‘Challenging Optics’: MPD Worked With Homeland Security Just Before Operation Metro Surge

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

MPD = ICE?

That's not the headlines MPR News uses; theirs is "Minneapolis police participation with Homeland Security Task Force raises concerns." But reporter Jon Collins does raise some interesting questions with his latest, in which he finds that ahead of Operation Metro Surge, dozens of MPD officers worked with the regional Homeland Security Task Force.

City officials have said that the investigations are not related to immigration enforcement. But the timing and optics of the "previously undisclosed" task force are raising eyebrows. Perhaps even yours!

Here's Collins:

According to a document obtained by MPR News, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara signed an agreement with the FBI seeking reimbursement for overtime expenses for 63 Minneapolis police officers who participated in the task force. The agreement, which authorized payment of $30,000 to the city, was finalized days after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey did not make himself available for an interview, and instead issued a statement about how “jumping to conclusions” regarding the investigation harmed vulnerable communities. Minneapolis Communications Director Scott Wasserman acknowledged the “challenging optics” of the situation.

Cell Bock Snitch

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office have accused extremely non-Somali convicted fraudster Aimee Bock of leaking court documents to the press as a way of conducting a jailhouse PR campaign for herself, CBS News reports. In a recent phone call, according to the feds, Bock, the ringleader of the Feeding Our Future fraud, told her son that her attorney was working with a Star Tribune editor to publish an article that would use the docs to "favorably color her role in the fraud" and "garner the most strategic advantage." (We'd love to hear more from the Strib on this count.) Bock also told her son to send the files to “Republicans in D.C.,” in particular “the guy who told Ellison he should be in jail” and the "right wing people that Trump follows.” She sure knows her target audience, that’s for sure.

Hey, We Know This Guy!

Maybe you do too. Local social media presence Norm Charlatan (possibly not his real name) is a longtime friend of Racket and one of many Minnesotans who stepped up to help their neighbors during Operation Metro Surge. Even the Guv took notice of Norm's contributions and mentioned him in his State of the State speech this week. Take it away, Tim...

MN Cougar Kittens!

Sound on: You're going to want to hear the adorable chirps and hisses coming out of these cougar kittens—"the first documented observation of a cougar with kittens in Minnesota in modern history," according to Voyageurs Wolf Project.

On March 25, the group's trail cams captured footage of the cougars as they fed on a deer just south of Voyageurs National Park. VWP obtained a whopping seven hours worth of kitty footage, so smash that follow button if you want to see more of these lil guys in the future.