Tina Smith
U.S. Senator Tina Smith Calls for Congressional hearings on Elon Musk’s infiltration of federal agencies
On Feb. 5, 2025, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, called for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to appear before both …
There's a summer camp for every kid
Summer camp season will be here before parents know it. While children anxiously await the last day of school, adults know that it can be challenging to keep kids occupied and mentally stimulated …
Classics Lost ‘n’ Found Theater Company announces 2025 playbill
Classics Lost ‘N’ Found Theater Company (CLFTC), your neighborhood community theater in the Nokomis Neighborhood, invites you to explore its 2025 playbill. With the exception of the …
Steve Brandt
Brandt announces reelection bid for board of estimate and taxation
Steve Brandt announced that he’s seeking a second term this year on the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation, the body that sets the city’s property tax cap annually and approves …
Grande Sunrise is a family-run business. (Photo submitted)
Grande Sunrise: A family’s journey from El Salvador to neighborhood staple
When I arrived at Grande Sunrise, I found Roberto Grande-Perez in the parking lot, fixing his car with a confident, self-taught ease. Within minutes of meeting him, his hard-working spirit and …
Park board 2025 budget increases 8.27%
At their Dec. 10, 2024 meeting, the Board of Commissioners adopted a 2025-2026 Budget for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) that focuses caring for park amenities and infrastructure, …
City invests nearly $18.5 million into affordable housing
The city of Minneapolis has committed nearly $17 million in direct investment, along with $1.5 million in 10-year federal tax credits, to 11 affordable rental housing projects in Minneapolis. The …
Co-op Creamery building sold
Seward Cooperative General Manager, Ray Williams, has announced the sale of the “Creamery building” located at 2601 E Franklin Ave., to North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems …
City Briefs - Feb 2025
BET Leadership The Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), which sets the maximum property tax levy and coordinates taxing and borrowing for the city, has reelected Steve Brandt as president and …
Home & Garden
They wanted to save the boulevard trees along six blocks of 29th Ave. and they came together to do just that. Then they celebrated together at Arbeiter Brewing. (Photo by submitted)
Motivated by a common goal
Residents along six blocks of 29th Ave. S have banded together to save 40 ash trees. “These are public trees that the whole community benefits from,” observed Loey Colebeck. “Many …
Minnesota back in a drought
The weather here in Minneapolis has been extreme recently, and drought is something we’ve experienced every year. Although the 2024 drought was not as severe as previous years, rainfall …
Extension programs to keep you busy this winter
If you’ve been following this column the past few years, you will know that I’m a Master Gardener Volunteer through the University of Minnesota Extension. It’s a wonderful program …
Woodworker Bill Dossett (left) and Joe Hayes look over a set of windows being restored. According to Dossett, the dust collection system in the new building is an upgrade that has made a big difference for staff. Plus there's a room just for planing.
Hayes Window expands into new location, offers storm windows
Lost your storm windows over the years? Have windows you can’t open anymore because they were painted shut? Does the glass rattle in the wind? These problems don’t mean that you need to …
Many trees in the community went down in storms over the summer on both private and public land. The very dry conditions of the previous drought damaged tree roots.
What’s up with our trees this year?
Trees are an important part of the landscape in South Minneapolis. They shade our streets and yards, provide habitat for wildlife, improve the air, and reduce the urban heat island effect. If …
Opinion
Letters - Feb 2025
Building a Stronger Minnesota: The Need for Inclusive Zoning Reform I’ve lived in Minnesota for nearly 30 years. One of the things I love about this state is the sense of community and …
Chuck Peters
A News Era
Shortly after initiating the acquisition of Twitter in 2022, Elon Musk posted, “For Twitter to deserve public trust, it must be politically neutral, which effectively means upsetting the far …
Minneapolis artist recognized by hockey league
The Minnesota Hockey Recreation League is pleased to announce that a design by south Minneapolis resident Leo Fortune has been selected as the winner in its annual competition. The yearly open call …
For a few days each January, John Njoes, exchanges his Sotheby’s Realtor’s vest for a thick parka as the St. Paul Winter Carnival Ice Carving Contest unfolds.
Neighborhood realtor carves his own niche
You may have seen John Njoes around the neighborhood. He’s lived in the 55406 zip code nearly all of his life, and has been a Longfellow resident since 1984. After more than 15 years of donning …
One of the two 21-story apartment towers that continue to provide affordable housing for Seward residents. The Seward Towers are located off Franklin Ave.
When a developer wanted to take away affordable housing, community members stepped up to save Seward Towers
In early 1987, Caren Dewar, Redesign’s executive director, was in her Franklin Avenue office when she  got a call from Kathy O’Brien, then Seward’s representative on the …
Rebuild Repair Recycle
Minnesota’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions dropped by 14% between 2005 and 2022, according to a biennial report from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Minnesota …
Live On Minnesota is working to become the first provider of Natural Organic Reduction (NOR) in the state of Minnesota. Also known as “human composting,” NOR is the safe and peaceful …
Longfellow resident Mary Haugh got a second run at life and decided to give vintage homes a second life, too. After surviving an aggressive form of cancer in the prime of her professional marketing …
Aging Well
  Don Fredriksen has dedicated countless hours for www.techforseniors.info through Gifts for Seniors.    Gifts for Seniors has helped older adults live fulfilling lives …
Nokomis Square Cooperative, a senior community, has been happily situated in the Nokomis East Neighborhood since 1984. The residents there are celebrating their 40th anniversary on Sept. 28. There …
There’s always a buzz in the neighborhood when a new business opens, but what about celebrating a business that has shown real staying power?  RoseLee Buechler (Rosie) has owned and …
AWARD WINNING NEWSPAPERS

