The Northeaster won first place in the category of General Excellence for papers of over 7,001 circulation in the Better Newspaper Contest for September 2021 through August 2022. Northeaster reporters and photographers were awarded seven awards for their stories, photos, and photo stories.

The City of Columbia Heights will be a little bit greener by the end of 2023, and the police department is leading the way. On Jan. 9, the City Council approved the purchase of six new police vehicles for CHPD, includ­ing four 2023 Ford Police Interceptor hybrid SUVs, a Ford F150 pickup and a 2023 Chevrolet Blazer electric vehi­cle.

Mention the word “quarry” now­adays and you’re apt to get direc­tions to a certain shopping center just south of 18th and Johnson. But just 100 years ago, there were several quarries in North­east. They formed a belt around the southern end of the neighbor­hood and provided employment, entertainment and headaches for the neighbors. Their primary product was crushed rock for road construction, what we call “Class 5” today. Automobiles were becoming popular, and Minnesota was in road-building mode.

Brian O’Hara, the newly appointed Min­neapolis Police Chief, stood before an audi­ence of a hundred people at the Ukrainian Center and said, “As cops, we are here to ensure that there are fewer victims of crime and violence. And we are here to act in ways that build trust and support the police and community.”

The 43-year-old O’Hara is a 20-year vet­eran of the Newark, New Jersey Police De­partment, a City Safety Director and a Dep­uty Mayor. He began his three-year term as Chief in November, and attended the Jan.11 meeting at the request of Third Ward City Council member Michael Rainville, who in­troduced him, saying, “We are the luckiest city, not in North America, but the world. Because we have the finest chief of police in the world.”

“I have my period and I am bleeding heavily.”

If reading that statement makes you feel uncomfortable, that is partly why District 39B Minnesota House Rep. Sandra Feist (DFL-New Brighton) is the chief author for HF 44 – a bill introduced that if passed, would help further normalize conversation about menstruation and periods, provide student access to period products, and address period poverty in schools.

The bill requires all Minnesota schools serving students in grades four through 12 to provide pads, tampons or other products connected with the menstrual cycle to students free of charge.

When you first enter studio 207 in the Casket Arts Building, you feel like you are “walking through the wardrobe” into another world. You are surrounded by lions, monkeys, zebras, wolves, and birds, large and small, that fill the studio. Taxidermy animals, all dressed in their finest regalia. Tina Wilcox created this surreal world of animalia and brought her collection to life in her book, “The Conscious Kingdom.” In the book, she “humanizes” her collection of humanely procured taxidermy, giving each animal a fictional life story that exhibits “the brilliance and flaws of all manner of human beings.” A portion of the book’s proceeds benefits the Animal Humane Society.

Abdul Abdi, a parent of students in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), ran unopposed for the Northeast District 1 seat on the MPS Board of Education this winter and started his service on the nine-seat board January 3, 2023. Abdi has lived in Northeast Minneapolis with his family for 16 years. His day job is software architect for the State of Minnesota, and has five kids in Minneapolis schools. One attends Northeast Middle School, the youngest is at Pillsbury Community School and the three oldest attend Edison High School. His oldest will graduate this year. He has been a regularly involved parent in his kids’ schools for over a decade.

As the homeless encampment of the Quarry came down, other camps popped up elsewhere in the city, and activists who maintain a presence at them are doing what they can with what they have alongside, or in spite of, the official county and city response. A group of volunteers gathered at Turbo Tim's Anything Automotive on Sunday, Dec. 11 to build insulated tent foundations for a newer encampment on 35th and Hiawatha.

After saying they were going to clear the homeless encampment at the Quarry on Wednesday, December 28, the City of Minneapolis held off for two days, saying they were deterred by the "large number" of activists at the site. Northeaster reporters counted no more than 20. On December 30, front-end loaders and other machines scraped the camp bare, creating huge piles of tents, mattresses, bicycles and other rubble that had not been removed.

On December 18 the members of Elim Church in Northeast Minneapolis voted to transfer all of the church's assets to Mill City's church. he nearly 135-year-old Elim Church, as a legal entity, no longer exists. Its members will still worship in the Elim building, with Mill City’s congregation, and the church would bear the Mill City name. Mill City church members also voted, taking on the fiscal and spiritual stewardship of Elim's building and congregation, and anchoring the church in a permanent, more traditional worship space.