Minneapolis residents will likely vote in November on future of city's police department
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis residents will likely vote in November on whether to replace the city's police department, offering their most significant chance to weigh in on public safety issues since George Floyd's death.
The city clerk's office announced Friday morning that a new political committee called Yes 4 Minneapolis gathered enough signatures to place a proposal on the November ballot.
The group wants voters to approve a plan to create a new public safety department that could include police "if necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the department."
The plan would also eliminate the requirement to keep a minimum number of officers based on the city's population and eliminate the mayor's "complete power" over police operations, granting the City Council more sway over officers.
For the changes to take effect, 51% of voters would need to approve the plan in the election this fall, when they will also vote for mayor and City Council.
Earlier this year, Yes 4 Minneapolis launched a campaign to gather signatures supporting its proposal and seeking to have it placed on the ballot. The group collected roughly 20,000 signatures, and the clerk's office — after cross referencing the names with voter records held by the Minnesota secretary of state's office — determined that 14,101 of them were valid. The group needed to collect 11,906 signatures to place the question on the ballot.
The city attorney's office will now conduct a review to determine whether the proposal is constitutional and whether it's relevant to the city charter, which serves as its constitution. If it meets those legal tests, the city council and mayor will determine the wording that appears on the ballot. They are not permitted to change the substance of the proposal itself.
—Star Tribune
4 in custody after 5 NYC subway riders slashed and punched in violent spree
NEW YORK — Four subway crime spree suspects, still riding the trains after slashing and slugging five riders in a series of vicious Manhattan assaults, were arrested Friday morning for the unprovoked attacks, police said.
Four of the victims were targeted by razor-wielding men aboard the southbound No. 4 train in a terrifying 12-minute stretch starting at 4:20 a.m., said police.
The fifth was stabbed in his right eye aboard a train in the station at 59th Street and Columbus Circle around the same time, authorities said.
Police believe the suspects possibly paired off at times during the predawn rampage, with initial reports indicating an accomplice of the East Side slasher urged the man to slice his victims as a third man served as a lookout aboard the train between the Union Square and Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall stations.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the investigation continued: “There could be somebody else involved in this.”
The latest outburst of violent mass transit mayhem prompted critics to lambaste Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“City Hall cannot continue to bury its head in the sand any longer,” said Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Pat Foye. “We need an immediate injection of police officers on platforms and on subway cars to deter attacks.”
Overall serious crime is down 43% in the subway system so far this year, but felony assaults have jumped 25%, according to NYPD data.
—New York Daily News
Missouri man charged with murder after 4-year-old son finds handgun, kills self
FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. — A man whose 4-year-old son found a pistol and accidentally killed himself in their Union home told detectives he left the handgun under his couch and fell asleep after smoking marijuana and taking a painkiller, according to court documents obtained Friday.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged the father, Scott Edward Hilton Jr., with second-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was being held in the Franklin County Jail in lieu of $250,000 cash bail.
His son, identified in court papers by the initials M.H., accidentally shot himself in the chest about 6 a.m. Thursday at his home on Star Circle Drive. He died at Mercy Hospital in Washington.
Hilton, 34, does not have a lawyer listed in court papers.
Hilton has prior convictions for second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance. As a Missouri felon, he is not allowed to have a gun. The murder charge he now faces is based on the accusation that Hilton was committing a felony in the course of someone's death. The other two charges filed Thursday against Hilton are also felonies.
Hilton told detectives that he had the gun for protection, according to court documents. He said he had been attacked a few days earlier and was hospitalized for his injuries. Court documents don't say who Hilton claims attacked him or why.
When Hilton got out of the hospital, he went home and slept for days, he told detectives. Hilton said he was fearful and worried the people who attacked him would hurt him again at his trailer home.
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Russia places US, Czech Republic on new list of 'unfriendly' states
The Russian government has put the United States and the Czech Republic on a new list of "unfriendly foreign states" that was published in Moscow on Friday.
The classification translates into restrictions on the diplomatic missions of both countries, for example concerning the employment of staff who hold Russian passports.
The list does not include any other countries. It was compiled on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.
The Czech Republic is still allowed to employ 19 Russian citizens, according to the list, while the United States may not employ any Russians.
Previously, the Russian Foreign Ministry had imposed sanctions on both countries' missions, amid a spate of tit-for-tat expulsions.
In April, the U.S. expelled 10 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions as punishment for Moscow's interference in last year's presidential election and for hacker attacks.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, blamed Russian intelligence services for explosions at an ammunition depot in 2014, and expelled 18 diplomats.
Moscow has denied all the accusations.
—dpa
