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Legislative Auditor issues critical report on Met Council’s oversight of Southwest LRT project

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

The Metropolitan Council put itself on the hook for huge cost overruns on the Southwest Light Rail Transit project even through it didn’t have the money, and it failed to develop a contingency plan to find the funding, the Office of the Legislative Auditor said Wednesday.In a sharply critical report, the nonpartisan auditor’s office also said the Twin Cities regional governing agency has not been fully transparent about the snowballing costs and delays on the project.Back before construction started in 2019, the Met Council estimated the 14.5-mile extension of the Green Line from downtown Minneapolis to suburban Eden Prairie would cost just over $2 billion and open in 2023. The council now estimates that the line won’t start running until 2027 and that costs will reach nearly $2.8 billion, making it one of the most expensive public works projects in Minnesota history.Even before construction started, the Federal Transit Administration raised concerns about the council...

Gophers Cooley, Knies among Top 10 Hobey Baker finalists

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies of the top-ranked Golden Gophers men’s hockey team are among the Top 10 finalists for 2023 Hobey Baker Memorial Award given annually to the best Division I men’s college hockey player in the nation.Cooley, a freshman with a 12-game points streak, ranks fourth nationally with 50 points and has recorded at least one point in 28 of 34 games this season. He ranks third nationally with five game-winning goals, all five in his past 20 games. He leads all NCAA players with a plus-34 ranking.Knies, the 2022-23 Big Ten player of the year as a sophomore this season, is sixth nationally with 21 goals and his seven game-winners lead all NCAA players. He is one of only five players in Gophers’ history with three overtime goals and the only player to ever do it in one season.The group will be winnowed down to three on March 30, and the winner will be announced April 7 on NFL Network. The other finalists are: Adam Fantilli, Fr., F, Michigan; Sean Fa...

Does ‘Ted Lasso’ end with season 3? What to … believe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

By ALICIA RANCILIO (Associated Press)“ Ted Lasso” returns Wednesday for its third season and while there are certainly questions about whether AFC Richmond will finally go all the way — or if Nate will receive his comeuppance — there’s one big question: Is this actually the last season?The Emmy-winning Apple TV+ series, about an American coaching a soccer team in London, has long been described as a three-season series — but executive producer, writer and star Jason Sudeikis is noncommittal about what comes next.“I’m still in it,” he said in a recent interview.“We’re still editing the last few episodes, so it’s really something that I haven’t had the time to sit with, despite the fact that there’s a lot of wonder and curiosity … from the press or fans — and certainly it seems like people in show business are equally as interested,” he laughed. “That answer will arrive probably when there’s enough space for the question to really land.”Brendan Hunt, who plays assistant coach Beard, (...

‘They were resilient. I’m living proof’: Irish descendants commemorate St. Paul’s Connemara Patch

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

Afton resident Leslie Thomas has spent years researching her family’s Irish roots.She’s scoured genealogy sites, traveled to Ireland more than 10 times, and is one of the founders of a Facebook group called “Connemara to Minnesota in the 1880s: The Families and Their Stories.”According to Thomas’ research, 32 of her family members emigrated to St. Paul from Connemara, Ireland, in 1883 as part of Quaker philanthropist James Hack Tuke’s assisted-emigration program, which Tuke started to provide relief during the 1879-1882 famine.Many of Thomas’s relatives settled in Connemara Patch on St. Paul’s East Side, where another group of Irish immigrants – brought to Minnesota by Bishop John Ireland – had already settled along Lower Phalen Creek.“My great-great-uncle Patrick Stewart emigrated in 1883, and he lived right in here,” Thomas said during a recent tour of the snow-covered site, now part of Swede Hollow Park.There’s not much to see now. The homes are long gone, the s...

David French: Don’t let the culture war degrade the Constitution

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

The Constitution of the United States, properly interpreted, provides a marvelous method for handling social conflict. It empowers an elected government to enact even contentious new rules while protecting the most fundamental human rights of dissenting citizens. Political defeat is never total defeat. Losers of a given election still possess their basic civil liberties, and the combination of the right to speak and the right to vote provides them concrete hope for their preferred political outcomes.But if a government both enacts contentious policies and diminishes the civil liberties of its current ideological opponents, then it sharply increases the stakes of political conflict. It breaks the social compact by rendering political losers, in effect, second-class citizens. A culture war waged against the civil liberties of your political opponents inflicts a double injury on dissenters: They don’t merely lose a vote; they also lose a share of their freedom.That’s exactly what’s hap...