20 AWARDS FOR TMC PUBLICATIONS IN 2023

TMC Publication's three newspapers earned a total of 20 awards at this year's Better Newspaper Contest. Congrats to the winners! NEWS1) First Place, Sports Story - Eric Erickson, “Unforgettable …
Voices Against Violence
Dr. Catherine Barrett
‘Oppressive’ experience:’ 57 hearings, 80 court orders, 12 parenting time schedules
What do you do when 11 judges and referees, 20 therapists, 12 mediators, two parenting consultants (with 37 directives), one custody evaluator, and one guardian ad litem haven’t been able to …
Police officer Paul Elmstrand, officer Matthew Ruge and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth
Violence Free Minnesota issues statement on Burnsville Police and EMT domestic violence homicides
Violence Free Minnesota issued the following statement on Tuesday, Feb. 20 to call attention to the full circumstances around Shannon Cortez Gooden's murder of two police officers and an EMT in …
Christmas Eve luminary supports Domestic Abuse Project
For 25 years, the warm glow of hundreds of luminaries have lit Dupont/King’s Highway on Christmas Eve. The annual event not only brings neighbors together, but it has raised over $50,000 for …
Dani's daughter sent her teddy bear with her mom on Oct. 2, 2023. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how my daughter would take the news that her mom wasn’t coming home for a month,” said Dani.
Domestic abuse victim jailed
During Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a Minnesota judge ordered a victim to jail for not forcing her daughter to see her father. Dani* was ordered to serve 30 days in jail on Oct. 2, 2023 or …
Thi Synavone works as the executive director at Standpoint.  (Photo submitted)
FROM THEIR STANDPOINT
Thi Synavone came to the U.S. in 1979 as a Laotian refugee. After living in many states, her family settled in Minnesota in 1988. Synavone said that growing up, domestic and sexual violence was never …
Longfellow
North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems (NATIFS) , the nonprofit founded by James Beard Award-winning chef Sean Sherman, has acquired the Seward Co-op Creamery building in Minneapolis. The …
Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) crews have completed installing the new signal system and reopened the ramps to and from Hwy 55/Hiawatha Ave. and Lake St. Crews will continue work …
Last year was filled with growth and discovery. We gained invaluable insights from one another, as well as from the residents, partner organizations, and business owners in Greater Longfellow. …
Nokomis
Following the termination of Brandon Long, the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) has appointed Amy Arcand as interim executive director. Upon being told of his termination on Monday, Jan. …
On behalf of the Nokomis East Business Association, treasurer Tesha M. Christensen (right) presents $500 to the Lake Nokomis Community School PTA. Accepting were LNCS Keewaydin Community School …
Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) is proud to represent four neighborhoods: Keewaydin, Minnehaha, Morris Park, and Wenonah. In the past year, we worked with nonprofits, churches, local …
Arts
Junauda Petrus is the city’s new poet laureate for 2025-2026. Petrus succeeds Heid E. Erdrich in this prominent literary role. A multidisciplinary artist, Petrus spans stage, screen and page in …
Nearly 20 years ago, Dan Woychick learned Minneapolis’ perennially acclaimed parks were in a precarious position. Woychick, then a board member for his East Harriet neighborhood’s …
The McKnight Foundation announces the selection of Ricardo Levins Morales as its 2024 Distinguished Artist, an award given annually since 1998. Theater maker Keila Anali Saucedo, who nominated Levins …
MESSENGER CELEBRATES 40 YEARS
Cal deRuyter and Tim Nelson began and ended their careers in neighborhood journalism. In 1977, their office was at Thomas and Fairview in St. Paul. (Photo submitted)
How a newspaper business developed
When I was chosen to be co-editor of our high school paper, it was exciting to learn the ropes of planning a publication, assigning stories, cleaning them up and eventually putting them on the page …
At Uptown Bill's, the coffeeshop, bookstore and performance venue in Iowa City which Tom Gilsenan managed for almost 10 years.
SO MANY STORIES IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
Our neighborhoods are full of wonderful stories. And for more than a dozen years, I got to tell those stories right here in the Messenger. It was grand. Minnehaha Falls is full of stories. It has …
20 years with neighborhood newspapers
It has been nearly 20 years since I handed in my first story to the Longfellow Messenger, and it is hard to believe the time has passed so quickly. I had arrived in Saint Paul from Montana with two …
Lewis Duemke
THE MOVERS AND THE SHAKERS
The Longfellow-Nokomis Messenger is not only one of Minneapolis’ oldest neighborhood newspapers, it is part of a long tradition of such Minneapolis and St. Paul publications.Coverage of city …
Racial Justice

