Despite what Mayor Jacob Frey might say, restaurants in Minneapolis do not appear to be coping well with his new vaccine and testing regime. Data on restaurant bookings in the…
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted last week about how on the first Friday of his new vaccine and testing regime (Jan. 21), his phone had “been flooded with pictures of…
For those following at home, the links, key dates, and key events included below provide a road map to the story, as it has unfolded. Not one person has been…
Collections of a hospitality-specific city tax were down by 81 percent last spring. No doubt, hotels, bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues in the City of Minneapolis have suffered in the…
It’s been nearly a week since the FBI raided the offices of the Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Since then, there have been no further developments in the case. Could…
On Jan. 15, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced a mandate requiring proof of vaccinations or negative tests for entry into food or drink establishments in the city beginning Jan. 19.…
From time to time, local Minnesota media will mention how deserted downtown Minneapolis has become. The local CBS affiliate, WCCO, ran a story today under the headline, ‘It’s Just a…
The City of Minneapolis is undertaking an experiment with universal basic income (UBI), paying households $500 per month for two years, no strings attached. The program will run from the…
The lame-duck chief prosecutor for Minnesota’s largest county continues to justify his unique approach to public safety. Citing statistics on caseload, prosecutions and convictions, Mike Freeman defended the work of…
The growing crime wave in the suburban Twin Cities metro area has pushed area leaders into alternating bouts of finger-pointing and pledges of cooperation. In the past two weeks, Minnesota’s…
Now that 2021 has (finally) rolled off the board, we can begin to total up the damage. St. Paul recorded 38 homicides, a new record for the city in a…
The mayor of Minnetonka has joined fellow suburban mayors in calling for more prosecution of non-violent property crimes. Mayor Brad Wiersum is calling for assistance from the Hennepin County Attorney,…
Five suburban Minnesota cities have banded together to fight surging crime in their communities, especially carjacking. And the first thing that they are asking for is help from their county…
There have been 610 carjackings reported in Minneapolis so far in 2021 with nary a response. But it took only a handful of such crimes committed in nearby suburbs for…
The epidemic of carjackings in Minneapolis has now spilled over into the adjacent suburbs. As Minneapolis is approaching 500 carjackings for the calendar year, car thieves are looking for new…
The verdict, as they say, is still out on whether Minnesota has turned the corner on its current crime epidemic. It was announced today that Medaria Arradondo, Minneapolis police chief…
A review of this month’s Minneapolis mayoral election shows voters gaming the RCV system. Earlier this week, the Star Tribune reported on some interesting analyses of this year’s election, which…
Minneapolis has now had four ranked-choice voting (RCV) elections and some patterns are emerging. The Nov. 2 general election was the fourth since 2009 to use the method, also known…
“Minneapolis is a city steeped in a rich heritage of progressive politics.” So wrote a researcher in 1995. We saw a sign of that progress this week. Last August,…
Last month, I noted that business leaders in St. Paul were pleading with the city government to act to halt the rise in violent crime in the city. Minneapolis, too, is also…
According to the November rent report from Apartment List, rents in Minneapolis are falling faster than many peer cities nationally, including Miami, Denver, Chicago, Baltimore and Atlanta. Rents for a two…
Elected officials in Minneapolis don’t seem to understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch. That’s why their idea of assisting small businesses hurt or destroyed in…
In what should have been a headline in The Onion or the Babylon Bee, and not the Star Tribune, the City of Minneapolis delayed the rebuilding of businesses destroyed by…
The killing of George Floyd by a former Minneapolis police officer sparked massive, peaceful demonstrations where people aired legitimate grievances about the use of force by officers. It also resulted…