Free Republic

Honking their horns and stirring up faint clouds of post-construction dust, hundreds of drivers helped open the new Interstate 35W bridge this morning just a few minutes after 5 a.m. The two processions -- one from the south end of the bridge, one from the north -- were led by representatives of agencies that were the first responders when the old bridge collapsed last year. They were followed by Minnesota Department of Transportation maintenance trucks with sturdy, wide bumpers that kept drivers in line. Vehicles coming from the south were the first to make it across the 10-lane bridge, which...

Eight members of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist organization, each one faces four charges for their alleged plans to disrupt the convention. Each individual was charged Wednesday with second-degree furtherance of terrorism, conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder and conspiracy to damage property. Those arrested were Robert Joseph Czernik, Monica Rachel Bicking, Erik Charles Oseland, Garrett Scott Fitzgerald, Nathanial David Secor, Max Jacob Speckton, Luce Guillen-Givens, and Eryn Trimmer. The eight were arrested after Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies raided four homes in Minneapolis and St. Paul on Aug. 30 and 31. They are all being held...

About 1,200 people marched Sunday in support of undocumented immigrants in Iowa. The Statue of Liberty stood on both sides of the main street of Postville on Sunday, a symbol of how the volatile issue of immigration divides not only this Iowa town, but this country. On one side, a woman who was part of a group of Twin Cities Jews that helped orchestrate the rally offered a picture of the statue as evidence that America has always welcomed the downtrodden. But across the street, on the other side of a line of police officers, Rosanna Pulido, painted green and...

A horrific news story has slowly made its way into the headlines here in the Twin Cities. A local resident, his wife and three daughters spent the evening of the Fourth of July at Valleyfair, a local amusement park. They were leaving the park at midnight when a criminal began to molest his twelve-year-old daughter. The father intervened to defend his daughter, and the offender put out a call for his "homies." Eight "men" materialized and began to beat up the father. They knocked him to the ground and took turns stomping on his head. The man's wife and daughters...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A Lebanese man who says he attended an al-Qaida training camp was charged Friday with lying to federal authorities about shipments of communications equipment seized by the U.S. military in Afghanistan. Mohamad Kamal Elzahabi, 41, was charged in a U.S. District Court in Minnesota, one of several places he's lived in the United States. A federal judge in New York, where Elzahabi has been held since his arrest in May, held a hearing for Elzahabi and ordered him transferred to Minneapolis to face two counts of making false statements to federal investigators. A criminal complaint by FBI...

The spectacle of the coming Republican National Convention will be brought to you by Minnesota's major corporations, even more than planned. Virtually every major Twin Cities company has given money to the convention's local host committee, donated free services or both. The surprise has been the ratio of local donors to national money. "They originally thought it would be a 50-50 split, and it's looking more like 60 percent local and 40 percent national," said Teresa McFarland, spokeswoman for the host committee, which is charged with raising $58 million.

twincitiescarry.com is holding a potluck picnic and 2A Day celebration “Minnesota Gun Rights Gathering”, or GRG for short 11am, Sunday, July 13, Lake Harriet Bandshell picnic area, next to the Refectory. We will start setting up around 9 am. GPS address will be 4135 W Lake Harriet Parkway, Minneapolis 55410 42nd and W. Lake Harriet Parkway. Pay parking near, street parking a short walk away. Potluck theme, bring enough for yourself, and enough to share as well. Carry is optional. Please let us know if you plan to attend...we’d like to have an idea of how many will attend for...

A Roman Catholic Church decision to prohibit a Minneapolis gay pride prayer service has many in the gay community up in arms, leading activists to call the action a troubling and telling sign from the Twin Cities' new archbishop. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently told staff members at St. Joan of Arc Church they could not hold their annual gay pride prayer service planned for Wednesday — an event held for several years in conjunction with the annual Twin Cities Pride Celebration, parishioners said. Instead, the archdiocese suggested a "peace" service with no mention of rights for...

