Susan Du

1 week ago | startribune.com | Susan Du

Other commissioners reacted skeptically, noting that under current federal immigration enforcement, there have been stories of individuals losing legal status over low-level violations. A University of Minnesota student is suing Immigration and Customs Enforcement for terminating his status over speeding and parking tickets, the Sahan Journal reported this week. Commissioner Steffanie Musich urged her colleagues to oppose making smoking on parkland a crime.

1 week ago | lacrossetribune.com | Susan Du

Driving through the streets of south Minneapolis, the change is clear. For years, homeless encampments pinballed from one vacant lot to another. Now, they’ve largely vanished, leaving behind fenced highway underpasses and barren hillsides. Mayor Jacob Frey credits a combination of policing and outreach for the new look of the South Side, where only a scattering of small encampments remains.

1 week ago | startribune.com | Susan Du

Nineteen-year-old Quina Rios said she can't pitch a tent anywhere "'cause the cops would come and break it up." "We can't even just stand somewhere," she said. "A transit or cop car will come down, say y'all gotta move. Just every time we see a cop car, everyone's sprinting." Rios said she didn't know where she would sleep that night, but she knew a few places where she could stay a few days.

2 weeks ago | startribune.com | Susan Du

Six months ago, representatives from U.S. Housing and Urban Development came to Vista Village, a modest apartment complex on the west side of St. Paul, and presented a ceremonial big check to property owner CommonBond Communities. The prop check was for $3.8 million. It was awarded as part of the federal Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), which was established under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to help distressed affordable housing buildings finance long-deferred maintenance.

3 weeks ago | gazettextra.com | Susan Du

MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis passed an ordinance last year aimed to close a "loophole" in the state's prohibition on indoor smoking that allowed for licensed tobacconists to run cigar lounges. It appeared to affect only one business: Anthony's Pipe and Cigar Lounge in Uptown. Anthony's has a sprawling leather seating room where customers - typically older men - work and hang out while smoking cigars.