local
What’s making news in Minneapolis, reported by the Star Tribune’s team of city reporters. Send news tips to james.shiffer@startribune.com.
Posts about Public safety
Water main break cuts off service to much of downtown Minneapolis
Posted by: Steve Brandt Updated: January 3, 2013 - 4:18 PM
A major water main break in downtown Minneapolis at mid-afternoon Thursday cut off or reduced water service to downtown and a major swath of the city.
Workers were not expected to finish repairs until well into the evening after isolating the break. Traffic and buses service were rerouted.
The break was probably caused when an unidentified excavation contractor working for a utility company was working near the pipe shortly after 2 p.m., according to Marie Asgian, the city’s superintendent of water distribution. The break occurred at Hennepin and 2nd St. N., where a grocery-apartment complex is under construction. Water surged through nearby streets, and several bus routes detoured.
Workers on the scene said that an excavation bucket ruptured the main. The main is one of several major pipes carrying water across downtown to distribute through the city and caused a major impact downtown, with reports of lower pressure extending beyond Abbott Northwestern Hospital and to Lake of the Isles and University of Minnesota .
“We’ll work into the night, whatever needs to be done,” Asgian said. “Nobody is going home until this is complete.” The city said a four-block area near the break will take longer to regain service. That area is S. 2nd St.
The loss of water forced some businesses to curtail service or close temporarily. At The Crossings condominium nearer the break, workers attached a hose to a fire hydrant so the hundreds of units in the building could regain water.
The kitchen closed at The Local restaurant at S. 10th St. and Nicollet Mall, leaving the staff serving beer and wine in disposable cups. General Manager Josh Petzel said happy hour will be affected and he’d already had numerous cancellations for dinner reservations. He said his staff was able to save enough water in buckets to continue washing their hands.
Asgian said the cast-iron pipe will be repaired by cutting it and placing a sleeve over the break. She said that will happen after the break is isolated. Typically those pipes rest eight feet below the surface.
At Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis, surgeries and other operations remained on as scheduled despite the water loss thanks to a back-up system, a spokeswoman said.
The Mill City Museum closed at mid-afternoon due to the break, and residents of nearby lofts were left with little or no water.
How Minneapolis made news in 2012
Posted by: Steve Brandt Updated: December 31, 2012 - 11:09 AMOne reporter’s take on the top 10 Minneapolis-focused stories of 2012:
• A new Vikings stadium approved by the Legislature for downtown, using city-derived taxes, capping a come-from-behind challenge to a proposed Blaine site, and City Council concurs on a 7-6 vote. Deal also subsidizes Target Center renovation.
• Mayor R.T. Rybak walks away from what he’s called his dream job, meaning his tenure at City Hall will end after 12 years and setting off a scramble to succeed him.
• A fired employee shoots and fatally wounds six people at Accent Signage Systems in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood, including the company’s founder, then kills himself.
• Redevelopment surges, with plans for several ambitious housing projects downtown along with an upsurge in apartment construction along transit routes.
• Metropolitan Airports Commission blocks a proposed routing change that would have concentrated jet noise over several corridors in Minneapolis (and Edina.)
• Hiawatha power line is ordered buried under E. 28th St., ending fears that it would mar the Midtown Greenway, and the extra cost is spread over all ratepayers, rather than just those in the city.
• Failure of plates anchoring cables for the Martin Olav Sabo bike-ped bridge detours traffic for several days on Hiawatha Avenue and disrupts bike commuting on the greenway for months.
• Enrollment of white students in Minneapolis schools rises for the first time in at least 35 years and the dawn of the desegregation era.
• Nizzel George, age 5, is gunned down in his sleep on a sofa in a North Side home, culminating a series of drive-by shootings.
• Police and fire chiefs both turn over in Minneapolis, with Janeé Harteau succeeding retiring Tim Dolan, and John Fruetel following Alex Jackson, who retires under pressure from the City Council.
Other notable developments:
School Supt. Bernadeia Johnson is named to a new three-year term when her first one expires on June 30, making her the district’s first two-term chief since Carol Johnson.
Police accumulation of license plate data draws numerous data requests, including from a rep man, and prompts the city to ask for a temporary classification of the data as private until the Legislature acts on its status.
Portland and Park avenues are converted to two-lane streets in a development that frustrates drivers but gives bikers extra space.
Haven’t we done this before? Long Election Day lines form at several precincts, with equipment malfunctions ranging from pens to ballots, and the first results aren’t available until hours after everywhere else in the state, and the final results take several days.
No-sort recycling is adopted by the city, with some households getting their bins now and others in the spring. All recyclables go in one bin, a system some suburbs adopted years ago.
Most city high school students switch to Go-To cards on Metro Transit,
Downtown rowdiness and shootings forced a police and licensing crackdown, with two clubs surrendering their liquor licenses.
Peavey Plaza will get a makeover that historic preservationists decry, including a city commission, but the Minnesota Orchestral Association wants it and the City Council falls in line.
The school district gets its first scratch-built headquarters ever, bringing hundreds of workers to W. Broadway Avenue.
Minneapolis City Council nixes a proposed Hennepin County service hub on W. Broadway Avenue after the community objects to it for drawing thousands of poor people.
Walker Community Church goes up in smoke in a fire that is ruled accidental but injures five firefighters, one of them severely.
A proliferation of new taprooms slakes the city’s thirst for microbrews, while Surly explores a southeast Minneapolis site.
