BY KAY SCHROVEN Changes Ten months into his position as the 54th chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, Brian O’Hara is encouraged, especially about the recent restructuring of the department. He is also acutely aware of the challenges the MPD faces. O’Hara accepted the position knowing he would be walking…
BY AMY BLUMENSHINE On the recent anniversary of 9/11, over a hundred people came to hear whistleblower and former British ambassador Craig Murray at the Hook and Ladder. A Scotsman and career diplomat for the United Kingdom, Murray had been ambassador to Uzbekistan as our “Global War on Terror” was…
BY KATHRYN KELLY On a recent beautiful Sunday afternoon I took a drive around the Nokomis-Hiawatha neighborhood. Nokomis Park has numerous softball fields along Cedar Avenue, but they were empty and unused. The plentiful tennis courts in the neighborhood were also unused except for one of five courts on 43rd…
BY ELAINE KLAASSEN The book of John Karrigan’s Powderhorn Birdwatch columns is finally in print. Those who never read Birdwatch in the newspaper and fans alike can now read John’s original take on life in its many forms while enjoying an enchanting visual book. John Karrigan lived on 15th Avenue…
BY ED FELIEN Frey’s budget Mayor Frey is proposing a $1.8 billion budget for 2024, with a property tax increase of 6.2%. Where does all that money go? Mostly to the suburbs to pay staff to come in here and tell us what’s wrong with us. Consent of the governed?…
BY CAM GORDON A new report released this spring by the Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization Global Rights for Women confirms that the city’s response to domestic violence calls continues to fall short. The report, “An Institutional Analysis of the Minneapolis Police Response to Domestic Violence,” was presented to the Community Commission on…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Whither George Floyd Square? In May, the Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder wrote about George Floyd Square, the headline stating that it “remains a work in progress.” That is certainly true. The opening sentence of the piece is a bit more controversial: “In the three years since the murder…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE I found myself visiting Kowalski’s, the one on Chicago Avenue they call the Parkview store, after a long absence. In those occasional rankings of local grocery stories, Kowalski’s comes out as a paradox. When considering prices, it is the most expensive chain of grocery stores in…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Cafes and coffee shops I visited a couple of places on Selby Avenue but barely scraped the surface of the classic or quirky coffee shops, patisseries and breakfast cafes that dot the length of Selby. In a single day, a friend and I had lunch at…
BY MARQUISE BOWIE It’s the George Floyd Square to the world. Known as 38th and Chicago to us locals. The most highly publicized murder scene in recent years. Ground zero of a national movement. To visitors in Minneapolis, that’s all they know about the area. To us, it’s home. A…
BY ELINA KOLSTAD There are encouraging signs on the affordable housing front. On Aug. 10, the city of Minneapolis agreed to send $5 million annually to the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), a fivefold increase of the current funding level, for the preservation and production of affordable housing units. This…
BY ED FELIEN How to stage a coup: send wackos in to disrupt the government, then send in the military to restore order, then promise new elections. Trump got the first part right, but he couldn’t follow through. Once his loonies established chaos in Congress, Trump should have sent in…
BY STEPHANIE FOX In a Franklin Avenue strip mall devoted to serving members of the Minnesota Native American community is a quiet, shaded patio with a new addition – a Little Free Library. This particular library is unique to Minneapolis, filled with books written by Native American authors or with…
BY JOHNNY HAZARD “The government needs to decide if it’s on the side of the army or on the side of the truth.” – Parent of one of the disappeared students Sept. 26 marks the ninth anniversary of the forced disappearance of 43 education students of the Escuela Normal Raúl…
BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE Openings, closings and pivots There are two Minneapolis closings to announce: Psycho Suzi’s tiki lounge cocktail club in Northeast Minneapolis, and the vegan restaurant Seed Cafe, attached to Modo Yoga on West Lake Street. Also, The Good Earth, a trailblazer in healthy dining when it opened…
