Hennepin County reduced repeat abuse of kids. Are there lessons for the rest of Minnesota?

Plus: The 5 best things our food writers ate this week ͏ ͏ If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may [see it online](. [Star Tribune]( Talkers Editor's note: Talkers will take a break until the end of the year, but will return in 2024. Thanks for reading and happy holidays! TOP STORIES - Hennepin County reduced repeat abuse of kids. Are there lessons for the rest of Minnesota? Hennepin County boosted spending on child protection and added workers. The result: lower caseloads and far less repeat abuse. Now it must sustain this success. [Read more.]( - A Minnesota screening of Hamas Oct. 7 attack film shares horrors: Israel compiled Hamas videos and surveillance footage into a gruesome film to remind the world of atrocities. The screening was the only one planned locally and held at a key moment in the war. International outrage has zeroed in on Israel's overwhelming military response to the Hamas attack. [Read more.]( - Target asks HQ employees to periodically work in downtown Minneapolis offices: Target Corp. employees will recall workers to its downtown Minneapolis headquarters at least one week per quarter. [Read more.]( - In plea deal met with anger, no additional prison time for fatal Minneapolis carjacking: After rejecting a similar offer in October, a Hennepin County judge accepted a plea deal Thursday that will allow a co-defendant in a deadly northeast Minneapolis carjacking to elude prison time — a decision met by disbelief and outrage by the murdered man's family. [Read more.]( - Why did Duluth's economy collapse in the 1980s? The Zenith City was once predicted to be the next Chicago. But its fortunes changed. [Read more.]( WATCH THIS Scientists "box" robot opponents: A robot built by the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition and Boardwalk Robots demonstrated how human-controlled robots could be used for novel tasks, such as boxing, Reuters reports. [See the video.]( *** Talk to us! Send feedback on this newsletter, questions, story tips, ideas or anything else to [talkers@startribune.com](. *** TRENDING The 5 best things our food writers ate this week: An east metro coffee shop makes a small step toward reopening, a top-notch eggnog, and finding comfort in beef in a blanket, fries and cozy dinners. [Read more.]( SPORTS BLINK Coach of the Year loses football job at suburban private school: Being selected the Class 4A, Section 5 Coach of the Year this fall was certainly a nice honor for Benilde-St. Margaret's football coach Sean McMenomy. It wasn't enough to keep him in charge of the team. [Read more.]( *** Did someone forward this newsletter to you? You can [sign up for Talkers here](. *** WORTH A CLICK Family on Lake Superior fishing trip thought their sonar detected an octopus. It was a 152-year-old shipwreck. "A father and his daughter who were fishing on Lake Michigan earlier this year were surprised when their sonar discovered what they thought was an octopus lurking beneath their vessel. What they actually likely discovered was a shipwreck missing for over 150 years, according to the Wisconsin Historical Society," Jon Haworth reports for ABC News. [Read more.]( FROM THE ARCHIVES Dec. 15, 2022: Sawo Kwao sang and waved the Somali flag as a DJ played Somali pop music as the crowd in the auditorium of the Minneapolis Convention Center awaited the arrival of Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. He was in Minneapolis to address members of the local Somali community, the largest outside Africa, after attending the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune) Connect with Star Tribune [facebook]([twitter]([pinterest]([instagram]( [Manage email preferences]( • [Subscribe to Star Tribune]( • [Privacy Policy]( • [Unsubscribe]( This email was sent by: StarTribune, 650 3rd Ave S, Suite #1300, Minneapolis, MN, 55488 © 2023 StarTribune. All rights reserved. We value your opinion! [Give us your feedback.](