Friday, January 4, 2013
Police say Devontay Deshaun Hines argued with another man on a Minneapolis bus, then pulled out a gun and shot the victim in the leg.
A local teenager has been charged with shooting a man in the leg on a Minneapolis city bus. Devontay Deshaun Hines, 19, who lives in the 5700 block of Nicollet Avenue South, is charged with second-degree assault, a felony with a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine. The Metro Transit Police were called to investigate a shooting on an Metro Transit bus on Dec. 13, according to the criminal complaint, signed by Metro Transit police Officer Jason Lindner. The victim told police that he was riding a bus when he got into a dispute with a man he knew as “Tae Hines.” He said the argument escalated, and Hines pulled out a gun and shot him in the leg. Surveillance video from the bus showed Hines shooting the victim, then …
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Mass transit is often a grim affair, but earlier this week, one Metro Transit bus broke out in song.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Saturday, October 13, 2012
Metro Transit and its drivers are often the grimmest of civil servants. Stoically, if not humorlessly, they put up with customers who are rude, rowdy, or just plain drunk. Drivers cut in front of them, or box them in and prevent their topped bus from pulling out into traffic. It's no surprise that they don't have a strong reputation for joviality. But every now and then, as in the YouTube video above, you meet a driver with a spring in their step. It's not clear which bus the videographer is riding, but it appears to be traveling northbound on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis (the CVS store at 1110 Hennepin is visible out the bus windows at the 0:24 mark). The several passengers on the late-night trip are belting out "Shake, Rattle…
Monday, September 24, 2012
Garrison Keillor will be interviewing author of book about the 1862 Dakota War.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
- James Sanna
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Monday, September 24, 2012
Going to the opening discussion of this year’s One Minneapolis, One Read book about the bloody 1862 war that lead to Minnesota’s birth? The City of Minneapolis says, “Why not take a free bus?” Monday night at 7 p.m. at the Minneapolis Convention Center, radio host Garrison Keillor will interview Diane Wilson, the author of Spirit Car: Journey into a Dakota Past," about her book. Metro Transit is offering all attendees a free bus pass to get to and from the event. The passes can be downloaded on the Metro Transit website. Wilson’s book chronicles her ancestors’ experiences in the Dakota War and after as they struggled to survive. Wilson's maternal great-great-grandparents took part in the war and were subsequently expelled to South Dakota …
Sunday, July 15, 2012
This fall, Minneapolis Public Schools send high schoolers to class on Metro Transit.
This fall, high schoolers across Minneapolis will take public transit to school instead of yellow buses. But as any first-time Metro Transit rider can tell you, the experience can be pretty disorienting, if not outright scary. How can you tell which stop to get off at if the bus doesn't run in front of your destination? How do you find the right line if you have to transfer in the middle of a strange neighborhood? How do you even use a Go-To Card? To help their classmates get ready for the big switchover, students from the Minneapolis Youth Congress are filming a video guide for first-timers, according to think-tank Minnesota 2020. The Congress is a citywide body that represents young people in the halls of power. Like Minneapolis Public …
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Metro Transit challenges commuters to try transit today.
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- James Sanna
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Do you use your car to commute a lot? Thursday, Metro Transit and scores of other public transportation agencies are urging commuters to "Dump the Pump" for a day. Metro Transit, in particular, is urging riders to mark "National Dump the Pump Day" by taking them up on their Commuter Challenge, which ends June 30. The contest challenges drivers to pledge to take a bus or train, bicycle, carpool, walk, telework or vanpool instead of driving alone. Pledging drivers are entered into a prize drawing for things like Kindle Fires, netbooks, and gift cards, and can opt to track their transit usage. So far, over 15,000 Twin Citizens have joined the challenge, a Metro Transit spokesperson told Patch. If you're participating, you'll be joining the …
Monday, June 18, 2012
There were nine felony-level assaults on bus operators in 2011.
You buy a ticket, you get on the bus. That’s how Metro Transit works for most riders. Sometimes, though, passengers are not happy with the fare they’re about to be charged. And that can lead to dangerous situations for Metro Transit’s 1,084 full-time and 305 part-time bus drivers. In late May a passenger poked a bus driver in the eye over a fare dispute. Unfortunately, such disputes are not unheard of. “Most conflicts occur over the fare,” said Metro Transit spokesman John Siqveland. While most fare disputes remain civil, Siqveland said that attacks on drivers “do occur, but are infrequent.” In 2011, there were 9 felony-level assaults on bus operators. Metro Transit Police were successful in identifying and securing felony charges on …
Saturday, June 2, 2012
A roundup of traffic, domestic and narcotics-related violations committed in Southwest Minneapolis in the last week.
May 28 An assailant choked and bit an 18-year-old Savage, MN, woman walking on the 5900 block of Nicollet Avenue. A Minneapolis woman was cited near the intersection of 34th Street and Garfield Avenue for possession of marijuana. When she couldn’t produce insurance papers, her car was impounded. May 27 A 14-year-old girl living on the 5800 block of Nicollet Avenue was pushed to the ground by her adult male cousin. May 26 Someone attempted to “lure” an 11-year-old girl near the intersection of 49th Street and Penn Avenue. May 24 A 46-year-old Minneapolis man was booked into Hennepin County Jail for a domestic assault that occurred on the 3200 block of Bryant Avenue. A 15-year-old stopped for running a stop light was cited for driving alone …
Friday, April 6, 2012
A Metro Transit bus didn't make a good mixer for one drinker.
It was a little after 8 p.m. on March 29 and the Route 4 bus driver had had enough. One passenger was wandering the bus’s aisles, bothering riders, possibly drunk. The driver called up police, and officer Donald Schwartz responded, meeting the bus at the corner of Penn Avenue and 50th Street. The passenger in question walked toward Schwartz, and he told her to head to his car, thinking he’d take her to detox. Schwartz asked the woman if she had any weapons. “No, just this bottle of vodka,” she said, handing a half-full water bottle to Schwartz. “I smelled it and it was vodka,” he wrote in his report. Detox was full, and Schwartz took the woman to her home on the 7000 block of Penn Avenue in Richfield. She was issued a trespass notice and …
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Do you use the 35W express bus line?
Metro Transit has announced they may begin expanding their system of express bus lines, known as Bus Rapid Transit. The express lines, which in their truest form are intended to function a bit like trains on wheels, are proposed to augment the planned and under-construction light rail lines around the Twin Cities, including a line going down Nicollet Avenue in Southwest Minneapolis. The transit agency is in the process of setting up two lines down Interstate 35W and down Cedar Avenue, and it hopes that any more new lines will help dramatically increase ridership. But there's a bit of a downside to the Bus Rapid Transit lines, from the perspective of Southwest residents. They don't stop all that often. While a proposed Nicollet Ave. line …
Friday, October 14, 2011
High schoolers have been trying bus passes for a year.
The Minneapolis Public Schools' proposal to give all or most high school students bus passes has attracted a lot of public debate and worry from some parents. However, some high schoolers piloting the green "Go-To Cards" are giving the idea rave reviews. Isabell Pone and Savanah Engel, both members of Citywide Student Government—a student council serving all of Minneapolis Public Schools—say the pass makes their lives much easier. While far from a conclusive survey of the roughly 1,000 students participating in the district's bus pass trial, their sentiments speak to how some teens are embracing the passes. The trial is helping the district determine whether or not to invest in the program, which could cost the district between $1.9 and $2…
Dave Timmons
9:41 am on Friday, January 4, 2013
When you say "Teen" people think 13, 14, maybe 16. At 19 this guy is an adult, and should be refereed to as such. more ›