AM.MN: Triple murder tempers talk of drop in Minneapolis crime rate

The murders of three men Wednesday in an apparent robbery attempt at a Somali-owned South Minneapolis corner store are sure to temper discussion of declining rates of homicide and other violent crimes — particularly at a meeting that Mayor R.T. Rybak and other city leaders were set to hold this morning to highlight improved public safety, at a YWCA not far from the site of the killings.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …  

MINNEAPOLIS: Tim Dolan scolded, officer arrested. The Civilian Police Review Authority Board says the police chief doesn’t discipline his officers; one just got arrested today in a string robberies. [Star Tribune; WCCO]

STATEWIDE: No rush to follow suit on unallotment challenge. School-district and local-government associations won’t be piling on Gov. Pawlenty in court anytime soon. [Politics in Minnesota]

BLOOMINGTON: Airport food workers vote today on raising wages. The new union contract would lift pay as much as 8 percent — a rarity these days. [Workday Minnesota]

ST. CLOUD: Rockefeller Center it ain’t. Putting an ad hoc skating rink where the old library was is just silly, and building a skatepark in natural Heritage Park is just wrong. [St. Cloud Times]

ST. CROIX RIVER: On the internet at last. A blogger posts a 20-minute video called “The St. Croix: A Northwoods Journey” that the National Park Service made but never put online. [Greg Seitz]

MINNEAPOLIS: The new American Dream. For some men, it’s not owning a home. [New York Times]