Category: Minneapolis, Minnesota Local News

MINNEAPOLIS — A man who is accused of taking money for pools he never built could soon have a plea deal. More than a dozen Minnesota families are out thousands of dollars. 

Charles Workman pleaded not guilty when criminally charged with wire fraud in federal court following a WCCO investigation. 

As part of a civil case in Minnesota, Workman was ordered to pay more than a million dollars in restitution. That money has yet to come, but WCCO Senior Investigative Reporter Jennifer Mayerle shares how some families are getting relief.

“I mean, our dream is to still open these curtains and look at a pool someday,” Kyle Swenson said.

The Swensons are one of more than a dozen metro families who say they paid Workman for a backyard swimming pool and never got it. 

The civil default judgment against the contractor gave them hope but with it came waiting and more stress as the attorney general’s office worked on getting money back for families through their lenders.  

“And it took a few months. It was a battle,” Swenson said.

Swenson says the Maryland-based credit union didn’t make the path to partial loan forgiveness easy.

“We were back and forth constantly with our vendor, they were fighting it tooth and nail,” Swenson said.

Ultimately, it forgave two-thirds of Swenson’s loan, meaning they no longer have to make payments on it. 

“It literally felt like a payday. We’ve been paying this loan every month, a very large sum of money to have nothing. So when that payment hit that bank account, we could see that balance shrink. It was a breath of fresh air. It was a weight off our back. It was the biggest win we could imagine,” Swenson said. 

Another family had $25,000 forgiven from the same credit union. Add that to two other families with loans forgiven last summer. But there’s more patiently waiting for their turn.

“We are considering ourselves part of the lucky ones because there’s families in this group of us, victims, that used military funds, they used inheritances,” Swenson said.

Swenson wants Workman to be held accountable with restitution to the families who sacrificed and saved and are out of funds. While his family is closer to being made whole, he feels loan forgiveness is passing the buck.

“That money has still been given to Charlie and it’s gone. So now we’re just spreading that burden to another company, unfortunately, and he’s now affecting more people. And this that’s not him paying his back. That’s not restitution,” Swenson said.

The attorney general’s office says it’s working on securing repayments for other families.

A March hearing in the criminal case was canceled because of the anticipated plea. A date has yet to be scheduled.

ANDREW COLGAN

Breck/Blake • swimming

Andrew Colgan has never felt better.

Colgan, a senior, had a hand in four first-place finishes, winning the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley and swimming a leg on the victorious 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay squads in Breck/Blake’s Class 1A championship and record-setting eighth consecutive team title Saturday.

“This was the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Colgan, who posted a winning time of 54.43 seconds in the breaststroke and 1 minute, 51.72 seconds in the individual medley. “I felt I could push myself to my full extent for the first time in my career.”

That’s because Colgan had a heart procedure done right before school started in August. He had a supraventricular tachycardia, an irregularly fast or erratic heartbeat that affects the heart’s upper chambers. It was induced by exercise for Colgan, who initially noticed it in 2017.

“I would have to get out of the pool for 15 minutes and get my heart rate down,” Colgan said. “It would happen three to four times a week.”

It didn’t prevent Colgan, who is headed to Colorado College, from becoming an integral part of the Breck/Blake lineup the past four years.

“It’s like family. We are all really close and come together from two different schools. We are truly a brotherhood,” Colgan said. “Being a part of this team the last four years has been something really special.”

SKYLAR LITTLE SOLDIER

Hastings • wrestling

KAM HENDRICKSON

Chanhassen • hockey

OLIVIA WREN

Minneapolis Roosevelt • basketball

QUIN MORGAN

Mounds View • wrestling

CASSANDRA GONZALES

Apple Valley • wrestling

PATRICK ROWE

Chisago Lakes • basketball

Nominate an athlete: Send an email with supporting information to preps@startribune.com. Include a photo and a link, if available, to video.

Uber and Lyft on Monday upped their pressure campaigns — and threats to leave the city — as the Minneapolis City Council prepared to forge ahead with a plan to raise pay for drivers.

On Monday afternoon, the council, meeting as a committee, ushered the plan along en route to a likely final approval Thursday.

