MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Five Minnesota men accused of plotting to join the Islamic State group are now charged with a new count of conspiracy to commit murder outside the United States, according to a superseding indictment filed Wednesday that offers some new details about steps the men took as they allegedly planned to get to Syria.
Prosecutors say the men are part of a group of friends in Minnesota’s Somali community who recruited and inspired each other to join the terrorist organization. Three members of the group have pleaded guilty, but the rest - Hamza Naj Ahmed, 20; Mohamed Abdihamid Farah, 21; Adnan Abdihamid Farah, 19; Abdurahman Yasin Daud, 21; and Guled Ali Omar, 21 - are scheduled to stand trial in February.
The new indictment alleges some of the men began talking about fighting with the Islamic State group as early as March 2014. As part of their planning, the indictment says, some of the men communicated with Islamic State members overseas, some supplied an informant with materials for fake passports and some played paintball to prepare for combat.
The 14-count indictment charges all five men with conspiracy to commit murder outside the U.S. and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. It also charges all but Adnan Farah with attempting to provide such support. Some of the new charges include perjury counts against Adnan Farah, Mohamed Farah and Daud for allegedly lying to the federal grand jury.
Some defense attorneys took issue with the conspiracy to commit murder count. Daud’s attorney, Bruce Nestor, said: “These young men did not conspire to commit murder or any act of violence. This is a political prosecution as part of the flawed U.S. war on terror.”
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A state panel is recommending 88 environmental projects for over $45.4 million in funding from Minnesota Lottery proceeds and related sources.
The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources on Tuesday selected the proposals from 97 that had made the initial cut last month, out of an original 186 submitted for consideration. The money will come from the state’s Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund, which comes from lottery proceeds and investment income. Most projects fall into the broad categories of clean water, habitat, protecting pollinators, education, wildlife, renewable energy and invasive species The final decisions will be up to the 2016 Legislature.
HABITAT PROJECTS
The biggest chunk of money, over $12 million, or 27 percent of the total, would go toward land acquisition for habitat and recreation. And about half of that would go to the Department of Natural Resources. That includes $4 million for adding habitat, improvements and outreach programs at the state’s Scientific and Natural Areas, where only limited outdoor recreation is allowed. The DNR would also get $2 million to buy pockets of private land that lie within six state parks. St. John’s University would get $1.3 million to protect 450-600 acres of privately owned land in central Minnesota’s Avon Hills, which rise out of the surrounding farmland and contain significant native plant communities and rare plant and animal species.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A three-judge federal appeals panel posed tough questions Wednesday as the states of North Dakota and Minnesota faced off in a legal battle over regulating coal-generated electricity.
Minnesota regulators are appealing a lower court decision last April to bar the state from enforcing key sections of its 2007 Next Generation Energy Act that restrict new power generation from coal. The lower court found that the law illegally regulates out-of-state utilities in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause.
Thomas Boyd, a Minneapolis attorney representing North Dakota interests, told the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the law hampers their utilities’ ability to find buyers for power from existing coal-fired generating plants or to plan for new ones , the Star Tribune reported (https://strib.mn/1PH07ekhttps://strib.mn/1PH07ek ). And he said federal law, not state law, should govern interstate power sales.
The North Dakota parties to the case are the North Dakota Industrial Commission, three electric utilities, two coal companies and a coal trade group. They successfully argued in district court that the wording of Minnesota’s law makes illegal the sale of electricity in other states by large regional utilities that only partly serve Minnesota. When electricity is distributed on the regional power grid, they argued, its source is indistinguishable.
Alethea Huyser, an assistant Minnesota attorney general, was interrupted by Judge James Loker when she told the appeals panel that the state law “does not and could not” regulate the power grid.
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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A new union that has already negotiated benefits and working conditions for thousands of Minnesota personal care attendants came under new pressure Wednesday as federal appeals judges heard a pair of cases aimed at disbanding the labor unit.
In back-to-back hearings on separate lawsuits with the same goal, two 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panels raised doubts about their power to overturn the union for home care workers assisting the disabled and elderly. Judges in both cases dwelled on the voluntary nature of the unions, where none of the covered workers is compelled to join or pay dues.
It marked a new chapter in a yearslong fight by union opponents, who were unsuccessful in stopping the labor unit at the Legislature or in a lower court. They argued the Service Employees International Union shouldn’t have been allowed to organize 27,000 workers that aren’t full-fledged public employees.
William Messenger, an attorney with the National Right To Work Legal Foundation, told judges that while care attendants are paid using public health care money that doesn’t make them eligible for unionization.
“Where do you draw the line? Where does it end,” he asked. “If exclusive representation is not confined to true employees, where does it end?”
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