Comment worth noting: Reader reports on Minneapolis Somali fire

01/29/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Explosion/fire in Little Mogadishu (Minneapolis) on New Years Day 2014

I asked in a comment yesterday to our Brooklyn arson post if anyone knew what was happening with the Minneapolis Somali explosion/fire investigation.

Reader ‘Jewel’ sent us a recap from last week at Gates of Vienna where blogger Baron Bodissey said the following in response to reports that the fire was still “under investigation”:

I’ve been following the news of this incident since shortly after the explosion, and I’m forced to conclude that some or all of the following crimes were committed, and are still being committed. There may be others; I’m not a legal expert:

Official malfeasance
Dereliction of duty
Obstruction of justice
Destruction of evidence
Misprision of multiple felonies
Conspiracy

It’s hard to determine who might be guilty of these offenses, but the list of suspects moves beyond Minneapolis city officials and up into the rarefied region inhabited by agencies of the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

These crimes were committed regardless of what caused the explosion. Even if the cause of the fire was a natural gas leak, or a malfunctioning propane heater, or an exploding can of deodorant, justice was obstructed and evidence was destroyed. There was a blatant attempt to deflect any meaningful investigation of what did cause the explosion, and the destruction of the relevant evidence ensures that the cause of the fire will never be determined with any certainty.

Bodissey’s must-read post is fittingly titled, “Ember Days”.

All of our previous coverage is here. Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis? Go here. Thank the US State Department and its Catholic, Lutheran and Evangelical (World Relief) resettlement contractors.

Henceforth I think I will be looking on any fire involving Middle Easterners or African Muslims as suspicious.

Minneapolis: Special classrooms for influx of Somali newcomers

01/26/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A school district in Minneapolis is trying to figure out how to bring new Somali kids up to speed educationally, how to “jump-start” them.

Somali students in the lunchroom.
http://daughternumberthree.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

The story at the Star Tribune this past week mentions that there are many more kids arriving from Somalia than in recent years, but no mention of why that is. Somali family reunification from Africa is now up and running again after about a four year hiatus that ended in 2013. It had been closed for years due to the widespread fraud uncovered by the US State Department in 2008.

Going to the DHS’s Annual flow report, see that in 2010 we resettled 4,884 Somalis, 2011—3,161 and 2012—4,911.

In fiscal year 2013 we had a big jump to 7,608 Somalis and in the first three months of fiscal year 2014 we have resettled 1,744.*** It stands to reason many went to join their people in Minneapolis.

From the Star Tribune:

Shuttling between classrooms at Anne Sullivan school in Minneapolis, teacher James Kindle noticed that classroom teachers were stretched mightily to serve the wide range of abilities in a school with many immigrants.

A teacher might be showing one group of students how to measure the angles in a triangle, while other students in the same class were just learning that “triangle” is the word for a three-sided polygon.

Kindle did some research, talked to other teachers and together they went to school district officials. The result is a pair of “newcomer classrooms” and a concentrated effort to jump-start the adjustment of Somali students in American schools.

The timing is good for Sullivan and other schools receiving a surge of Somali refugees.

“This is a heroic effort on Sullivan’s part,” said Lynn Harper, a district K-8 multicultural specialist.

The newcomer program is aimed at Somalis, but the concept could be adapted to any immigrant group, she said.

Students new to the country are steered into a classroom with other newcomers, so they can learn things like “triangle” before heading into classes with other students.

The district is ramping up the effort even before knowing results. The school board last month approved an expansion from Sullivan’s two classrooms to eight newcomer classrooms, split between Sullivan and Andersen United school. Together the two schools account for one of every six K-8 students in the district from a Somali-speaking family. The expanded program starts next fall.

The Sullivan experiment comes as the school district sees an influx of students from Somalia. At the start of this year’s classes, 336 refugee students had registered recently enough that they could have been eligible for newcomer classes. That’s a marked increase over previous years.

The influx won’t be ending anytime soon for “welcoming” cities like Minneapolis.

For the numbers of Somalis arriving in the last three decades, visit one of our most-read posts here at RRW. In three years of the Bush Administration the numbers topped ten thousand per year!

***While you are checking those stats for Somalia at WRAPSnet, note that Somalis make up the fourth largest number of refugees resettled in fiscal year 2014. The top three in the first three months of this fiscal year are:

Iraqis: 4,111

Burmese: 2,316

Bhutanese: 2,257

Somalis: 1,744

Somali gang violence spreads from Minneapolis to Hudson (WI)

01/24/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Diversity is beautiful alert!

A shooting at a liquor store in Hudson, Wisconsin resulted last Sunday when rival Somali gangs met outside a Hudson liquor store (Minnesota liquor stores are closed on Sundays).