Lyft sent emails to drivers and riders vowing to “stop operating within the city on April 1″ if the current proposal ultimately takes effect. “Tell your local officials to vote against this proposed ordinance and keep rideshare accessible and affordable,” the emails read.

And a banner ad from Uber greeted visitors to the homepage of the Star Tribune on Monday morning, reading: “Tell the Minneapolis City Council: Stand with working families. Protect ridesharing in the Twin Cities.”

The ride-hailing companies’ fears stem from a plan barreling through the City Council to increase driver minimum pay beyond a level the companies are comfortable with.

The plan would pay drivers a minimum of $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute while transporting riders on any trip within the city limits, among other guarantees.

Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed a similar plan last year, but the make-up of the council changed in November’s election. It’s possible council members could override Frey’s veto this year — which appears likely if the plan doesn’t change significantly.

State lawmakers approved a statewide pay hike last year — also amid Uber and Lyft opposition — and Gov. Tim Walz vetoed it. He established a commission, but that group, which included both drivers and the companies, failed to reach a consensus on a specific pay raise.

The push for pay raises has stemmed largely from the travails of drivers, who have organized to lobby elected officials and spread their message: The companies have gradually reduced their pay in recent years as they’ve gained dominance over taxi companies from their disruptive entrance into the region more than a decade ago.

The companies acknowledge they’ve cut the share of fares that go to drivers but have said that’s due to the rising cost of insurance.

Washington — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said states cannot bar former President Donald Trump from the ballot using a rarely invoked provision of the 14th Amendment, overturning a decision from Colorado’s top court and handing the GOP presidential front-runner a victory in an unprecedented case that threatened to derail his bid to return to the White House.

In December, the Colorado Supreme Court determined that Trump was ineligible for the presidency due to his conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Colorado court’s divided decision rested on the Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, known as the insurrection clause, which bars oath-taking insurrectionists from holding public office. 

In its opinion on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court said only Congress can enforce the clause. The ruling resolves challenges to Trump’s eligibility for office pursued by voters in several other states and comes one day before Super Tuesday, when voters in 15 states will cast their ballots for the Republican presidential nomination.

“Responsibility for enforcing Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates rests with Congress and not the states,” the court said in its 13-page unsigned opinion. “The judgment of the Colorado Supreme Court therefore cannot stand.”

Justices Amy Coney Barrett wrote separately to note that all nine justices agree on the outcome of the case, saying “that is the message Americans should take home.” The three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, issued an opinion concurring with the judgment, but said the court went too far in dictating “novel rules” for federal enforcement of Section 3.

Trump cheered the decision, saying in a post to his social media site that it is a “BIG WIN FOR AMERICA!!!”

Noah Bookbinder, president of the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington President, which brought the challenge to Trump’s eligibility, said the decision allowing Trump back on the ballot rests on “technical legal grounds.”

“The Supreme Court had the opportunity in this case to exonerate Trump, and they chose not to do so. Every court — or decision-making body — that has substantively examined the issue has determined that January 6th was an insurrection and that Donald Trump incited it. That remains true today,” Bookbinder said. “The Supreme Court removed an enforcement mechanism, and in letting Trump back on the ballot, they failed to meet the moment. But it is now clear that Trump led the January 6th insurrection, and it will be up to the American people to ensure accountability.”

The Supreme Court’s decision

The opinion from the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, was unanimous in reversing the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision. The high court did not address the Jan. 6 Capitol assault or Trump’s actions in the wake of the 2020 election.

“We conclude that States may disqualify persons holding or attempting to hold state office. But States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency,” the court said in its opinion.

It went on to say that “nothing in the Constitution delegates to the states any power to enforce Section 3 against federal officeholders and candidates.”

Reversal of the Colorado decision ensures that votes cast for Trump in the state’s Republican presidential primary will be counted, and his name will appear on ballots nationwide unless Congress itself acts, which is unlikely. The justices acted with rare speed in deciding the case, issuing their opinion less than a month after hearing arguments Feb. 8.

The decision was expected, since most of the justices raised concerns during oral arguments about allowing a lone state to disqualify a presidential candidate and what would follow in future presidential contests. Still, the dispute raised a number of novel legal issues and marked the first time the Supreme Court weighed the application of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

It also brought the justices to the forefront of a presidential election — a position they have not been in since the high court ruled in Bush v. Gore in 2000. Justice Clarence Thomas is the only member who was on the court then and remains today.

