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Taste of Minnesota 2024 returns to downtown Minneapolis this summer

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Taste of Minnesota 2024 returns to downtown Minneapolis this summer


The second year of the resurgence of the Taste of Minnesota festival will return to downtown Minneapolis this summer.

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Taste of Minnesota 2024 will be held July 6 and 7 from 11 am. to 8 p.m., according to an announcement from the Taste of Minnesota Foundation.

The event will again return to Nicollet Mall, but with an expanded footprint that allows for double the number of food vendors – roughly 60 compared to last year’s 23, according to organizers.

Several thousand attended the event in 2023, which occurred without any major crime incidents – though patrons complained of long lines for food vendors, and few free water stations. But the 2024 iteration can expect “an expanded footprint” and a “greater number of vendors and attractions.”

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In 2023, Minneapolis leaders announced the free festival would return to downtown Minneapolis – the first time since it was last held in 2015 in St. Paul.

The event featured musical guests Third Eye Blind on July 2, and Uncle Kracker and Big Boi (from Outkast) on July 3, 2023.

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For 2024, the foundation is currently encouraging Minnesota businesses, artists, and food vendors to join its Taste of Minnesota 2024 team.

No musical guests have been announced yet, but chef and TV personality, Andrew Zimmern, will return as the Food Ambassador once again, organizers have said.

The event began in 1983 as a free festival with both food and fireworks at the State Capitol grounds and Harriet Island during the July 4th weekend, but first ended in 2010 following a change in ownership.

Following the original Taste of Minnesota, founder Ron Maddox’s wife Linda briefly revived the event in 2014 and 2015 in a new location in Waconia, before it officially ended a second time.

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During the 2023 legislative session, a “Taste of Minnesota” bill was introduced by Rep. Jerry Newton (DFL-Coon Rapids), and Sen. John Hoffman (DFL-Champlain), and would provide $1.8 million in Fiscal Year 2024 from Minnesota’s general fund for a grant to the Downtown Minneapolis Council for infrastructure and costs of the event. At the time, the money was marked as a one-time appropriation.

Organizers have said they will provide an update on funding for the 2024 event in the coming months.



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Minneapolis, MN

Minneapolis man is third convicted in Coon Rapids triple murder

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Minneapolis man is third convicted in Coon Rapids triple murder


An Anoka County jury has found guilty the last of three defendants in last year’s fatal shootings of a woman, her son and husband after he and two accomplices posed as UPS delivery drivers and went into the family’s Coon Rapids home looking for money.

Omari Malik Shumpert (Courtesy of the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office)

Omari Malik Shumpert, 20, of Minneapolis, was convicted Friday in Anoka County District Court of three counts of aiding and abetting first-degree murder in the Jan. 26, 2024, killings of Shannon Patricia Jungwirth, 42, her son Jorge Alexander Reyes-Jungwirth, 20, and her husband, Mario Alberto Trejo Estrada, 39.

Shumpert fatally shot Estrada after he fought back, prosecutors said.

He’s scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 9, a day after his older brother Demetrius Trenton Shumpert will go before a judge for sentencing.

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Jurors previously convicted Demetrius Shumpert, 33, of Minneapolis, and Alonzo Pierre Mingo, who prosecutors said orchestrated the robbery plan and pulled the trigger in the killings of Jungwirth and Reyes-Jungwirth.

Mingo, 39, of Fridley, was sentenced to life in prison in September.

Mingo, a former UPS seasonal employee, wore his old uniform while carrying a box to convince Jungwirth that he was delivering a package, prosecutors said.

Several surveillance cameras were mounted throughout the house in the 200 block of 94th Avenue Northwest. Video showed Demetrius Shumpert and Mingo forcing Jungwirth to open credenza drawers while demanding money.

All three victims were shot in the head, and two of the killings were on video. Two small children, both under the age of 5, were also in the home at the time of the killings but not injured.

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Court records said Estrada was suspected of drug trafficking and that law enforcement was on his trail in the days leading up to the killings. Afterward, investigators searched a Golden Valley storage unit that Estrada had rented under a false name and seized three bags of white powder, seven bags of psilocybin mushrooms, three bags of marijuana and a bag of meth, according to a search warrant affidavit.



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Minneapolis College teams up with Toys for Tots to provide holiday gifts for student parents

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Minneapolis College teams up with Toys for Tots to provide holiday gifts for student parents


For many student parents at Minneapolis College, the holiday season arrives during one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year.

Final exams, work schedules and family responsibilities often collide in December. This week, a Toys for Tots giveaway on campus offered some relief.

The college partnered with the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program to provide gifts exclusively for student parents. School officials say more than 145 student parents signed up for the event, representing nearly 270 children.

Veronica Krawiec is a nursing student at Minneapolis College and the mother of a young son, Christopher. She said balancing school, work and parenting can be overwhelming, especially around the holidays.

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Krawiec said she was able to find a Lego set her son specifically asked for this Christmas, something she was not sure she would be able to afford on her own.

She said the support she receives on campus has made a significant difference, pointing to resources like the Student Support Center and food pantry. Krawiec said those services help her focus on school without feeling ashamed for asking for help.

“As a mom most of the time I feel like I’m failing but like this this helps me a lot to not feel as bad,” she said.

Sharita Jackson, a first semester addiction counseling student and single mother of two, also attended the giveaway. She said resources like the Toys for Tots event help ease some of the pressure that comes with being a student parent.

Minneapolis College staff say the need among student parents has grown this year, in some cases doubling. The college estimates nearly 20% of its students are parents, and more than 70% of students identify as Indigenous or people of color, international, low income or first generation.

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In addition to holiday giveaways, the college offers a Student Parent Center, a food pantry, basic needs support and access to housing, financial and veterans resources. Staff say those services are designed to help students stay enrolled and succeed while raising families.

College officials say events like the Toys for Tots giveaway help reduce stress during the holidays and allow student parents to focus on finishing the semester strong.



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ICE agents clash with dozens of residents in streets of South Minneapolis

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ICE agents clash with dozens of residents in streets of South Minneapolis



A tense situation developed in South Minneapolis Monday afternoon, where dozens of residents confronted ICE agents operating in the streets near Lake Street and Pillsbury Avenue, not far from the Karmel Mall.

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WCCO reporter Esme Murphy was also on the scene and reported that chemical irritant had been deployed. Murphy and a WCCO photographer were among those who were hit with the irritant.

Murphy reported seeing at least three people in handcuffs, but it was not immediately clear for what reason they were being detained. The scene seemed to have cleared by 2:30 p.m.

Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies were observed at the scene. Local law enforcement have been deployed to control crowds since the Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Metro Surge in recent weeks. One of the recent ICE operations in the metro area was a raid at a construction site in Chanhassen over the weekend.

The Karmel Mall is the nation’s first Somali shopping center. The enhanced ICE actions came just after President Trump said, “I don’t want [Somalis] in our country” and claimed Somalis are “completely taking over the once great State of Minnesota.”

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Few other details were immediately available, but WCCO crews on the scene noted that many of those protesting against ICE were using whistles, which in many prior confrontations have been used to try to warn neighbors that ICE agents were in the vicinity.

This story is developing and will be updated.





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