accumulated on the "People's Plaza" over the past two months, Randy Furst and Pat Pheifer report.

The brand-new Cowles Center dance venue on Hennepin Avenue has a brand-new leader, and unlike the last director, native Midwesterner Lynn Von Eschen isn't likely to be driven out of state by Minnesota Nice, Rohan Preston reports.

The obituary page also marked the passing of two notable Minneapolis figures: pioneering architect Elizabeth "Lisl" Close, a modernist designer who broke gender barriers in the profession, and retired high school biology teacher Harold Strobel, who taught generations of students at Southwest and Washburn high schools.