Five finalists narrowed down for Dakota County manager position

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Out of 52 applicants, five remain who could hold the title of Dakota County’s next county manager.

The Dakota County Board of Commissioners narrowed down five finalists to fill the role of county manager following the May 23 retirement of former manager Matt Smith, who held the role for eight years.

“This has been a great opportunity, but at some point, you need to step back and let someone else take over, and this is the time,” Smith told the Pioneer Press earlier this year.

The five finalists are:

Scott Arneson, county administrator for Goodhue County
Georg Fischer, director of Dakota County Physical Development Division
David McKnight, director for Dakota County Enterprise Finance and Information Services Division
Justin Miller, city administrator for Lakeville
Heidi Welsch, county administrator for Olmsted County

As the top role in the county, the county manager oversees operations and collects a salary in the ballpark of $234,000, according to the county.

Arneson has been in his current role of Goodhue County administrator for nearly 17 years and prior to that, he served as the Aitkin County administrator for 11 years, according to a news release from Dakota County.

Fischer has held his current role with the county for two years and previously served as director of the Environmental Resources Department for nine years. He also served for 20 years in the Minnesota Air National Guard, per the release.

Prior to his current position with Dakota County, McKnight worked as the city administrator for Farmington for nearly 11 years, as the city administrator for Mendota Heights for two years and as the county administrator for Dodge County for eight years, per the release.

Miller, who has held the title of Lakeville city administrator for over nine years, also served as the city administrator for Mendota Heights for three years, city administrator for Falcon Heights for over five years and as the assistant city manager and assistant to the city manager for Chanhassen for four years.

Welsch has been in her current position as Olmstead County administrator for the past seven years and previously served as the county’s deputy administrator for eight months and as the director of Family Support and Assistance for three years, per the release.

Welsch also previously worked for Dakota County as the manager of the Office of Planning and Analysis for six years and as the deputy director of Employment and Economic Assistance for two years.

The next step for the five finalists, who were selected on May 21, will be an interview with the Board of Commissioners on June 24.

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Trump’s lawyers ask judge to lift gag order imposed during New York trial

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s lawyers are asking a New York judge to lift the gag order that barred the former president from commenting about witnesses, jurors and others tied to the criminal case that led to his conviction for falsifying records to cover up a potential sex scandal.

In a letter Tuesday, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove asked Judge Juan M. Merchan to end the gag order, arguing there is nothing to justify “continued restrictions on the First Amendment rights of President Trump” now that the trial is over.

Among other reasons, the lawyers said Trump is entitled to “unrestrained campaign advocacy” in light of President Joe Biden’s public comments about the verdict last Friday, and continued public criticism of him by his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen and porn actor Stormy Daniels, both key prosecution witnesses.

Trump’s lawyers also contend the gag order must go away so he’s free to fully address the case and his conviction with the first presidential debate scheduled for June 27.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.

Merchan issued Trump’s gag order on March 26, a few weeks before the start of the trial, after prosecutors raised concerns about the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s propensity to attack people involved in his cases.

Merchan later expanded it to prohibit comments about his own family after Trump made social media posts attacking the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant. Comments about Merchan and District Attorney Alvin Bragg are allowed, but the gag order bars statements about court staff and members of Bragg’s prosecution team.

Trump was convicted Thursday of 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to Daniels just before the 2016 election. She claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier, which he denies. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 11.

Prosecutors had said they wanted the gag order to “protect the integrity of this criminal proceeding and avoid prejudice to the jury.” In the order, Merchan noted prosecutors had sought the restrictions “for the duration of the trial.” He did not specify when they would be lifted.

Blanche told the Associated Press last Friday that it was his understanding the gag order would expire when the trial ended and that he would seek clarity from Merchan, which he did on Tuesday.

“It’s a little bit of the theater of the absurd at this point, right? Michael Cohen is no longer a witness in this trial,” Blanche told the AP. “The trial is over. The same thing with all the other witnesses. So, we’ll see. I don’t mean that in any way as being disrespectful of the judge and the process. I just want to be careful and understand when it no longer applies.”

Trump has continued to operate under the belief that he’s still muzzled, telling reporters Friday at Trump Tower: “I’m under a gag order, nasty gag order.”

Referring to Cohen, Trump said, “I’m not allowed to use his name because of the gag order” before slamming his former lawyer-turned-courtroom foe as “a sleazebag.”

During the trial, Merchan held Trump in contempt of court, fined him $10,000 for violating the gag order and threatened to put him in jail if he did it again.

Trump’s use of the term “sleazebag” to describe Cohen just before the trial rankled prosecutors, but was not considered a gag order violation by the judge. Merchan declined to sanction Trump for an April 10 social media post, which referred to Cohen and Daniels, another key prosecution witness, by that insult.

The judge said at the time that Trump’s contention that he was responding to previous posts by Cohen that were critical of him “is sufficient to give” him pause on whether prosecutors met their burden in demonstrating that the post was out of bounds.

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East Metro Softball Player of the Year: Forest Lake’s Hannah Tong

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The 2020 high school softball season was wiped out by COVID-19 before it ever really got off the ground. But Forest Lake held tryouts before anyone knew of the chaos that was to come, and eighth-grader Hannah Tong stepped into the circle, hoping to make the Rangers’ varsity staff.

