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Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak plans to travel to Chicago Thursday to unveil a print and digital ad campaign inviting gay couples to marry in his city in the wake of a new Minnesota law that opens the doors to such unions. His announcement will be made at the Center on Halsted, a community center in Lakeview, the city's most high-profile gay neighborhood. It comes just three months after an attempt to bring gay marriage to Illinois died in the legislature.

President Barack Obama is coming to Minneapolis on Monday, Feb. 4, to advance his proposals to reduce gun violence, which is a little bit like taking a boat out into the middle of the ocean to discuss the risk of fire in Joshua Tree National Park. Why doesn't he go to Chicago, where there is gun violence? And then, once in Chicago, why wouldn't he discuss that city's problem of gang violence? In fact, so long as he has the itch to take his bully pulpit on the road, Chicago is the natural, ultimate stop. Why, it is ground zero....

Minneapolis Mayor, R.T. Rybak, has a strong message for makers of guns and ammunition who do business with the city. Mayor Rybak says he wants them to be partners in the pursuit of "common sense" gun control reform. The city buys about a million dollars worth of guns and ammunition each year for police. The primary vendors are Remington, Federal Ammunition and Smith & Wesson. The Mayor says he wants to dig a little deeper into the backgrounds of those companies. Mayor Rybak tells 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, "if they want to be partners with us, we will work with them....

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said Thursday he won't seek a fourth term as leader of Minnesota's largest city, creating the first open race for the office in two decades. Rybak's announcement came less than a year before voters in the city of almost 400,000 will choose a new mayor. Several potential candidates had been waiting on Rybak to make a decision before declaring whether they would run, and the field is likely to be large. The decision also should ramp up speculation about Rybak's next political move. The 57-year-old Democrat has been mentioned as a possible addition to President Barack...

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has urged department heads and other city officials to cancel any pending official travel plans to Arizona in the wake of new immigration legislation in that state. Rybak urged city officials to find alternate ways of accomplishing the same business ends without traveling to the state. Arizona law makes it a state crime to be in the country illegally and authorizes police officers to ask people for proof of citizenship and hand illegal immigrants over to federal enforcers. “This is a terrible law, and I do not want any public dollars to be spent there,” Rybak...

MINNEAPOLIS - The city of Minneapolis is spending nearly $200,000 to sell something that would seem to sell itself: tap water. With her bottle of water in hand, Susan Davis was feeling hot and a little guilty. “It would be great if everyone did drink the tap water,” said Davis. “I think the tap water in Minneapolis is just fine.” Tap Minneapolis is the city's new web site, and PR campaign to promote the city's tap water. But unlike tap water, it's not cheap. The web site costs $75,000. The total cost paid to the PR firm was $180,000.

The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor R.T. Rybak approved changes Friday, to the city’s vehicle idling ordinance that aims to reduce air pollution. The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic. "Most of the air pollution in Minneapolis comes from vehicles and cutting down in idling is one easy thing we can all do for our environment, our health, and the health of our neighbors," said Mayor R.T. Rybak. Vehicle motors release particulate matter, dirt, nitrous oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into the air. These chemicals are linked to increased rates of cancer, heart...

An FBI report to be released Monday will say that violent crime reports in Minneapolis increased more last year than any other Midwest city and that the jump is among the tops in the United States. The crimes of homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robbery increased by 35 percent from 2004, compared to an average 5 percent increase for cities of similar size to Minneapolis across the nation, according to FBI crime statistics given to interim Police Chief Tim Dolan on Friday. Violent crime rose an average of 2 percent nationwide. Dolan said the numbers didn't surprise the department, which...

It was inevitable that someone would describe the 21-year-old suspect in last weekend's street killing in the Warehouse District as "a good kid." But good kids don't bring guns to movies. And groups of good kids don't storm into cinemas shouting, cursing, flashing gang signs and picking fights with rivals, all of which apparently led to a melee, then gunfire, outside of Block E and the shocking death of an innocent pedestrian. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and police officials insist that the tragedy was an aberration and that the district is safe.

In a burst of violence in a busy area of downtown Minneapolis, a gunman fired into a crowd late Friday night and killed a 31-year-old man who had been out with a group of friends, authorities said Saturday. Police and community leaders said the shooting of the Minnetonka man near the Block E entertainment complex was a senseless act, and the death raised questions about safety downtown and led to calls for renewed efforts to stop gun violence in the city.

Michael Zebuhr of Buckhannon, W.Va., was shot about 10 p.m. Saturday while returning to a car with his mother and two others from an Uptown restaurant. Zebuhr, a graduate student at Clemson University, was in Minneapolis to visit his sister with their mother. Police had made no arrests Monday, and officials said that Zebuhr was near death.

In inaugural speeches Tuesday, Mayor R.T. Rybak and new Council President Barbara Johnson appealed to the public for help building a better Minneapolis in the next four years. Rybak asked those gathered to close their eyes and imagine a city with world-class schools, parks, libraries and cultural institutions, a city where residents can take a streetcar, ride a bike or walk to work and shops, a city where all children grow up knowing they can succeed. "One city. One people. Woven together. Working today for tomorrow," he said. "Now open your eyes and roll up your sleeves. It's time to...

Robberies in Minneapolis are on pace to reach their highest peak since 1997, according to the Police Department's robbery unit. Citywide, robberies are up 21 percent this year from the same time in 2004, police said. According to data released this week, there have been 2,462 robberies this year, compared with 2,038 at the same time last year. Robbery unit commander Lt. Michael Fossum said the number of robberies will probably be near or exceed 3,000 by year's end; the last time they hit that mark was 1997, with 3,326.

The investigation of Council Member Dean Zimmermann is the third federal investigation of Minneapolis City Hall in five years. The other two: • In 2001, the last election year, Council Member Brian Herron resigned and pleaded guilty to extortion. He served a one-year sentence for taking money from Lake Street developer Basim Sabri. Sabri, who was captured on FBI videotape tape giving money to Herron, is now in prison in Leavenworth, Kan. In the Herron case, then-Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton brought in an outside lawyer to conduct an independent investigation. Mayor R.T. Rybak currently has no plan for a separate...

State Auditor Pat Anderson on Friday called on Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to reimburse the city for his recent $42,000 newsletter because she believes it violates state law. "While it is appropriate for a city to send out a newsletter to communicate with its residents, it is clear that glossy ... photographs of the mayor and a glowing recitation of his accomplishments do not meet that purpose," Anderson wrote. "Frankly, Mayor Rybak should have saved this brochure for his campaign." Anderson said she saw the brochure after getting a complaint from a constituent late Thursday and reading about it in...