The court recognized the consequences of allowing states to enforce Section 3, and the conflicting outcomes about the same candidate that might occur.

“An evolving electoral map could dramatically change the behavior of voters, parties, and states across the country, in different ways and at different times. The disruption would be all the more acute — and could nullify the votes of millions and change the election result — if Section 3 enforcement were attempted after the nation has voted,” the opinion said. “Nothing in the Constitution requires that we endure such chaos — arriving at any time or different times, up to and perhaps beyond the Inauguration.”

The concurring opinions

Though all nine of the justices agreed that Colorado cannot enforce Section 3, the court’s decision prompted division among the justices over the reasoning underlying that conclusion.

In a brief, one-page concurring opinion, Barrett said the challenge, which was brought under state law in state court, did not require the Supreme Court to address the “complicated question” of whether federal legislation is the sole vehicle through which Section 3 can be enforced. But she highlighted the agreement among the nine justices, particularly given the politically fraught nature of the case.

“The court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the court should turn the national temperature down, not up,” wrote Barrett, who was appointed by Trump. “For present purposes, our differences are far less important than our unanimity.”

Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson, though, were at times highly critical of the five justices who fully signed onto the court’s opinion. The three liberal justices accused their conservative colleagues of departing from the principle of judicial restraint by effectively deciding not only the Colorado case, but future challenges to a candidate’s eligibility for office under Section 3.

By announcing that a disqualification for insurrection can happen only when Congress enacts a “particular kind of legislation” under another provision of the 14th Amendment, “the majority shuts the door on other potential means of federal enforcement.”

“They decide novel constitutional questions to insulate this court and [Trump] from future controversy,” Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson wrote.

The trio of justices called aspects of the majority’s decision “gratuitous.” By resolving unsettled questions about federal enforcement of Section 3, they wrote, the court “attempts to insulate all alleged insurrectionists from future challenges to their holding federal office.”

The majority, the liberals said, “reaches out to decide Section 3 questions not before us, and to foreclose future efforts to disqualify a presidential candidate under that provision. In a sensitive case crying out for judicial restraint, it abandons that course.”

Challenges in other states

The Supreme Court’s ruling caps a period of uncertainty that followed the Colorado Supreme Court’s historic conclusion that Trump was ineligible for a second term under Section 3 and should be excluded from the state’s primary ballot.

The state court put its decision on hold to allow Trump to appeal to the Supreme Court, and ballots listing his name were printed and mailed to voters ahead of Colorado’s March 5 primary election.

On the heels of the Colorado ruling, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued a decision concluding that Trump is disqualified from holding the presidency. But she paused her ruling, and a state judge ordered Bellows, a Democrat, to revisit it after the Supreme Court ruled.

An Illinois judge in late February, too, determined Trump is ineligible for office under Section 3 and should be removed from the state’s primary ballot, but paused the decision so Trump can appeal, which he did last week.

Efforts to knock Trump off the ballot were pursued in a number of states. But the challenge brought by a group of six voters in Colorado was the first — and only — to result in a ruling from a state’s highest court that the former president couldn’t return to the White House.

Still, decisions from top courts in Michigan and Minnesota allowed voters to renew their challenges to Trump’s eligibility for the general election ballot, leading to concerns that his name could be listed on the ballots in some states and not in others.

The Colorado decision, though, provided the catalyst for the Supreme Court’s involvement. All parties — Trump, the group of voters and Colorado secretary of state — as well as legal scholars urged the justices to resolve the issue of his eligibility before most voters head to the polls for the 2024 election season.

Trump has already won all but one of the Republican contests — GOP opponent Nikki Haley notched a win in the District of Columbia’s GOP primary — and is expected to further cement his position as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination after Super Tuesday. 

The case presented a number of untested legal issues for the justices to weigh, including whether Trump’s efforts to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election constituted engagement in insurrection, whether Section 3 applies to the president and the presidency, and whether states can enforce the insurrection clause without legislation from Congress.

Trump needed to convince a majority of the justices to rule for him on just one of those matters to prevail.

