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Deena Winter

Reporter | Newsroom

Deena Winter is Minneapolis City Hall reporter for the Star Tribune.

Recent content from Deena Winter
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

Frey vetoes labor standards board, but possible override looms

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Thursday vetoed an ordinance creating a labor standards board, but the council may have enough votes to override him.
Mayor Jacob Frey and others are calling on the Minneapolis teachers union to cancel an upcoming seminar featuring a speaker who has openly expressed a

Minneapolis mayor, Jewish group want teachers union to cancel event with anti-Israel speaker

A pro-Palestinian branch of the Minneapolis teachers union is holding a seminar Friday featuring Taher Herzallah. Mayor Jacob Frey and the JCRC are objecting, calling his remarks antisemitic.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey gives his State of the City speech at the Northstar Center in Minneapolis on May 7.

Minneapolis City Council fails to override veto of affordable rental housing ordinance

The City Council was unable to override Mayor Jacob Frey's veto of a plan to give some organizations first dibs on buying affordable rental housing.
The Minneapolis City skyline including City Hall seen from the back of the U.S. District Court.

Minneapolis City Council votes to create new Labor Standards Board

After a year of backlash, the council easily passed a resolution creating a Labor Standards Board Thursday. Now it goes to Mayor Jacob Frey.
More than 2,000 calls for service in neighbor-to-neighbor or tenant disputes have been made this year, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at

Minneapolis police looks at new response to neighbor conflicts, as activists keep up call for chief's resignation

A mediation program in the planning stages, in collaboration with the NAACP, would aim address neighborhood disputes.
Minneapolis city councilor Jamal Osman speaks during a discussion of a new ordinance raising pay for rideshare drivers.

Keith Ellison shuts down nonprofit run by Minneapolis Council Member Jamal Osman's wife

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office has reached a settlement with Ilo Amba's charity over meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's Feeding Our Future adjacent.
Hennepin County jail, downtown Minneapolis.

Minnesota DOC orders Hennepin County jail to reduce inmate population

Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt says she will appeal the order from the Minnesota Department of Corrections because it's impossible to shrink rapidly.
Mayor Jacob Frey gives his 2025 budget address in August.

Frey finds money to spare North Commons Park after City Council budget cuts to save shelter

The Minneapolis City Council had voted for budget cuts to save a downtown homeless shelter.
Alberder Gillespie fonder of Black Women Rising, reacts after t.v.announced that Vice President  Kamala Harris hand won several states durning Howard

Twin Cities sorority members, Howard alumni host parties for Harris as results tick in

As election results trickled in, Kamala Harris supporters with sorority and alma mater ties anxiously waited.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says he's "preparing to" run for re-election next year.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey plans to run for re-election, and others might challenge him

City Council Member Emily Koski says she's 'strongly considering' running next year, too.
Shawn Triplett from Ann Arbor checks out the different strains of cannabis flower available in 2023 at Herbana in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Minneapolis City Council approves cannabis dispensary regulations

The City Council passed an ordinance Thursday allowing cannabis dispensaries to begin operating next year with certain regulations.
Minneapolis City Council Members Robin Wonsey, left, Jeremiah Ellison and Aurin Chowdhury spoke with security officers outside council chambers on Thu

Activists disrupt Minneapolis council meeting and call for police chief's firing. Frey says no.

Protesters interrupted a City Council meeting Thursday to demand Police Chief Brian O'Hara's firing after the alleged shooting of Davis Moturi by a neighbor.
George Floyd Square on Thursday, March 28, 2024 in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis unveils a new vision for George Floyd Square

Four years after George Floyd's killing, the city has a plan to reshape the neighborhood where he died.
A wanted flyer for John Sawchak posted in south Minneapolis' Lyndale neighborhood.

Bail set at $1 million as Mpls. man asks for restraining order against neighbor he allegedly shot

Hennepin County Judge Jean Burdorf set bail at $1 million with conditional release of $600,000. John Sawchak said there was no way he could post it.
Police blocked off a portion of street near 35th Street and Grand Avenue in Minneapolis during a standoff to apprehend John Sawchak on Sunday, Oct. 28

Frey defends police handling of neighbor shooting case, says 'post-incident review' will be done

The mayor said City Council members shouldn't politicize the case.
Workers remove razor wire and fencing around the Third Precinct in Minneapolis on Monday.


