Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson got a vote of confidence from the school board in the form of a $12,184 bonus, Corey Mitchell reports. See the board's statement here. Johnson acknowledged learning from the bumps along the way, some of which briefly strained her relationship with the board earlier this year. The board also chose Kim Ellison to fill the seat of departing member Lydia Lee. While the board is happy with its local leader, Minneapolis education officials have a close eye on the debate in St. Paul over the fate of millions of dollars in integration money Minneapolis and St. Paul depend upon, Mitchell reports.
An emergency cleanup crew will mop up spilled chromium discovered this week outside the soon-to-be-closed Superior Plating plant at 315 1st Av. NE, but questions remain about who will pay for it and what pollution remains, Nicole Norfleet reports.
Homeless teens will get more supportive places to go during the day and 28 more beds to sleep in at night, thanks to a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to social service organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Kevin Duchschere reports.
In 2000, two now-defunct Minneapolis pension funds won a $14.6 million judgment against financial adviser David Blaine Welliver, whom they accused of mismanaging their assets. Now he's in trouble again with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which accuses him of fraud and securities violations in a 2010 investment deal, Dan Browning reports. Firing back with his own lawsuit, Welliver blames his former chief compliance officer for the problems.
Public safety: The "man in black" robber, though clad in brighter clothing, struck again, this time at the Franklin Bank on East Lake Street, Daarel Burnette II reports. People leaving purses, wallets, computers, cell phones, iPods and other valuables in cars parked in the Phillips neighborhood are giving gifts to thieves, who have struck 46 times since mid-November, Paul Walsh reports.