From Wisconsin Radio Network. Hat tip: Pungentpeppers. Emphasis mine:

Investigators say the weekend shootings of three men at a Hudson liquor store involved members of rival gangs from Minneapolis. Saint Croix County prosecutors filed a total of 30 felony charges Tuesday against 22-year-old Guled Abdi and 26-year-old Ahmed Hirsi. Both men remain in the Hennepin County jail awaiting extradition to Wisconsin, where they will each face six charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, six counts of reckless endangerment, and three counts of reckless injury.

The shootings occurred Sunday morning outside Spirit Seller Liquor in downtown Hudson. Investigators said six members of the Somali Outlaws gang were partying Saturday night, and drove their SUV to Hudson in the morning because liquor stores in Minnesota are closed on Sundays. Two people went in the store to buy the liquor, but their credit card was rejected. Outside, two men in a car approached and offered the group alcohol and cigarettes. A derogatory remark was apparently said during the exchange, and shots were fired at all six in the SUV. Three were wounded and one woman, 28-year-old Fartun Aidid, remained in critical condition at last word at a Saint Paul hospital. [Will the taxpayers,or the hospital, be paying her medical bills?—ed]

Another trial on the horizon? Another case where the local jurisdiction should be allowed to seek reimbursement from the US State Department for a refugee criminal case?

Why so many Somalis in Minneapolis? This 2011 post remains almost daily one of our top-read posts. Thank the US State Department and three of its top Minnesota resettlement contractors: Lutheran Social Services, Catholic Charities, and World Relief (Evangelicals).

More on Minneapolis explosion in Somali apartment building

01/03/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Firefighters search frozen ruble in Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Where is Farah? Photo: Star Tribune

Update January 5th: Must-read post at Gates of Vienna. Lots of questions! AP reports a third person has died.

Update January 4th: There are a few more nuggets of information in the latest from the Star Tribune, here. Could be weeks before the cause of the blast is determined. Blogger Lee Stranahan has some answers and more questions.

Update: Second body found an hour or so ago, assumed to be Farah, here.

The story gets stranger and stranger!

Sheesh, I thought I was done with this topic this morning, but reader ‘pungentpeppers’ commented that there is another version of the Star Tribune explosion story that has this paragraph in it regarding the supposedly unaccounted-for man (in red):

“Family members identified the two people not accounted for as Mrimri Farah, said to be about 60 years old, and Ahmad Ali, 57, who shared an apartment. ………

Farah previously served in the U.S. Army and at one point was stationed in Iraq, said Shareef Hassan, a friend. Farah had gone to live in Somalia and came back to live in Minneapolis a couple of months ago.”

The version of the story I posted this morning (which did not have this paragraph) was from 6:51 p.m. yesterday and the version ‘pungentpeppers’ found was from 9:31 p.m. also last night.

Where is Farah?

Minneapolis explosion update: Fire chief says natural gas, gas company says no

01/03/2014 ~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update: New information added to this Star Tribune story, go here.

Also, one body was recovered yesterday from the scene of the explosion and fire in Cedar-Riverside neighborhood home to a large number of Somali refugees who have flocked to Minnesota over the last couple of decades. See our earlier post here.

According to the Star Tribune, Rep. Keith Ellison stopped by the scene to offer his services. 2014 is an election year.

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune thanks to Richard of Blue Ridge Forum:

A body was recovered Thursday afternoon from the wreckage of the three-story Minneapolis apartment building destroyed by a New Year’s Day explosion, fire officials confirmed.

“At approximately 1:55 p.m. Minneapolis Fire Department officials confirmed that one body was discovered in the structure at 516 Cedar Ave. S.,” said a statement by Assistant Fire Chief Chérie A. Penn.

Penn said the victim has been turned over to the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office. She said crews will continue to remove debris until dark and will resume their work Friday morning.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. At a news conference Thursday afternoon, the Minneapolis fire chief said the fire in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood was most likely caused by a natural gas leak.

Gas company says they had no natural gas in the area. Homeland Security has ruled out an explosive device.

Fire Chief John Fruetel said Thursday afternoon that witness accounts of a natural gas smell and the explosion strongly suggest that gas was involved.

Fruetel added that the fire began either on the second floor or third floor.

But Fruetel also said that investigators are not certain what caused the fire and they may never be certain. He said four or five investigators have been on the site around the clock, looking for evidence such as debris patterns.

A spokeswoman for the natural gas utility CenterPoint Energy strongly discounted natural gas as a likely cause.

“We had no natural gas in the area,” said Rebecca Virden, basing her information on CenterPoint’s own investigation and testing in the area.

If it were attributed to natural gas, Virden added, “the roof would come off, the walls would come out.”

She offered that if there was a gas involved, “it could be a different type of gas.”

Asked about CenterPoint’s denial, Fruetel said, “I’m just basing it on what my investigators say.”

He said officials haven’t determined it was natural gas, but said that is what they’re focused on.

The chief called the scene an active investigation that has early on ruled out any signs of an explosive device. Homeland Security personnel were on the scene in the aftermath of the fire that sent 14 people to hospitals, six in critical condition.

There is more, read it all!

Photo is from the Investigative Project on Terrorism, here.