Latest news with #MelvinCarter
CBS News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Minnesota Frost celebrate second Walter Cup victory in St. Paul
Frost players and fans paraded through Saint Paul Wednesday evening to celebrate their Walter Cup victory. Cheers and chanting, and a side of gratitude. "It's awesome. The state of Minnesota's always behind us. We're just excited to share it with them for the second time," said Frost goalie Nicole Hensley. "We have the best fans in the league. They showed out in all of our home games this season," said Frost defender Claire Thompson. "I grew up playing hockey. I've been playing my whole life. When they won, winning the cup two times in a row I was like *gasp*," said Anna Franco of Detroit Lakes. "We're super excited about this. The Walter Cup is officially a Saint Paul resident. No other city has one. We've got two," said Saint Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. It's the second Walter Cup awarded since the PWHL began in 2023. Both times to the Minnesota Frost. Wednesday's rain didn't stop the downtown march, which ended in a celebratory ceremony at the Xcel Energy Center. "Lets go frost! Lets frost 'em over again next year and the year after that," said Natalie Ernst of Richfield. The 2025 PWHL draft will be on June 24, 2025 in Ottawa.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Yahoo
Alternatives to defunding: Who goes to help when police aren't needed?
Rather than cancel contracts with police departments, some local governments have expanded street outreach through nonprofit partners or looked to other preventative efforts that work parallel to, if not hand in hand with law enforcement. Metro Transit: Since 2023, the transit agency has employed civilian Transit Rider Investment Program (TRIP) agents to check fares, provide customers with information about transit schedules and social service programs, and issue administrative citations, which are non-criminal fines. The 60 TRIP agents — which could grow to 100 agents by the end of the year — supplement the work of the Metro Transit Police Department and its community service officers, who are officers-in-training. In addition, the transit agency's Homeless Action Team works with outreach staff from Mental Health Minnesota to offer services to passengers in crisis. Metro Transit plans to issue a request for proposals from more community-based outreach organizations later this year. St. Paul: Under the direction of Mayor Melvin Carter's office, the city launched the Office of Neighborhood Safety in 2022 to implement the mayor's 'Community First Public Safety' framework, which oversees grants and investments in 'addressing the root causes of crime.' The office is run by director Brooke Blakey, former chief of staff to the Metro Transit police chief, and has funded violence intervention grant outreach and other prevention-based programs. Last year, after ending a police unit dedicated to mental health follow-ups, the city launched a 'Familiar Faces' initiative to target support services, including housing, to the few dozen most frequent users of emergency services. St. Paul Downtown Improvement District: The St. Paul Downtown Alliance and the Downtown Improvement District employ about 35 street ambassadors who walk streets and skyways and are available to escort downtown workers to their cars at night. Some are assigned cleaning duties for litter and graffiti. About eight to 16 street ambassadors are deployed at a time, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. The improvement district also coordinates a Safety Communications Center, which supports communications between the street team, private building security teams and the city police department. Ramsey County: Through a pilot program started in early 2024, four St. Paul-Ramsey County Public Health responders can be dispatched by the Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center to calls involving substance abuse that aren't overdoses or medical emergencies. Participating cities include Little Canada, New Brighton, Falcon Heights, Maplewood, Mounds View, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights and White Bear Township. St. Paul Public Schools: In June 2020, the school board voted to stop paying the police department to staff the public high schools with school resource officers. In their place are 40 unarmed school support liaisons trained and paid by the school district alone, who try to build relationships with students and head off problems before they escalate. Joe Soucheray: George Floyd Square is an embarrassment to the man it's supposed to honor Ex-Minneapolis police chief recalls 'absolutely gut-wrenching' moment of seeing George Floyd video George Floyd: Minneapolis, St. Paul events mark his death, community response Justice Department moves to cancel Minneapolis police reform settlement Minnesota Freedom Fund to stop bailing out jailed defendants
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
St. Paul is renaming two city parks to reflect sacred Dakota heritage
The City of St. Paul will rename a park and a nature preserve to reflect their Dakota heritage. On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council voted unanimously to adopt recommendations to rename Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park. Effective immediately, Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary will become Waḳaƞ Ṭípi and Indian Mounds Regional Park will become Wic̣aḣapi. The landscape making up the two sites will also be renamed to Imniżaska. The change was made based on recommendations from the state's Tribal Historic Preservation Offices and Dakota leaders, according to the announcement. 'We exist, first and foremost, because of our Dakota community, and we stand here today as a promise to honor that legacy and protect these ancestral homelands,' Mayor Melvin Carter said in a statement. 'Our facilitation of these place name changes is more than a ceremonial renaming – it's an affirmation of our shared values and a promise to walk forward together with respect and commitment to restoring truth.' 'Being able to support the Tribes in this effort to not only rename but also redesignate these places from parks to a cultural landscape is a huge step toward bringing broader community respect and awareness to these culturally important places in St. Paul,' Maggie Lorenz, Executive Director of Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Awaƞyaƞkapi, said in a statement. The change will be reflected in physical signage across both sites in coming months, according to the announcement. The signage at Waḳaƞ Ṭípi will also include variations on the name in order to 'honor the diversity of Dakota ways of knowing and speaking.'
