Olson’s Cheers & Jeers: A new St. Paul City Council member with courage

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Molly Coleman is one to watch, since she long ago showed a willingness to take on the powerful. As a second-year law student at Harvard in 2018, Coleman was an author on a letter in the student newspaper that asked whether Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh would continue to teach in light of sexual assault allegations raised during his confirmation hearing. At that point, Kavanaugh had taught at Harvard for a decade, but the school ended his employment the following semester. Let’s hope Coleman keeps posing uncomfortable questions throughout her nascent political career. Every level of government could benefit from fearless questioning of the status quo.

We finally have a permanent commissioner for the office. But there’s low supply and few opportunities to purchase, especially in and around the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota. Those seeking to buy medicinal marijuana have plenty of options, but the rest of us have to make a day trip of it, as evidenced by the Minnesota Star Tribune’s homegrown cannabis map. The new commissioner is already on the job and should be able to get this operation running smoothly so we don’t have prevail upon friends in Chicago and Colorado for supplies.

Generally, but especially this week for collaring a black wolf for the first time in 11 years. Black wolves are common in parts of North America, but not in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem, the boreal forest where the project tracks wolves in and near Voyageurs National Park, hard against the Canadian border. The collared young black wolf is a beauty, and we can now learn its travel patterns. After collaring, the wolf already was quickly on the move, headed eastbound near the Echo Trail and out of the Voyageurs ecosystem. The project reports there’s never been a black wolf in the current 19 packs it’s tracking. We can’t wait to see what surprises await in the tracking of this unusual visitor.

Hennepin County’s legal payout to former Assistant County Attorney Amy Sweasy was the second payout to Sweasy, who received $190,000 in 2022 after filing a sex discrimination complaint with the state Department of Human Rights. Before this mess with the bosses, Sweasy was a strategic and savvy trial prosecutor, a leader in the office. Her workplace troubles began under former County Attorney Mike Freeman and continued under Mary Moriarty. Both Freeman and Moriarty claimed differences of opinion with Sweasy over prosecutorial decisions. OK, but isn’t debating decisions part of the job of running such an office, and shouldn’t the elected leaders do better? The county claimed the settlement with Sweasy was made to avoid the uncertainty of a jury trial, but it’s a hefty sum that signaled her complaints carried weight. Most unfortunate in this dispute is that the county lost the experience and skill of a veteran prosecutor at the peak of her career. Freeman and Moriarty should have cleaned up the mess before it reached a cumulative payout approaching $2 million. Cheers to Sweasy for pursuing the lawsuit and to her attorney, Sonia Miller-Van Oort, who has an impressive and long streak of wins on behalf of employees.

Louie Conn and Blaize Shiek made their U.S. Bank Stadium debut at the first home preseason game last Saturday and were a hit with fans in person and on social media. Both men are longtime students of dance who broke the gender barrier on their high school and college programs in their native states. Conn was a dancer at Iowa State. Shiek made North Dakota State’s dance team as a freshman. Congratulations to these gentlemen and to the Vikings for embracing gender diversity on the dance team.