Author: Steve Karnowski
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Attorneys in ex-cop’s trial probe jurors’ views about police
MINNEAPOLIS • Attorneys in the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death probed potential jurors Wednesday about their attitudes toward police, trying to determine whether they’re more inclined to believe testimony from law enforcement over evidence from other witnesses to the fatal confrontation. Judge Peter Cahill seated two more jurors…
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Minneapolis approves cuts of $8M to police budget
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget early Thursday that will shift about $8 million from the police department toward violence prevention and other programs — but will keep the mayor’s targeted staffing levels for sworn officers intact, averting a possible veto. Mayor Jacob Frey, who had threatened to veto the…
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Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises change
MINNEAPOLIS • The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle…
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Man pleads guilty to kidnapping Jayme Closs, killing parents
BARRON, Wis. • A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Wednesday to kidnapping 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killing her parents, in a move that spares the girl held captive in a remote cabin for three months from the possible trauma of having to testify at his trial. Jake Patterson, 21, sniffled and his voice caught as he…
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St. Paul archdiocese to pay $210M to clergy abuse victims
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis announced a $210 million settlement Thursday with 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse as part of its plan for bankruptcy reorganization, making this the second-largest payout in the scandal that rocked the nation’s Roman Catholic Church. Victims’ attorney Jeff Anderson said the money, a…
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Storm system spawns tornado in Arkansas, blizzards in Plains
MINNEAPOLIS — A potent spring storm system that’s expected to persist through the weekend raked across the Midwest, spawning at least one tornado in Arkansas as blizzard conditions blanketed much of the Northern Plains. A tornado ripped through the tiny Ozark Mountain town of Mountainburg, Arkansas, injuring at least four people and causing widespread damage…
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Chief: Australian woman shot by cop ‘did not have to die’
MINNEAPOLIS — An Australian woman should not have been shot to death by a Minneapolis police officer responding to her 911 call and the officer’s actions “go against who we are in the department,” the city’s police chief said. In her first public remarks on the killing, Chief Janee Harteau on Thursday defended Officer Mohamed…
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Minneapolis police chief resigns in wake of officer shooting
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police Chief Janee Harteau resigned Friday at the request of the mayor, who said she lost confidence in the chief following last week’s shooting death of an unarmed Australian woman by a police officer. In a statement released Friday, Harteau said: “I’ve decided I am willing to step aside to let a…
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WATCH: Dashcam video shows officer firing 7 shots into Castile car
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota police officer who pulled over Philando Castile politely told the driver that his brake lights were out and calmly instructed him not to pull out his handgun before suddenly drawing his own weapon and firing seven rounds into the car, a video released Tuesday showed. The dashboard video taken from St.…
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Officer acquitted in Castile shooting; thousands protest
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota police officer was cleared Friday in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist whose death captured national attention when his girlfriend streamed the grim aftermath on Facebook. Castile’s family stormed out of the courtroom after the verdict was read, and the city of St. Anthony swiftly…