Last week the city of Minneapolis laid off 25 policemen last week, many of whom had just graduated from the police academy this year. Now, thanks to stimulus money, the city has called 13 of them back to work starting January 1. In addition, 2 more have been called back with funding from the city’s Regulatory Services Department to work on problem properties and animal control.

Violent crime in Minneapolis is down significantly this year, but Police Federation officials were still furious with the city administration. They aired radio ads chastising Mayor Rybak, pointing out that the city had spent $5 million training the new officers.