Minneapolis, MN
Meet the Minneapolis Fire Department’s first all-Indigenous crew
The Minneapolis Fire Department is making history with the first all-Indigenous fire crew.
For the past six months, a crew of four has manned engine 10 in fire house number six in Minneapolis.
Captain Michael Graves, fire motor operator Jessie Strong, and firefighters Johnny Crow and Bobby Headbird make up Minneapolis’ first all-Indigenous fire crew.
“We picked engine 10 station six to kind of be close to Little Earth and Franklin community where it’s mostly and it’s highly dense population of Natives in that area,” said Graves.
All the firefighters represent different Nations: Graves from Red Lake, Headbird from Leech Lake and Strong from the Bois Forte Band of Ojibwe.
“I’m from Pine Ridge, I’m Oglala Lakota,” said Crow.
They’re proud to serve the community that raised them.
“All of us come here from the community, our families are here, our friends are here, we’re from the city of Minneapolis and we’re trying to give back to the community that has given us a lot,” said Crow.
The crew’s chemistry was instant. Their goals were the same: to inspire kids and adults in the Indigenous community.
“When we come on scene, we get smiles, people see us. They go ‘What? We have an all-Native crew?’ They are amazed at seeing it,” said Graves.
Station six is the busiest in the city. The rig and its Native crew make dozens of runs a day.
“We enjoy this, we enjoy taking runs. We enjoy helping so we take a lot of pride in being busy,” Crow said.
With frequent calls comes exposure to what’s hurting their community. Poverty, drug use adn violence makes the fight to steer young people in another direction, constant.
“We’re kind of making a new path for our community and I think that’s why we are received really well by the community here because they understand the importance of where we are at in our position and it gives hope to the next generation,” Crow said.
They want their service to be an example to all who see them or are helped by them.
“Without the community we don’t have a job so we are here for them. The community and we really appreciate going out into the native community and supporting them,” said Headbird.
The battalion chief, Steph Johnson is also Native. The goal of the Minneapolis Fire department is to have its roster reflect the city’s diversity.
Minneapolis, MN
Progressives hold majority on Minneapolis City Council, lose power to override vetoes
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The progressive wing of the Minneapolis City Council will keep its majority but lose its ability to override the mayor’s vetoes in its next term. The political makeup of the incoming council will likely allow Mayor Jacob Frey to avoid the kind of pushback on his power that shaped the last two years.
Mayor Frey will start third term without threat of veto-proof supermajority
What we know:
The progressive arm of the Minneapolis City Council lost a seat on Tuesday night when incumbent Katie Cashman lost her reelection bid in Ward 7 to newcomer and moderate Shelley Madore.
The loss of a progressive voice leaves that wing of the council without the ability to override a mayoral veto.
Council clashed with mayor, sometimes overrode vetoes
The backstory:
The progressive faction of the council took control after the 2023 election and occasionally found two additional votes to get the nine needed to override a mayoral veto. It wielded that power against the mayor nearly a half-dozen times since then, including in February 2024 to override a veto of a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war; in March 2024 to override a veto of a measure to raise the minimum wage of rideshare drivers; in October 2024 to override a veto on carbon emissions fees; in December 2024 to override a veto on a $1.9 billion budget; and in February to override a veto of a proposal to study a pedestrian mall at George Floyd Square.
What they’re saying:
“The other part that we’re really focused on is trying to get consensus around public safety. It’s a really complicated issue, from support for law enforcement, a humanitarian response to homelessness and some of the addiction issues, livability issues that we have in our city,” said Adam Duininck, Minneapolis Downtown Council CEO. “The [Minneapolis] Downtown Council and the D.I.D. [Minneapolis Downtown Improvement District] respond to these issues as well as anybody, and trying to forge that consensus will hopefully be easier with the new city council.”
What’s next:
The incoming council will be sworn into office in January. It will be the first council in nearly a decade to serve a four-year term.
Voters in Minneapolis turned out in record numbers for the 2025 municipal election, city officials said.
According to the unofficial results, 147,702 voters cast their ballots in the election, which is 55% of registered voters. That’s compared to the previous record of 145,337 voters, or 54% turnout, in the 2021 election.
Citing a report from the University of California San Diego, the city says Minneapolis was one of only two U.S. cities to have more than 50% of voters cast ballots for a municipal election in 2021. The other city was Seattle.
“This year’s record-breaking turnout is something our entire city can be proud of,” said Katie Smith, director of elections and voter services. “It’s a reflection of the incredible dedication of our voters and the 1,900 election workers who made Election Day run so smoothly. On Election Judge Appreciation Day, it was inspiring to see our community turnout and participate.”
City officials say the record turnout was partly due to early voting, which had the second-highest turnout the city has seen in a municipal election.
Voting results will remain unofficial until the Municipal Canvassing Board approves them. That meeting is set for Monday.
Live results in Minneapolis elections
After polls closed at 8 p.m., WCCO News began providing live results online from every race in the state.
The Minneapolis mayoral race has yet to be decided as of 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. With nearly all ballots counted in the first round, no Minneapolis mayoral candidate garnered enough votes to prevent second-choice votes from being a deciding factor in the race.
Incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey holds a 10-point lead over his closest challenger, state Sen. Omar Fateh.
See live results below.
Appetite for Change senior engagement officer Princess Titus loads boxes onto a cart to load onto Shipt drivers’ cars in Falcon Heights on Sept. 25. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
More than 2,300 boxes have gone out since the latest deal with Shipt started in June, almost two-thirds of the goal to provide 42,000 meals, or 3,640 boxes, by December. Appetite for Change typically spends about $65 per box, including delivery.
“Our main goal is to have people rethink food,” said Nicole Powell, Community Cooks program manager at Appetite for Change. “We found that a lot of people looking to change their eating habits don’t know where to start.”
Shipt first awarded the program a grant in 2023, which was renewed the following year, as part of its investment in organizations expanding food access.
The planned number of boxes delivered and average cost per box puts the total funding at more than $235,000. But Shipt declined to say how much money it has contributed toward the meal box program.
“We believe that access to healthy food plays a critical role in strengthening communities at large, whether that’s improving student outcomes [or] promoting wellness,” said Khadijah Abdullah, vice president of culture and community at Shipt.
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