Minnesota
State officials provide updates on police presence, crime in Minnesota
Gov. Tim Walz and different state officers offered an replace on regulation enforcement presence and crimes throughout the state on Thursday.
Walz addressed an array of subjects, starting from State Patrol HEAT patrols, fentanyl capsules shifting by means of the state, firearms and avenue racing.
He additionally confirmed that the elevated presence of state regulation enforcement – together with the Minnesota State Patrol and the Bureau of Felony Apprehension – within the Twin Cities will stay till at the least the top of the yr to fight violent crime.
Officers from the Minnesota Division of Public Security, the BCA, Metro Transit police and the State Patrol attended the press convention with the governor.
“In relation to crime, we have to all work collectively to unravel this. That is state, native, county and its people — we’re seeing nice assist from our companions in several organizations and inventive pondering,” Walz stated.
Here is what state officers mentioned Thursday:
HEAT Patrols
Division of Public Security Commissioner John Harrington stated Minnesota State Patrol troopers have been “profitable” with HEAT patrols that started in Could.
In line with Harrington, their major focus has been on “probably the most aggressive drivers.”
“An instance of that will be the opposite day, troopers stopped a man who was [driving 111 mph] in a 55 [mph zone],” the commissioner stated.
The State Patrol has stopped over 500 drivers courting again to the start of September. Harrington stated nearly all of the visitors stops have been associated to dashing and it stays a prime objective to proceed to lower in frequency as it is the main trigger for crashes and driver security within the state.
The State Patrol lately introduced it will be extending HEAT patrols by means of December.
Avenue Racing
Walz famous how avenue racing has been a phenomenon not solely in Minnesota however in different states as nicely.
Harrington stated probably the most difficult activity in addressing avenue racers is predicting the place they will present up subsequent.
“It is a little bit little bit of a whack-a-mole recreation, frankly,” Harrington stated. “They present up in a single car parking zone, and in the event that they see something that appears like regulation enforcement they rapidly huddle collectively and [law enforcement] finds them in one other car parking zone.”
In August, 9 individuals have been charged with avenue racing in downtown Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. The crime has been one of many fundamental focuses of Minnesota regulation enforcement with their elevated displaying.
Harrington stated he hopes the message is not solely being reached to native avenue racers however others throughout the nation.
Firearms, Violent Crime
Bureau of Felony Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans stated a number of businesses have continued to staff as much as handle homicides, gun-related crimes, felony warrants and different felony exercise that pertains to violent crime.
Most of the current firearms which have been seized have occurred in Minneapolis. Nonetheless, Harrington stated the initiative is occurring everywhere in the state.
The U.S. Legal professional for Minnesota Andrew Luger introduced in Could that his workplace can be taking up a bigger function in main a federal crackdown on violent crime within the state. In an replace in August, Luger stated round 35 “high-risk violent offenders” have been charged.
Evans stated since Could, practically 400 felony arrests, 244 unlawful firearms have been taken off the streets — together with “ghost weapons.”
The BCA has additionally entered data on greater than 500 firearms into its database. The data of those firearms has made leads on greater than 300 instances, in response to Evans.
“That is a 3rd of the instances of all of the work we do on the BCA,” Evans famous.
Auto sear switches, units that flip a semi-automatic firearm right into a fully-automatic firearm, proceed to be recovered by the company.
Fentanyl
Evans stated for the reason that initiative started this spring, over 19,000 fentanyl capsules have been recovered in Minnesota.
“It exhibits us the sturdy nexus of the fentanyl capsules we’re recovering, that are counterfeit oxycodone capsules that embrace fentanyl and are extremely harmful to people who’re utilizing them,” Evans said.
Regulation enforcement businesses are additionally discovering fentanyl intently related to violent crime.
As well as, a brand new kind of fentanyl — known as “rainbow fentanyl” — has been making its approach across the state. The drug has a sweet look to it.
The capsules have been lately taken in throughout a search warrant in Mankato final week by the Minnesota River Valley Drug Activity Drive, in response to Evans. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) put out an alert in late August.