Health before aesthetics

Neighbors packed the house at Belfry Community Space (3901 Chicago Ave.) on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, for a Town Hall “In Defense of Black Lives.” The meeting was held in response to the …

Through Their Eyes
At the Town Hall meeting, neighbor Marcia Howard reminds people who wish to return to normalcy that George Floyd Square is now a historic landmark, and “what was normal was Black folk dying in the middle of the street.”
Election
Since the age of 18, I have voted in every single general election. Since my mid-30s, I have voted in every single mid-term election. And once Minnesota switched from caucus to primary elections, I …
What is at stake in the 2024 election personally for you? A recent NBC online news site presented 7 policy issues important to the American people in the 2024 election.  These include the …
The AI Revolution: Navigating Its Impact on Elections In the evolving landscape of democracy, elections have long stood as the cornerstone of citizen participation and political representation. …
Family
By Eric Ortiz Mark Rivard is not your typical educator. He never went to college. He was not that good a student in high school. And he calls himself “uneducated.” But he has found a …
Every artist has an interesting origin story. But nothing compares with how Mark Rivard got started. Rivard began illustrating skateboards with Sharpie markers in the early 2000s. That led to an …
Due in part to high demand, parents who want to place their kids in summer rec programs or summer camps should being vetting such programs and camps well in advance of summer. The following are a …
School & Sports
Minneapolis Public Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) program aims to match students with real-world skills, but some high schools are restricting access. Even though students register, …
On Tuesday evening, Dec. 10, 2024, parents, caregivers, and teachers packed the Davis Center board room and the overflow space to voice concern over ballooning class sizes and shrinking numbers of …
The Roosevelt Culinary Arts (RCA) program hosts community meals a few times a year. The RCA is a class that helps students learn how to cook and practice professional chef skills. Ben Rengstorf has …
Longfellow Business Directory articles
Ekta Prakash moved to Minneapolis 20 years ago as an immigrant from India and has served as CAPI’s CEO for the last 14 years.
A BETTER BUSINESS AS USUAL
Since we last printed the Longfellow Business Directory in early 2020, our business community, landscape and daily rhythms have been substantially and irrevocably changed. COVID-19 has presented a …
Ruhel Islam at the Gandhi Mahal site. Photo by Jan Willms
LONGFELLOW RISING
The year 2020 was challenging for the Longfellow business community, particularly in the main commercial intersection of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue referred to as Downtown Longfellow. The COVID …
As we heal the Coliseum, 
it is a sign that the 
broader community 
along Lake St. is healing. 
Taylor Smrikarova, Redesign
RESTORING THE COLISEUM
The Colisum, a community commercial center since 1917, was almost destroyed following the civil unrest after the murder of George Floyd. In order to restore this historic 80,000 square-foot building, …
Mother Earth Gardens
COMMUNITY VOICES
1) “We are asking questions about what our community needs, trying to use our space and resources to meet those needs, and trying to hold onto connections and awakenings that have been made …
A LONGFELLOW PARTNERSHIP
The Longfellow Business Directory has been an important part of the Longfellow community going back to the 1990s. It was started to help foster better communication within the business community, and …
Web Extras - Contact us to sponsor content
Galentine's Day has become a thing—why hasn't Malentine's Day?
The Conversation explores why men don't have a holiday to celebrate friendship between bros.
How a 4-day workweek could reduce burnout without hurting productivity
BuchhaltungsButler and DataPulse explore the effects of the four-day work week worldwide and as an idea growing in popularity in the U.S.
Cities with the most people working from home
SmartAsset ranked 349 of the largest U.S. cities based on the percentage of workers who work from home, while also examining commute times for other workers.
Why breakup anxiety hits hard and how to get back on your feet
Rula examines the role of anxiety in the post-breakup experience, and how therapy can help.
A How-To Guide for Participating in Clinical Trials
(Family Features) Choosing to take part in a clinical trial means helping a study team figure out if a new method of diagnosis, treatment or prevention is effective.