She did not.

Tong was assigned to the freshman team and was told it may be a bit before she joined the varsity ranks.

“That really fired me up to push myself,” Tong said. “And I came back my ninth-grade year and made varsity, which was a big accomplishment for me.”

Since she was little, Tong’s mom always told her to turn angry emotions into positive energy. You’ll be better off in life if you view things in a positive light.

The message proved true back then, and it’s still doing so today.

A warrior in the circle who’s dominant at the dish, Tong is the 2024 East Metro Softball Player of the Year.

The senior hurler is 15-3 in the circle for the Rangers, who enter the Class 4A state tournament Wednesday in North Mankato with the No. 2 seed. They’ll take on unseeded Eden Prairie at 10 a.m. at Caswell Park. Forest Lake is in pursuit of its fourth straight state championship game appearance. In each of Tong’s three previous varsity seasons, she has pitched in the state title game.

And this is the best version of herself to date in many ways.

The most obvious is at the plate. Tong didn’t hit much as a freshman at Forest Lake, which was no surprise to her. She didn’t hit much at lower levels, either. It was never her strength.

“I was like, ‘OK, that’s nothing really new,’ ” Tong said.

But she continued to work at it, and noted “something must’ve clicked” between her freshman and sophomore campaigns.

“I did not expect that,” she said. “It really did come out of left field.”

And, as a senior, Tong has posted what Forest Lake coach Sean Hall called “the best hitting stats of any player I’ve ever coached.”

Tong is hitting .538 this season. Of her 35 hits, six are doubles and seven are home runs. She has knocked in 38 runs – a testament to her and those around her in the lineup. Tong credited Forest Lake hitting coach Mike Perry and the plan he has helped her develop at the dish. Knowing what she hopes to accomplish has allowed Tong to relax and confidently rely on her mechanics to naturally take over.

“She’s not getting herself out. She’s able to lay off the chase pitches and recognize them a little bit earlier, which in turn helps her get a better pitch to hit,” Hall said. “She’s become so much of a more disciplined hitter that your average can jump a lot, and you can do a lot of great things.”

In the circle, Tong has developed what Forest Lake pitching coach Mark Bayers called a “deadly” off-speed pitch – “the best changeup in the state” – which keeps hitters off balance. That’s a major weapon when Tong can also hang around 63 miles per hour on the radar gun.

It’s a pitch Tong now heavily relies on, but not one she was confident in three years ago.

“When I was a freshman, it really struggled. Mark definitely forced me to throw it a lot,” Tong said. “I went back to my pitching coach in the winter and said, ‘It’s still not good. I need to work on it more.’”

The development of that pitch has made Tong’s life in the circle “so much easier.”

“Because I can keep (hitters) off balance. They never know when it’s going to come. And even if it does come, and they know it’s coming, a lot of the times, they aren’t expecting how slow it’s going to be,” Tong said. “So it really helps in my favor and helps my team a lot more, too.”

And yet none of that is what Tong first mentions when asked about her development during her high school career. What is?

“I feel like emotionally I’ve grown a lot,” Tong said.

That’s backed up by the comments of everyone around her.

“Just her growth as a person is one thing I think I’m really excited to see,” Hall said. “She has always been a fiery competitor, which makes her a great player. I think the greatest part about this year and how Hannah’s matured is she’s just a great leader all the way, whether things are going well or whether we’re struggling,. She always is able to keep an even keel.”

Now, if she delivers a massive strikeout, you can bet she’s going to knock out the air in front of her with a quick punch. But when things aren’t going well, Tong refuses to waver.

“You need to stay emotionally stable – no tears, no getting upset,” Tong said. “Body language is also a very, very big thing when it comes to being successful, especially at such a high level that we play at here at Forest Lake.”

Tong has had to carry the biggest burden for Forest Lake this season. In the past, she has been one half of a powerful one-two punch along with Avery Muellner. But injury has kept Muellner out of the circle this season.

And while the Rangers have other capable arms who have done well, the big moments have belonged to Tong. It hasn’t always been awesome. Early season outings in which she was hit heavily by White Bear Lake and Cretin-Derham Hall stuck with her.

But in her second go-around against the Bears, Tong silenced the White Bear Lake bats in a 16-0 Rangers victory. Tong said that was one of her proudest moments.

“Because I wasn’t the greatest the first time, and they came in thinking I was going to pitch the exact same,” Tong said. “I really didn’t, and it really just shows that one mistake doesn’t define me as a pitcher. And that just makes me proud, because that’s really been my motto.”

Bayers noted sports are filled with ebbs and flows. Very rarely will everything work in your favor. Tong, he noted, is “very good at stopping a train before it goes too far south and redirecting it.”

“Because she’s been there, and she knows it’s not a big deal. Simmer down, relax,” Bayers said. “She’s really good at that.”

That’s especially valuable this week at state, just down the road from where Tong will pitch in college at Minnesota State Mankato. But first, she’ll aim to reach a fourth state championship game, and win a second state title. That’s maybe not something Tong thought was possible at the season’s outset.