Evans famous a 20% leap within the discovery of fentanyl in Minnesota BCA crime labs within the final yr.
Minnesota
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Minnesota
Goalie Nicole Hensley stars as league-leading Minnesota Frost top New York Sirens in shootout | CBC Sports
Nicole Hensley made back-to-back saves in the shootout and the Minnesota Frost earned their fourth straight victory with a 4-3 win over the New York Sirens on Sunday in Newark, N.J.
It was the fourth time in seven all-time meetings that a game between the teams was decided in OT and the second this season. New York won the season opener in St. Paul, Minn.
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored two first-period goals to stake the Frost to the early lead and Taylor Heise beat Kayle Osborne, who relieved starter Abigail Levy in the New York net to start the second period, two minutes in to make it a 3-0 lead.
WATCH l Heise scores shootout winner:
But Osborne did not allow another goal in regulation and wasn’t seriously challenged in overtime while the Sirens staged a comeback. Brooke Hobson and Elizabeth Giguere each scored in the second period and Alex Carpenter pounced on a loose puck and lifted a shot over Hensley’s shoulder from deep in the face-off circle to tie the game midway through the third period.
Hensley was brilliant in overtime, turning away four close-in, open shots by the Sirens (2-1-1-1), two of them on breakaway chances.
Minnesota (4-0-1-0) got goals from Denisa Křížová, Grace Zumwinkle and Heise in the shootout. Noora Tulus and Carpenter each converted in the shootout for New York, but Hensley came up with a save on Sarah Fillier before stopping the final two shooters for the Sirens.
Hensley finished with 33 saves on 36 shots to earn the win. Osborne made 18 saves on 19 shots over her 45 minutes in goal for New York. Carpenter’s two-goal effort lifted her past Coyne Schofield and into the league lead with four goals in her first five games and she now has a league-leading seven points.
WATCH l Sirens’ Fillier, Carpenter test their off-ice chemistry:
Minnesota
Unique northern Minnesota border airport closing after 70 years
A northern Minnesota airport with an unusual claim to fame is closing after 70 years of operation.
The Piney-Pinecreek Border Airport near Roseau is the only airport with a paved runway crossing the U.S.-Canada border.
The border airport opened in 1953 to expedite customs processing for air travelers and was regularly used by hunters and anglers flying to Canada.
Initially, the airport had a grass runway that ended at the border, but in 1978 a runway expansion added a paved runway that extended into Canada.
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Customs agents would meet travelers on either side of the border.
But declining usage and significant impending repair costs led to the decision to close the one of a kind operation, said Ryan Gaug, director of the Minnesota Department of Transportation aeronautics office.
“We know that the pavement condition has declined significantly over the years and will need a reconstruct most likely in the next one to three years,” said Gaug.
Short-term costs to bring the facility up to safety standards is estimated at $3.8 million.
Piney-Pinecreek is the only airport owned by MnDOT, and it is operated in collaboration with the Rural Municipality of Piney, Manitoba.
A Canadian official said the local government could not raise the money to pay its share of the planned improvement costs and Piney officials ended the joint operations agreement.
Gaug said an estimated 200 airplanes a year use the facility, far lower than traffic at similar sized facilities.
There are six airports on the U.S.-Canada border, but Piney-Pinecreek is the only one with a paved runway.
“It’s always been the No. 1 fun fact that I’ve shared with friends, family, coworkers, colleagues here at MnDOT,” said Gaug.
“It’s a tough decision to close an airport ever, but the evidence was all there that now was the time,” he said.
There are no local airplanes based at the airport.
“It’s very sad for the community to lose its airport,” said Marlin Elton, a local resident who served on the airport commission and helped maintain the facility for 30 years.
Elton said the closure hasn’t raised concerns in the community because “if you don’t fly, it won’t affect you. The ones who will be affected are the pilots who use it.”
Gaug said MnDOT reached out to pilots and aviation groups to gauge support for keeping the airport open but found “there just isn’t a strong user base for this airport and that also led to not a strong local support fighting to keep this airport.”
The final day of operations for the Piney-Pinecreek airport is Dec. 26.
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