Block E gets even lonelier as its movie theater closes down. But that doesn’t stop its political architect, lobbyist and former City Council President Jackie Cherryhomes, from announcing a comeback bid for mayor.
The school board goes unconventional, contracting for a self-governed school and a third charter school in educator Eric Mahmoud’s empire, both on the North Side.
Civilian review of alleged police misconduct is weakened in Minneapolis with the scrapping of the Civilian Review Authority. The review job turned over to a new agency dominated by police.
Some notable departures:
City Coordinator Steven Bosacker leaves the job, where he instituted statistical results measurement, to see the world.
Gregg Stubbs, named to replace Rocco Forte, who resigned before an investigation into his conduct was finished, leaves himself after only nine months on the job.
Tim Dolan, the retiring police chief, will work with the gun control lobby and chair the mayoral campaign committee for Council Member Don Samuels.
In memoriam:
Marv Davidoff, activist par excellance
Lauren Maker, political activist
Doug Davis, longtime teacher and union activist
Larry Harris, school lobbyist and civil rights champ
Robert T. Smith, Tribune columnist and city editor
Fire captain wins $420,000 verdict in retaliation suit
Posted by: Randy Furst Updated: December 20, 2012 - 5:16 PMA captain in the Minneapolis Fire department, who alleged she was demoted for criticizing a previous fire chief, won a $420,000 verdict from a federal jury in St. Paul on Thursday.
Jean Kidd, 53, who was removed as deputy fire chief by then-Fire Chief Alex Jackson in 2009, said Thursday she was “thrilled" by the decision and grateful that the jury believed her.
She had answered a survey conducted by the city to evaluate Jackson in which she criticized his management of the department. She and her lawyers contended that Jackson detected her writing style and moved her back to a captain’s position.
“We respect the jury process but were disappointed with the verdict,” said Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal. “….We continue to believe that our former chief acted in good faith.”
Amid criticism from City Council members over his management of the department, Jackson retired in February.
City Pages to implement stricter ad policies
Posted by: Nicole Norfleet Updated: December 19, 2012 - 4:45 PMCity Pages and a dozen other alternative weeklies across the country are implementing stricter standards for their advertisements after a company split with controversial ad website Backpage.com.
In a post dated Wednesday, but made public the day before, Will Bourne, the new editor of The Village Voice, said that his paper along with the other weeklies "across the entire Voice Media Group chain" are implementing stricter standards in an effort "to make sure that our advertising is as ethical as possible." The policies will come "at no small cost to the bottom line of our young enterprise," Bourne wrote. Jaimen Sfetko, a spokesman for Voice Media Group, said Wednesday afternoon that the changes would be "effective immediately" at all of the group's publications including City Pages.
In September, parent company Village Voice Media split with a group of its executives, buying out City Pages and 12 other weeklies and forming Voice Media Group. The company's founders will operate Backpage as an independent entity. Backpage has been heavily criticized by activists and authorities for classified ads on its adult-ad section that have been linked to child sex trafficking.
According to Bourne, the new policies include: all direct advertisers must provide ID proving that they are over the age of 18, all agency advertisers must contract that every client in their ads is over the age of 18 and that all photos are of actual clients and all advertisers must submit to the publications that they do not conduct illegal activity. New rules also forbid suggestive language and allow only headshots in adult ads. Any advertiser known to engage in illegal activities will be permanently blacklisted from doing business with the papers.
Chicago man arrested in south Minneapolis murder
Posted by: Randy Furst Updated: December 14, 2012 - 10:51 AMA 29-year-old man was arrested Thursday in Chicago for the shooting murder of a St. Paul man whose body was found in an alley in south Minneapolis in the early morning hours of Nov. 7.
Steven John Williams of Chicago was picked up on a arrest warrant after second degree intentional murder charges were filed on Wednesday, according to a Minneapolis Police Department news release.
Williams is accused of killing Michael Hayden, 29. Hayden and Williams knew each other and were having a dispute over the alleged theft of money, according to information gathered by Minneapolis homicide investigators Ann Kjos and Luis Porras, the news release said.
Police from the Third Precinct were first alerted to the shooting when they responded to a report of the sound of gunfire in the 2100 block of 10th Av. South just before 3 a.m. on Nov. 7, a Wednesday.
When officers arrived, they found Hayden’s body in an alley between 10th and 11th Aves., the victim of gunshot wounds. Police located surveillance video from a McDonald's retaurant and a witness account that placed the Williams and Hayden together just before the homicide occurred.
The Hennepin County attorney’s office filed criminal charges against Williams on Wednesday and an arrest warrant was issued. Police said Williams is in custody in Chicago.
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- Water main break cuts off service to much of downtown Minneapolis
- Chair wants better budgeting rationale
- Precedent opposes council-to-mayor ascension
- Andrew weighs bid for mayor
- How Minneapolis made news in 2012
- Don Samuels exploring bid for Minneapolis mayor
- Reaction to Mayor Rybak's decision not to run again
- Mpls. Mayor Rybak says he's not running for re-election next year
- Gagnon will get little sleep handling 2013 duties
- New finance chief seeks balanced school budget
- Judge tosses wrongful death suit against city
- Mpls. fire captain wins $420,000 verdict in retaliation suit
- Storm sewers get a robotic review
- Supreme Court reinstates part of tax claim
- City Pages to implement stricter ad policies
- Rybak backs new gun laws, slams violent media
- Mpls. license plate tracking data under wraps -- for now
- Rybak forms state PAC
Post By Category
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters