Daily Digest: Freeman convenes grand jury
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Good morning, and happy Thursday. Here's the Digest.
1. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is convening a grand jury to gather evidence in the 2017 shooting of Justine Damond. Freeman said he still will decide whether Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor will face charges in her death. Matthew Harrity, Noor's partner the night Damond was killed, was served a subpoena Wednesday to testify before a grand jury, said his attorney Fred Bruno. "It came as a surprise," Bruno said. He declined to say when Harrity will testify. Hennepin County attorney's office spokesman Chuck Laszewski maintained that Freeman "will continue the office's two-year-old policy where he makes the decision on whether or not to bring charges in officer-involved shootings." "Because grand jury proceedings are secret, we cannot comment on grand jury subpoenas or any testimony that occurs before a grand jury," Laszewski said. (Star Tribune)
2. Hennepin County set a new record for opioid deaths in 2017. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office reported 162 opioid-related deaths in its preliminary count. Nine more people died last year than in 2016. The number of opioid-related deaths jumped by 47 percent since 2015. "This is startling to see an almost 50 percent increase in opioid-related deaths during the past two years," Sheriff Rich Stanek said in a press release. "For this reason, the Sheriff's Office will be utilizing all local and federal resources available to us to prevent the illegal supply of drugs from entering our community, and to raise awareness of the public safety and public health epidemic." (MPR News)
3. State officials Wednesday revealed more details of the scope of elder abuse complaints. At a state Senate committee hearing Wednesday morning, Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper said a team of state officials are sorting through more than 2,300 reports of maltreatment in senior homes — reports that have never been reviewed by state regulators because of poor record-keeping and other inefficiencies at the state agency charged with protecting seniors. Another 826 maltreatment cases have been assigned for investigation but have never been resolved. The state Health Department now has a plan to eliminate that backlog by December, with a series of reforms designed to streamline the handling of elder abuse allegations. (Star Tribune)
4. Gov. Mark Dayton turned to a military general Wednesday to run the state technology agency that is still working to fix Minnesota’s vehicle registration system. Dayton named Johanna Clyborne to lead Minnesota IT Services. She’ll replace Commissioner Tom Baden, who cited health problems for his upcoming retirement. Clyborne is co-founder of a law firm and a brigadier general in the Minnesota National Guard, jobs she said she intends to keep doing on a part-time basis while taking on the new MN.IT duties. Clyborne does family law, concentrating on issues surrounding military benefits, and she said she will take steps to avoid any conflicts with her public duties. (MPR News)
5. Republican Congressman Tom Emmer assessed President Trump's first year in office during a forum Wednesday night. "The guy in the White House negotiates in an interesting way," said Emmer, drawing laughs and some groans from an audience at the College of St. Benedict. Emmer's opponents have criticized him for not holding more town halls in Central Minnesota since he took office in 2015, and some critics Wednesday night shouted counter questions and booed the congressman. Most of the discussion ranged away from the president toward Emmer's own opinions on major issues of the day, including sexual harassment and working across party lines. (St. Cloud Times)
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