The shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri nearly two weeks ago has sparked larger conversations about how often police use lethal force and when it is necessary. A report published earlier this year by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension shows how often law enforcement officers used their guns Read more →
MPR News Notes on the news from the Twin Cities
Archives for August 2014

The Minnesota Zoo will introduce four new Canada lynx kittens today. The kittens were born in May, but the zoo says they’ve been nursing, growing and bonding with their mom. Read more →

Former Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher will be back on the ballot this fall — but not to be the county’s top cop.
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Pepsi’s pitching its vitamin water to St. Paul with a picture of the Minneapolis Stone Arch Bridge? Come on. Read more →

Minneapolis, which has hosted a beard-off for the previous five years and boasts a Minneapolis Beard and Mustache Club, was ranked sixth most facial hair-friendly city in the country. Read more →

As the investigation into this week’s shooting death of Mendota Heights police officer Scott Patrick continues, Minneapolis police officers are remembering the loss of one of their own killed in the line of duty 12 years ago today. Officer Melissa Schmidt was fatally wounded by a suspect in the bathroom of a public housing high Read more →