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Eight U.S. doctors, including two Minnesota physicians, were mistakenly identified as dead in letters sent to patients last month by health insurer UnitedHealthcare.

A UHC spokesman confirmed the total this week after the Minnesota Star Tribune received a copy of a letter that incorrectly notified some patients of the death of Dr. Geoffrey Fasen, a Fairview Health Services surgeon. The wording of the letter was largely identical to one sent last month to patients of Dr. Richard Johnston, an Edina ophthalmologist.

Both letters were dated Sept. 11. Two weeks later, the patients received a second UHC letter acknowledging the mistake, and stressing that the doctors were still in-network providers — and presumably alive.

“You may continue to see them at network costs,” the correction letters stated.

UHC apologized in a written statement for the initial, erroneous letters, adding, “we have updated our processes to help prevent this type of error from occurring in the future.” A spokesperson did not elaborate on the breakdown that caused the problem in the first place.

The Potluck food hall in the Rosedale Center mall in Roseville will shutter in mid-October, ending years of service, according to Lisa Crain, VP and group manager for Rosedale Center.

The move shutters the mall’s primary dining area, which served customers for years.

Crain did not say why the food hall would close but added that the mall hopes to announce its replacement by early next year.

Minneapolis now has the green light to increase its overall property tax levy by up to nearly 12% next year, which would translate into 20% property tax hikes for many homeowners, unless the City Council makes major cuts.

Minneapolis residents aren’t the only ones looking at double-digit tax increases: Several cities and counties across the region also are considering eye-popping tax levy increases for next year, including hikes in the double digits in many communities.

Dakota County is considering by far the largest increase among the governments examined for this story, with officials weighing levy increases ranging from 16.3% to 21.2%.

A group of men stood outside a St. Louis Park Pilates studio last week and filmed women who were working out through the window.

The presence of the men created an unease that’s been felt elsewhere across the country as “auditors,” as they are known, test their First Amendment rights to record in public. The incident was captured in a TikTok video and has gone viral since it was posted Sunday.

More than 6.3 million people have watched the video posted by one of the women in the class. It shows the women inside stacking boxes to block the windows in an attempt to dissuade the unidentified men from filming. The women went on to use their cellphones to film the men who were outside.

The practice of filming in public spaces, known as a First Amendment audit, is becoming a more common social and political movement, according to University of Minnesota professor Jeff Kosseff. The episode rattled the women in the class that day.

Windows are largely intact across the river in St. Paul. Police there told me they “have not seen many reports of car window smashings.”

This shows that window smashings aren’t some intractable post-pandemic livability crime, a cost of living in the Big City. They are actually a symptom of disfunction somewhere between the cops and courts in Minneapolis and Hennepin County.

And it turns out window smashings are just the tip of the iceberg. State crime data show that Minneapolis and St. Paul have followed opposite trajectories in recent years for crimes related to broken car windows.

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming, in part, that the city of St. Paul violated the Minnesota Whistleblower Act and that Mayor Kaohly Her sexually harassed and battered him.

Several allegations in the lawsuit had been made public during the course of an earlier internal investigation into Her’s conduct. But the complaint includes new claims, including that Her made “unwanted and nonconsensual physical contact” with Henry, “placing her hand on his upper thigh beneath a conference-room table — not once, but twice — during a [St. Paul Police Department] budget meeting.”

It also claims that Her made sexual innuendos about the size of Henry’s penis and described herself as a “MILF,” a sexually vulgar acronym.

The suit comes less than a week after the city announced that the misconduct investigation into the mayor found that she “engaged in offensive and inappropriate behavior” with her employees but did not sexually harass or retaliate against anyone.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

On top of the allegations about Her’s behavior, the lawsuit claims that the mayor hired a private public relations firm to discredit Henry after the investigation began, and that St. Paul officials “engaged in a series of retaliatory acts” because of the sexual harassment complaint.

Minnesota's last remaining horseback police unit quietly disbanded after the Minneapolis Police Department’s barn lease expired last month.

Duluth has banned its main type of short-term vacation rentals and will soon roll out new ways to undermine the hundreds of illegal rentals found throughout the city.

A 1-year moratorium on new permits put the city’s competitive and contentious vacation rental market under scrutiny, as its housing crisis endures. On Monday night, the City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance that includes an enforcement plan, pricey penalties and new rules for VRBOs, Airbnbs and other vacation rentals. It takes effect mid-October.