The FBI has identified the Twin Cities as one of the 10 worst areas of the United States for mortgage fraud and said it has literally dozens of criminal investigations underway here as part of a national crackdown on the problem. Deputy U.S. Attorney General Mark Filip and FBI Director Robert Mueller called a news conference Thursday afternoon in Washington to announce a special enforcement effort targeting mortgage fraud and mortgage-related securities fraud. The multi-agency initiative is called Operation Malicious Mortgage. From March 1 through June 18, the government charged 406 defendants in 144 mortgage fraud cases around the country....

A flight attendant angry about his work route set a fire in an airplane bathroom, forcing an emergency landing, authorities said. The Compass Airlines flight carrying 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely in Fargo on May 7 after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported. The plane was flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, authorities said. Eder Rojas, 19, appeared in court Thursday, following his arrest a day earlier in Minneapolis, and ordered held without bail, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The 16 big flasks of bubbling bright green liquids in Roger Ruan's lab at the University of Minnesota are part of a new boom in renewable energy research. Driven by renewed investment as oil prices push $100 a barrel, Ruan and scores of scientists around the world are racing to turn algae into a commercially viable energy source. Some varieties of algae are as much as 50 percent oil, and that oil can be converted into biodiesel or jet fuel. The biggest challenge is slashing the cost of production, which by one Defense Department estimate is...

MINNEAPOLIS - As the estimated cost of recovering from an interstate bridge collapse surges past $400 million, survivors of the deadly disaster just wish they could get a few thousand dollars here and there to make ends meet. About 30 of the more than 100 people injured in the Aug. 1 collapse, which killed 13 people, meet weekly to talk about the troubles it's caused them. This past week, one man spoke of his struggles with a $41,000 medical bill. Others mentioned missed paychecks. That they've all had such problems getting aid irritated fellow survivor Kimberly J. Brown enough that...

Now we know who's in charge of Minneapolis streets. It's a loosely organized group of serial lawbreakers called Critical Mass. Last Friday, 600 or so took over city thoroughfares, breaking traffic laws with impunity while police stayed in the background. Every month, Critical Mass cyclists ride through rush hour traffic in cities across the country. Some insist the ride is just a "celebration." Others acknowledge a political agenda: they want to enlighten the rest of us -- greedy capitalists that we are -- about the joys of bike riding so we can join them in saving the planet. The Mass...

The RNC Welcoming Committee doesn't really want to welcome the Republican National Convention to the Twin Cities. And they're organizing this weekend - a year before the Republican heavyweights arrive - to make their un-welcome heard. A few hundred "anarchists and anti-authoritarians" will gather for a pre-convention convention this Saturday and Sunday, to give shape and strategy to their 2008 RNC convention plans, according to a woman who identified herself as Bea Bridges. Bridges read a statement at a news conference this morning about this weekend's gathering but did not take any questions from invited reporters. In her statement, she...

Muslim religious leaders removed from a Minneapolis flight last week exhibited behavior associated with a security probe by terrorists and were not merely engaged in prayers, according to witnesses, police reports and aviation security officials. Witnesses said three of the imams were praying loudly in the concourse and repeatedly shouted "Allah" when passengers were called for boarding US Airways Flight 300 to Phoenix. "I was suspicious by the way they were praying very loud," the gate agent told the Minneapolis Police Department. Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated...

Authorities surrounded a home in Bloomington near the Southtown Mall Monday afternoon. The home, located on 84th Street and Knox Ave., was raided Monday afternoon by ATF agents and officials from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Officials told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that there was no immediate danger and it was more of precautionary measure. Bloomington firefighters evacuated homes in the neighborhood and used police tape to block off a large area. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS spoke with a neighbor who was evacuated from his home. "Bombs, bomb contaminants, explosives in the neighborhood and they got a call on… they wanted to...