But she pushed her teammates to be the best they could all season, just as she does herself. Forest Lake relied on its work, its experience and its ace to get back into a familiar position.

Tong and her senior teammates will graduate Thursday evening. She noted she’s not entirely sure what the last few days of school look like at Forest Lake – she has always spent them in North Mankato.

But she is quite familiar with the state championship game environment, and she’d like to taste that one more time on her way out the door.

“Honestly, it would mean the world,” Tong said of a title. “Deep down, I feel like we could do it, but we have to work hard. It would really end off my senior year very well.”

The Rangers have one major advantage working in their favor this week.

“I wouldn’t pick another pitcher in the state tournament,” Bayers said. “I think she’s the best.”

FINALISTS

Heidi Barber, senior shortstop, White Bear Lake: Connecticut commit hit .492 for the Bears.

Cece Hanson, senior center fielder, Rosemount: Elite in the field and at the plate, South Dakota State commit has defending champs back in title position.

Brooke Nesdahl, junior pitcher, Cretin-Derham Hall: Struck out nearly 200 batters while tallying 17 extra-base hits for the top seed in the Class 3A tournament.

Ariana Princl, senior shortstop, Rosemount: Creighton commit is golden with the glove and has 39 runs batted in for Class 4A’s top tournament seed.

Maya Schroeder, junior centerfielder, Stillwater: Ignited the powerful Ponies to state with her .532 average, 17-extra base hits and 17 stolen bases.

Forest Lake’s Hannah Tong reacts after getting the final out of the fourth inning against Maple Grove during the Softball Semifinals Tournament at Caswell Park in North Mankato on Thursday, June 8, 2023. Forest Lake won 8-0. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)
Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2024, of Heidi Barber of White Bear Lake, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Softball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of White Bear Lake Area High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2024, of Cece Hanson of Rosemount, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Softball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Rosemount High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2024, of Brooke Nesdahl of Cretin-Derham Hall, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Softball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Cretin-Derham Hall High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2024, of Ariana Princl of Rosemount, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Softball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Rosemount High School)
Undated courtesy photo, circa June 2024, of Maya Schroeder of Stillwater, one of the finalists for Pioneer Press East Metro Softball Player of the Year. (Courtesy of Stillwater Area High School)

House passes proposal sanctioning top war-crimes court after it sought Netanyahu arrest warrant

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WASHINGTON — The House passed legislation Tuesday that would sanction the International Criminal Court for requesting arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.

The 247-155 vote amounts to Congress’ first legislative rebuke of the war crimes court since its stunning decision last month to seek arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and Hamas. The move was widely denounced in Washington, creating a rare moment of unity on Israel even as partisan divisions over the war with Hamas intensified.

While the House bill was expected to pass Tuesday, it managed to attract only modest Democratic support, despite an outpouring of outrage at the court’s decision, dulling its chances in the Senate. The White House opposes the legislation, calling it overreach.

Both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee acknowledged the bill in question is unlikely to become law and left the door open to further negotiation with the White House. They said it would be better for Congress to be united against the Hague-based court.

“We’re always strongest, particularly on this committee, when we speak with one voice as one nation, in this case to the ICC and to the judges,” GOP Rep. Mike McCaul, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during House debate. “A partisan messaging bill was not my intention here but that is where we are.”

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller reiterated the administration’s opposition to the sanctions bill.

“We have made clear that while we oppose the decision taken by the prosecutor of the ICC, we don’t think it is appropriate, especially while there are ongoing investigations inside Israel looking at somebody’s very same questions, and we were willing to work with Congress on what a response might look like but we don’t support sanctions,” Miller said.

The House bill would apply sweeping economic sanctions and visa restrictions to individuals and judges associated with the ICC, including their family members. Democrats labeled the approach as “overly broad,” warning it could ensnare Americans and U.S. companies that do important work with the court.

“This bill would have a chilling effect on the ICC as an institution which could hamper the court’s efforts to prosecute the dubious atrocities that have been perpetrated in many places around the world, from Ukraine to Uganda,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The legislation reprimanding the ICC was just the latest show of support from House Republicans for Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that ignited the war. Republicans have held several votes related to Israel in recent months, highlighting divisions among Democrats over support for the U.S. ally.

Congressional leaders have invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress this summer, which is likely to further inflame tensions over Israel’s handling of the war. Many Democrats are expected to boycott the speech.

Both the ICC and the United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice, have begun to investigate allegations that both Israel and Hamas — which has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, and EU — have committed genocide during the seven-month war.

Last month, ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, accused Netanyahu, his defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh — of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders condemned the ICC’s move as disgraceful and antisemitic. President Joe Biden and members of Congress also lambasted the prosecutor and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.

Israel is not a member of the court, so even if the arrest warrants are issued, Netanyahu and Gallant do not face any immediate risk of prosecution. But the threat of arrest could make it difficult for Israeli leaders to travel abroad.

“Failing to act here in the Congress would make us complicit with the ICC’s illegitimate actions and we must not stay silent,” McCaul said. “We must stand with our allies.”

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