The Cities Blog

MPD honors officers living, dead and furry
The Minneapolis Police Department has observed National Police Week with ceremonies honoring officers who’ve risked their lives and lost them in the line of duty. Earlier this week,  some of the 23 officers who responded to the Accent Signage mass shooting, which left six people dead last year, received Medals of Valor.  At the awards…
Being Latino in Minnesota
Chicano, Latin@, Mestizo, Boriqua, American, Sudaca, Xicana. Mom, entrepreneur, community builder, multilingual, student, adventurer, optimist. We’ve been asking Latinos around the state to tell us how they identify themselves and these are just some of the words they’ve chosen. According to the Census, Hispanics are the fastest growing group in the United States and in Minnesota. MPR News…
St. Paul dresses in gay pride colors
Tim Nelson reports this morning that St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman is issuing a proclamation temporarily renaming the city’s landmark Wabasha Street Freedom Bridge the “Wabasha Street Freedom to Marry Bridge.” The executive order comes as the state Senate is preparing to vote to make same sex marriage legal in the state, just days after…
New director of Minneapolis VA Health Care System
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced the appointment of Patrick Kelly as the new director of the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. He assumes the leadership of a massive institution, with an operating budget of $594 million and more than 100,000 veteran patients. Here’s more on Kelly from the VA press release: “Mr. Kelly has served…
Hennepin County has won an award for stripping its website of legal jargon and government speak. The Center for Plain Language honored the county with two 2013 ClearMark awards last month in Washington D.C. HennCo has come a long way. Here’s how it used to advise visitors of the rules at the Minnetonka Home School:…
Police: gun burglars looking for signs of firearms
Law enforcement officials say members of a north Minneapolis street gang are looking to burglarize homes that appear to contain guns.  According to a search warrant request filed recently in Hennepin County District Court by investigators with the FBI Safe Streets Violent Gang Task Force, members of the Loud Pack gang, “target homes with American…
James Beard awards overlook Twin Cities restos
The second wave of James Beard Foundation awards were handed out last night in New York City, but unlike Friday, when Twin Cities based Andrew Zimmern was among the winners, the awards went elsewhere on the culinary map. Restaurateurs Michelle Gayer of “Salty Tart,” and Jack Riebel, of “Butcher & the Boar” had been finalists…
Check out the view of the soon-to-be St. Croix Bridge between Minnesota and Wisconsin. MnDOT has cameras trained on the site, which is already under construction. Crews are building the staging area for the bridge foundations on the Minnesota riverbank. They’re also preparing for road construction on Highways 36 and 95. Workers are also  inspecting…
Men step up at St Paul anti-human trafficking event
Breaking Free (a group that provides housing, education and job training for women and girls who have been sexually exploited) held its second two-day event to raise awareness of human trafficking yesterday and today.  The first conference was in 2011. This year the group partnered with the Minnesota Men’s Action Network, and that organization’s co-founder,…