Email Author Nick Pinto

Awards

• 2011 - Page One Contest/Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists

  "Pawlenty Pardon"

• 2011 - Page One Contest/Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists

  "Pawlenty Pardon"

• 2011 - Page One Contest/Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists, published September 29, 2010

  "So Unionized You'll Freak"

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2010 Stories by Nick Pinto

• Minnesota head shops sue DEA over synthetic marijuana

  published Dec 30, 2010

  Marijuana legalization is on the back burner in Minnesota these days, but that hasn't stopped the state's stoners from opening up another front in the nation's drug wars.Four head shops from across th... More >>

• Jeremy Giefer timeline shows warning signs missed by Pawlenty's Pardon Board

  published Dec 29, 2010

  Jeremy Giefer just can't seem to leave his daughter alone.Giefer had his criminal sex conviction cleared by the Board of Pardons in 2008 only to be charged last month with sexually abusing his daughte... More >>

• John Kline wants to kill for-profit education reform

  published Dec 27, 2010

  When we told you about the problems plaguing the for-profit education industry in our cover story November, there was still a glimmer of hope: the Senate was considering stricter regulations to stop s... More >>

• Deborah Lynn Ferrier doing time for failure to urinate

  published Dec 23, 2010

  Deborah Lynn Ferrier thought she could beat the system with an iron bladder. The 42-year-old Ferrier had already been busted for drunk driving five times when she was pulled over May 29, 2009 in Eaga... More >>

• Fired Chipotle workers picket downtown restaurant [VIDEO]

  published Dec 22, 2010

  Wearing Santa hats and chanting "Justice for Latino workers," fired Chipotle workers and their supporters marched into the Chipotle restaurant on Nicollet Mall demanding an explanation for the mass fi... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Chipotle denies stiffing fired workers

  published Dec 21, 2010

  Throughout Chipotle's massive purge of employees suspected of lacking work papers over recent weeks, the company has more or less maintained radio silence. Neither the press nor the fired workers them... More >>

• Chipotle fires Latinos

  published December 22, 2010

  The Chipotle restaurant chain launched a wave of mass firings of Latino workers at its Minnesota restaurants over the past two weeks, with many... More >>

• Jimmy Johns' union wants holiday pay

  published Dec 20, 2010

  The workers at Minneapolis Jimmy John's franchises may have lost their drive for a federally recognized union, but that doesn't mean they're done making demands.Today members of the union announced a ... More >>

• Jeremy Giefer was sexually assaulting mother of out-of-wedlock child during pardon application

  published Dec 17, 2010

  Jeremy Giefer, the sex offender pardoned by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, threatened and sexually assaulted the mother of his out-of-wedlock daughter even as he was applying for a pardon as a faith... More >>

• Mark Buesgens quits House leadership post

  published Dec 17, 2010

  A DWI conviction won't keep you out of the state Legislature, but it can get you booted from your committee chairmanship. Mark Buesgens, the Jordan state representative busted for drunk driving this ... More >>

• Chipotle fires at least 80 Latino workers in Minnesota

  published Dec 14, 2010

  The Chipotle restaurant chain's mass firings of Latino workers at Minnesota restaurants continued this week, with workers at some locations fired yesterday at the end of their shifts.When we broke the... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Jeremy Giefer charged with domestic assault before Pawlenty pardon [UPDATE]

  published Dec 14, 2010

  New details of Jeremy Giefer's lifetime of legal problems make it harder than ever to understand how he got his record cleared by the Board of Pardons.The red flags were already abundant: Giefer, a co... More >>

• Norm Coleman could fight Reince Priebus for GOP leadership

  published Dec 13, 2010

  Norm Coleman, who has been doing his will-he-won't-he dance for months now, appears to be one step closer to running for Chairman of the Republican National Committee.Today an anonymous "close source"... More >>

• Michele Bachmann: "Porking has gotten way out of control"

  published Dec 10, 2010

  Michele Bachmann has a message for America this afternoon: "Recently, porking has gotten way out of control."It's a provocative statement, and one that certainly lends itself to interpretation. But ba... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Chipotle launches mass firings of Latinos across Minnesota [UPDATE]

  published Dec 09, 2010

  At least 48 workers at area Chipotle restaurants have been fired after rumors that the Immigration and Customs Service conducted an I-9 audit or "desktop raid" looking for undocumented immigrants.Brad... More >>

• Adam Greden blames truck racing crash on dead girl

  published Dec 08, 2010

  An investigation revealed 17-year-old Adam Greden was drag-racing a truck full of teenagers at speeds up to 95 mph last April just before the truck spun out of control, killing three teens and badly i... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Pawlenty disregarded molester's disorderly conduct conviction to give daycare pardon

  published Dec 06, 2010

  Jeremy Giefer was back in court this afternoon for violating the terms of his bail agreement by making contact with the daughter he is accused of molesting for the past seven years.When Giefer's son, ... More >>

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  Giefer back in jail, and DHS has some 'splainin' to do

  published Dec 06, 2010

  rJeremy Giefer spent the weekend back in jail, after being arrested on Friday for violating the terms of his release.He had been released last month on $250,000 bail after being charged with inc... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Molester Daycare: Why did Pawlenty wait 13 days to shut it downr

  published Dec 03, 2010

  The Pawlenty administration knew on November 17th that Jeremy Giefer was charged with raping his young daughter hundreds of times over the last seven years, and that his wife Susan was operating a chi... More >>

• Pawlenty on sex criminal daycare pardon: "I am very troubled"

  published Dec 01, 2010

  Tim Pawlenty is in full ostrich mode.Tuesday we learned that Jeremy Giefer, the sex offender Pawlenty voted to pardon in 2008, has been allegedly raping his own daughter for the past nine years.Today ... More >>

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  FEATURED STORY

  Jeremy Giefer, accused child molester, got Pawlenty pardon to open childcare center

  published Dec 01, 2010

  Jeremy Giefer served time in jail in 1994 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl. But you wouldn't know it to look at the record of the man now charged with sexually molesting his daughter more than 2... More >>

• Jeremy Giefer could be Tim Pawlenty's Willie Horton

  published Nov 30, 2010

  When Jeremy Geifer was charged with 11 counts of sexual misconduct November 18th, Tim Pawlenty might have envisioned his presidential ambitions going up in smoke.Just over three years ago, the Minneso... More >>

• Norm Coleman still flirting with RNC chairmanship

  published Nov 29, 2010

  Norm Coleman is seriously bringing the Minnesota Nice to backroom Washington politics.Last summer, his name mysteriously started getting batted around as a possible replacement to the beleaguered Repu... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Synthetic marijuana: Statewide ban in the works

  published Nov 24, 2010

  Synthetic marijuana was too good to last. Not that it's so good -- as we reported over the summer, it smokes with all the smoothness of hot fiberglass and confers a high not unlike fossilized ditchwee... More >>

• Court says khat is an illegal drug in Minnesota [UPDATE]

  published Nov 23, 2010

  In a decision released today, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that khat -- a plant native to the horn of Africa and chewed by many in the region as a mild stimulant -- is indeed an illegal drug u... More >>