Having hundreds of illegal vacation rentals “is a huge issue in a community with a housing crisis, with a homelessness crisis,” Councilor David Clanaugh said during the meeting.

Current permit holders for single-family homes can continue to operate unless they sell their properties, but they must follow new rules. Those renting out rooms or smaller units on a property they live in will also still be allowed, along with a percentage of short-term units inside new or converted larger-scale residential development.

Minnesota Bureau of Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans identified the victims as Dale Henry Spry, 63, and Muse Abdi Afrah, 61

Here's what else we've learned:

• At the time of the shooting, suspected shooter Carlton Johnson was fighting an eviction proceeding based on a series of threatening incidents at the apartment complex, court records show.
• Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Thursday that her office declined to charge Johnson two weeks ago over threats to a neighbor.
• BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said “we believe he died in an exchange of gunfire” with Minneapolis police officers.
• On April 9, Carlton Johnson was reissued a permit to carry a handgun by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, according to a person familiar with the application.
• Hennepin County court records show that Carlton Johnson was the subject of an ongoing child protection matter at the time he carried out his alleged mass shooting and a 4-year-old girl, who had been established as his daughter, was under the supervision of Hennepin County.
• There have been 1,200 police calls for service to Shoreline Plaza since September 2020, according to a review of 911 call data from the city of Minneapolis. About 20% of those calls for service involved assaults or domestic disputes, according to a Star Tribune analysis of the data.

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Article text: An ICE agent has been charged federally over his alleged actions tied to the shooting of a Venezuelan immigrant in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.

A federal grand jury indicted the agent, Christian Castro, but the charges remain under seal, according to people familiar with the indictment. One of those people confirmed that the charges are related to Castro’s false statements to law enforcement about his shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14 in north Minneapolis.

The state of Minnesota sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in federal court on Tuesday over a nearly three-month delay in extraditing Christian Castro, the ICE agent accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge and later lying about it.

Castro has been held in the Cameron County jail near the Mexican border since being arrested on May 29 by the Texas Rangers. On July 30, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter to Abbott requesting his signature on the extradition paperwork so Castro could face charges in Minnesota.

Castro was charged by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on May 18 with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime for the chaotic situation that developed in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 after Castro allegedly shot Sosa-Celis.

A nationwide search warrant was issued the same day he was charged, and in her late-May letter, Moriarty pushed Abbott to return Castro to Minnesota.

“The final step is for you as the Governor to sign the extradition paperwork so that we can proceed with the case in Minnesota,” Moriarty wrote.

The federal lawsuit will seek to force the hand of Abbott, a Republican who is seeking a fourth term as governor in Texas and is locked in a tight race with Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee. The suit, filed in Texas federal court by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, casts the delay of Castro’s extradition as unlawful, unusual and “inconsistent with historical practice.” It names Abbott and Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino as defendants.

When asked about Castro’s extradition on Tuesday, Abbott’s press coordinator Agathe Cirasa said: “The Office of the Governor will not comment on pending extradition matters.”

Har Mar’s indoor mall will likely be demolished if it can iron out a new contract with its largest tenant, Cub Foods.

The redevelopment has been in the works for more than four years and could dramatically alter one of Roseville’s best-known commercial properties. Yet city officials and developers have said little publicly about the plans.

Vacant storefronts now make up more than two-thirds of the center, fueling years of speculation about its future. That interest intensified in June when JLL marketing materials called for a “full scrape and rebuild” of the 63-year-old shopping center.

Correspondence between the city and developers show plans to raze some of the buildings to make room for more freestanding restaurants and shops, according to records obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed a $2.3 billion budget Wednesday that would require a 11.3% increase in the city’s property tax levy, the elimination of 100 positions and the consolidation of several departments.

The tax increase means the owner of a median-valued Minneapolis home will pay $409 more a year. The property tax levy has gone up an average of 7.7% a year since 2018.

But the City Council may have other ideas, as Frey’s budget address is just the starting point for months of public hearings and negotiations before final passage of a budget in December. Last year, the council scaled back Frey’s proposed levy increase.

The cuts are needed to close a $32 million budget gap driven by increasing personnel costs and flat or declining revenue, but the city is seeing promising economic signs so far this year in downtown vacancies, major events in the city and rising property valuations.

Mike Lindell is stepping down as chief executive of MyPillow and will no longer be a majority owner of the company he founded in order to focus on his run for Minnesota governor.

“I want the state of Minnesota ... to know I’m all in,” he said on his streaming platform, LindellTV, on Tuesday afternoon.