The city has hired contractors to begin taking down the ra

Finally, the razor wire is coming down around Minneapolis' torched Third Precinct police station

4½ years after protesters set the police station ablaze during the George Floyd uprising, unwelcoming barriers are being softened.
Police blocked off a portion of street near 35th Street and Grand Avenue in Minneapolis on Sunday.

Minneapolis police arrest man charged with shooting neighbor who reported many threats

SWAT negotiators tried to communicate with John H. Sawchak and eventually breached his home Sunday night during a standoff that bled into Monday morning, shortly after Chief Brian O'Hara admitted to failing the victim.
"We were very intentional about the stories represented," said Minneapolis City Council Member and racial and gender equality advocate Andrea Jenkins.

Minneapolis trans summit postponed after LGBTQ+ groups express concerns

City Council Member Andrea Jenkins says the departure of trans planners concerned the community.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara

Minneapolis police overtime expected to hit $26 million this year

Police Chief Brian O'Hara said understaffing is continuing to drive up overtime, even though he has hired 60 officers.
An unlicensed street vendor sold watermelon and mango across from Sea Salt at Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis council members are considering permits for street food vendors

Migrants say they've been threatened with jail and deportation; city officials dispute that. They're definitely getting ticketed.
Peggy Lewis voted at Higher Ground Evergreen Residence, in Minneapolis, Minn.,Wednesday  October 23, 2024.The  pop-up site is for early voting. ] JERR

You've heard of pop-up stores; Minneapolis has pop-up voting sites

A Democratic-led effort changed Minnesota law last year to allow one-day voting locations. Minneapolis has 11.
In this image from video, witness Charles McMillian becomes emotional as he answers questions as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Wedn

Minneapolis council committee OKs $30,000 to witness to George Floyd's murder

The settlement for Charles McMillian now heads to the full city council.
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Poignant witness to George Floyd's death seeks $30,000 for emotional distress

A Minneapolis City Council committee will consider Monday a $30,000 settlement to Charles McMillian.
Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley speaks at a news conference about a proposed fee on carbon emissions outside of Owens Corning in Minneap

Minneapolis City Council overrides mayor's veto of new fee on carbon emissions

The council pushed back the start date to address legal concerns raised by the Frey administration.
The Minneapolis Police Department's former Third Precinct building at 3000 Minnehaha Av., pictured in 2023.

After four years, Minneapolis to remove razor wire around Third Precinct building

Council members say they don't want the site to continue being a backdrop for the city's critics.
GOP vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance speaks outside the former Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct building in Minneapolis, Minn. on Monday.

A day after JD Vance stood in front of the burned-out Third Precinct, Minneapolis debates a plan for the police station

Mayor Jacob Frey says it's time to move forward on his plan that the building house city elections staff and equipment.
Ballet Folklorico Mexico Azteca performed at Cowles Center's Goodale Theater in October. The city of Minneapolis is seeking a nonprofit to lease and o

Minneapolis seeks new partner to operate Cowles Center

The city is seeking a nonprofit to bring back the performing arts center, which closed earlier this year amid financial troubles.

Eveleth man dies after northern Minnesota house fire

The 63-year-old man was found in the driveway of his rural home.

Two arrested in Brooklyn Park shooting that left one dead

One man was killed in an early-morning shooting in Brooklyn Park, and two suspects were later arrested.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey giving his 2025 budget address in August, when he proposed an 8.1% increase in the amount raised from property taxes next

Minneapolis to look at new taxes as downtown values plummet

Mayor Jacob Frey said he's creating a group to consider new revenue sources, and City Council President Elliott Payne said the council is interested.
Minneapolis City Council members have begun making moves toward recouping some of the costs of allowing police officers to use squad cars and other ci

Minneapolis City Council committee OKs study of police off-duty fees

The full council next considers whether to study what it costs the city to allow police officers to use squad cars and other city resources to work security on the side.
Minneapolis City skyline including City Hall seen from the back of the U.S. District Court.

Minneapolis City Council wants to take a deeper look at Frey administration's books

Mayor says the council acted rashly and irresponsibly when it voted to cut the city operating budget to save a homeless shelter.
Minneapolis is crafting its cannabis regulations.

Minneapolis tackles marijuana rules from 'seed to sale'

Right now the plan would allow more cannabis dispensaries to be permitted than new liquor stores or tobacco shops.
Lisa Goodman smiled as Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey spoke about how much he enjoyed working with her Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, shortly before Goodman re

Former Council Member Lisa Goodman is back at Minneapolis City Hall

Ten months after retiring from the council, Goodman has been hired as director of strategic initiatives.