Trump’s other legal issues

The Supreme Court’s ruling is a rare courtroom win for Trump in his post-presidency legal woes that stretch from New York to Florida. And it is the first of several cases before the justices with ramifications for the former president.

The justices are poised to decide whether Trump can be criminally prosecuted for conduct that allegedly involved official acts while in the White House, with arguments set for late April and a ruling expected by the end of June. A three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington found he is not entitled to broad immunity from federal prosecution. 

The issue of whether Trump is shielded from criminal charges arose out of special counsel Jack Smith’s case involving the former president’s alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The Supreme Court is also poised to hear arguments in April in a case challenging the reach of a federal obstruction law that has been used to prosecute scores of defendants in connection to the Capitol attack, and which Trump is accused by the special counsel of violating. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all four counts stemming from his actions surrounding the last presidential election.

ANDREW COLGAN

Breck/Blake • swimming

Colgan has never felt better.

A senior, Colgan had a hand in four first-place finishes, winning the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley and swimming a leg on the victorious 200 medley and 200 freestyle relay squads, in Breck/Blake’s Class 1A state championship and record-setting eighth consecutive team title Saturday.

“This was the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Colgan, who posted a winning time of 54.43 seconds in the breaststroke and 1 minute, 51.72 seconds in the individual medley. “I felt I could push myself to my full extent for the first time in my career.”

That’s because Colgan had a heart procedure done right before school started in August. He had a supraventricular tachycardia, an irregularly fast or erratic heartbeat that affects the heart’s upper chambers. It was induced by exercise for Colgan, who initially noticed it in 2017.

“I would have to get out of the pool for 15 minutes and get my heart rate down,” Colgan said. “It would happen three to four times a week.”

It didn’t prevent Colgan from becoming an integral part of the Breck/Blake lineup the past four years. He is headed to Colorado College.

“It’s like family. We are all really close and come together from two different schools. We are truly a brotherhood,” Colgan said. “Being a part of this team the last four years has been something really special.”

SKYLAR LITTLE SOLDIER

Hastings • wrestling

KAM HENDRICKSON

Chanhassen • hockey

OLIVIA WREN

Minneapolis Roosevelt • basketball

QUIN MORGAN

Mounds View • wrestling

CASSANDRA GONZALES

Apple Valley • wrestling

PATRICK ROWE

Chisago Lakes • basketball

Nominate an athlete: Send an email with supporting information to preps@startribune.com. Include a photo and a link, if available, to video.

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

The Color Purple will be staged by Theater Latté Da from March 20 to May 5, at the Ritz Theater. There are so many reasons to be excited about this production. Artistic Director Justin Lucero tells us, with a compelling list, why Theater Latté Da is thrilled to bring the musical to our community. “One of my most lasting literary memories is of reading Alice Walker‘s masterpiece novel in high school,” notes Lucero, “and one of my most lasting movie memories is of Steven Spielberg‘s masterpiece film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Now I am proud that we get to present a masterpiece musical of this inspiring story on our stage for fellow fans and new generations alike. And if someone feels like having watched the starry, spectacular new movie musical was enough, we promise you that watching this version performed live and up-close will be an eye-opening, heart-rending, rousing experience.” Don’t wait on this one – get your tickets here.

Here are some of the many reasons to catch this production:

1. It’s a co-production! In an exciting new venture, Theater Latté Da is partnering with Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York to produce this new production. A co-production is a collaborative producing model between multiple theater companies to share in the costs and planning of a show that is ultimately performed in both markets. In our case, we are originating the production for a seven-week run, and then the cast, sets, and costumes transfer to Geva for another month.

2. It makes us think about some of our favorite local Black-owned eateries! Whenever we have an additional chance at championing some of our favorite local businesses, we will! We’re excited to highlight such coffee faves as Flava Coffee & Cafe in Saint Paul and The Get Down Coffee Co. in our backyard of North Minneapolis. We also love to recommend our artists and ticket buyers to dine at famed Twin Cities favorite, Pimento, as well as our nearby treasure, STEPCHLD.

3. The style! If you know the musical, you know that fashion is a plot point. And so of course it makes us think of such local fashion icons as Rammy Mohamed of Ramadhan Designs and, of course, Black Fashion Week MN. And be sure to check out Costume Designer Jarrod Barnes’ fabulous artistry on stage in our production.