“Around 600 students of Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia have not returned to their homes after the Lal Masjid operation. These are the people called ‘missing students’ and they are hiding in madrassas and mosques in and around the two cities Islamabad and Rawalpindi. They are walking bombs and are determined to blow themselves up any time, anywhere,” said a source directly involved in the ongoing investigation of suicide blasts in the country.Lal Masjid prayer leader Maulana Abdul Aziz said that five to six hundred students of the two madrassas had been trained, equipped and brainwashed to carry out suicide...

A suspected terrorist, arrested in Minneapolis and held in prison for nearly 3 and a half years without a trial, is asking to be released. Mohammed Warsame is charged with federal crimes of violence and supplying support to Al Qaida. Supporters in the Muslim community packed the federal courthouse in Minneapolis Tuesday to express their concern for Mohammed Warsame. "The length of this detention, without his day in court, is causing a serious problem," said Somali Justice Center Director Omar Jamal. Warsame's attorney said it's the longest time in U.S. history someone has been incarcerated pretrial. "He's been incredibly resilient,"...

Invasion splits Somalis living in the Twin Cities Some say Ethiopian troops will restore order; others fear it will lead to genocide BY MARY BAUER Pioneer Press After news hit that Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into the capital city of Mogadishu on Thursday, Somalis in the Twin Cities flocked together — but in two camps. Many of those who supported Ethiopia's response to an "invitation" from Somalia to restore order went first to the Somali Justice Advocacy Center on Selby Avenue in St. Paul, then to a Starbucks in Minneapolis. "People are celebrating," said Abdulahi Ahmad...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Six Muslim imams on Monday were removed from a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and questioned by police for several hours before being released, a leader of the group said. The six were among passengers who boarded Flight 300, bound for Phoenix, around 6:30 p.m., airport spokesman Pat Hogan said. A passenger initially raised concerns about the group through a note passed to a flight attendant, according to Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for US Airways. She said police were called after the captain and airport security workers asked the men to leave the plane and...

When Nihad Awad flew to Minneapolis to attend a fundraiser for state Rep. Keith Ellison in August, following him was a simmering debate in American politics: What constitutes support for terrorism? Last week, Minnesota Republicans thrust that issue to the forefront after Ellison won the DFL primary in the Fifth Congressional District. In a letter to Republicans statewide afterward, state GOP chairman Ron Carey accused Ellison of trying to hide his backing from "a self-identified supporter" of the Palestinian group Hamas.

State officials issued an air pollution health advisory Wednesday for the Twin Cities metro area that extends through today. Relatively light winds, high moisture levels and fog have allowed fine particles such as soot to accumulate, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency warned. The fine particles, as small as one-fiftieth the width of a human hair, can enter the lungs and cause breathing difficulties.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the "friendliest" major metropolitan area for people trying to quit smoking, according to an analysis released by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare on Monday.

MINNEAPOLIS - A Louisiana woman of Syrian descent was charged with trying to evade currency reporting requirements Monday after being caught with more than $24,000 in concealed U.S. currency when boarding a flight to her homeland. Amneh Ahmad Abbas, 49, of New Orleans, was ordered held without bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan. Another hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Thursday.

A Stillwater area school district decision to provide laptops to junior high students apparently fueled a record number of write-in votes for the school board Tuesday and led to the defeat of three incumbents.Nancy Hoffman and Christopher Kunze, who announced as write-in candidates shortly after the laptop decision was made in September, won seats on the board, along with incumbent David "Choc" Junker — who voted against the laptop plan — and challenger Andrée M. Aronson."The laptop issue fueled people to go out," Hoffman said. "But I think people liked where we stood on other issues and saw they...

<p>BRAINERD, Minn. -- Roger Awsumb, star of the ''Casey Jones'' children's shows on Twin Cities television from the 1950s into the early 70s, died today. He was 74.</p> <p>Awsumb, who lived on Bass Lake in Merrifield, near Brainerd, had complained of having chest pains and was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph's Medical Center around 5 a.m. He had been in poor health and was recently diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.</p>