CBS News
21-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
St. Paul renames sacred Dakota sites Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, Indian Mounds Regional Park
On recommendation of the Tribal Nations, the city of St. Paul announced Wednesday two culturally significant and sacred Dakota sites will be renamed. Effective immediately, the city will refer to the area of Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park as Imniżaska, while the two sites will be individually referred to as Waḳaƞ Ṭípi and Wic̣aḣapi. A press release from the city writes, "this action reflects the city's commitment to preserving indigenous heritage and strengthening its long-standing partnership with Dakota leaders and communities." "We exist, first and foremost, because of our Dakota community, and we stand here today as a promise to honor that legacy and protect these ancestral homelands," said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. "Our facilitation of these place name changes is more than a ceremonial renaming—it's an affirmation of our shared values and a promise to walk forward together with respect and commitment to restoring truth." "These names were never lost to the Dakota people," said Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan. "Indigenous place names have always been known. What we're doing now is lifting up the language, the stories, and the sacred connections to this land so that everyone else can know them too." The city said in a press release that this renaming is "the result of years of intentional relationship building between St. Paul Parks and Recreation and the four Tribal Historic Preservation Offices of the Prairie Island Indian Community, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Lower Sioux Indian Community, and Upper Sioux Community. Officials say renaming was Dakota-led, but the process was facilitated by the Executive Director of Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Awaƞyaƞkapi Maggie Lorenz. "I remember coming to Indian Mounds when I was little with my cousins, and I remember exploring the caves in Saint Paul and listening to my grandma, mom, and aunties tell me that these were our sacred places," Lorenz said. "Being able to support the Tribes in this effort to not only rename but also redesignate these places from parks to a cultural landscape is a huge step toward bringing broader community respect and awareness to these culturally important places in Saint Paul." Parks' Division of Design and Construction say it will implement the name change across all sites with physical signage and plan to install that signage within the coming months. Officials also say the signage for Waḳaƞ Ṭípi will include variations of the place name to honor the diversity of Dakota ways of knowing and speaking. "Restoring the Dakota names of these sacred sites within the Saint Paul park system is a meaningful and necessary step in recognizing the deep and enduring connection between the Dakota people and this land," added Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez. "We honor this moment while reaffirming our commitment to continued partnership with Tribal Nations and the Saint Paul American Indian community to ensure our city's natural spaces reflect and respect Dakota heritage."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary likely to be renamed Wakan Tipi
St. Paul's Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary could soon sport a name both ancient and new — Wakan Tipi, which means 'dwelling place of the sacred' in the Dakota language. Indian Mounds Regional Park, the only known burial mounds within the urban Twin Cities, may soon be rechristened Wic̣aḣapi, or 'cemetery.' Both name changes have been recommended by the state's tribal historic preservation officers and have won the support of St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. They'll be taken up by resolution of the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday, the penultimate step before landing on the mayor's desk to become official, though the mayor planned a 3 p.m. press conference Wednesday, shortly in advance of the council vote, to announce the dual re-namings. Located east of downtown, the 27-acre sanctuary is home to spring-fed wetlands, 450 million-year-old limestone and sandstone bluffs and other natural attractions. It's also home to the Wakan Tipi cave — known to generations of Dayton's Bluff residents as Carver's Cave — which holds a special place in Dakota lore as an ancient gathering place for native nations to negotiate peaceful alliances. The sanctuary is also soon to welcome the Wakan Tipi Center, a $14.3 million cultural and environmental center under construction in the area beneath the Kellogg Boulevard/Third Street bridge. The six burial mounds are located at 10 Mounds Boulevard, overlooking the Mississippi River from the blufftop, and hold historical significance to a number of native tribes, from the Upper Sioux Community to the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. On Wednesday afternoon, the city council is scheduled to discuss the possible renaming of both the mounds and the sanctuary, which takes its name from U.S. Rep. Bruce Vento, a teacher and East Sider who served in Congress from 1977 until his death in 2000. The nature sanctuary was named for him in 2005, when it opened. A reporter's call to Vento's family was not immediately returned Tuesday. The Parks and Rec Commission voted 8-0 in support of the dual re-namings on May 8. The council resolution is sponsored by Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who represents Dayton's Bluff and a large section of the East Side. The renaming was recommended by the Minnesota Tribal Historic Preservation Officers 'and reflects nearly a decade of community engagement led by St. Paul Parks and Recreation's division of Design and Construction,' said the mayor's office, in a written statement. Carter planned to meet with media Wednesday to announce the renaming alongside Johnson, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Metropolitan Council member Toni Carter, Parks and Rec Director Andy Rodriguez and Maggie Lorenz, executive director of the nonprofit Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Awanyankapi, which has led the way around planning for the Wakan Tipi Center. Letters: Preventing landlords from screening tenants is a one-sided view of our housing problem Ben Shardlow: The soon-to-close recycling plant and environs are places we should love, or learn to St. Paul: At Highland Bridge, Weidner Homes, Ryan Cos. win concessions St. Paul: Breakaway Music Festival approved for gradual volume increase What's changing with St. Paul's new rent control policy and tenant protections
