MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A federal judge on Friday ordered a Minnesota man held without bail after he was accused of trying to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group.
Abdirahman Yasin Daud, 21, is one of six Minnesotans arrested last month on charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was one of two defendants apprehended in San Diego, where they allegedly tried to get fake passports so they could travel overseas via Mexico.
Daud pleaded not guilty at the detention hearing, where the chief U.S. district judge for Minnesota, Michael Davis, ruled that there was no set of conditions he could impose that would protect the public safety and ensure that Daud makes his court appearances. But Davis said he was open to revisiting the issue if the defense and local Somali community leaders can develop a suitable program for ensuring Daud’s appearances and protecting the public.
Davis cited a memo filed by prosecutors a day earlier, which said Daud told a confidential informant in a recorded conversation that he’d “spit on America” at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing. Daud also allegedly said that his family knew he was going to Syria and they “won’t say a word.” He allegedly said he planned to get an assault rifle once he got to Syria and become a martyr.
Defense attorney Bruce Nestor argued that prosecutors had failed to show that Daud posed any threat to anyone. Nestor also condemned prosecutors for “waiving the bloody flag of terrorism.” He said the government has the “unrebuttable power” to designate any foreign group it wants as a terrorist organization, yet does nothing to stop Americans from leaving to defend Israel or to fight as “Christian warriors” in Iraq against the Islamic State.
___
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (AP) - Gov. Mark Dayton took his pitch for statewide preschool directly to Minnesota’s smallest students on Friday as he gears up to convince legislators to fund one of his top priorities.
The Democrat visited 4-year-olds at Westview Elementary school for nearly an hour Friday - in preschool parlance, from circle time to play time. Dayton paged through books with students and helped as the class of 20 practiced their alphabet.
“My name starts with an M and it rhymes with ’shark,’” he rhymed.
It’s one of several stops Dayton has planned as he and lawmakers approach a special session. Education funding will be the main event in that overtime period. The governor vetoed the Legislature’s public school budget this week, saying it fell short of the funding necessary, including money for a statewide preschool program.
After visiting the school, Rep. Tara Mack argued the bill the Legislature passed was sufficient. That budget bumped up funding to schools by $400 million, with much of the money going to increase the state’s per-pupil funding formula. Mack said she and other Republican lawmakers are concerned about schools that may not have the space or manpower to host a preschool program.
___
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - All eyes heading into this year’s legislative session were on new House Speaker Kurt Daudt, under pressure to hold together 71 fellow Republicans back in power and eager to slash government spending.
But it was Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a 20-year legislative veteran with a reputation as a crafty negotiator, who was tending to internal wounds by session’s end. Senate Democrats defected in droves from votes on pieces of a $42 billion budget now on the governor’s desk, a sign some DFL lawmakers say shows dissatisfaction with their leader.
Bakk wrote a letter Wednesday trying to soothe his caucus, which split on such votes as an environmental funding bill that only one in four Democrats supported. Nearly half of the Senate’s budget bills required Republican support to pass.
Fresh from voting against a deal that Bakk cut, several Senate Democrats - usually quiet about internal leadership discussions - were open about their unhappiness with Bakk.
“I guess you can look at the votes and you can see who does not agree with leadership,” said Sen. Bev Scalze, DFL-Little Canada. “We’re having trouble. There’s no doubt about it.”
___
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - A former dean at UCLA is the new chancellor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The UNC Board of Governors appointed Franklin D. Gilliam Jr. during its meeting on Friday. The 60-year-old Gilliam will be the school’s first black chancellor when he assumes his duties on Sept. 8.
He succeeds acting chancellor Dana Dunn, who has led the school since Linda Brady went on medical leave in March following heart surgery.
Gilliam was dean of UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs for seven years.
A native of Bloomington, Minnesota, Gilliam earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Drake University, and holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa. He taught at Grinnell College and the University of Wisconsin before joining the UCLA faculty in 1986.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.