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Liz Sawyer

Reporter
Breaking news, crime and corrections
Sawyer graduated from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in newspaper and online journalism. She worships her alma mater's college hoops team and thinks an orange is, in fact, a suitable mascot.

Contact

EMAIL
liz.sawyer@startribune.com
PHONE
612-673-4648

Latest from Liz Sawyer

Twin Cities

Hennepin Juvenile Detention Center vows to boost staff, retrain officers to fix violations

County Commissioner Angela Conley condemned the practice of isolating kids as ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ and questioned why county operators were not finding ‘tangible solutions.’
December 13, 2024
The Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation, which runs the Juvenile Detention Center, claims its kids are being taught about social distancing. Detention staff: it's not happening.
News & Politics

Judge rules Minneapolis police ‘coaching’ records not public, sends narrow case to trial

The decision comes after a watchdog group waged a three-year legal battle to expose how the police force used the secretive coaching process.
December 5, 2024
Minneapolis

Report: Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center used unwarranted seclusion amid staffing shortage

A state inspector found that the Hennepin County facility locked teens in their rooms for long stretches without cause, denied access to programming and conducted lax wellness checks.
December 4, 2024
The Hennepin County Department of Community Corrections and Rehabilitation, which runs the Juvenile Detention Center, claims its kids are being taught about social distancing. Detention staff: it's not happening.
Minneapolis

Officials ID man fatally shot at a Minneapolis gas station this week

The shooting occurred at a North Side location that has drawn a lot of police attention this year.
November 27, 2024
Minneapolis

Midday shooting on Minneapolis street leaves man dead, police hunting for gunman

Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the fatal shooting outside a gas station in the middle of the day, “unacceptable and shocking.”
November 26, 2024
News & Politics

Phillip Murphy, Minneapolis citizen journalist who documented the North Side, dies at 61

His Facebook group True North Minneapolis was a hub of community discourse.
November 22, 2024
Phillip Murphy holds a scanner he keeps with him at all times including in his closed down flower shop on Dowling Avenue in north Minneapolis, Minn., on August 26, 2016. Murphy is very frustrated with the amount of gun violence in the area of his shop and keeps track of the statistics regularly. "No change can happen unless the community is aware," said Murphy about why he keeps track of the violence and posts it to social media. He closed his flower shop after vandalism and the five armed robbe
Minneapolis

Minneapolis police chief said he contemplated his future during fallout from neighborhood shooting

Activists continue to call for Chief Brian O’Hara’s firing over the department’s handling of a violent neighbor dispute. But O’Hara says he is committed to fulfilling his three-year term and has “no intention of turning my back” on the police force.
November 15, 2024
Twin Cities

Under President Trump, is Minneapolis’ pending consent decree with the DOJ dead?

A consent decree is one of the federal government’s most aggressive tools for reining in police departments found to be violating the U.S. Constitution. Republican presidents rarely pursue them. Trump killed Chicago’s after assuming his first term in office.
November 13, 2024
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about the DOJ investigation Friday, June 16, 2023 Minneapolis, Minn. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Bildtsen for the District of Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara will hold a press conference tomorrow on a civil rights matter. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com
Minneapolis

Midday shooting on Minneapolis street leaves man dead, police hunting for gunman

Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the fatal shooting outside a gas station in the middle of the day, “unacceptable and shocking.”
November 26, 2024
News & Politics

Phillip Murphy, Minneapolis citizen journalist who documented the North Side, dies at 61

His Facebook group True North Minneapolis was a hub of community discourse.
November 22, 2024
Phillip Murphy holds a scanner he keeps with him at all times including in his closed down flower shop on Dowling Avenue in north Minneapolis, Minn., on August 26, 2016. Murphy is very frustrated with the amount of gun violence in the area of his shop and keeps track of the statistics regularly. "No change can happen unless the community is aware," said Murphy about why he keeps track of the violence and posts it to social media. He closed his flower shop after vandalism and the five armed robbe
Minneapolis

Minneapolis police chief said he contemplated his future during fallout from neighborhood shooting

Activists continue to call for Chief Brian O’Hara’s firing over the department’s handling of a violent neighbor dispute. But O’Hara says he is committed to fulfilling his three-year term and has “no intention of turning my back” on the police force.
November 15, 2024
Twin Cities

Under President Trump, is Minneapolis’ pending consent decree with the DOJ dead?

A consent decree is one of the federal government’s most aggressive tools for reining in police departments found to be violating the U.S. Constitution. Republican presidents rarely pursue them. Trump killed Chicago’s after assuming his first term in office.
November 13, 2024
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke about the DOJ investigation Friday, June 16, 2023 Minneapolis, Minn. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann Bildtsen for the District of Minnesota, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara will hold a press conference tomorrow on a civil rights matter. ] GLEN STUBBE • glen.stubbe@startribune.com
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