Lindell has been leading in polls ahead of the Aug. 11 primary after he won President Donald Trump’s endorsement in July. He will face fellow Republicans Lisa Demuth and Kendall Qualls for a chance to get onto November’s ballot.

“I am putting Minnesota above myself, my title and my business interests so I can give this campaign and the people of our state my full time, energy and attention,” Lindell said in a statement.

Lindell founded MyPillow in 2004, and it went on to become a direct-sales sensation due to the ubiquitous infomercials he starred in. The company took a major hit after Lindell attached himself to Trump’s disproven claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Major retailers stopped carrying MyPillow, resulting in millions in lost revenue and a cascading financial crisis at the company.

More than 100 city employees could be laid off in Minneapolis in the first major layoffs in 16 years as the city faces a $33 million budget gap.

Next week, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey will unveil a budget proposal with major cuts, layoffs and the elimination of some departments — and will still seek a double-digit increase in the city’s property tax levy to fund the 2027 budget.

Due to increasing personnel costs and flat or declining revenue, city officials have projected a $744 million budget and the mayor must figure out how to close a $33 million gap with cuts or new revenue before he presents a budget proposal to the City Council on Aug. 12. That will kick off several months of public hearings and negotiations before final passage in December.

The privately owned prison in Appleton, Minn., that was shuttered 16 years ago will reopen in the fall to hold detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Owner and private prison operator CoreCivic announced a five-year deal Tuesday with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to house up to 1,600 ICE detainees. The reopening will happen in stages, and the prison is expected to be fully operational by next spring.

Once the facility is up and running, CoreCivic says it expects to generate $75 million in annual revenue.

In a statement, Patrick D. Swindle, CoreCivic’s CEO, said the company made recent repairs to the Appleton prison to prepare for a new contract. Contractors have been working at the prison since last fall.

“The geographic location of this facility, similar to our other recent contract awards, improves our ability to support our government partner throughout the United States,” Swindle’s statement said.

CoreCivic is one of the largest government contractors for immigrant detention and recently sold two California detention facilities to DHS for $1.5 billion.

A CoreCivic spokesman referred additional questions about the deal to ICE, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The City of St. Paul has hired an outside law firm to investigate sexual harassment allegations against Mayor Kaohly Her, including claims that she directed inappropriate sexual comments toward Police Chief Axel Henry and other city employees.

The Minnesota Star Tribune obtained an April 1 letter from Henry’s attorney, Chris Madel, to St. Paul City Attorney Irene Kao notifying the city that Henry had filed a formal complaint.

In choosing to name himself as the complainant, the letter read, “Chief Henry is not only seeking to address the wrongdoing but also create a measure of protection for his team, signaling that such conduct will not be tolerated.”

In a statement, Her’s spokesperson Matt Wagenius would not comment on the investigation.

“The mayor has deep respect for city employees and regrets any unintended impact her action may have had,” Wagenius said.

Included in the letter is a screenshot of a text message allegedly sent by Her to a city employee that reads, “Happy Weiner Wednesday!” and a note expressing regret that she can’t be with the employee to eat a hot dog that day.

Beneath the message is a partially redacted image showing a swaddled baby.

According to a person familiar with the inquiry who spoke on condition on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, the redacted part of the image was the face of a St. Paul police officer assigned to Her’s security detail superimposed on the baby’s body.

Above the photo, a message read, “When she wraps you up in a blanket after you gave her a good weinering,” with two laughing emojis. The term “wienering” is often used as sexual innuendo on the internet.

According to people familiar with the St. Paul Police Department, a civilian employee typically brings in hot dogs for a small group of staff on Wednesdays, which has been informally dubbed, “Wiener Wednesdays” by some employees.

The person familiar with the investigation said it also includes sexualized communications and unwanted physical contact from Her directed at Henry.

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Prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket notched an early legal victory Monday in fighting a state law meant to ban Minnesotans from making certain wagers.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez granted a preliminary injunction that pauses the state law banning the markets temporarily while legal challenges brought by the tech firms and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission wind through the courts.

The ruling effectively allows the platforms to continue operating for the time being while the legal battle progresses.

Prediction market wagering has exploded in popularity, allowing users to put real money on outcomes like the weather, sports or pop culture. That has put the sites in conflict with state gambling laws, though the companies and their regulator say the wagers should be regulated as short-term investments, not betting.

Minnesota’s law, passed earlier this year, would have rendered a swath of activity on the platforms a felony.