Ezra Klein: This changes everything

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

In 2018, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google — and not one of the tech executives known for overstatement — said, “AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.”Try to live, for a few minutes, in the possibility that he’s right. There is no more profound human bias than the expectation that tomorrow will be like today. It is a powerful heuristic tool because it is almost always correct. Tomorrow probably will be like today. Next year probably will be like this year. But cast your gaze 10 or 20 years out. Typically, that has been possible in human history. I don’t think it is now.Artificial intelligence is a loose term, and I mean it loosely. I am describing not the soul of intelligence, but the texture of a world populated by ChatGPT-like programs that feel to us as if they were intelligent, and that shape or govern much of our lives. Such systems are, to a large extent, already here. But what’s c...

Assembly releases one house budget

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- The Assembly one house budget has been published. The final budget deadline is due April 1. The 146-page document details the Assembly’s plans to address bail reform, minimum wage, school meals and much more. While the Governor's budget proposal totaled around $227 billion the Assembly is asking for  $233 billion. "Well, the one thing I’ve heard from constituents, I think we saw the last election frankly, as people are concerned about affordability and crime in your state unfortunately, other than maybe the Suny tuition freeze, I didn’t see this proposal address affordability at all, and it certainly did nothing on crime, they rejected the Governors cashless bail reforms," said Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay. Governor Hochul’s proposal included giving judges more discretion when it comes to serious crimes. It also includes removing the least restrictive means standard.  Senate releases one house budget A recent study by John Jay College shows those re...

Senate releases one house budget

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---The Senate’s one house resolution makes some changes to Governor Hochul’s $227 Billion state budget proposal.One recommendation is to establish a universal school meals program to require all schools to participate in a national school lunch and breakfast program, at no cost to the student. It also would like to leave out a proposal to increase tuition at SUNY and CUNY Schools. However, one issue causing a lot of controversy is that the Senate resolution does not include changes to bail reform. Governor Hochul wants to remove the least restrictive means standards and give judges more discression."I’m not clear why there are different interpretations by judges of the same law," said Senate Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins. "Bail again is applicable for recidivists. It certainly has always been applicable for violent offenses, so I’m not clear where the confusion is."Unlike Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans think changes do need to be made to the stat...

St. Charles plans lawsuit against Ameren over water contamination

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The City of St. Charles plans to move forward with a lawsuit against Ameren Missouri amid frustrations with water contamination at the city's Elm Point Wellfield.City officials announced the hiring of two law firms, Dowd Bennett LLP and Blitz and Bardgett & Deustch L.C., to handle the non-superfund portion of a lawsuit against Ameren. The lawsuit has not yet officially been filed as of Wednesday afternoon, but Mayor Dan Borgmeyer announced it is in the works. Trending: Daughter roasts Alton dad in sweet and funny obit Once the lawsuit is filed, the City of St. Charles will be limited on what it can say about the cost of damages and other things specific to any ongoing litigation. Mayor Borgmeyer says the reason for hiring the outside law firms is because of the monetary burden the contamination has put on the city."It is vital to St. Charles that we are compensated fully for all damages and costs caused by the chemical pollution by Ameren and it’s time for ...

Two wanted in carjacking at St. Louis gas station

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:07:31 GMT

ST. LOUIS - Police are searching for two suspects from a carjacking last month at a St. Louis gas station. The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department released surveillance photos of two suspects Wednesday, one month to the date since the carjacking. Investigators say a 58-year-old man was pumping gas at the BP Gas Station in the 1500 block of South Grand when he was carjacked. One of the suspects approached him, pointed a gun at him and demanded the car's keys. The victim complied, and two suspects took off in the car. Trending: Daughter roasts Alton dad in sweet and funny obit The victim was not hurt, but the suspects briefly took off in a 2017 Toyota Highlander with his work laptop still inside. Police later found the victim's vehicle in the 8600 block of Oriole. The victim was not hurt. The suspects are described as 15-17 years old. One was caught on camera wearing a dark gray/gray hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and black shoes with a black handbag. The other wore a whi...