Prosecutors say Aimee Bock should receive a 50-year prison sentence, arguing the “brazen and staggering nature of her crimes has shaken Minnesota to its core,” the Minnesota Star Tribune reported. Bock’s sentencing in the Feeding Our Future fraud case takes place Thursday. Her attorney is arguing for 37 months, noting she turned over documents to investigators.
The longest sentence in the case to date went to Abdiaziz Shafii Farah at 28 years. The $246 million Feeding Our Future fraud case, in which Bock’s nonprofit stole federal funds meant to pay for meals for children during the pandemic, has resulted in 65 criminal convictions.
In an interview with Sahan Journal, Bock’s attorney Kenneth Udoibok reflected on the case’s impact on Minnesota: “It is on account of this case that the president sent federal officers into Minnesota. Two people are dead. A slew of people are hurt. Many lives are overturned, and Minnesota is viewed as a state where fraud is prevalent,” Udoibok said.
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A 48-year-old Portage Township man accused of shooting at a firefighting plane near Orr, Minn., was arrested Monday, KSTP reported. Deputies with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office say the plane was hit by a bullet shortly after scooping water from Kjostad Lake in Portage Township.
Minnesota law enforcement officers handed out nearly 5,500 tickets during last month’s crackdown on distracted driving in the state including a St. Cloud woman ticketed for typing on a laptop while holding a phone in traffic and another person who was caught six times during the campaign, the Star Tribune reported Monday.
As Minnesota’s homebuying season ramps up, Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says inflation, interest rates, labor availability and zoning regulations are the four major components driving up housing costs, MPR News reported Monday.
Related: How Minnesota home insurance rates stack up
Health Unit Coordinators with the SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park plan to strike on May 27, KARE 11 reported Monday.
“As health unit coordinators, we feel like our position is being undermined and devalued by management’s refusal to work cooperatively with us towards a contract that benefits all Methodist HUCs,” Erin Neary said in the SEIU press release.
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A St. Paul Saints employee ran a marathon inside CHS field to raise money for the Special Olympics while the team played against Columbus on Sunday, WCCO-TV reported. “It got me emotional,” Seigo Masubuchi, who marked his 100th marathon after completing 84 laps on the CHS field concourse, told WCCO. “I was running by and people cheered me on.”
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