Rybak says Arizona's a dangerous place for city employees

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has joined a growing chorus of critics -- including St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman -- chastising Arizona's new and controversial anti-immigrant law, and is urging city employees to rethink travel plans to the state.

"In my opinion, this is a terrible law and I do not want any public dollars to be spent there," he said in an e-mail to department heads. "I feel strongly that the City of Minneapolis should not endanger the safety of our employees or spend public resources in Arizona at this time."

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What, she didn't love me?

Bitter doesn't even begin to describe the divorce battle waged between disgraced auto dealer mogul Denny Hecker and his fourth wife, Tamitha.

Here's a woman who counted out $276,000 in cash from a safety deposit box to prove to a judge that she was getting screwed out of a decent alimony payment -- and who eventually won a $7,500-a-month award.

And here's a guy who once said of his ex, "My only mistake is believing she stayed in the marriage because of love. It has clearly been shown its all about money... a $15-million gold digger from the beginning until today."

Put the two in one room? That seems like a recipe for drama.

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Looks like TheUptake, the citizen video journalism outfit denied press credentials to the state Republican convention taking place in Minneapolis, found a way to get a livestream feed out of the auditorium, camouflaged with the help of KFAI.

State GOP deputy chair Michael Brodkorb told us yesterday that he regarded TheUptake as a DFL front bent on trying to disrupt the convention, which is nominating its candidate for governor today. No way the party was letting them crash, he said.

That's why we raised our eyebrows today when we saw this tweet from TheUptake: "Tom Emmer being interviewed LIVE on @TheUpTake now! www.theuptake.org #mn2010 #mngop10."

A change of heart from the Republicans? Hardly.

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The RNC 8 get wholesome for the camera.

The eight people accused of conspiring to aggressively sabotage the 2008 Republican Nation Convention -- dubbed the RNC 8 -- will appear in court six times next month for an evidentiary hearing in preparation for their trial, set to begin this October.

The RNC 8's attorneys will try to convince a judge that evidence seized during raids before the convention should be thrown out. Bob Kolstad, attorney for one of the defendants, plans to argue that warrants used to arrest the accused were "insufficient" and contained factual inaccuracies, he says.

"We're also arguing to have the whole case thrown out because there is not probable cause," says Kolstad.

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Brett Favre's ankle bites

Those 40-year-old grandpa joints just ain't what they used to be.

ESPN is reporting that the only way Brett Favre could return at QB for the Vikings in the 2010 season is if he has surgery on his left ankle -- the one that took a hammering during the Vikes' heartbreaking NFC Championship Game loss against the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome.

But will he?

Here we go again, getting strung along by one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.

In an e-mail to ESPN, Favre talked about the doctor's orders, and what he might do next:

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City of Minneapolis

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved R.T. Rybak's nomination of Velma Korbel for the city's new Civil Rights director this morning.

Korbel is currently the Commissioner of the Minneapolis Minnesota Department of Human Rights. She is slated to start the new gig June 1.

The Civil Rights department has endured some rocky times under Rybak's watch.

The outgoing director, Michael Jordan, became a controversial figure in city politics almost immediately after his 2007 appointment when he fired Ingrid Tollefson, a highly praised investigator. In the six turbulent months that followed, the department underwent a major staff shakeup that left many questioning the new director's leadership.

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Is she running for U.S. Senate?

Are we looking at a U.S. Senate race in 2012 pitting incumbent DFLer Amy Klobuchar against Rep. Michele Bachmann, if the crazy conservative loses her congressional district to poor census numbers?

That was the buzz on the floor of the state GOP convention today in Minneapolis after Bachmann brought the delegates to their feet with her now familiar rants against everyone whose politics run to the left of Attila the Hun. (Bonus slur based on fiction today: Obama is "infantile.")

Democrats are salivating over the karmic possibility that Bachmann's too-weird-for-Glenn-Beck census conspiracy theories will lead to an under-count in Minnesota, and the vanishing of her congressional district.

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Police across the Twin Cities are piecing together the facts behind one of the more bloody killing sprees in recent local memory: Three people in three different communities were shot and killed Thursday, possibly by the same man: 40-year-old tattoo artist Trace Maxwell.

Adding to the mystery: Maxwell's own drugs-and-hookers-peddling life also ended that morning, after he shot and killed himself while being followed by flotilla of police cruisers down Lake Street. KSTP reports he may have had a hit list containing as many as six names.

Not since January, when three men were killed during an attempted heist at Seward Market and Halal Meat on Franklin Street have so many locals been killed in a single crime spree.

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​Smiles abound this morning in the City Pages newsroom: The Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists tells us that we're in line for 17 honors in its annual Page One Awards.

Although this year's haul represents a slight return-to-earth from City Pages' record-breaking 27 Page One's in 2009, it exceeds the 16 won by the paper in 2008.

Among the highlights: Staff writer Matt Snyders' entry in the long feature category for "Fletcher's Gang," his look at controversial Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. Snyders also shares a byline in the Business News category with Bradley Campbell for "Craigslist Declassified."

In Sports News, staff writer Erin Carlyle gets noticed for her peek into the life of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in "Favre at 40."

Art director Nick Vlcek is in line for six honors, for everything from best page, feature and layout design to spot news and feature photojournalism.

Our annual Best of the Twin Cities issue is honored in the Best Issue category, and  The Blotter took home an award in the Best Newsroom Blog category.

We're looking forward to the awards banquet on May 21, hosted by The Wire and Treme creator David Simon, when the top finishers in each category will be announced.
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Image via Keith Allison

​After a stellar April that finds the Twins in first place after winning a team record-setting six consecutive series to open the campaign, there are no doubt ample options for selecting my Twin of the Month. More >>