Minneapolis, MN
Toddrick Barnette reflects on first year as Minneapolis’ community safety commissioner
MINNEAPOLIS — The leader of community safety in Minneapolis has been on the job for just over a year now.
When Toddrick Barnette was sworn in last October, he promised to be transparent and listen to the needs of the community. WCCO’s Reg Chapman met up with him in the heart of north Minneapolis to see how he’s doing on that promise.
Barnette says he feels right at home in spaces where he can interact with the community. He believes his job centers around listening.
“Getting community input and understand what does the community need, instead of us telling community what they want,” said Barnette.
Barnette has 30 years of public safety and legal experience. He was the first person of color to be named chief judge in Hennepin County.
He gave that all up to serve as the city’s second commissioner of community safety.
“Every time you engage community you learn something, and things always change, “Barnette said.
His focus: Making sure there is a foundation for sustainability, reform, transparency and change.
Barnette has five agencies under his command: police, fire, EMS, 911 and neighborhood safety.
“The work that we do is beyond our five departments, it’s the whole enterprise. Community trust, trust with other city departments, trust with the county, trust with the state, trust with the council. Trying to move in some spaces that are very political,” Barnette said.
Barnette says creating collaborations with 311, the health department and social services is crucial in getting resources where they are needed most.
“People want a non-police response where it’s appropriate and there has not been enough focus on that work. I mean, we are doing that work, but I think people will see that road map,” Barnette said.
He knows this work does not come without challenges.
“When we look at homelessness and we look at our encampments, we really have to deal with some of the core issues that are going on in there. We need to go after the folks that are preying on these individuals. We need to go after the drug dealers. We need to go after those people who want to traffick, sex trafficking,” said Barnette.
He also believes dealing with the increase in juvenile crime will be one of the toughest issues his office will face.
“When they are committing more serious crime, we have to really make them accountable,” said Barnette.
Overall, Barnette is encouraged by all that is being done in just his first year as commissioner of community safety.
Barnette is also working with 70 or more organizations that contract with the city that provide neighborhood safety.
He is working to make sure their work is data-driven and they are doing the things they are contracted to do.
AUBURN, CA — Former Major League Baseball pitcher Dan Serafini was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering his father-in-law and attempting to murder his mother-in-law in a 2021 ambush-style shooting at a Lake Tahoe-area home.
A Placer County jury previously found Serafini, 51, guilty of fatally shooting 70-year-old Gary Spohr and seriously wounding Spohr’s wife, 68-year-old Wendy Wood, on June 5, 2021, at their home on the lake’s west shore. Wood survived the attack but died a year later.
In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said that Spohr and Wood were loving grandparents and detailed how Serafini’s crimes had affected the couple’s family members and friends.
“The impact of this attack has extended far beyond the immediate victims, deeply affecting family members and the broader community, and highlighting the lasting harm caused by deliberate violence,” Gire said.
On the day of the shooting, Serafini’s wife, the victims’ daughter, had taken the children to the lake to visit their grandparents.
Prosecutors said the deadly ambush stemmed from a dispute over a $1.3 million investment in a ranch renovation project. The victims had reportedly contributed the money.
In one text message shown in court, Serafini wrote, “I’m gonna kill them one day,” referencing a dispute over $21,000, prosecutors said.
He also sent other threatening messages, including “I will be coming after you” and “Take me to court,” according to ABC10.
Jurors also found Serafini guilty of several “special circumstance” sentencing enhancements, including lying in wait, use of a firearm, and that the attack was willful, deliberate and premeditated. He was also convicted of first-degree burglary.
Prosecutors had also charged Serafini with child endangerment, saying he put his infant and toddler sons at risk by having a gun in the home. Jurors found him not guilty on that count.
The case also involved a second defendant, 33-year-old Samantha Scott, who pleaded guilty to being an accessory in February, according to the New York Post.
A left-hander, Serafini was a 1992 first-round pick for the Minnesota Twins. He also played for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, pitching for six MLB teams over seven seasons.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The story behind Anthony Edwards wearing a bright orange bracelet since last season has received a positive development, after Timberwolves fans learned Luca Wright has beaten leukemia.
Anthony Edwards, Luca Wright connection
What we know:
Last January, the 6-year-old Minnesotan met “Ant” for the first time following a game against the Detroit Pistons, proclaiming him to be his favorite player, and asking him to wear a bracelet that symbolizes leukemia awareness, resilience and support for those affected. During the interaction, the fan had created a sign with a to-do list: “1. Beat Cancer. 2. Be The Next MJ.”
Leukemia is a type of cancer that spreads throughout the bloodstream, infecting bone marrow and a person’s lymphatic system by rapid production of abnormal white blood cells that can’t fight infection.
Since then, the Wolves’ MVP has worn a bracelet that proclaims, “Love Like Luca” on it for every game he has played, vowing to wear it “until he hangs up his sneakers.”
Ant has gone on to explain how the gesture connected with him given that he lost both his mother, Yvette, and grandmother, Shirley, to cancer when he was 14 years old. The No. 5 jersey he wears currently is a tribute to them both.
Luca bracelet latest
Dig deeper:
More than a year later, Wolves fans have received the update they hoped for – now 7-year-old Luca has beaten his cancer.
What’s next:
Ant has since responded to the news with his own social media video, calling it “God’s gift” and saying, “Let’s do this Luca.”
No word yet on whether he intends to keep wearing the bracelet, though he’s previously said he has a stash of replacements near the team bench should one ever be broken.
The Source: Information provided by the Minnesota Timberwolves public relations department.
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