City Pages cover by Abbey Kleinert

When Leticia Zuniga was first allegedly sexually assaulted by her boss, she didn't know what to do or where to go for help.

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- Cub Foods settles lawsuit with cleaning workers

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cover photo by Tony Nelson

New owners took over the CC Club on May 1, and to mark the changing of the guard, we talked to CC regulars past and present for our most recent cover story. Along with their yarns about record-release parties and new Replacements singles in the juke, we also heard an earful on how, as Tom Arnold put it, the bar "was the one place you could get drug dealers to actually come."

Curious if the cops have ever had to bust the CC Club bathroom -- or break up bar fights, or throw out drunk punks -- we asked the Minneapolis Police Department for all the incident reports at 2600 Lyndale Ave. S., the bar's address. We got back all their digital files, which date to 1990.

Between the earliest computerized incident, November 18, 1990, and the most recent, March 24, 2013, police got 117 other calls about the bar. Here's how they broke down.

See Also:
- Cover: Here Comes a Regular: An Oral History of the CC Club
- An oral history of the CC Club jukebox
- Tom Arnold on the CC Club


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Photo: Tony Nelson, City Pages.

The $4 million would go toward curative spinal cord research in Minnesota.

Sen. Jeff Hayden introduced a bill at a capitol press conference this afternoon that would appropriate $4 million in state funds to be used for curative spinal cord research in Minnesota.

The subject of this week's cover story, the bill was inspired by the story of Gabe Rodreick, a 20-year-old from south Minneapolis who suffered a devastating spinal cord injury while body surfing in Costa Rica. The bill is named after Rodreick and Jack Jablonski, a Benilde-St. Maraget's student injured during a hockey game a year ago.

"I used to be a piano player," said Rodreick at the press conference. "To be able to play piano again would be a dream."

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Nizzel George, 5, is among this year's homicide victims.

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COVER: The View From Down Here

Stephon Shannon indicted in Nizzel George murder

In this week's cover story, "The View From Down Here," we examine the controversial math behind Minneapolis's effort to curb youth violence.

As the story notes, the first six months of 2012 showed a projected increase of youth-related violent crimes from 2011. If the second half of the year were to repeat the first, we would have a higher rate of juveniles arrested or suspected in violent crimes, and more juvenile victims, according to police data. We're also on track to have more young people (24 and under) fall victims to crimes involving guns.

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CeCe McDonald pleaded guilty to a lesser charge earlier this month.

Nearly three weeks since the end of the trial, San Francisco Democrats are entering the debate over Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman from Minneapolis who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

The city's Democratic Party passed a resolution last week calling McDonald's treatment by the courts unfair, and asking the Department of Justice to investigate.

McDonald, the subject of our May 9 cover story, "The Edge of Doubt," was originally charged with second-degree murder for stabbing Dean Alvin Schmitz in the heart with a pair of scissors outside the Schooner Tavern last summer.

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Cover of a 1994 City Pages issue, which included a feature story on the Legal Rights Center.

This past week's feature, "The Edge of Doubt," brought readers inside the walls of the Legal Rights Center, where attorneys for CeCe McDonald prepared her defense against charges of second-degree murder.

A nonprofit that predates Hennepin County's modern public defense system, the Legal Rights Center is a story in itself.

Longtime City Pages readers may recall former writer Jennifer Vogel's profile on the law office from June 1994, "The Best Lawyers Money Can't Buy."

For those who don't, we dug it up. Back then, a young Keith Ellison ran the place. An excerpt from Vogel's story:

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Michael Freeman denies that race or gender played into his decision to prosecute CeCe McDonald.

This week's cover story, "The Edge of Doubt," gives a behind-the-scenes look into the case of Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman who was charged with murdering Dean Alvin Schmitz outside a south Minneapolis bar last summer.

The case generated plenty of controversy. Supporters all over the world have protested McDonald's prosecution, alleging that she was the victim of a brutal attack outside the bar that night, and that her only crime was surviving.

McDonald faced more than 25 years in prison for the crime, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter on the third day of trial, and will be sentenced to 41 months.

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Katie Burgess alleges CeCe McDonald was treated unfairly by the court system.

This week's feature, "The Edge of Doubt," examines the controversial trial of Chrishaun "CeCe" McDonald, a transgender woman accused of murdering Dean Alvin Schmitz outside the Schooner Tavern last summer.

Since the charges were filed almost a year ago, advocates for McDonald have amassed all over the world. They say she was the victim of a brutal attack outside the bar that night, that she was lucky to survive, and should never have been charged with the crime.

The weekend before the trial began, we sat down with Katie Burgess, executive director of the Trans Youth Support Group, to talk about why the case has made such an impact.

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Asad Zaman "attacked" the KSTP news crew

This week's feature chronicles the troubled history of TiZA, the controversial charter school blasted by conservative critics as the "Minnesota madrassa."

TiZA began humbly, serving poor Somali immigrants in Inver Grove Heights. It grew into a media darling, and Congressman Keith Ellison enrolled his youngest child at the school, as we detail in our story. But after Katherine Kersten wrote a column in March 2008 accusing TiZA of being an "Islamic school," a wave of legal problems descended upon the academy.

Its officials reacted aggressively to criticism, hiring a PR firm and lobbying the media. Its monitor, Wayne Jennings, wrote a letter to the Star Tribune defending TiZA. Executive Director Asad Zaman traveled to the Strib's offices to demand Kersten be fired, according to a former parent at the school. But that paled in comparison to the school's reaction when KSTP reporter Chris O'Connell made an unwelcome visit in May 2008.

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In this week's cover story, we followed Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak around for several weeks to document the day-to-day life of a city politician marking his tenth year in office.

Along the way, we traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, ahead of the January 3 caucus to witness Rybak in his role as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and official Obama-booster.

After the jump, a closer look as Rybak raced from one interview to another, trying to cut Republican presidential hopeful and current frontrunner Mitt Romney down to size.

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