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"The Need Outweighs Capacity" as Damage is Assessed from Federal Invasion
At the peak of ICE occupation in January, Minneapolis officials estimate that businesses lost $81 million in revenue. Months later, as folks begin to feel more comfortable leaving their homes and returning to work, local shops, malls, and restaurant owners are taking a hard look at what recovery looks like.
A lot of that, of course, comes down to money. Trevor Mitchell has a solid rundown in MinnPost of the grants, waived fees, reimbursements, and relief funds being signed off on in Minneapolis to help businesses recoup what was lost. There’s the Small Business Resiliency Fund, which received $4 million toward paying food and hospitality licensing fees, as well as $500K to give away in cultural market grants. An additional $2.5 million was also set aside for marketing via Great Streets, which will promote events, districts, and businesses.
Mitchell notes that these aren’t perfect fixes; one Karmel Mall shop owner says that a lack of communication and information has led to confusion over who might qualify for funds and, ultimately, there just might not be enough help to go around. “The need outweighs capacity,” says Hook and Ladder’s Chris Mozena. “And the need is sustained.”
Bondi Dumped 23,000 Criminal Cases to Go After Immigrants
In “news that will make your blood boil” we have a great one today from ProPublica, where journalists Ken B. Morales and David Armstrong look at the dramatic shift in the types of investigations the DOJ dropped and what it instead pursued during Pam Bondi’s first six months as U.S. attorney general.
Immigrant cases have soared while virtually every other type of prosecution—drug, violence, white collar—diminished. “The department prosecuted 32,000 new immigration cases in the first six months of the administration, which was nearly triple the number under the Biden administration and a 15% increase from the first Trump term,” they write. As for the immigrants detained during Operation Metro Surge, data show that over 75% had no previous criminal history.
Despite Trump’s promises to crack down on fraud in Minnesota via DHS raids, the DOJ also “shut down more than 900 cases of federal program or procurement fraud in the first six months of the administration, including one targeting a mortgage lender accused by several state regulators of defrauding the Federal Housing Administration," Morales and Armstrong write.
The ProPublica piece also covers the types of cases dropped regarding health care fraud, drug trafficking, and terrorism, noting that this shift in focus has resulted in huge staff turnover, eliminated departments, and years of work completely obliterated in favor of rounding up (mostly law-abiding) immigrant populations and Venezuelan gangs who are "not anywhere close to the scale or impact of the cartels we were focused on,” says one DOJ counternarcotics prosecutor.
Major Midwest Foodshelf Abruptly Closes
For over 20 years, Ruby’s Pantry has hosted pop-up food shelves in rural areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Iowa, serving over 650,000 people in need. On Tuesday night, Ruby's announced via Facebook and its website that all locations were immediately shuttering. “Over the past several months, we have been thoughtfully realigning the work, structure, and focus of Ruby’s Pantry to ensure our mission remains at the center of everything we do,” a statement explains. “As a result, we have decided to end the operations of Ruby’s Pantry effective immediately.”
The announcement, which does not appear to be an April Fool’s joke, left many wondering what happened. “Tax records from 2024 show Ruby’s Pantry lost $1.3 million in 2024, but still had about $21.6 million in assets,” writes Kim Hyatt for the Star Tribune, adding that “the nonprofit received between $41,000 and $52,000 in annual public support since 2020.”
Former Annie’s Space Now Something Else
That’s right, the longtime Dinkytown burger and malt shop, which closed, then reopened, and closed again a year later, is now a business that is not Annie’s. Two for Tripping is, apparently, a hockey-themed coffeeshop. “As you walk in, you’ll feel like you’re at a hockey rink, climbing the stairs toward your seats,” the official website explains. OK!
Anyway, it’s still a neat building and we’re glad to see it with new tenants. Below is a little Instagram tour of the shop, which opened last week.
