Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page B1

LOCAL STATE REGION MINNESOTA STARTRIBUNE.COM/LOCAL SECTION Affordable housing $10M added to Mpls. fund in 2016 budget. B2 athletics: Reports on Teague years due Tuesday. B3 CLASS ACT 3 REMEMBERING 4 WEATHER 6 Reindeer Cam Watch helpers hang out at Como Zoo. B3 Agency chief Lucinda Jesson, counsel Tracy Smith appointed to the high-profile bench.

By CHRIS SERRES chris.serres@startribune.com Gov. Mark Dayton filled two high-profile judgeships Friday, naming Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson and University of Minnesota deputy general counsel Tracy Smith to the state Court of Appeals. Both Jesson, 57 and Smith, 54, are former prosecutors with decades of experience in public service. They will fill vacancies left on the appeals bench by Judges Natalie Hudson, who was appointed earlier this year to the state Supreme Court and John Smith, who plans to retire in February. The appointment of Jesson creates a vacancy at the helm of largest state agency, one that oversees care and social services for the most vulnerable populations, including more than 1 million people on public health programs.

During five-year tenure, the Department of Human Services has expanded community-based treatment for people with mental illnesses; intensified efforts to crack down on fraudulent billing in the state-funded health insurance program; and shifted the way Dayton fills 2 spots on Court of Appeals By ERIC ROPER eric.roper@startribune.com Minneapolis plans to strip the liquor license of a Lake Street restaurant, La Que Buena after years of trying to stem persistent fights and shootings there. Such revocations are rare, occurring less than once a year when the attempts to reform a business have failed repeatedly. The last high- profile instance was in 2014 when another Lake Street establishment, Champions bar shut down after the city pulled its license. A City Council panel voted on the revocation this week, an action that still requires ratification by the full council next week. An attorney for the restaurant, at Lake Street and 17th Avenue said owners are deciding whether to remain open without serving alcohol.

About a dozen late-night assaults, City poised to strip liquor license Consortium of youth programs asking for more state funding. By STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR Before he was a teenager, Trenton Washington was in trouble. A string of thefts ended in a burglary conviction and expulsion from school. His grade-point average sank to near zero. But Friday, the 14-year-old from Minneapolis wore a crisp brown sport coat and black tie as he supported the nonprofit that linked him with a mentor and helped restore hope for his future.

Washington and his mother, Kenosha, gathered with local authorities and government and nonprofit leaders in Brooklyn Park as the Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA) made the case for programs that catch kids before they slip through the cracks. for these kids to develop chronic and serious problems is simply Executive Director Paul Meunier said. going to demand services one way or another. Either they grow up to be producers toward the common good or going to demand social summit was sixth outreach event this year The association of about 230 regional programs is trying to build awareness and momentum for funding. It has received more than $5 million from the state each of the past two years, but Meunier said Friday that it has fielded $17 million in funding requests from programs.

Sen. Melisa Franzen DFL-Edina has sponsored bills appropriating money for youth intervention Helping hand for troubled kids wants to extend reach A night of hip-hop and old friends Environmental groups question legal team hired by state for PolyMet lawsuits. By JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY josephine.marcotty@startribune.com The close mining ties of a Washington, D.C., law firm hired to protect Minnesota against possible lawsuits related to PolyMet Mining Corp. have drawn sharp protests from a leading environmental group and some state legislators. Crowell Moring, which the Dayton administration retained last month, has a long history of repre- senting the mining industry.

Its clients include the National Mining Association, several coal mining and oil drilling companies, and Massey Energy, whose former CEO, Don Blankenship, was convicted this week of criminal safety violations related to the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia. In a sharply worded letter to Gov. Mark Dayton, an attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) said the choice seems to the outcome of key decisions regarding controversial proposal for a copper-nickel mine, even as the governor has repeatedly said he remains neutral and undecided. decision to hire Washington, D.C., attorneys that regularly represent the mining industry raises significant questions about the position on PolyMet before the state has made any said Mining foes cry foul over law firm P.O.S. opened 20th anniversary celebration at Target Center on Friday, then raced off to catch a plane to Chicago for a show just a few hours later.

Read the review, B2 LESLIE PLESSER Special to the Star Tribune BRIAN PETERSON Casey Jasper, right, is among the students at Andover High School who use stand-up desks in their U.S. government and politics class. By BEENA RAGHAVENDRAN The starting bell had rung at Andover High School on Tuesday afternoon, but five students in the back of Richard government class kept standing. Leaning against waist-high desks, they cracked open textbooks and scribbled notes on the foreign policy lesson ahead. Stand-up desks like these are popping up in classrooms across the Twin Cities metro area, capitalizing on the push toward more flexible furnishings in schools.

Teachers say they love the mobility and choice in classrooms; students say their focus is sharpened when they can stand during class. Administrators would like to have more of these trendy desks, but most districts can afford only a few. The costs are steep: They can range from $250 to $550. The first-come, first-served desks are hot commodities in afternoon class. run to the class to see who can be back he said.

The Anoka-Hennepin School District received the desks through a donation from the American Heart Association, and classroom is the only one in the high school to offer them. wish more classes had said Alyssa Reinke, an Andover High senior who has used the desks a few times. In Eastern Carver County School District, Michelle Swenson is facing the same cost challenge. The third-grade teacher at Bluff Creek Elementary in OK, class, please stand up Trendy standing desks, though costly, are making their way into metro-area classrooms. See PROGRAMS on B6 See JUDGES on B5 See POLYMET on B5 $650M Cost of proposed PolyMet copper mine $750K Amount state has set aside for legal fight See LICENSE on B5 See DESKS on B6 nitely foresee some kids increasing their academic achievement with this kind of Michelle Swenson, third- grade teacher at Bluff Creek Elementary School SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2015.