Thursday, March 21, 2013
A boy who allegedly made a prank 911 call about a school shooter was arrested Wednesday morning. What punishment should he receive, if any?
Updated: Saturday, March 23 at 2:15 p.m. See Editor's Note below. A 12-year-old Minnesota boy is scheduled to appear at a hearing later this week after he was arrested Wednesday morning for making two prank 911 calls. According to the Associated Press, a 911 caller said there was a shooter with an AK-47 and a couple of victims at New Prague Middle School. With the Newtown, CT elementary school shooting tragedy still fresh in mind, the call prompted a lockdown of the middle school, high school and Central Education Campus buildings. New Prague Police Chief Mark Vosejpka said the boy is believed to have made the calls from an emergency cell phone only capable of calling 911, According to the Pioneer Press. The child's attorney, Marsh Halberg…
Monday, March 4, 2013
Many district budgets don't have room for special school resource officers (SROs). Should administrators make room at schools instead for regular police officers?
Converting a school classroom or storage room into a police department office—is that a good way to make schools more secure? Since the economic recession arrived in 2009, many school districts have cut school resource officers (SROs), leaving school builldings without day-in, day-out police presence, according to the Star Tribune. But the mass-shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, brought calls for more armed security, including police, at schools. One school district, in Jordan, MN, has opted to find space in its buildings to house some of the regular functions of the city's police department, the Associated Press reported.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek: “The severely mentally ill should never have access to guns. We have an epidemic of untreated mental illness in the U.S. and right here in Minnesota.”
The following was released by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office: Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association, Hennepin County Judge Jay Quam and a coalition of community partners that included advocates for the mentally ill and state lawmakers gathered in St. Paul Wednesday to discuss potential reforms to address concerns about the role of mental illness and extreme gun violence. Among the proposed reforms: strengthen existing gun background check laws, provide greater access to mental health records for law enforcement and address gaps in providing services and resources to Minnesotans who live with untreated mental illness. “We have an access problem,” said Sheriff Stanek, “The severely mentally ill …
Friday, January 4, 2013
With so many challenges on the table, Patch wants to know what issues you think are most important.
With another legislative session just around the corner, senators and representatives have no shortage of challenges ahead of them. Lawmakers plan to convene hearings on gun control in the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. They’ll review a recommendation from a governor-appointed task force to increase gas taxes and tab fees in response to a projected $50 billion shortfall in transportation funding. The DFL majority and defeat of the marriage amendment in the 2012 election could even prompt the Legislature to take up the issue of gay marriage. And looming over everything is a projected $1.1 billion deficit that legislators will have to close before adjourning for the year. With so many issues on the …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Patch will pause to remember the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Patch websites in Minnesota will go dark for a moment Friday morning to honor the memory of those killed one week ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The brief Patch blackout is set for 8:30 a.m. CST on Friday, Dec. 21, 2012. Gov. Mark Dayton has called for a moment of silence in Minnesota one hour later, at 9:30 a.m. CST. In his statement (click on PDF thumbnail), Dayton also asked places of worship and government buildings that have bells to ring them 26 times "in honor of each life that was taken far too soon at Sandy Hook Elementary School." Twenty children and six adults died in the mass shooting. Newtown Patch's news hub has extensive coverage of the events of Dec. 14 and since, including the names of those who died…
MN legislator says yes, Gov. Dayton says no, but a Mpls. school staffer took matters into her own hands and brought a .357 Magnum to school. Should teachers bear arms?
Updated below. Should Minnesota teachers carry guns at school? One staff member at a Minneapolis public school apparently thought so—according to authorities, she brought a loaded .357 Magnum to Seward Montessori Wednesday. MN Rep. Tony Cornish (R-Vernon Center) has a bill that would let educators have firearms in classrooms, according to WCCO-TV. The idea is to prevent massacres like last week's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT that left 20 students and seven adults dead. Cornish told WCCO: “We found out that nothing else works, and I think teachers are the best people to confront this. Even an armed security or an armed cop doesn’t do a lot of good if they get by him or her. Then they’ve got all these classrooms that…
Friday, December 14, 2012
Golden Valley resident and District 44B Rep. Ryan Winkler took to Twitter, along with other locals, to offer thoughts on Friday's tragic shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.
In the wake of a shooting that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, Golden Valley resident and 44B Rep. Ryan Winkler and other local businesses and officials are turning to Twitter to offer condolences and bits of advice to those parents who are trying to talk to their children about the horrific event. According to the Associated Press, 27 people are dead, including 18 children, as a result of a shooting at the school. For up to date information on the shooting, visit Newtown Patch. At noon, Winkler tweeted: I have no greater fear than an elementary school shooting. Our gun debates are dumb--question is why do we have so much senseless violence? At about 12:45 p.m., Winkler offered some resources for those parents who …
Karla Bestler Cady
9:52 am on Thursday, March 28, 2013
Funny that you reference the TV shows from the 50s and 60s when discouraging modern technology. Tell me if I am wrong, in the 50s and 60s wasn't the TV itself considered modern technology. Get with the times. This issue has nothing to do with cell phones. You yourself just typed this out on a computer. This isn’t modern technology? According to your way of thinking, you should have just hammered … more ›