4. Our local legend musical director! Composer, pianist, arranger and producer Sanford Moore is founder and director of the award-winning vocal jazz ensemble Moore by Four. Beyond his several collaborations with Theater Latté Da and other local theater companies, particularly Penumbra, Moore has shared the stage with such notable jazz artists as Bobby McFerrin, Harry Connick, Jr., the late Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughn, Dizzy Gillespie and Carmen McRae. He is also the Minister of Music for Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis.

5. Introducing our community to a guest director’s vision and voice! We are thrilled to invite Daniel J. Bryant as guest director and leader of the creative process. His attention to story and character, and his vibrant and vivacious leadership style will absolutely be detectable on stage.

6. An exciting guest choreographer! Heather Beal is an accomplished dancer and choreographer who teaches Dunham Technique at Washington University in St. Louis and at The City Studio. This approach is “a vibrant African diasporic dance technique” that “through its humanistic philosophies and its focus on deep connection with the self and with others…is a balm for the current worldwide state of divisiveness and egocentrism.”

7. Alice Walker’s masterpiece! Most thrillingly, the source material for the stage musical has made an impact on so many of us. The gifted Walker is a novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist who, in 1982 became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Some of my favorite pearls of wisdom come from her and/or her masterwork, including one that has been a recent go-to: “I have fallen in love with the imagination. And if you fall in love with the imagination, you understand that it is a free spirit. It will go anywhere, and it can do anything.”

8. The music! Many of us may know the influential novel, or the magnificent 1985 epic Steven Spielberg film, and may have been intrigued to learn it was adapted into an award-winning Broadway musical. Just this past holiday season, a film adaptation of the musical made a splash. But did you know: 13 songs from the musical were not included in the film? So, you just need to come see the live version at The Ritz to hear all the showstopping songs in a variety of styles ranging from gospel, jazz, ragtime, African music, and blues.

A man died of apparent gunshot wounds in south Minneapolis on Sunday morning, authorities said.

Minneapolis police said they found the man with what appeared to be life-threatening injuries at the intersection of East Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue after responding to reports of a shooting and an alert from ShotSpotter technology just after 1 a.m.

He was brought to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died several hours later. Homicide detectives are investigating the fatal shooting. No one has been arrested in the case.

Breck/Blake got off the starting block quickly Saturday.

The cooperative of two Twin Cities private schools won the first three events handily, cruising to a record-setting eighth consecutive team championship in the Class 1A boys swimming state meet at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center. Breck/Blake had shared the record with Rochester, which won seven in a row in 1953-59.

“This is a phenomenal accomplishment for our program,” Breck/Blake coach Brian Wright said. “Our focus isn’t on the end result but the process. The state record kind of crept up on us.”

Breck/Blake, which had a 39-point lead in the team standings after the first three events, finished with 327 points. St. Thomas Academy was second with 224.

“Winning the first three events was huge for our team,” Wright said.

Double winner Andrew Colgan capped the fast start, winning the 200-yard individual medley. He was also the medalist in the 100 breaststroke and swam a leg on the victorious 200 medley and 200 freestyle relays. Breck/Blake swept the three relays.

The 200 medley relay team, with senior Colin Craig and juniors Dominic Bollettieri and Henry Webb joining Colgan, won by nearly four seconds in the opening event.

“Our success starts with our medley relay team,” Wright said. “We take a lot of pride in that event. That sets the tone in our big meets.”

Webb and senior Josiah March followed with a 1-2 finish in the 200 freestyle.

March later broke his own Class 1A record in the 500 freestyle, finishing in 4:32.99. His previous mark was 4:34.39.

“My goal was just to win the race,” March said. “I feed off the energy of my teammates. That’s huge for me.”

He focused on the team’s success.

“We have a great program, legendary,” March said. “Eight titles in a row speak for themselves.”

Hutchinson senior Conner Hogan swept the 50 (20.13 seconds) and 100 freestyle races. He set a Class 1A state record of 43.80 in the 100, breaking the mark of 44.10 set by Charlie Crosby of Breck/Blake in 2022.