GEORGE FLOYD-PROTESTS-SETTLEMENTS

Minneapolis agrees to pay $1.2M to people injured by police

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council has approved $1.2 million in legal settlements with two people injured by police during protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of officers in 2020. Minnesota Public Radio reports that settlements with St. Paul resident Virgil Lee Jackson Jr. and Nashville freelance photographer Linda Tirado mean the city has agreed to pay a total of $5.4 million to people injured by police in May 2020. The council on Thursday approved a settlement of $645,000 for Jackson and $600,000 for Tirado. An officer shocked Jackson with a Taser in a parking lot. Tirado lost the sight in her left eye while covering a protest.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR-FREE NEWSPAPER

Publisher wants to give away newspaper, travel to Ukraine

LAFAYETTE, Minn. (AP) — The owner of a rural weekly newspaper in southern Minnesota is looking to give his publication away so he can join Americans helping in Ukraine. Minnesota Public Radio reports that Lafayette-Nicollet Ledger owner and publisher Lee Zion is willing to dig trenches, teach school or fight in Ukraine. Before he leaves, he wants to give the newspaper away for free. Zion produces the newspaper by himself for about 500 subscribers and wants to make sure a person committed to local journalism takes over. He says the towns he covers would suffer if the newspaper disappeared.

PROGRAM DROPPED

Minnesota Public Radio drops investigative program

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Public Radio has shut down its long-running investigative program “APM Reports.” The Star Tribune reports executives informed employees of the decision on Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear how many members of the 18-member program might be reassigned and how many could be dismissed. The St. Paul-based “APM Reports” ran for nearly seven years. It specialized in long-form investigative journalism. Its podcast, “In the Dark,” won Peabody awards for its coverage of the kidnapping and murder of 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling and Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same crime.

WAREHOUSE FIRE-PLEA

Man pleads guilty to starting St. Paul warehouse fire

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Golden Valley man has pleaded guilty to starting a fire that consumed four vacant warehouses in St. Paul last year. The Pioneer Press reports that 19-year-old Luis Adrian Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday to three years of probation after entering his plea to a charge of starting a negligent fire-value of property $2,500 or more. Prosecutors dropped a felony arson charge against him. According to court documents, Rodriguez told police he and his friends were exploring the buildings and he used a lighter to set an envelope and a box on fire and the flames quickly spread out of control.

AP-US-SANFORD-INVESTIGATION

No state charge for billionaire Sanford in child porn probe

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota attorney general’s office is not charging billionaire and philanthropist T. Denny Sanford with any crimes following an investigation into the potential possession of child pornography. The state prosecutor’s decision was made public in a court filing Friday. Sanford is a philanthropist who made his fortune in banking, and has given billions to hospitals, universities and charities. South Dakota investigators in 2019 began searching his email account, as well as his cellular and internet service providers, for possible possession of child pornography. Sanford’s lawyer has said the investigation revealed that his client’s email accounts were hacked. The Department of Justice declined to comment when asked if Sanford remains under federal investigation.

CHANCELLOR SEARCH

Failed search for UMD chancellor cost $166,000

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The failed search for a new University of Minnesota-Duluth chancellor cost $166,000. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Thursday that University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel announced on Monday that none of the three finalists invited for interviews got the job. The university began a national search for a new Duluth chancellor in November after Lendley Black announced his retirement after 12 years leading the campus. The university hired search firm Korn Ferry, paying the firm $166,000 to consult. The finalist included a vice chancellor from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a provost from California State University-Chico and an officer with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gabel didn't explain in her announcement why no finalist was selected.

AP-US-CELEBRATING-SPARKY-CHARLES-SCHULZ-AT-100

A good man: Exhibits honor 'Peanuts' creator Schulz on 100th

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — New exhibits at museums in Ohio and California are celebrating the upcoming centenary of the birth of Charles “Sparky” Schulz, the man who created the comic strip Peanuts. Lucy Shelton Caswell is founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. She calls Schulz a genius who liked to make people laugh. Benjamin Clark is curator of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California. He says Schulz stripped cartoons to their basic elements without losing any of their expressiveness. At its height Peanuts ran in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD-UNIONIZATION

Planned Parenthood workers in 5 Midwest states seek union

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — About 400 workers at Planned Parenthood offices in five Midwestern states plan to unionize. The move comes as their employer deals with the potential loss of business in states where abortions may become illegal if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade. Ashley Schmidt is a training and development specialist for Nebraska and western Iowa. She says workers at Planned Parenthood North Central States in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota formally filed for a union election with a National Labor Relations Board on Thursday. The workers plan to join SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, which represents Planned Parenthood workers in other states.

News from © The Associated Press, 2022